Tuesday, The Albuquerque Tribune ran an article entitled "Can Northeast Heights neighborhood embrace new urbanism?" It's an interesting article in that it's one of the first that we've seen that addresses the conflict between New Urbanism and our primarily suburban lifestyle.
New Urbanism is being promoted by politicians and bureaucrats as the solution to almost all of our ills. The New Urbanist orthodoxy holds that density, mass transit, mixed use (mixing commercial and residential property uses) are the keys to a better, happier, healthier life.
The Tribune uses as its example the almost complete Leslie Plaza and describes it the following way:
"The sidewalks are wide and buffered from traffic by trees. The building, a little taller than two stories and featuring big storefront windows, is close to the sidewalk. The parking lot is relegated to the back and has separate entrance and exit lanes divided by a pedestrian-friendly island."We've seen Leslie Plaza and it's a very nice looking building. It has the Tribune highlighted design features but, this particular building is not the example of New Urbanist ideals that the reporter makes it out to be.
Leslie Plaza, apart from the tree buffer, large windows, and parking in the back, could be any suburban office building anywhere in the city. In fact, pull the trees and put the parking lot in front of the building, and it would be another suburban office building much like any other you might find in the Northeast Heights. A more fitting example would be the Albuquerque High School lofts or some of the new condos downtown.
The core idea behind New Urbanism is density. Density makes all things possible from mass transit to walkability. New Urbanists even float the idea that somehow crime is reduced when more people are packed into less space and the costs associated with public safety somehow go down. To us, more people in a tighter space means more trouble and more people involved in that trouble.
Right now, in our city there is a movement to re-make Albuquerque into a New Urbanist paradise. The idea being that we need to all live closer to one another (density), close enough to walk (or use a trolley) to get to work, and have access to various forms of entertainment that are also close enough to walk to or catch a bus to. It's called live, work, and play and the proposed Mesa del Sol development is the poster child for that vision. If it's ever completed, Mesa del Sol will be a New Urbanist mini-city.
We don't really have a problem with Mesa del Sol as a concept or as an option. If the city and Forest City Covington want to build their preplanned paradise... let them. That is if the market will pay for it.
The current plan calls for massive tax subsidies provided by the city, county and state governments of up to 75% of all gross receipts and property taxes collected in the area (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required). That means that even the developers are skeptical about the market demand for such a project.
(Sidebar)The real clash comes from the desire of New Urbanists to re-make the rest of the city in Mesa del Sol's image (or it's proposed image anyway). The reality is, Albuquerque is primarily a suburban city. We have lots of single family houses situated on .25 acre lots with front and back yards. We have strip malls and grocery stores scattered all over the place (at least on the east side). And we bought our little patches of paradise because we didn't want to live above, below, or right on top of our neighbors. The Westside is no different except that it suffers from a lack of shopping conveniences and a poorly planned traffic system. (Someone should let them know downtown that the Westside thing looks like it's going to go.)
Has anyone else noticed that Mesa del Sol sits directly below the flight pattern for the Sunport? You can hear the sales people now... "after a decade or two you won't even notice those jet engines overhead as you walk to work."
(End Sidebar)
The fact is we made the choice to live in this type of community and not live in more urban cities like Chicago, New York, Seattle, or San Francisco. Our choices should be respected but they are being shoved aside in a frenzy of New Urbanist jihad.
A perfect example is the development planned for the old Rowlands at Tramway and Montgomery. It's surrounded by suburban neighborhoods yet this highly dense development will reach three stories and have a density of 3 to 5 times the density of the surrounding area.
The development as approved by the City Council February 21st, will negatively impact the lives of all of the residents surrounding it. Further, it will sacrifice the choices made by all of people surrounding it on the alter of the New Urbanist god.
It's important that we take a step back and look at Albuquerque as it is. Could we stand some improvements? You bet! But overall, Albuquerque is a great place to live. We have everything from suburbia (NE Heights & Westside), to Urban (EDO and Downtown), to rural (North and South Valley). As a city we should be celebrating that diversity and encourage its continuation.
5 comments:
Our 'New Urbanists' (some City Councilors and our CAO included)are nothing more than ex-hippies and throw backs from Haight-Ashbury and Alamo Square in San Francico and the other the Berkley Socialist elites. They live by the myth that it is the government's responsibility to make life better for the masses and raise taxes. Afterall, it will be funded only by the Capitalistic pigs, and those who actually cut their own way through life and WORK for a living. Many of these Socilists still live in their parents homes(Capitalists) and depend on grant money from the State and Federal government for a living. They fail to forget history or never learned it. They fail to realize what happened in the 1920s when Russia fell under the Socialist reign of Lenin, their hero.
My god, I've read some real crap on this blog, but this one takes the cake.
Let's get this straight: No one is MAKING you live in a New Urbanist development. You still have the option to live in some suburban subdivision, and Albuquerque is still building that. New Urbanists are hardly about to "re-make the rest of the city in Mesa del Sol's image".
New Urbanism certainly allows for a far more sustainable lifestyle than living in the suburbs, as you don't need a car to comfortably get around and your ecological footprint is much smaller. With the impending oil crisis, the suburban way of life will eventually become little more than a distant memory. But you can still live in the suburbs, if you wish. No one is trying to "shove aside" your choice.
Now, you also mentioned the "massive tax subsidies" that are used to fund New Urbanist projects. But do you realize the truly massive tax subsidies that go to fund those sprawling suburban subdivisions? Even if the upfront cost is covered mostly by the developers, the city is responsible for the upkeep of all those new roadways, the miles of utility lines, and eventually expanding existing roadways and building bridges over the Rio Grande to keep up with all the growth. Tell me, why should I pay taxes to fund your highly unsustainable lifestyle? I don't live out there, I don't care about your roads. Well, obviously you wouldn't be too happy if the city stopped with the upkeep of your neighborhood's roads.
We've always been funding new developments with taxpayer money. Just because it's getting media attention now doesn't mean it's different.
The eye is way off base on this one. The craque has a HUGE problem of sprawl and a pathetic transportation infrastructure. It is impossible to get anywhere without driving, leading to traffic choked roadways, endless construction, air pollution, road rage and a host of other ills. We need dense infill to put work, home and retail within a reasonable distance of each other. Also, the predominant commercial model is the souless strip mall--so ubiquitious in this berg that more than one travel guide describes 'craque as "an overgrown truck-stop". And that's being charitable.
At least the new urbanists have a solution. GIve them a break
Finally!! People are starting to realize the BS and distorted mythology and halftruths which fuel the LIE in Albuq. THE TRUTH shall prevail.
Blind Eye. Black Eye. Lame reasoning.
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