New Geography

Blog

  • Redesigning Suburbia

    Dwell Magazine and inhabitat.com have combined forces to sponsor the first ever “Reburbia Design Competition,” a design competition dedicated to re-envisioning the suburbs.

    Citing the current housing crisis, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, and rising energy cost, as well as limited natural resources available to increased exurban growth, the two companies have called upon “future-forward architects” and “renegade planners” to reinvent the suburbs.

    Finalists range from a “suburban airship” that facilitates eco-friendly and efficient transportation between the suburbs and the city center to mansions turned into wetlands and natural water filtration systems to freeway wind turbines. All intriguing ideas for the suburban future.

    However, Sean Paige, of The American Contrarian, takes issue with the contest’s “darker side.”

    “Strolling the streets of Reburbia isn’t just an imaginative adventure. It also offers a revealing glimpse into the mind of the modern eco-Utopian, which melds dark apocalyptic forebodings with naive flights of fancy,” writes Paige.

    He feels the contest might propel green zealots to use “levers of power” and the “force of government” to impose an “environmentally- and socially-correct vision of suburbia.”

    How might this happen? Paige argues “that opportunity is there, thanks to the power granted government planners through the mania for “smart growth,” new urbanism and other social engineering fads, combined with the totalitarian tendencies of those trying to “save the planet” from climate change.”

    This is, of course, may be an exaggerated view. No doubt, the Gristers may say this contest would serve merely as a catalyst for developing more probable, and immediate, eco-friendly ideas but a sense of balance would not be inappropriate.

  • Three Roads and a Railroad

    For most visitors, Las Vegas is a one-dimensional town. One either walks up the Strip, or down (though for compass-challenged tourists, even that can be confusing). An adventurous minority will go downtown to Fremont Street, a few short blocks of casinos and souvenir shops that I liked better before they roofed it.

    It turns out that naïve tourists have stumbled onto the truth: there are no east-west highways in Las Vegas. And therein lies the tale.

    There are three US highways: 91, 93 and 95. All run from Canada to Mexico (except for 91, which only got as far south as Long Beach). They all intersect in Las Vegas.

    If you think of Nevada as a wedge pointed south, then US 95 roughly parallels the western boundary of the state, and is the main road between Reno and Las Vegas.

    US 93 parallels the eastern boundary of the state, and connects Elko and Ely with Las Vegas.

    US 91 is no longer marked in Nevada, and has been replaced by I-15, which really does go from the Canada to the Mexican border at San Diego. In Las Vegas, it is signed as northbound to Salt Lake City, and southbound to Los Angeles, reflecting the route of the original 91. And then there are the Union Pacific tracks, which run through town northbound heading 30 degrees, and southbound at 210 degrees. North of the city they curve to the east (45 degrees). A 1955 map of Nevada shows all of this in its original glory.

    The three roads meet in downtown Las Vegas. To understand why it is the way it is, we need to go back in time and see the way it was. This 1952 map of Las Vegas is helpful.

    Main St. parallels the tracks. Intersecting Main St., where the Golden Nugget Casino is today, is Fremont St., which heads 120 degrees southeast. Streets parallel to Main St. were numbered, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc., with the next major N-S thoroughfare being 5th St. Let’s trace the routes of the three highways through town.

    US 91 is the simplest – it simply followed Main St. from north to south. South of town it was known as the LA highway.

    Fifty miles north of the city (today only about 20 miles), US 91 and US 93 joined forces and shared the same road alongside the tracks to Las Vegas. They both entered Las Vegas along Main St., to the center of town. They parted ways when US 93 turned southeast along Fremont. After passing Charleston Blvd., then the southern city limit, US 93 was known as the Boulder Highway – the name it still has today – as it goes to Boulder City.

    US 95 was the most complicated. It approached Las Vegas from the northwest along Rancho Drive.

    The railroad tracks are like a river – for just as with a river, one needs a bridge to cross (or at least a crossing). There were only four streets that crossed the tracks in 1952: Harrison Ave. (now called Owens), Bonanza Rd., Charleston Blvd., and San Francisco Ave. (now Sahara Ave.). To avoid the tracks, Rancho Drive turned south (today it ends at Sahara, just as it did then). But US 95 headed east on Bonanza, crossed the tracks, and then joined up with 91 and 93 at Main St. For five blocks along Main St., from Bonanza to Fremont, US Highways 91, 93 and 95 all shared the same road.

