Minutes, first meeting, November 11, 1999

Place: Houston Environmental Center - Upper Kirby District Community Center
Organizer: David Crossley, President, Gulf Coast Institute

David Crossley opened the meeting with some overhead transparencies about market studies that have looked at the acceptability of terms within the "Livable Communities" movement.
Links to those notes:
Acrobat PDF files: Buzzwords | Getting There | Smart Growth Dynamics
Word files: Buzzwords | Getting There | Smart Growth Dynamics

After David Crossley went over the transparencies, the participants of the meeting were asked to express their point of views about how to launch the "Smart Growth Initiative" for Houston and the Gulf Coast Region. The suggestions and the comments were as follows:

o To use the already existing studies as a start, including the Vision For Houston developed in the Foresight Project.

o To start with the Imagine Houston reports, a study undertaken by City of Houston in 1994-95, but not put into use, and then integrate it with the "attributes of a livable community " diagram shown by David Crossley at the beginning of the meeting.

o Frank Blake from the Sierra Club explained that they are focused on sprawl and public transportation. He said that there are many issues and picking one particular vital area and focusing on it would be his suggestion.

o Another issue was getting more involvement of elected officials and political agencies (EPA, Governor’s Office, City) in this effort, in addition to direct expertise. Whether or not to expect initiative from government is an issue to be decided upon by the participants of the Smart Growth effort.

o Another comment was that since growth in the Gulf Coast is a regional issue, regional participation is necessary and every solution developed must consider how well the proposed solution fits the regional context .

o To develop and to put a proposed growth program into real life, money is necessary. Imagine Houston could not continue because of the money constraint and also there had been many changes to the plan.

o Cost-benefit issue should be taken into consideration when developing a context.

o Making the information published both in form of text and visual via the world wide web will make it more widespread and can attract more input. "Availability of information" to as many people as possible can be realized through this approach.

o Another comment was nonexistence of an organization with authority for planning in the region. Another view was the difficulty of comprehending community based issues over a region, too broad to comprehend.

o Building public support is necessary. For this, more definition and clarification of issues is necessary.

o It's necessary to be more specific, especially to get politicians interest.

o Perception of "Smart Growth" is important to get public and political involvement. Some politicians view Smart Growth as something radical and negative. The definition of the program should make it clear that the goal is developing options for the region. In this context, redefining the title, ex., to "livable communities" may be considered.

o Proactive plans like The Dallas Plan developed by the City of Dallas, and West University Place Community Plan can be used as examples. Also, research in similar communities and finding out their tools is important. This can also be useful in getting more public participation through showing the public the existing model communities and examples, ex., for light rail.

o Practicality and realistic approach is necessary to realize the goals set by "Smart Growth".

o Available tools to implement the plan should be described. Greater Houston Partnership can be used as a tool. Also, the Picture Houston Community Image Survey should be made a tool available to everybody to identify the desires of different groups (by age, gender and area).

o A committee to coordinate with the local government should be considered.

o An "Urban Extension Program" to make the tools developed for the urban area to the region may be considered. Gulf Coast Institute’s role in this is to serve as a clearinghouse for information.

o Is zoning the inhibitor or facilitator of redevelopment? Do zoning and mixed use mix? To answer these questions, model communities should be researched.

o How to link small area solutions to regional solutions is an issue that could be further researched and described.

o Visions, solutions and choices should be regional. When making transportation plans, the whole region should be considered.

o Again, Frank Blake emphasized that since the subject is too broad, developing a vision for the whole region and including all the growth issues but focusing on a couple of vital issues such as transportation is necessary.

o More involvement of the public sector in Houston and appropriate role of the public sector should be addressed.

o A participant commented on the perception of "Smart Growth" as radical. To prevent this, redefining definite objectives and involvement of the Greater Houston Partnership would be helpful.

o Inclusion and participation of people from different groups, ie., community, environmental , economical and educational is important.

o To raise consciousness on some issues like housing, water, regional open spaces , inclusion of these issues into educational curriculum at public schools is necessary.

o Developing a Systems approach at macro level and then applying it to more specific areas is another suggestion.

o Toward the end of the meeting, it was decided to develop committees on transportation, environment, and a vision group. These groups may begin their work by looking into similar studies as a start.

o Next meeting Date: December 15, 1999 at Houston Environmental Center.

o The Americas at 2345 Navigation Boulevard might be used as a meeting place for future meetings.

o The notes of today’s meeting will be made available before the next meeting to give the participants the chance to review what has been discussed.

o Invitation of people from the Greater Houston Partnership to the December 15 meeting should be arranged.

– Minutes prepared by Betul Roberts