November 12, 2004

G U L F  C O A S T  G R O W T H  N E W S

A publication of the Gulf Coast Institute

NOTABLE QUOTES

≥What people need to hear, loud and clear, is that we're running out of energy in America.≤

- George W. Bush, press conference, May 7, 2001. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2889/is_18_37/ai_75646081

≥The situation is desperate. This is the worldπs biggest serious question.≤

- Houstonian Matthew Simmons, Chairman of the worldπs largest investment banking practice serving the energy industry, talking about the possibility that global oil production is peaking while demand continues to rise. See Smart Growth Initiative note. http://www.simmonsco-intl.com/research.aspx?Type=msspeeches

SMART GROWTH INITIATIVE

Next meeting: Peak energy and urban form, November 17

Many in and out of the energy business believe global oil production will peak soon – if it hasnπt already – and that sharply rising demand for energy will produce a world in which energy is no longer cheap. What might be the effects of more costly energy as it relates to urban form, particularly suburban and exurban expansion? The next meeting is Wednesday, November 17, noon-1:30 pm, Houston-Galveston Area Council, 3555 Timmons, second floor. Bring your lunch. For more information call 713-523-5757. The Gulf Coast Institute and the Houston-Galveston Area Council host Livable Houston/Smart Growth bring-your-own-lunch meetings that are open to the public on the fourth Wednesday of every month. http://www.gulfcoastinstitute.org <http://www.gulfcoastinstitute.org>

REGIONAL NOTES

Downtown Houston—the next phase

Framework envisions urban density, cosmopolitan lifestyle

The Houston Downtown Management District has released its Houston 2025 framework, which depicts and predicts a thoroughly developed, densely populated downtown.  The document is called a ≥framework≤ because it is more a vision than a plan. The website features a video of the diverse, green neighborhoods that will become part of downtown as surface parking lots are filled with mid-rise housing, and some converted into parks. One of the most visionary aspects of the framework is a proposal to move the section of I-45 on the western edge of downtown some 500 feet further west. The document also traces the development of downtown over the past 20 years. http://www.houstondowntown.com/Home/BreakingNews/Downtownin2025/ <http://www.houstondowntown.com/Home/BreakingNews/Downtownin2025/>

$9.4 million awarded for Katy Freeway ≥taking≤

Costs rising for I-10 expansion

Three landowners whose property was condemned by the State for expansion of the Katy Freeway were awarded $9.4 million dollars by a Harris County jury on October 6, according to a summary in the November 8 issue of Texas Lawyer.  (State of Texas v. Reina)  One of the tracts of land condemned for this project was a three-acre parcel owned by siblings Teri Reina, Catherine Danna, and Jim Reina.  The property had been in the defendantsπ family since about 1913, and Danna's restaurant and catering business was on it, as was Jim Reina's veterinary clinic. The estimated cost of the freeway expansion has risen to $2.4 billion, or nearly $100 million dollars per mile. A significant part of the cost is for right of way.

Building codes for historic structures seminar

The Houston-Galveston Building Industry Council will hold the second part of its two-part series, Building Codes for Historic Structures, on Monday, November 17 from 11:30-1:30 pm at the Houston AIA office, 3000 Richmond, suite 500. Topics covered include plumbing, electrical, energy, and mechanical. Architects can receive continuing education credits. Participants can register by sending a check for $40 to Preservation Texas; PO Box 12832; Austin, Tx 78711, or call 512-472-0102 with a credit card number. Enrollment is limited to 35.

TEXAS NOTES

Rail for Austin

Capital Metro referendum passes

Four years after Capital Metroπs first rail proposal met defeat at the polls, a scaled-down plan was approved by 62 percent of Austin voters. The approved plan features a 9-stop, 32-mile commuter line running from Leander to downtown Austin. The train will travel on already existing tracks and deposit passengers at the Convention Center, where circulator buses will transfer them to downtown destinations. This approved plan, projected to initially cost $60 million, is considerably less ambitious than the narrowly defeated 2000 proposal, which would have cost $1.9 billion and covered 52 miles. Capital Metro board Chairman Lee Walker said, "I think this is a really big deal. This is the first time our regional neighborhood has come together. We should be proud we're a part of it." http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/11/3rail_r.html?UrAuth=aN`NUObNTUbTTUWUXUUUZTZUUUWU^UaUZUaUcUcTYWVVZV <http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/11/3rail_r.html?UrAuth=aN%60NUObNTUbTTUWUXUUUZTZUUUWU%5EUaUZUaUcUcTYWVVZV>