    At Fremont, US 95 turned east, coincident with US 93. They diverge (then and now) 23 miles south of town (about 3 miles short of Boulder City). US 93 continues on through Boulder City and then over the Hoover dam (a new road and a beautiful new bridge are currently under construction). US 95 heads due south, toward Searchlight and Needles, leaving Nevada right near the southern tip of the wedge.

    So what does it look like today? US 91 has been replaced by I-15. Like its predecessor, the interstate follows the railroad, but now lying west of the tracks through the central city. I-15 is the major N-S traffic artery through town.

    At exit 42 – today the very center of Las Vegas where all three highways meet – I-15 intersects a freeway that has become the primary E-W artery. The new freeway has replaced Bonanza Road as the major route across the railroad tracks. Heading west the freeway is labeled US 95 North, with signage to Reno. It goes due west for about five miles to Rainbow Blvd, and then turns due north until it intersects Rancho Drive. From there it follows the original US 95 route (the freeway ends just past Durango).

    If you want to continue west past Rainbow Blvd., then you have to exit US 95 onto Summerlin Pkwy, which continues west to the mountains at the edge of the valley.

    Heading east, the freeway has three labels: I-515 South, US 93 South, and US 95 South. It heads east initially parallel to Fremont, and then due east parallel to Charleston. It goes east to the mountains at the valley’s rim, and then turns south, crossing Boulder Hwy, only to eventually end at Boulder Hwy south of Henderson, a few miles north of the 93-95 split.

    At exit 34, another E-W artery intersects I-15. Follow I-215 South to go east towards Henderson. Follow Nevada State highway 215 North to go west (and then north) towards Summerlin.

    Point proven: there are no E-W highways in Las Vegas. But it really isn’t that hard to find your way around: just ignore the compass markers on the freeways. Reno is to the west, Los Angeles is to the south, Henderson-Boulder City is to the east, and Salt Lake City is to the north. You won’t go wrong (as long as you remember the Summerlin Pkwy exit if you want to keep going west).

    In part 2 we’ll talk about Vegas surface streets, and I’ll drop a few hints for tourists. In some future post, I’ll even answer the vexing question of where Las Vegas really is.

    Daniel Jelski is Dean of Science & Engineering State University of New York at New Paltz.

  • Warning on Road to Recovery: Beware of dumbdowntown.com

    Big cities will eventually get through the recession.

    How much help they’ll get from the design-obsessed bloggers who are so anxious to shape urban life is open to question.

    Consider the blogosphere in Los Angeles, which bubbled with reports of decapitated chickens turning up all around town earlier this year.

    Some bloggers speculated that chickens were being killed in rituals of the Santeria cult, which has roots in Latin America. The speculation seemed on the way to becoming an urban legend.

    The Garment & Citizen suggested that the bloggers buzzing around the story—a bunch that was mostly European/American —might be leaping to some wayward conclusions.

    The blogosphere railed against the Garment & Citizen, claiming that we had played the “race card” by even suggesting that some white bloggers might be too quick to attribute exotica to folks a few shades darker.

    Then the story died, an urban legend stopped cold. Whoever had been killing the chickens and leaving their headless carcasses in public places had apparently left town quite suddenly.

    Or could it be that the whole matter had been made up by bloggers who figured that a bizarre and bloody tale with shadowy suspects would be just the thing to drive traffic to their echo chamber?

    There’s no telling when it comes to the blogosphere.

    That’s precisely our point.

    We don’t spend a lot of time looking at blogs, but we generally get word when one of them is railing against the sort of well-reasoned reporting and analysis that readers expect from the Garment & Citizen.

    That’s what happened after we noted last year’s closure of a Rite-Aid at 7th and Los Angeles streets as a sign that the red-hot run of Downtown development had ended. It wasn’t a tough call, by the way, given economic indicators at the time.

    Yet A number of those who blog Downtown twisted themselves in knots over that one, claiming a greater understanding while denying that the closure had anything to do with the souring economy—which soon crashed, by the way.

