Haley Barbour gets religion and invites New Urbanists to rebuild MS
Love him or hate him, Mississippi's Governor Haley Barbour has invited New Urbanists to rebuild Mississippi. Duany and others have been called in to restore and rebuild the heart n soul of Mississippi.
Folks are concerned about not being told what to do. What will come of it tho is that people have an idea of what the ideal city/town/village usually involves. Most often that idea is NOT sprawl. Ugly is ugly. The New Urbanists are best able to recapture that community.
Hopefully, their neighbor next door follows on. If any city deserves New Urbanism, it is New Orleans.
It remains to be seen if local developers follow the advice. I think we know all to well that local developers can be a source of friction. On the positive side, the Governor appears to be on board. I feel that for New Urbanism to be really successfull, requires not just the local communities support but rather the support at all levels of government. The Developers who don't accept New Urbanism will play one part of government against another, ultimately undermining the effort to varying degrees.
For Peoria the challenge is to not only get the City Council on board and committed, but to get the County Board on board too. I have no doubt that if the City were to get serious about New Urbanism (they should but are not) that our local developers would simply pick up their toys and go play in the County. The County can't be letting them do this. I watched the recent dispute over requiring new development tie into the city water system. Developers did not want this because in my estimation, they wanted to keep the City out of it, enabling them to play City vs County. You also have to consider Tazwell and Woodford Counties. They too have to be supportive of Peoria's efforts. Developers will play County vs County, City vs City. Soooo..... having the Governor involved might well help curb this. To see Haley Barbour jump in and support New Urbanism (assuming his committment is genuine) is a big WIN. Our governor in Illinois is unlikely to be up to the task.
I wish them luck.
Linkage for MS and New Urbanism:
USA TODAY
Building Online
New Urban News
Talk of the Nation
NPR piece from Morning Edition
"In 30 years, when I'm dead and gone, people will look at what the coast and South Mississippi have become," Barbour told the Mississippi Legislature last month. "If it is simply a newer version of today, we will have failed those people — our children and grandchildren."
Folks are concerned about not being told what to do. What will come of it tho is that people have an idea of what the ideal city/town/village usually involves. Most often that idea is NOT sprawl. Ugly is ugly. The New Urbanists are best able to recapture that community.
Hopefully, their neighbor next door follows on. If any city deserves New Urbanism, it is New Orleans.
It remains to be seen if local developers follow the advice. I think we know all to well that local developers can be a source of friction. On the positive side, the Governor appears to be on board. I feel that for New Urbanism to be really successfull, requires not just the local communities support but rather the support at all levels of government. The Developers who don't accept New Urbanism will play one part of government against another, ultimately undermining the effort to varying degrees.
For Peoria the challenge is to not only get the City Council on board and committed, but to get the County Board on board too. I have no doubt that if the City were to get serious about New Urbanism (they should but are not) that our local developers would simply pick up their toys and go play in the County. The County can't be letting them do this. I watched the recent dispute over requiring new development tie into the city water system. Developers did not want this because in my estimation, they wanted to keep the City out of it, enabling them to play City vs County. You also have to consider Tazwell and Woodford Counties. They too have to be supportive of Peoria's efforts. Developers will play County vs County, City vs City. Soooo..... having the Governor involved might well help curb this. To see Haley Barbour jump in and support New Urbanism (assuming his committment is genuine) is a big WIN. Our governor in Illinois is unlikely to be up to the task.
I wish them luck.
Linkage for MS and New Urbanism:
USA TODAY
Building Online
New Urban News
Talk of the Nation
NPR piece from Morning Edition
posted by Mahkno at 5:50 AM
1 Comments:
Nice post. Good to see someone saying something positive about NU for a change.
Dick Lister was talking about this at the last Med-Tech (i.e., "Renaissance Park") meeting. Sounds like a great opportunity for some folks down there that have had a tough way to go recently.
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