Environmental Planning Class Debates Gas Taxes and Other Issues

Tuesday evening was my first class of my second year of grad school. For those just tuning in, I am working on a masters degree in Urban Planning & Real Estate Development (UPRED for short) at Saint Louis University. The class, officially known as Environmental Planning and Risk Analysis, is going to be interesting. The instructor, Dr. Sarah Coffin, indicated we will all be nudged out of our comfort zones during the class. And yes, she is skilled at pushing me out of my comfort zone (in a good way).

Initial conversations got into issues throughout the world such as pollution in China, foresting in the NW, water quality in the great lakes, invasive plants in Georgia and so on. It was also brought closer to home as a couple of our assignments will focus on local environmental planning issues. Our first assignments will be readings from Aldo Leopold. Our first paper will require looking at a local environmental issue from either the perspective of Leopold, or from an opposing view.

I should clarify for readers, my fellow classmates and Dr. Coffin that, in any posts I do related to class, I will not identify personalities or classmates in these posts. In-class discussions should remain free dialog. Still, I think the subject matter and the diverse viewpoints are good for debate here. And of course, anything I’m posting here will certainly be a simplification of what was reviewed in two and a half hours in class. If you want more detail you’ll simply have to enroll! OK, with that cleared up we can move on.

Our discussion of local issues turned to air pollution and causes. This led to the car and one solution of raising gas taxes to curb use. Talk was then about what price would we actually see a shift in habits due to price. Another point was that higher fuel prices will impact those driving longer distances to reach their jobs — people living in places like Chesterfield and St. Charles County don’t have the alternate transit choices as those closer to the core. This brought us to public choice theory — that people chose to live there. However, that is where much of our jobs are located so perhaps that is the best place to live. Furthermore, not everyone wants to live in a downtown loft (or they can’t all afford said loft). Then it was suggested that not everyone can live downtown or in the city — we have a region of over 2 million people so some will live outside the urban core in suburban-ish areas. The point was made that suburban areas like Chesterfield, Creve Coeur and Dardenne Prairie are all working on town centers as evidence that even those that enjoy suburban living, and schools, do want a more urban environment than what they have but want it in their context, not in the older core. We quickly moved to road projects such as the Page Ave Extension and the rebuilding of highway forty were to accommodate those from the west trying to get downtown. It was countered that this was not the only reason 40 was being rebuilt. Bringing it home was the point that higher gas taxes would most impact the working poor that, due to lack of public transit to many places, are forced to drive to newer suburban areas for employment. Suffice to say, in under 10 minutes, we didn’t resolve the debate about gas taxes but we covered a lot of ground.

Toward the end of the semester our topics will evolve into more complex papers and eventually into each of us teaching a portion of the class on our topic.

Former St. Louis Planner Charles Kindleberger to Teach Course at St Louis University

Charles Kindleberger, an urban planner briefly with St. Louis County and with the City of St. Louis from 1976-2005 will be teaching a course this Fall called Planning and Development in St. Louis: Successes, Failures and Lessons Learned. From the course description:

How has the St. Louis region of the 1950s changed over the last fifty plus years? What is better? What is worse? How many of the changes were inevitable? What might we have done differently? This fall PPS 560-02 will examine St. Louis, both the city and region, from diverse perspectives. Taught by Charles Kindleberger, this will be an opportunity to learn and think about St. Louis in the context of state and national urban policies and politics.The class will examine the strengths and weaknesses of St. Louis – what we do well and what is more difficult – and the impact of specific development decisions made over the last fifty years. There will also be a practical component that focuses on writing staff reports, presentations and data sources.

This is my first time having a course taught by someone with their own wikipedia entry (of course wiki didn’t exist when I was an undergrad):

He served the city of St. Louis in a variety of capacities from 1976 to 2005. First, he was director of the Community Development Agency (CDA) Planning and Programming Division. Later, he served as CDA acting executive director. By the 1990s, he was Director of Research in CDA; and after 1999, in the Planning and Urban Design Agency (PDA), a new agency created from the restructuring of CDA. He retired from this position June 30, 2005.