    Another piece in the Garment & Citizen sometime later mentioned the deterioration of the retail landscape on Broadway.

    Downtown bloggers got all bunched up over that one, too, going on about the many committee meetings held by members of the Bringing Back Broadway Initiative.

    Awhile later came word that the owners of Clifton’s Cafeteria on the 600 block of Broadway plan to sell the building as they fight to keep the place in business. A key to their struggles, according to reports, is the high vacancy rate for retail along the street. Fewer stores mean fewer customers coming to Broadway—and fewer diners stopping for a bite at Clifton’s, a bellwether for the thoroughfare.

    There’s no telling whether local bloggers bark so loud about any point of view that diverges from their own because they lack reporting and analytical skills. It could be that some function as boosters who see the truth as optional when it comes to promotional pitches.

    Keep that in mind if the Downtown blogosphere reaches you with talk about how some art galleries in the area of 5th and Main streets are closing because their landlord is ditching them in favor of higher-paying tenants. That outlook would seem to prop up the notion of a hot market for retail, as though there’s a waiting list of businesses willing to pay a premium for ground-floor space at 5th and Main despite the recession.

    That just doesn’t sound right, based on a street-level view of current conditions.

    Whatever is going on, watch out for bloggers who seem bent on telling a story about Downtown and the rest of our city that doesn’t match the facts on the ground.

    The truth is that the economy remains very slow, the real estate market is a long way from full recovery, and it will be more than a few months before the local job market perks up.

    It’s also true that our city, state and nation will eventually recover. Times are tough, but there are plenty of folks committed to getting through this downturn (see related photo and caption, “No Quit,” and Local Hero, both home page). They’ll need the accurate information and reasoned analysis—the truth, in other words—to chart a course to better days.

    So look for signs of progress and silver linings, which are the building blocks of momentum and economic recovery.

    Just beware of those who would show you nothing else.

    Jerry Sullivan is the Editor & Publisher of the Los Angeles Garment & Citizen, a weekly community newspaper that covers Downtown Los Angeles and surrounding districts (www.garmentandcitizen.com)

  • New Feudalism: Does Home Ownership Have a Future?

    In mid August, as we were beginning to feel a pulse in the nation’s housing market, an academician and housing expert from the University of Pennsylvania named Thomas J. Sugrue wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal proposing that, for many people, the new American Dream should be renting.

    Sugrue is writing a book on the history of real estate in America, a tome I cannot wait to read because it will apparently illustrate how epic events in our nation’s history have shaped and molded our real estate market, hence our lives. He quotes builder William Levitt, considered the father of affordable suburban mass housing, saying “no man who owns his own house and lot can be a Communist.”

    That was said during the Cold War and McCarthy era: Levitt was marketing his wares, playing off the public’s fears like any good salesman. And for many politicians – from Herbert Hoover to Bill Clinton and George W. Bush – expanding ownership of homes remained critical to the nation’s identity.
    But is all this changing? The Obama Administration seems at best ambivalent about homeownership. It seems determined to put more resources into rental housing while promulgating policies that may coerce Americans out of the suburban single family homes and back into dense, multifamily urban housing.

    This would mark a major change in what we usually consider the American dream. Enabling home ownership is like crack cocaine for politicians: the impetus for the Great Recession of 2008 may well have been formed on the day President Bill Clinton launched National Homeownership Day in 1995. And I remember sitting terrified in front of the television post 9/11 when President George W. Bush reassured us that America was strong and would recover. Our housing market is strong, he said, a theme that would echo throughout his presidency. Seeing two by fours go up and mortar flying gave Americans a sense of calm, of rebuilding.

    The attacks of 9/11 almost brought down our economy. The housing market helped prop it up.

    Most of us still love our homes. Sugrue quotes a Pew survey that faintly echoes the national health care debate: nine out of ten homeowners view their homes as a comfort in their lives. He seems to argue we should change everything for ten percent. To be sure, as he suggests, for some home ownership has become a source of panic and despair: 53,000 people packing a Save the Dream fair at Atlanta’s World Congress Center. Georgia’s housing market has been hit hard – 338,411 homes went into foreclosure in May and June, 2009.

