Archive for July, 2008

This Was Filmed in Shreveport, Remember?

How could anyone forget?

H/t to Humid Haney:

Notice the trailer contains the song “What a Wonderful World,” which was first recorded by Louisiana’s own Louis Armstrong.

NYT: Gas Rush Overwhelms Small Louisiana Town

H/t to 2millionth weblog (which is easily one of the best and funniest websites in the State).

The New York Times reported today about the sudden rush of speculators who have invaded the small town of Mansfield, Louisiana (the subject of a previous blog post concerning Cleco’s encroachment on Mansfield’s Civil War battlefield, due to their drilling of lignite). Apparently, Mansfield is now home to more than a handful of overnight millionaires. It’s all the Haynesville Shale’s fault.

I immediately notice two things: Haynesville is nowhere close to what is being illustrated as the Haynesville Shale, and Samtown is included as its own municipality, even though it was annexed into Alexandria more than twenty years ago.

And they’re beside themselves.

In the space of months, the price of such rights on an acre has shot up to $30,000 from a few hundred dollars and is still climbing. Some very modest people, in a place where the Tough Steak Meat Market sits near the Triple J Motors car lot and the courthouse square is half boarded up, are becoming very wealthy, very quickly.

….

“Six months ago, you could have bought the whole parish for $1,000 an acre,” said O. L. Stone Jr., the clerk of court.

Just insane.

The county leaders and everyone around them, for mile after mile, over to Texas and up to Arkansas, in the down-at-heels city of Shreveport and in its struggling neighbors, suddenly find themselves sitting on what could prove to be the largest natural gas deposit in the continental United States.

The Times meant to say “parish leaders,” but either way, this is an interesting development, particularly considering the amount of speculation that has been done for decades in and around the Shreveport area.

Art Imitating Life (?)

Tonight, I learned of an AMC series entitled “Breaking Bad,” which features R.J. Mitte, who is apparently from Lafayette and apparently also has a very mild form of cerebral palsy (something he and I share in common). In the series “Breaking Bad,” R.J. plays the character Walter White, Jr (bold all mine).

Creeeeeepy.

Needless to say, I wholeheartedly endorse this series, which will re-run on AMC today at noon and again on August 4th at noon, even if it turns out to be terrible.

Bentley Plans

This guy has some great photos of Alexandria on his Flikr site.

Curiously, given the recently renewed conversation on the Hotel Bentley, I wonder: What do you think should be done with the old hotel?

What is the old hotel’s highest and best use?

Should the City be focused on the convention center model as the primary engine for downtown redevelopment?

From the Brookings Institution:

Faced with increased competition, many cities spend more money on additional convention amenities, like publicly-financed hotels to serve as convention “headquarters.” Another competitive response has been to offer deep discounts to tradeshow groups. Despite dedicated taxes to pay off the public bonds issued to build convention centers, many—including Washington, D.C and St. Louis—operate at a loss.

I have my own thoughts, but I’m interested to hear yours.

Chicago

I spent last weekend up in Chicago. I hadn’t been there in over a decade, and although the City, for the most part, hasn’t changed all that much, there are some notable improvements, many of which provide lessons for those of us here in Alexandria.

Like Alexandria, Chicago was also decimated by a huge fire– only seven years after General Banks ordered the scorching of our fair City. There are only a handful of buildings that survived the Great Fire of 1871, and not surprisingly, they are well-preserved gems of the urban core. When you consider this– that one of the biggest cities in the country has been completely rebuilt during the past 140 or so years, you can’t help but marvel at the tenacity of the people of Chicago. Indeed, the fire actually spurred the development of Chicago, transforming the City almost immediately.

Taken from the top of the Sears Tower.

Of course, Alexandria is a little different. With the exception of a handful of structures, most of Alexandria’s “old” buildings were constructed in the late 1890s and early 1900s. No doubt, a confluence of factors– not least of which was the Reconstruction of the South– delayed the redevelopment of Alexandria. To be sure, we rebuilt, but it wasn’t sudden or precipitous. And we’ve had some serious difficulties addressing our historic inventory and character.