Kindleberger was instrumental in the advancement of information technology applications within St. Louis city government. In particular, he helped initiate the development of the St. Louis Community Information Network, and promoted the development of Geographic Information Systems within St. Louis city government.

His father, also named Charles Kindleberger, was a “distinquished” economist. You can read more about him from Wiki and from MIT, where he taught for over 30 years (yes, that MIT).

Well, as you can imagine, I registered for this course right away. Wednesday nights this semester will be interesting indeed!

Travel Log: Lawrence KS (2/2)

Last month I had a brief road trip through Kansas with my friend Rich, a Seattle architect. Rich was doing roof inspections for a large property managment firm with properties in small rural towns. On the last day of our journey we visited Lawrence KS (see post 1/2). We had finished Rich’s work in Topeka that morning and we met up with a couple for lunch.

In our younger days meeting friends for lunch was just that — college friends hanging out. One of Rich’s best friends from high school in Oklahoma lives with her husband in Lawrence, both alumni of the University of Kansas. In fact, both now teach at KU. See, we get older and our old friends become respectable. Rich’s friend from high school graduated the same year as me, 1985. I met Bonnie years ago when she was a planner for the city of Liberty Missouri. These days Bonnie Johnson has a Ph.D. and is park of KU’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning. Once Rich & Bonnie stopped talking about who they saw at their respective 20-year reunions we talked about planning issues, including those in Lawrence. Bonnie is a former member of the Lawrence Planning Commission.

In my prior post on Lawrence I looked at the main drag — Mass (short for Massachusets St. Ave). This post will look at a few other areas.

In the next block east of Mass some interesting things are happening. For starters, a parking lot is overtaken each Saturday morning for a Farmers’ Market. We arrived after noon on a Saturday which is a shame as I would have liked to have seen the staging for the market as well as the volume of customers.

Attached to some parking meters are retrofit bike racks. These make it easier to secure a bike’s frame to a solid object. My only question is how much of an obstacle might this pose to someone trying to use the meters. Perhaps this is a good low-cost solution for getting more bike parking?

Above is a good example of how a curb “bulb” can help shorten street crossings and to create ends for parking lanes. ADA ramps are able to be more in line with the direction of travel and not pointed out into the middle of the intersection from the corner of the sidewalk. This view is looking north from 7th & New Hampshire St. (google map). Up ahead is a failed downtown outlet mall converted to a riverside hotel.

Yes, downtown Lawrence KS has a Borders bookstore while St. Louis does not. Here the city required the corner building, at left, to be saved. A new building was built next to it and the combined buildings make up with store with the main entrance to the right, facing a small parking lot.

From the other way we can see how the parking lot is behind a stone wall. Pedestrians can easily get to the entrance without having to walk through a parking lot. Still, I would have liked to have seen the corner building have some activity — sure it was ‘saved’ but the corner remains rather lifeless. Also in the above image we can see bike parking provided along the public sidewalk (very visible where a thief is less likely to try to steal it). Also here is another use of a “bulb” but in this case it is detached from the curb so that water can still flow downhill to the drain system.

Adjacent to the Border’s parking lot is a new loft building, next to another new loft building. Or is it?

OK, this is not the four buildings that it appears to be — this is one fairly new building. The intention is to give the impression of multiple buildings rather than one potentially overbearing building. As such facade treatments go, I think they did an excellent job with the materials and details. The main entrane to the residential units is through the narrow section that is 3-stories. The ground floor is reserved for retail — each having their own entrance. With the exception of the bank at the far end, all the spaces were empty.

The main residential entrance is under the canopy. For me, the green grass just doens’t communicate commerce. The area is attractive and the grass is flawlessly maintained but this just doesn’t feel like a good place for retail activity.

The far south corner with the bank also disappoints from a downtown perspective. I like the sign being on the corner but the entrance is a bit up the sidewalk — not on the corner where it belongs. Corners used to mean something architecturally.

Across the street and down the block we headed back to our rental vehicle. Note the worn grass next to the sidewalk in the above picture. This brick wall marginally narrows the width of the sidewalk but enough so that a clear path is worn in the grass. The sidewalk is comfortable for two to walk side by side until you get to this point — it appears many will walk in the grass/dirt before giving up their position next to another.