    But it’s not just Georgia. Since the second quarter of 2006, housing values across the nation have plummeted to values roughly equivalent to post 9/11. We are not immune even here in Texas, with one of the nation’s strongest large state economies: our prices are soft, down anywhere from five to 20%, and buyers want deals. Go north to Little Elm; you might think you are in Atlanta. Homes may not be selling for thirty cents on the dollar as they are in Phoenix, but a house in the trophy community of University Park listed for $999,000 recently, sold in the mid $800s. The owner of a Preston Hollow mansion not too far from George W. Bush turned down a $38 million dollar offer two years ago, insulted. He recently sold his nine-plus acre property for $28 million.

    And just one week ago I spoke with an Allen, Texas home builder who told me that current tough love lending standards were keeping a lot of people out of the jumbo market – that is, halting them from buying million dollar homes. When you have to put down 30%, he said, that’s $300,000 on a million dollar home. If homes are not appreciating, he said, smart people say, why do we want to tie up that much money in our homestead?

    Yet we have been here before. Half of all U.S. mortgages were in default during The Great Depression, although it’s true far fewer people owned homes. This is when Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt created government programs to help save homeowners from foreclosure. I remember my grandmother telling me how Mr. Roosevelt saved her home in 1932 – she voted Democratic in every election because of it until the day she died in 1966. In 1938, Fannie Mae was created to buy mortgages on the secondary market, an effort to stimulate credit.

    After World War II, when the government made home loans accessible for thousands of GIs returning from the wars, home ownership rates climbed like the staircases in a suburban colonial. Now more than two-thirds of Americans own their homes.

    The government’s role in shaping this industry has been pretty explicit. Government programs gave us those first FHA loans that got many of us on the housing track, out to the suburbs, allowing people to leave more congested, and often dangerous, inner cities. Government is the hand that keeps the mortgage industry in motion, like a giant conveyor belt of money. But the hand might be pushing us where we shouldn’t go.

    This is certainly true for many in the communities traditionally underserved in the housing market. The government tried to fix this through creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and by pushing Fannie Mae to underwrite loans to “riskier” buyers. The result: in 2006, Sugrue writes, almost 53% of blacks and more than 47% of Hispanics got sub-prime mortgages.

    Those were the loans that were packaged to spread the risk, and sold off as securities. Very lucrative for banks, who always make out like bandits either way, our federal government stood in the background as a silent backer. An appraiser I interviewed recently told me that Fannie Mae will now be ordering appraisals on loans before they buy them.

    You mean, I said, they weren’t doing this before?

    Then there’s the former sub-prime mortgage lender, now turned real estate agent. You, I scolded, how could you approve a school teacher for a loan on a $400,000 house? Shame on you. Well, he told me, if I would have denied her the loan, she could have come back at me for discrimination, or she would have just gone to someone else. So I made the loan and took my commission.

    Yet for all this, I am bullish on home ownership. I think it gives homeowners a sense of security, a blanket of protection that may or may not be a mirage. Economists, who see the world in a “cash nexus”, do not understand this; planners, believing they know a better way, don’t realize that a rental apartment in a dense development does not usually provide our peaceful havens from the cruel world like a single family home or a townhouse that we have a stake in.

    Homeownership may be precarious, but it does provide a greater sense of permanency for families and communities. Home ownership also stimulates the economy. Consumers never buy as much as they do the first few days in a new home – countless trips to Lowes, Home Depot, Bed, Bath & Beyond, the Container Store. A tenant or landlord may buy for their place, but perhaps never with the care and fervor that comes with homeownership. Apartments are built with, at the most, 30 year life spans. I’ve seen enough Section 8 housing to tell you – you don’t want to live in them at the end of their life-cycle. Apartments are considered temporary, places for people who are in transition or not really sure they are going to stay, one reason why they drive higher crime rates.

    Homes are more permanent. Children thrive with structure and feel more secure coming home to a familiar place day after day. Children who live in homes score higher on standardized tests. They may eventually move from one home to another, but will always come back to it and show a friend – that is the house where I grew up.