NOTES FROM OTHER PLACES

ENERGY

A ≥new Apolloπ project≤

Energy independence is the goal

Energy independence is technically possible, but at what cost?  Because 70 percent of oil is used for transportation, billions of dollars would have to be spent on ≥retooling the car,≤ according The Christian Science Monitor. But a number of institutes have released reports calling for just such massive expenditures. Labor and environmental groups back the "New Apollo Project,≤ a plan to invest $300 billion over 10 years in dozens of energy projects, from hybrid cars to factories to high-speed rail. The predicted results include 3.3 million new jobs; 91 million high-mileage vehicles on the road; $284 billion saved in energy use; and at least a 54 percent cut in Persian Gulf oil imports.  Conservative think tanks have also released plans. The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and the Hudson Institute have declared US dependence on Mideast oil a national security risk. Their joint plan, "Set America Free," calls for $12 billion in incentives paid over four years to automakers and consumers to create a market for flexible-fuel cars that run on biofuels, and on hybrid and "plug-in hybrid" gas-electric cars. The Pentagon has joined in with its ≥Winning the Oil Endgame" plan, authored by The Rocky Mountain Institute. This plan calls for cars to be built from the ultra-light carbon-fiber material used to create fighter jets.  $180 billion would be invested over 10 years to pay for market incentives so that by 2025 most cars will be built of carbon composites. http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1021/p13s02-stct.html?s=hns <http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1021/p13s02-stct.html?s=hns>

TRANSPORTATION

Smaller, fuel-efficient cars are back in style

Hybrids, diesels lead the way

Spurred by rising gas prices, 2005 is shaping up as the year of the smaller, fuel-efficient car, according to The Christian Science Monitor. Sales of larger SUVs are slumping, while smaller SUV and mini-van sales are up by 6 percent. Also, led by Toyota and Honda, the hybrid market is starting to boom. Even diesel-powered cars, made exclusively by Volkswagen, may be poised for improved sales. Diesel sales had slipped because the engines donπt meet the tougher federal emissions requirements coming in 2007. But engineers hope that by the end of 2006, reformulated diesel fuel will allow diesels to burn cleanly enough.  And, unlike gasoline engines, diesel engines can burn a wide variety of fuels. With a fairly simple conversion that costs less than $1,000 to install, these engines can burn recycled french-fry oil that drivers can get for free. Still, hybrids attract the most attention. In fact, 2005 is looked on as a key test year for the technology. Are the hybrids mere fads for people looking to try something new? Or are people now committed to driving more fuel-efficient cars?  http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1018/p13s01-wmgn.html <http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1018/p13s01-wmgn.html>

Hummer on steroids

Hummers get bigger as sales decline

It may not be long before even drivers of the Hummer get a fright when they look in their rear-view mirrors, according to a story from the Independent, reprinted in Common Dreams. Trailing them will be a set of wheels even bigger, greedier and more eye-catching than their own.The US Army and the Chicago manufacturer International Truck and Engine Corporation are jointly developing a replacement for the venerable Humvee troop transporter, from which the Hummer was derived. The army also wants the vehicles to be marketed to other customers such as government agencies or regular Joes who only feel right using a stepladder to get behind the wheel.  The ≥Smart Truck≤ would weigh 8,000 pounds, compared to nearly 5,000 pounds for the second generation Hummer, the H2. It would be about 3in higher than the Hummer and 4ft longer, but its fuel consumption would be lower. In the meantime, sales of the Hummer in the first 10 months of this year were down by a fifth compared to 2003. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1110-26.htm

Transit measures approved nationwide

80 percent win rate

22 of 28 transit-related ballot measures, with projected costs of over $40 billion, were approved by voters across the country, according to a press release from the Center for Transportation Excellence.  18 such measures had already passed this year, for a total of 40 approved projects nationwide.  Increasing transportation options was a non-partisan issue. Of the states that passed initiatives, seven went for President Bush and four went for Senator Kerry. Voters in western cities such as Denver and Phoenix approved rail plans, while voters in metropolitan DC also voted for increased transit. ≥This has been a record year for transit initiatives. Weπve seen a significant jump in the number of transit initiatives on the ballot and in how many passed,≤ said Stephanie Vance, program manger for the Center for Transportation Excellence. ≥This year has also shown that itπs not just big metro areas that are clamoring for transit; medium and smaller communities like Parkersburg, West Virginia; El Paso County, Colorado; and Kalamazoo, Michigan also see its benefits.≤ http://www.cfte.org/success/2004BallotMeasures.asp