But that’s not the point I am getting at. Chicago is not exactly analogous to Alexandria, but it can teach us lessons:

1. Efficient, effective public transit.

2. Catalytic public projects. Museums, libraries, parks, amphitheaters.

Frank Gehry’s incredible amphitheater.

3. Bicycle lanes.

4. And what I believe they are doing best: Public art.

Probably the best spray park in the United States

5. A Sufjan Stevens song about them.

6. And did I mention the Art Institute?

Two New Cenla Blogs

Check out:

AlexCenla

and

CenlaHistory

“But This is One Emergency We Can’t Drill Our Way Out Of”

- Texas Oilman T. Boone Pickens

Update: Pickens was a major funder of the nefarious Swift Boat campaign. I am disgusted I was duped into actually promoting him.

Pickens is buying up a ton of ad time to announce to America “The Pickens Plan,” which involves a gargantuan investment in wind and solar power technologies– renewables. He says that the United States “is the Saudi Arabia of wind power.”

You understand? A billionaire Texas oilman is finally saying: We can’t drill ourselves out of this emergency.

And he’s putting his money where his mouth is.

I’m not trying to sing his praises or anything. But it is fascinating to hear this from a Texas billionaire oilman, particularly considering the other “solutions” being offered recently.

Farms in the Sky

This is crazy:

The New York Times is featuring an article about the “new interest in vertical farms.” Quoting:

The idea, which has captured the imagination of several architects in the United States and Europe in the past several years, just caught the eye of another big city dreamer: Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president.

When Mr. Stringer heard about the concept in June, he said he immediately pictured a “food farm” addition to the New York City skyline. “Obviously we don’t have vast amounts of vacant land,” he said in a phone interview. “But the sky is the limit in Manhattan.” Mr. Stringer’s office is “sketching out what it would take to pilot a vertical farm,” and plans to pitch a feasibility study to the mayor’s office within the next couple of months, he said.

“I think we can really do this,” he added. “We could get the funding.”

Dr. Despommier estimates that it would cost $20 million to $30 million to make a prototype of a vertical farm, but hundreds of millions to build one of the 30-story towers that he suggests could feed 50,000 people. “I’m viewed as kind of an outlier because it’s kind of a crazy idea,” Dr. Despommier, 68, said with a chuckle. “You’d think these are mythological creatures.”

Smarter, Stronger Cities: Learning from the UK

Last month, Chris Webber of the Brookings Institution published a thirteen page report entitled Smarter, Stronger Cities: UK Urban Policy Innovations and Lessons for the US. The report argues that, while the UK has borrowed many land use and planning policies from the United States, they have also developed a series of innovative policies, which the US would be wise to consider.

But before exploring those policy innovations, it is important to note that the UK’s system of delivering tax dollars on a municipal level is very different than what we do in the United States. The federal “central” government “collects and distributes around 95% of all public funds.” Quoting:

In the US, by contrast, the federal system limits the national government’s capacity to influence
policies and conditions within cities. In many of the policy areas noted above, the US national government takes a back seat to state and local governments in funding and implementation. But there remains considerable scope for Washington to shape the development of US cities through its myriad investments, rules, and information tools.

Despite the clear differences between the UK and the US, there are ample opportunities for policy learning between the two countries on issues of concern to cities and urban areas. In recent years, the flow of ideas has mostly gone in one direction. The UK has borrowed and adapted several economic policy innovations developed in the US, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, the New Markets Tax Credit, and Business Improvement Districts. Few innovations have traveled in the opposite direction.

To be sure, the concentration of power over municipal infrastructure and planning decisions presents many challenges, which is why there has been a push to create municipal-level governments in the UK. For example, the position of Mayor of London was created in 2000. But we shouldn’t simply view their system as a way of consolidating power: Ultimately, this should be a discussion about the best ways to leverage our assets and efficiently and effectively deliver taxdollars back to the communities from which they are generated.

Although the United States has many outspoken champions of cities on the local level, the federal government, over the course of the last twenty years or so, has taken a backseat. The Brookings Institution argues that federal policies and programs have not adapted to the realities on the ground.

