The Rails and the Lands

Earl Blumenauer, Congressman representing Portland invented Railvolution 20 years ago and participation peaked this year when over 1000 participants convened for a family reunion once again in Portland, Oregon, the US capital of Smart Growth, transit, growth management and growth boundaries. This might well be the only city in the world where transit is the focus of guided tours for tourists, not only those coming to Railvolution, the urban transit conference but also for regular tourists. While we walked around with our conference nameplates on our chests, the bums on Sixth Avenue told us, "we know why you are here, you are looking at our light rail".

Last year we met in Boston, no slouch when it comes to transit either, but a city where this is more a utility than an attraction and where the presence of the Railvolution Conference made way fewer waves. Portland threw quite a party in the trendy Pearl District, a former warehouse zone now the place of restaurants, chic shops and dotted by new apartment and condo buildings, a bit like New York's meatpacking district. The Pearl shows why a city is more interesting than a suburb, how it can reinvent itself and how even loading docks and simple warehouses can become a vibrant urban space. Some attribute this transformation to the streetcar circling through the district adding a transformative energy like the Highline park did for the meatpacking District.

Railvolution has preached the transit land use nexus for twenty years and finally everybody seems to be in tune. Obama instructed the Department of Housing and Community Development to collaborate with the Department of Transportation and the Department of Energy in Livable Communities. From Washington to Houston Phoenix and Detroit, cities are laying light rail and streetcar tracks praying for urban reformation, re-investment and economic development. All should be well now.

But we should not get fooled. Sprawl continues and outpaces urban core development multifold. Transit is squeezed for money and service cuts and skimping on equipment alienate many of the new found riders. America is still far behind most other countries and our cities are still far from healthy. Yet, the change in the music is truly astonishing. What used to be a lone voice in the desert (the voice for density, mixed use and compact development patterns) has become a chorus. To be truly prepared for the post petroleum age and for the drastic demographic changes, we can't do enough of urban transformation and, we also need to begin to transform the suburbs in what will be, no doubt, a painful and hard process, because they will be harder to transform than the Pearl. We can learn from Vancouver, where density is introduced to all the major transit stations along their skytrains achieving a carbon footprint reduction getting the City already today beyond the world targets envisioned for a sustainable future.

Blumenauer, in his speech to his believers even quoted from the bible: "Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt," Blumenauer read, from Isaiah 58:12. "You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in."

(Images: New supermarket and development in the Pearl next to streetcar stop. Below: The old Portland is still present as well, freeways bracketing downtown and taking traffic pressures away from downtown)

Provocations from the Planning Director

The Baltimore AIA Urban Design Committee organized last week a thought provoking session about urban blueprints, planning and zoning. Rollin Stanley, Montgomery County's planning director was the keynote speaker. He was followed by a panel of a architect (Stan Britt, FAIA), a community activist (Chris Merriam), a developer (Pat Turner) and Baltimore's own Planning Director, Tom Stosur.
Stanley acted like the elephant in the China shop trashing sacred cows left and right. He began claiming E=mc2 as his invention, whereby E remained energy but m was population and c was density (instead of speed in Einstein's formula). He then reported about his activities in Toronto, St Louis and Montgomery County and managed to offend all three of these jurisdictions with his take no prisoners observations. He observed that Toronto grows by leaps and bounds and that developers don't get any breaks, incentives or tax credits there. It is the municipality that calls the shots and sets the conditions. Nobody requires any "stinking parking" for development. Regarding St Louis he noted that its growth boundaries were the Rockies and the Alleghenies while dryly noting that no discernible development occurred there when he got to that city and that he received much gratitude for the most mundane investments that he could initiate. St Louis has lost 60% of its population in 42 years.
He lamented how in Montgomery County everything is judged by how fast you can drive there. He considers the suburbs as the incarnation of the fact that the fridge replaced the cornerstore and the TV the front porch. But, he pointed out, the demographics won't work for places that are so dependent on single family homes on large lots. He described his surprise that the folks there balk at his high density visions for metro stations, even if they cover only 6% of the area.

Our local panelists showed that Baltimore is somewhere in between St Louis and Toronto with the immense developments of EBDI, Harbor East, Westport in special focus and the Remington development of the Anderson lot as an example of suburban development in the city.

with his many funny videos inserted into his slide show, Rollin Stanley proved to be an effective provocateur who brought the audience repeatedly to gasps of disbelief regarding his unguarded language but also laughter and applause.

Stanley has a blog. To see his provocations first hand ("no place is worth visiting which doesn't have a parking problem"), go to http://montgomeryplanning.org/blog-director/

ARTS ORIENTED REVITALIZATION OF RETAIL AND STOREFRONTS

Discussion about another Arts District in the Westside of Baltimore is continuing even after a grant application to NEA was denied.
The Mayor of Baltimore wants the Westside kickstarted. To that end a ULI planning week is planned for later this fall. I post here a variation of the concept of artists in storefronts which I wrote earlier this year for D:center in the form of a proposed "project":

Problem and Facts Statement

• Many vacant storefronts mar Baltimore’s former downtown retail corridors converting many once bustling streets into ghost town zones even during the day and making walking from one vibrant area to another an unpleasant adventure because of the hazards that come from vacant buildings and empty sidewalks