Highways a la francaise

US could learn from Gallic approaches to road design

The French have learned to build beautiful, environmentally sensitive roads, according to columnist Whitney Gould of the Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal. Gould describes the roads ≥lined with sun-dappled allees of plane trees≤ that lead into medieval villages. ≥The ancient treesäform a Gothic vault that makes one's entrance into a village almost ceremonial.≤  Gould praises the way the French build enormous underground parking garages, and place parking places in unexpected places, so that cityscapes remain as little affected as possible. She also appreciates the French system of tollroads which ≥offered first-rate services and were magnificently landscaped, right down to the raised medians flowering with oleander, lantana and other plants.≤ The roads even feature bridges for animal crossings. Gould wonders how the French would have approached Milwaukeeπs recent decision to expand 1-94.  The city debated between double-decking the freeway, with its attendant noise pollution, and destroying cemeteries to widen it. The French solution ≥would be to junk that Hobson's choice in favor of a tunnel. And it would probably be ornamented with beautiful mosaics. Vive la France.≤  http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/oct04/267546.asp <http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/oct04/267546.asp>

URBANISM

Suburban developers moving downtown

Builders find profit in urbanism

Because of the growing scarcity of land near urban centers, suburban developers are increasingly looking to inner-city neighborhoods for new development, according to BusinessWeek. "As land becomes rarer, you have to look for new areas where you can drive growth," says home builder Bruce E. Karatz.  He also vows that urban projects "will be a bigger part of our business.≤ The transition isnπt always easy. Urban development, with its environmental, preservationist, and neighborhood concerns, is much more complicated than exurban development - but not necessarily less profitable. A recent Pulte Homes development in Emeryville, CA was very costly, mostly due to environmental cleanup factors. But the development's one- and two-bedroom condos sell briskly at roughly $475 per square foot, yielding a return on capital of greater than 20 percent - comparable to Pulte's suburban developments.  Townhouses, usually built in urban areas, now make up 13 percent of all new home sales, opposed to 10 percent in 1999. http://www.businessweek.com/@@Gk7NtYUQvbbHrgcA/magazine/content/04_38/b3900058_mz011.htm <http://www.businessweek.com/@@Gk7NtYUQvbbHrgcA/magazine/content/04_38/b3900058_mz011.htm>

Planning for Nashville

Group recommends ridding downtown of Interstates

Nashvilleπs Civic Design Center has recommended the city tear down the Interstate loop that circles downtown and replace it with boulevards, parks, and residential and commercial developments, according to The Tennessean.  The proposal, part of the Plan for Nashville, comes in four gradual steps. First the city should beautify and landscape the Loop. Second, it should connect neighborhoods on either side of the freeway with bridges and tunnels. Third, the cloverleaf exits and entrances downtown should be eliminated, freeing up hundreds of acres for development. Finally, the stretch of Interstate that passes through downtown should be converted into an urban boulevard. ''What has been a barrier now becomes an avenue and a destination pulling the sections of the city together,≤ according to the Design Center. The Plan for Nashville is an attempt to envision the next 50 years of the cityπs development. http://www.tennessean.com/growth/archives/04/09/59257570.shtml?Element_ID=59257570 <http://www.tennessean.com/growth/archives/04/09/59257570.shtml?Element_ID=59257570>

Wall against sprawl

Mixed results in King County

King County, WA has released the results of a study documenting the successes and failures of the Seattle areaπs war on sprawl. According to The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, anti-sprawl measures have indeed drastically reduced the percentage of farm acreage being lost to development. The percentage of new subdivision lots consuming rural land has dropped from 15 percent in the early 1990s to just 4 percent.  25 percent of new housing units have been created in already existing urban centers.  ≥I think we surpassed our vision," said King County Executive Ron Sims. "Residential growth is increasingly focused in cities where urban infrastructure can support it, while in the rural areas a wall against sprawl now exists." But poverty and unemployment have also risen, and because of the lack of affordable housing, more workers have to drive long distances to their jobs. Sixty-nine percent of all commuters drive alone. If the economy improves, local authorities expect congestion problems.  Environmentally, the county has slowed the once dramatic lost of forest to a virtual halt.  http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/196338_growth22.html <http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/196338_growth22.html>