The UK has responded by setting targets for new development. Quoting:

One of the most successful of these statements established a “town center first” development principle, and was issued in 1996 by the Conservatives. This policy aims to limit the number of out-of-town, “big-box” retail developments. Retailers and developers first have to prove that an in-town development is not viable, before they can develop “edge-of-town” or out-of-town sites. Out-of-town sites are seen as the last resort, whereas in the US they remain the norm for new retail developments.

The “town center first” principle has been widely acknowledged as a success, and has played an
important role in limiting urban sprawl and underpinning the physical regeneration of city centers. Research shows that the policy significantly reduced the number of planning approvals granted to out-of-town planning applications, and helped increase the proportion of total retail floor space found in town and city centers from 25 percent in the mid-1990s to 34 percent in 2003.

Drew Ward has written about the town center methods previously on CenLamar. It’s an obvious, intuitive concept, but given the machinery of sprawl, our habits may be difficult to break without proactive leadership– on a local, state, and federal level. (The report also argues that the UK’s successes are due to leaders being unafraid to use the “bully pulpit” and demand public accountability).

Besides the town center “targets,” they have also set benchmarks for densification and brownfield redevelopment. (By the way, the City of Alexandria recently received a $200,000 hazardous material assessment grant from the EPA, which we will use to identify brownfield sites in town. We’re still in the very beginning stages of our brownfield program). Quoting:

In a similar vein, the UK government has also increased housing density and brownfield development. The housing density targets stipulate that new housing developments should be at a minimum density of between 12 and 20 units per acre, depending on the character of the area in question. On brownfield land development, the government introduced a target to have 60 percent of all new residential developments sited on brownfield land by 2008. The UK has made excellent progress against both of these targets. The brownfield target was met in 1999, and by 2006, 74 percent of new developments were taking place on brownfield land. On the density target, by 2006 new dwellings were being constructed at an average density of 40 units per hectare nationwide, much better than in 2002 when all regions except London were registering density figures of below 30 units per hectare.

Because Alexandria is in the beginning stages, it is difficult to know what the scale of our brownfield program should be. But suffice it to say, we will have to confront challenges with brownfield redevelopment and re-use no matter what.

The report makes several other suggestions, some of which seem obvious and others, like road pricing, seem difficult to implement on a national level (though there are many great arguments in support of road pricing in our major municipalities).

Interestingly, the report mentions the efficacy of holding regional, issues-based summits and conducting policy studies on best practices.

This report complements the Brookings Institution’s Blueprint for American Prosperity, which vociferously argues that the next President and next Congress must make urban development policy a top priority.

La DOTD’s Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan

The La DOTD is currently developing a statewide bicycle and pedestrian master plan, which they hope to publish some time next year. Given the ever-increasing price of oil, this is a smart and timely initiative. Creating walkable and bikeable communities is a hallmark of smart growth best practices, and it’s encouraging to see the State take a such a proactive role on this issue.

Although this is a statewide “plan,” it has the potential of affecting our state on a very local level. Consider that many (if not most) of Alexandria’s main streets (arterials) are State roads. Any responsible and truly statewide plan should consider the most effective ways of providing for safe routes within every major City in the State.

They explain the necessity of the plan (bold mine):

The La DOTD has jurisdiction over 16,700 miles of roads in the state of Louisiana. Additionally, many parishes, cities and towns throughout the state look to La DOTD for guidance and standards for roadway design. Although bicyclists and pedestrians are allowed on almost all roadways across the state (with the exception of interstates and other control of access facilities), the lack of appropriate accommodations for these groups results in conflicts between motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians. The goal of this plan is to develop official policies to guide La DOTD’s investments in bicycle and pedestrian accommodations.

Safety and accessibility concerns for all users of the transportation system has prompted the La DOTD to update their 1998 Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.

They’re holding their first set of community planning meetings in less than two weeks.