    Home ownership also forges financial security. Mortgages are like forced savings accounts. Pay your mortgage and in 30 years you’ll have an asset that could cushion your retirement. Either you will own your home outright, or you will have equity to supplement your income when you sell and downsize. The problems came when we started using our homes as slot machines or banks. Home equity lines of credit were illegal in Texas until 1997 as a consumer protection, and the banking industry led the charge to loosen that law with a constitutional amendment. In Texas, the total of all mortgage debt on your home (including HELOCs) is limited to 80% of the home’s fair market value, among other stipulations.

    What we need now is not to move against homeownership but return to more basic fundamentals that seemed to work just fine for 50-plus years. The cost of a house should reflect more of people’s ability to pay. But do we want to be a nation of renters? My bet is no.

    Candace Evans is the Editor of DallasDirt, a Dallas-based real estate blog for D Magazine Media Partners.

  • College Towns: High Marks For Lifestyle

    At a time when many cities are struggling to spur civic vitality, places that are home to major colleges or universities are percolating along robustly, often with healthy job growth, low costs of living and rising property values. Fueling this rise is the massive influence academic institutions have on their regions in terms of economic impact, civic connections, and innovative mindsets. Diverse spots — Columbia, Missouri; College Park, Pennsylvania; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina and Chico, California, just to name a few — attract families, retirees, and the academically-minded. The migrants are drawn to the intellectual stimulation and community vibe.

    Universities have long served as incubators for fresh thinking and new research. They also provide a solid economic base for area residents, allowing college towns to hold the distinction as areas of low unemployment. The economic activity trickles down into the host city, influencing the ethos of its civic life, from outdoor leisure pursuits to the performing arts.

    For evidence, look at Columbus, Ohio’s capital city. In “Buckeye Nation,” the words ‘The Ohio State University’ mean one thing: football. Saturday afternoon crowds at Ohio Stadium are often in excess of 100,000; a major phenomenon. The steady fan base yields benefits for Columbus, the university’s home, in economic and cultural diversity: OSU has students from all 50 states and over 100 foreign countries, making it the largest student population of any single campus in the nation.

    The two-mile stretch of High Street in the university district presents an energetic cross-section of students, college professors, local residents and visitors, all drawn to the energy for which collegiate communities are known. Areas like the university district in Columbus are also robust real estate markets, as they attract steady streams of academics and students who seek housing.

    Even as the state of Ohio has been ravaged economically, Columbus recorded an unemployment rate of 8.9%, according to second quarter stats released by the Columbus Chamber of Commerce. That’s nothing to brag about, but certainly below the 11.2% and 9.4% rates, respectively, for the state and nation.

    This fact is consistent with recent studies which suggest that cities with a university presence have lower unemployment rates than in other locales. According to June 2009 U.S. Census bureau figures, Manhattan, Kansas, home of Kansas State University, came in at an unemployment rate of 4.6%, the second lowest small city rate in the nation. Iowa City, Iowa, where the University of Iowa is located, recorded a respectable 6.2%.

    University cities often experience strong job growth from start-up companies seeking to capitalize on readily available talent. The Research Triangle in North Carolina — Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill – is perhaps the most striking example of a region benefiting economically from the presence of three major universities: North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina, and Duke University. These three institutions are adjacent to regional research and technology firms that are on the cutting edge of important innovations. Emerging start-up companies in particular serve in essence as potential feeder systems for new graduates.

    Toward Virginia’s eastern border lies Charlottesville, an eclectic city of 40,000 and of the University of Virginia. It has a deep historical legacy as the home of three U.S. presidents (Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe) and is the locality of Monticello, Jefferson’s residence and a heavily visited tourist attraction. The university’s influence on Charlottesville is most notable in the faculty and student presence in the downtown district, which features a walkable mall as well as trendy restaurants. There’s also a bustling local arts movement.

    Charlottesville is also one of eighty-plus cities nationally that features college linked retirement communities: senior enclaves affiliated with education institutions that allow residents to audit classes and participate in other local learning opportunities. Students over sixty who have lived in-state for at least a year can also audit courses at the University of Virginia for free.

    According to Tom Wetzel, founder and president of the Retirement Living Information Center in Redding, Connecticut, the development of retirement communities near colleges and universities is a trend that is gaining momentum nationally. “Our information suggests that learning opportunities, as well as cultural, entertainment and sporting events, are attracting growing numbers of seniors’ to university cities,” says Wetzel. “These seniors tend to be intellectually curious.”