Vertigo: Then and Now

Website explores physical changes to San Francisco

By comparing stills from Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 classic "Vertigo <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/> " with photographs taken in the same location and from the same angle in 2003, viewers can see how San Francisco has and has not changed in 45 years.  Photographs are accompanied by annotations that describe both changes and continuities. Tree growth is especially notable.  http://www.basichip.com/vertigo/main.htm <http://www.basichip.com/vertigo/main.htm>

From Toronto to St. Louis

Urban designer finding transition rough

After 21 years as planning director of Toronto, Rollin Stanley became planning director of St. Louis.  According to The Riverfront Times, Stanley was looking for a challenge—and he got one. He left planning-friendly Canada for developer-friendly US, and is dismayed at the resistance heπs found. Stanley particularly wants to do away with downtown's one-way streets, which are good for funneling traffic, but crippling for retail. He also wants buildings to convert their basements to include showers for bicyclists, and says that bike lanes should meander alongside major thoroughfares. Stanley envisions a pedestrian paradise where workers, residents, and visitors can window-shop and run errands. He also wants to toughen Missouri's planning and zoning laws. But his ideas and recommendations, though commonplace in Toronto, would horrify St. Louis developers, laments Stanley. ≥If people here even heard about the [planning] process up there, they'd fall to the ground and start coughing up hairballs."  One of Stanleyπs biggest challenges lies in getting residents to value urban density. "Density, to some people in St. Louis, is a four-letter word," Stanley says. But heπs trying to make people understand that great cities are dense, and that urban density in itself is desirable. http://www.riverfronttimes.com/issues/2004-10-13/news/feature_1.html <http://www.riverfronttimes.com/issues/2004-10-13/news/feature_1.html>

New Urbanism—in a kayak

Developers paddle and peddle their dream

Katie Selby, 28, and her brother Jed, 25, are professional kayakers, and budding urbanists. According to The Denver Post, they intend to combine their two passions by developing a New Urbanist community along the banks of Coloradoπs Arkansas River. The siblings hadnπt planned to become developers. But when development threatened a beloved stretch of river, the two pooled family resources and bought the Buena Vista, CO property. They then began a crash, two-year course in New Urbanism, and have now released plans to build a 315-unit development featuring dense development with homes, offices, and shops amid plazas and parks. The focal point of the project is the river, where the siblings plan to build the world's longest whitewater kayak park.  In the process, they hope to restore honor to the business of development. ≥Something has happened to the way things are built that has ruined the stature and reputation of developers," Jed says. "We are hoping to change that," Katie adds. They have sold reservations on 21 of the 22 units in Phase 1, mostly to fellow kayakers.  http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~33~2486305,00.html <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~33~2486305,00.html>

IMMIGRATION

The rise of the ≥ethnoburb≤

Suburban ethnic enclaves changing the face of cities

Changing immigration patterns are having a profound affect on cities and their suburbs, according to Maisonneuve. The article, which mostly, but not exclusively, looks at Canadian cities, notes both that suburbs are becoming more ethnically diverse, and that the immigrants themselves are different now. Poor, uneducated immigrants are not a thing of the past, but more well off, well educated immigrants are joining them. These latter immigrants, who tend to be from Asia—South Asia, Iran, China—often congregate in ≥ethnoburbs≤ where they can enjoy Western opportunities without losing contact with their culture. The article looks at Richmond, an affluent suburb of Vancouver, which is 40 percent Chinese, and at Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area, home to large Afghan and South Asian communities. These communities are often economically isolated from other poorer neighborhoods, which can be home to the immigrants of the same nationalities. Some ethnoburbs have created friction, as in Richmond, where wealthy Chinese immigrants began building ≥McMansions,≤ in disregard of local building styles. http://www.maisonneuve.org/blog/index.php?itemid=582 <http://www.maisonneuve.org/blog/index.php?itemid=582>

EDUCATION

Inner city entrepreneurs go to school

Program educates business owners who have survived startup

The Inner City Entrepreneurs (ICE) program in Boston has been teaching urban business owners how to expand their operations, and to create more inner-city jobs in the process, according to The Christian Science Monitor.  The program, which offers after-hours business classes and networking opportunities, is the brainchild of Boston University sociologist Daniel Monti, who designed the program when his research showed that inner-city businesses often stagnate because they don't broaden their customer base beyond their neighborhoods or ethnic communities.  ICE is unusual because such help usually goes to startups.  But most startups fail, so ICE decided to work with existing businesses instead. Students have access to business teachers and to ICEπs networking connections. The service has been invaluable for business owners such as Matthew St. Onge of Take Boston Building Materials Co-Op. "The co-op has a history of being the hippy-dippy hardware store," says St. Onge, but in 2003 it increased sales by nearly 50 percent and suddenly the staff had trouble keeping up. "I never really had formal business training, and I've thought many times about stopping and going to school to learn more," says St. Onge.  Students pay $1,000 for the course, a fee that's kept low by a grant from the Citizens Bank Foundation. http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1012/p11s02-legn.html?s=hns <http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1012/p11s02-legn.html?s=hns>