We headed out to see some of the new sprawl on the western edge of Lawrence. The above subdivision is one of the newest. Here we see the post office. The sidewalk cuts between the houses so that people can walk to get their mail. Of course, note the lack of sidewalks along the actual street! Bonnie noted Lawrence has since changed their code, they now require sidewalks. From this view we can see this house’s 3 garage doors but not the front door for humans.

After we dropped off Bonnie back at her home we headed out of town, back northbound on Mass. But we are further south than the main downtown, this is near 23rd. We can see a recently constructed Family Video store next to an older strip mall. Lots of new sidewalks but not a one taking the pedestrian from the public sidewalk to the front door of the store.

Above is the older strip center that the Family Video was attached to. A grocery store in on the far end with the green mansard roof. As you can see, the older area was much harsher than the new — completely lacking in any grass or trees. The St. Louis region has many such strip centers just ready to be improved. In the background is one of the taller buildings in the area.

Although I couldn’t really tell, my guess was senior housing. The greenery here certainly helps soften the solid concrete forms of the building. I’m sure the original renderings were lovely with many people milling about in the pseudo park setting. On this lovely day, the area was empty. Maybe all the residents were north in the main area of downtown with the rest the other direction at the new Family Video.

Lawrence has much of the same sprawl as other cities, the new area with all the big boxes like Target and Wal-Mart. We saw a site out on the edge of town where Wal-Mart is fighting to build a second location. Over the years Lawrence has managed to keep a lot of sprawl at bay but things are changing — more and more voters live on the edge in sprawl. Their voting patterns could change the shape of Lawrence in the future and have a negative impact on downtown.

Please Feed The Reg Parking Meters

Back in November 2006 I brought you a review of the two types of electronic parking meters being tested on South Grand – Pay-N-Display and Pay-Per-Space. At the end of February 2007, the study came to an end and regular meters returned.

I’ve not heard anything from the Treasurer’s Office on the outcome of the study. I still personally prefer the Pay-N-Display as it allows more cars in a given space depending upon the size of the car and the parking skill of the driver.

Overall, based on my own experience, the test went well. However, on several occassions I attempted to use the credit/debit function and it was not working. Lacking any change I simply left my car unpaid and managed to avoid tickets. However, had the machines accepted dollar bills I would have gladly paid.  The lack of bill acceptance was a big drawback in my view.

Did you use the test meters?  What was your experience?

Urban Economic Development: A Mid-Term Review

As many of you know, I returned to college this semester — working toward a Masters in Urban Planning and Real Estate Development at Saint Louis University. Wednesday I have my first mid-term exam in over 15 years. Needless to say I was concerned about studying and such. But in the last two years I have found I learn well as I research and write posts for Urban Review. Seeing as how that was a winning strategy, I decided to write up my study notes as a blog post. The notes follow the order of in-class topics and of the mid-term outline issued by our instructor, Allen Tomey.

The initial part of the class focused on some introduction to urban economics and then progressed to the first seven chapters of Approaches to Economic Development: Readings from Economic Development Quarterly, edited by John P. Blair and Laura A. Reese (hereafter referred to as Blair & Reese). I’m guessing many of you don’t subscribe to Economic Development Quarterly and I can’t say that I blame you. Some authors did a nice job getting to their point and others belabored statistics and such to the point you didn’t get their point until you’ve read the chapter 3 times and then took good notes in class.

This review is in no way a substitute for actually taking the class. I hope review this may prompt some of you to consider joining the program at SLU, if only for a class or two. I’ve been working on this for days and the test is this afternoon. Note: some chapters and areas get more attention because those were stressed more heavily than others.

UPDATE 10/18/06 @2:15pm. I’ve pulled the bulk of this post because I am not sure if presenting such notes presents any sort of ethical problem. Students are encouraged to form study groups and share information prior to the test. I’m not sure if the university policy has considered technology and the sharing of detailed notes via the web and the implications for future students. I will confer with my professor, department chair and the SLU handbook to verify. If I can, I will repost this information as soon as possible.