    Blacksburg, Virginia, is a another example of a city whose university serves as a catalyst for community vitality and economic growth. Home of Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg offers the quintessential small-town collegiate environment. Nestled in a picturesque pleat between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains, it boasts a moderate climate, reasonable cost of living and abundant leisure activities, many derived from its natural surroundings. Outdoor enthusiasts are drawn by the easily-accessible Appalachian Trail and Washington-Jefferson National Forest. Downtown Blacksburg features brick streetscapes, and unpretentious restaurants, coffeehouses, and watering holes, all within walking distance of the college. With its unique mix of local and regional amenities, Blacksburg is often among the top-rated cities for livability and outdoor activities.

    Davis, California is a college town that has formed a niche identity around its university. Known for its forward-thinking, ecologically based emphasis, the University of California Davis attracts a range of global scholar-practitioners who are committed to sustainable living practices. Recognized as one of the most educated cities in the nation (based on its percentage of residents with a graduate degree), Davis has evolved into a close-knit community of intellectuals, researchers and environmental advocates — some with official University affiliation; some not — pursuing advancements in such areas as hydrogen fuel cell technology, green building practices, and viticulture.

    Davis has also played a pioneering role as a bicycling community, featuring extensive bike lanes, paths and crossings, that create the backbone of the city’s social fabric. Thousands of residents, as well as students and professors, use this alternate form of transportation, creating massive daily seas of cyclists who navigate around campus and through the city’s downtown corridor.

    University cities represent a key engine for our nation’s economic emergence. But perhaps more importantly, they serve as vibrant centers of livability, built upon partnerships between higher education institutes and civic institutions; between academic researchers and businesses, and between students and the community.

    Michael P. Scott is a Northern California urban journalist, demographic researcher and technical writer. He can be reached at michaels@vdowntownamerica.com.

  • Joel Kotkin at threedonia.com on DC, NYC and centralizing power

    “We often live under the fallacy that things will always be as they are coupled with the delusion that things have always been as they are. We forget that human history is mostly the story of tyranny, oppression, centralization — totalitarianism. The United States of America has stood athwart history for over two centuries. Our moment can pass… not in an apocalyptic way necessarily, but do we really want to be Sweden or France?”

    It Must Increase; But We Must Decrease?

  • Richard Reep at EMSI blog on Orlando’s Tourism Industry

    “As Reep outlines, the Central Florida city, among other resort towns, has been blacklisted by the federal government to host meetings and conferences because the government wants to avoid sites that “give the appearance of being lavish or are resort destinations.” A new public-sector emphasis to meet in locales such as Chicago and St. Louis hurts places like Orlando and Las Vegas, but Reep brings up another point…”

    Orlando’s Tourism Industry Hurting

  • Joel Kotkin at Instapundit on DC and the stimulus

    “JOEL KOTKIN: Rome vs. Gotham. “Urban politicians have widely embraced the current concentration of power in Washington, but they may soon regret the trend they now so actively champion. The great protean tradition of American urbanism – with scores of competing economic centers – is giving way to a new Romanism, in which all power and decisions devolve down to the imperial core. This is big stuff, perhaps even more important than the health care debate. The consequence could be a loss of local control, weakening the ability of cities to respond to new challenges in the coming decades.””

    Joel at Instapundit

  • Michael Lind Qutoted on BrothersJudd blog

    “Liberalism without labor unions?: Hey Democrats: Can liberal interest groups and social elites really form the basis of a successful political party? (Michael Lind, Aug. 25, 2009, Salon)”

    BrothersJudd.com: I woke up with what?

  • Michael Lind in BeliefNet on class struggle in politics

    “Writing from the left, Michael Lind has some pretty sobering words for his fellow liberals today, in a column asking whether or not liberalism is possible without labor unions. His point is that liberal politics today, unlike the recent past, is primarily a matter of social and cultural elites mobilized around issues that appeal primarily to educated urbanites, who typically have little interest in the economic struggles of the working-class people for whom they presume to speak.”

    Class struggle in American politics