• Many artists need affordable live-work space

• Baltimore has reached a certain attractiveness among young creative and art oriented people

• The Baltimore D:center is looking for a project that can showcase the power of design thinking

Project Statement

• D:center, with the help of the Baltimore Office of the Promotion and Arts (BOPA), acts as a clearing house for artists who need live work space and would consider enlivening a former first floor retail space in a Baltimore downtown area

• The Downtown Partnership of Baltimore (DPoB) and the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) act as a clearinghouse for property owners who own buildings with vacant first floor retail spaces in downtown Baltimore
• The two clearing houses would collaboratively publish search/offer listings in a similar manner as Craigs List or real estate listings and facilitate agreements to allow a variety of artists and creative professions to occupy the vacant stores for a variety of durations with and without rent payment
• DPoB in collaboration with the City and inside the framework of the existing benefits taxing district would levy certain fees for vacant retail property in certain locations and use the fees to fund and support repair and renovation of vacant retail spaces for use as live-work and studio spaces
• One or several pilot sites will be identified for testing the approach and showing short-term impact and success

Next steps (some assigned in subcommittees of the ad hoc task force):

• Strategic areas with maximum effect in creating a walkable, contiguous and pleasant downtown retail and arts district to be identified
• Creation of a goals/objectives and a Criteria list
• Assessment of spatial needs of various groups of artists and creative professionals for studio, gallery, display, retail and office space suitable for storefront type retail spaces
• Determination of possibilities to levy fees and penalties for keeping first floor retail unoccupied and means to use these fees to be funneled back to owners who would agree to repair/renovation and leasing to artists/creative professionals
• Discuss with BDC and DPoB if they are willing to be clearinghouse
• Identify critical parties for funding and support

Suggested Criteria for Storefront Project

1. Location:

Locations should be strategically located to fulfill one or several of the following criteria:

· Gaps in areas of strength which, once filled, would create contiguous, lively areas

· Strategic intersections or gateways to or from areas of strength to areas of weakness

· Add eventually to a critical mass that can support a arts oriented branding/theme

· Connect to strong art branded places

2. Type of Space

Spaces should be suitable for use as a live work space, gallety, studio or creative office and fulfill one or several of the following criteria:

· Have visibility from the street

· Be protected from the elements (i.e. water proof and be ready for heat)

· Fulfill basic code requirements for life safety codes (egress, fire protection)

· Allow flexibility for artist’s use

Precedents:

San Diego, CA: http://www.sdspace4art.org/about/

Fall River, MA: http://www.fallriverstorefrontartist.org

Pittsfield, MA: http://www.storefrontartist.org/

Stuttgart 21: Civil War?

The train station dispute in Stuttgart about which I reported already several times has taken a nasty turn: Thursday the authorities started a civil war against their citizens with water cannons, pepper spray and truncheons. No way to build an infrastructure project.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,720735,00.html

Ein guter Kommentar aus der Süddeutschen Zeitung:

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/proteste-gegen-suttgart-demo-demos-demokratie-1.1007427

Man könnte hier ja wohl (vertragsrechtlich) die "force majeur" Klausel anwenden (das Volk als Naturgewalt sozusagen?), oder den Wegfall der Geschäftsgrundlage.Es ist schon ziemlich deutsch, wie sich der Innenminister hier in Prinzipien verrennt, die zwar wichtig sind aber angesichts von echtem Blut und echten Tränen unerheblich werden. Ein wenig angelsächsischer "Messiness and Pragmatism" wäre hier wohl eher angebracht.

Überhaupt sind diese Verträge ja wohl zwischen Stadt, Land, Bund und Bahn, das sind ja alles öffentliche Traeger, selbst wenn die Bahn pro forma privat ist. Man kann ja wohl von diesen Trägern verlangen, dass sie über den Tellerrand des eigentlichen Vertragstextes hinwegsehen können und sich am Gemeinwohl orientieren. Es wäre schon interessant, wenn man am runden Tisch mal versuchen würde herauszuarbeiten, was beim gegenwärtigen Stand dem Gemeinwohl am besten diene, S21, K21 oder gar nichts. Vor 5 Jahren war man sich ja da anscheinend relativ sicher, aber nun, wenn man die wesentlichen Punkte nochmal durcharbeitet, käme man da zu einem neuen Ergebnis? Und wie müsste ein solcher runder Tisch besetzt werden, wem wuerden beide Seiten einigermaßen vertrauen? Wenn die SPD in diesen Punkten etwas beitragen könnte, dann könnte sie Glaubwuerdigkeit zurückerlangen. Diese Idee einer Volksabstimmung kommt den Dingen ja nicht auf den Grund. Grosse Infrastrukturprojekte Volksabstimmungen zu unterwerfen bedeutet, dass es keine mehr geben wird. Da würde so eine Art schweizer Käseglocke entstehen. Ein Land wie Deutschland kann sich das kaum leisten.

Na ja, meine unmaßgeblichen Ansichten im fernen Baltimore. Aber S 21 wird auch hier langsam bekannt. Ich bin schon mindestens zweimal drauf angesprochen worden, zuletzt heute Nachmittag auf einer Veranstaltung der 1000 Freunde von Maryland.