TECHNOLOGY

High tech in the inner city

Plan to wire Philadelphia neighborhood

Urban planners and a community group want to bring wireless Internet access, a community technology center, and new housing and commercial development to a North Philadelphia neighborhood shared by low-income residents and Temple University, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. Mathew Davis, a Temple University geography and urban studies professor, will use a $900,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to train neighborhood high-school students to use computer software to map vacant and occupied land and buildings for potential future development.  In a related development, neighborhood activist group Asociacion de PuertoriqueÒos en Marcha (APM) plans to construct 55 houses that will include personal computers and possibly wireless Internet. The most ambitious part of APM's "Technology Initiative" calls for transforming an area regional rail station into a 20,000-square-foot media center.  APMπs Rose Gray said the groupπs primary goal is to train neighborhood youth about computers and information technology. "We just saw that our kids don't have access to this and that's putting them behind. We call it social software. Your jobs now depend on computers."  The plan will cost millions of dollars, but community leaders are optimistic about funding. "There's a growing list of foundations, organizations, banks, even private companies that are interested in technology initiatives," says urban planner Scott Page. Moreover, this plan to wire an inner-city neighborhood fits with Philadelphiaπs announced desire to increase internet access.  http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/9888996.htm <http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/9888996.htm>

INCOME

Economic segregation

Trend strongest in Sun Belt, including Houston

On the national level, the income gap between central cities and suburbs did not widen during the 1990s, following 20 years of increasing economic polarization, according to a Brookings Institution report. But specific areas did see the gap expand. In New England and the Midwest,  ≥the gap is still wide and growing.≤  The gap is widest in Sun Belt cities, including Houston. But the already smaller gaps in the West and South narrowed. The report also finds that, as a result of the widening of the income gap during the 1980s, ≥just over 60 percent of suburban residents live in middle-income suburbs today, versus nearly 75 percent 20 years ago.≤ Instead there are now more extremes of wealthy and low-income suburbs. Also, most of the growth in the number of poor and affluent places occurred because middle-income places became poorer or more affluent.   http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20041018_econsegregation.htm <http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20041018_econsegregation.htm>

GOVERNMENT

LAπs mystery blogger blogs no more

Blogger afraid of being exposed

The anonymous ≥4th Floor Blogger≤ at Los Angeles City Hall recently pulled the plug on his or her mischief making.  But in just two months of operation, the blog had become ≥a must-read among the ambitious, well-dressed folks who prowl the fourth floor of City Hall setting policy for Los Angeles and worrying about their place in its power structure,≤ according to the Los Angeles Times.  The blogger had given behind-the-scenes peeks at City Council action, and occasionally shown council members in a less-than-flattering light. In recent posts the blogger had become more titillating, creating ≥10 Hottest≤ lists for both male and female city employees. But just as the site ≥was beginning to sizzle,≤ the blogger posted a final message, ≥Adios. The blog is closing because interest in my identity ä has compromised my ability to protect confidential sources." Mayoral hopeful Bob Hertzberg intervened Thursday afternoon with a last-ditch attempt to save the weblog by offering the blogger a protected space on his own mayoral website. But the blogger, still fearing exposure, declined his offer. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-blog22oct22,1,2014282.story <http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-blog22oct22,1,2014282.story>

EVENTS

REGIONAL

Blueprint Houston Leaders' conference, Nov 20, George R. Brown Convention Center, 8:30 am – 12:30 pm. To register for the conference, contact Heidi Sweetnam at hsweetnam@blueprinthouston.org.           

NATIONAL

New Partners for Smart growth, Jan. 27-29, 2005, Miami Beach. The 4th annual conference sponsored by the Local Government Commission and Penn State.  http://www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/SmartGrowth/

Note to readers: If you have news to share, have reports from events, or would like to add subscriber names, please let us know at issues@gulfcoastideas.org.

Prepared by David Theis