New Orleans
July 22nd
6 to 7:30PM
The Casino Building at City Park

Shreveport
July 23rd
5-6:30PM
Broadmoor Library
1212 Captain Shreve Drive

Baton Rouge
July 24th
6-7:30PM
Bluebonnet Library
9200 Bluebonnet Boulevard

Shifting Focus

Throughout the next few months, CenLamar will be focusing on a series of issues related to smart growth, sustainability, renewable energy, public safety, and recreation– issues that are essential to the redevelopment of our fair City.

For continued political analysis, we recommend you turn to our friends at The Daily Kingfish and Your Right Hand Thief. They are some of the best in the business. (And as a side note, both Daniel and I will be covering the Democratic National Convention, from the floor in Denver, on The Daily Kingfish).

There’s a good reason we’re shifting focus right now, but the main reason is timing. We are in the beginning stages of implementing one of the largest redevelopment projects in the history of Alexandria. It’s a project that will likely occupy the vast majority of our time and energy– and frankly, it should be a conversation that seeks to include people from all walks of life. It should not be hamstrung by national and statewide electoral politics. Though those issues are imminently and incredibly important, we recognize that there is a time and more importantly a place for those continued discussions.

Ultimately, this website has always been about living in Central Louisiana. By shifting focus, we hope to augment our ability to engage to our core audience– the people who live and work in Central Louisiana.

Summit Presentations Available for Download

In case you missed it, we’ve uploaded as many of the presentations as we could from last week’s Summit on Sustainability.

Check it out.

We’re also hoping to put everything up on Channel Four, once it is properly edited for television.

And one more note: We’re already in the beginning stages of planning for another Summit, which will explore a different set of issues.

Stay tuned.

Back from the Brink

Today’s paper has a great article about the efforts underway to rehabilitate Bringhurst Golf Course, a project that I was originally interested in months before the Mayor’s election (and one I am really happy to return to as a member of the administration).

The “Save the Brink” project, spearheaded by Michael, father Scott and cousin Frank, has received $100 pledges from approximately 65 individuals, as well as $55,000-60,000 in larger-scale contributions.

Bringhurst, originally known as Mashie Golf Course, is one of the three oldest par three courses in the nation, perhaps the longest continually-operated, though I’ll have to get back to you on that.

It’s a unique asset for the City of Alexandria. There aren’t many par three courses in the State– and there are even fewer courses located in the middle of town.

If you want to help out or donate to the cause, give me or Daniel a call at 318-449-5009.

Or, as instructed by a commenter on the newspaper’s website:

You may contribute to the project by making your check payable to: Central Louisiana Community Foundation-Bringhurst Project. Mail your check to: Central Louisiana Community Foundation, P.O. Box 66, Alexandria, LA 71309. You will receive an acknowledgment of your tax deductible donation.

The Summit on Sustainability: A Final Report

Granted, I may be a little biased, but yesterday’s Summit on Sustainability in Downtown Alexandria exceeded my expectations. Around 200 people from all walks of life and from all corners of the State (though, obviously, the majority of participants were from the Central Louisiana area) gathered to discuss a wide range of issues related to the concept of sustainability.

Commissioner Foster Campbell said that this may have been the very first time that the public, along with elected officials, gathered to learn and talk about this particular set of issues. (To be fair, the good people at CPEX held a Summit on Smart Growth last year and are planning a similar event this August. Notably, however, their event does not include panels on renewable energy opportunities). Hopefully, this is only the beginning of a much longer conversation, and hopefully, people are beginning to recognize the way in which all of these diverse issues are interrelated.

During her keynote address, Senator Mary Landrieu spoke about the importance of smart growth planning as well as the role of Louisiana in the burgeoning renewable energy market, suggesting that Louisiana is in a position to become a global leader in the research and development of biofuels and other forms of green energy.

We heard from a panel of experts on renewable energy, an expert on rural planning and development, an expert on expropriation and eminent domain, and a panel of impassioned and accomplished historic preservationists.

It was a long and busy day, but it was worth it: These are the issues we will be talking about for the next twenty years, and if we don’t recognize their importance right now, we’ll be left behind.

Thank you to all of the volunteers, to the men and women in the Planning Division, and to Matt Henry of the Arts Council.