Fellow Blogger Spanky: Solutions to Alexandria’s Growing Pains
(Credit: Spanky, Originally from Cenla Antics)
Spanky said…
I am sure Jacques will fully and eloquently explain his vision of urban condensation which more than likely parallels what I have been screaming. As Alexandria has grown, areas develop, age, and then blight, leaving in the blighted areas, the lower income folks, and abandoned properties that compound the problems of crime, property devaluation, fire safety, infrastructure maintenance, utilities, and sanitation, as the city cannot just choose to stop providing services in the city limits.
We do not have population increase, therefore we are consuming increasingly greater land mass to support the same number of people, while placing increased demand on all city functions over a greater area.
The natural solution would appear to be fair application of zoning and code enforcement to maintain the quality of the older neighborhoods and in the event of large scale degradation, mass demolition, and re-use of the area for re-development thereby providing for infill renewal.
One way to accomplish this would be to establish radius zones centered from the downtown area extending outward in bands gradiated to population levels and not to be expanded until the population levels are achieved.
City services would not be allowed to be extended beyond these boundaries, therefore providing economic and aesthetic incentive to look to the center to revitalize large blighted areas. While it may appear initially cost prohibitive, it may be less expensive to buy out, demolish, and redevelop older parts of town, if done on a large enough scale to retain infrastucture and condense the need for service extension.
While this may appear ludicrous on the surface, look at the areas bounded by Texas, Monroe, Rapides, and Bolton. There are approximately 2,000 addresses in that part of town that are rapidly degrading. Is it really so far fetched to believe that large numbers of dilapidated houses could be purchased for 15K a piece, reducing the lot ratio 2-1 and selling a lot for 50K thereby attracting upscale homes?
Sounds crazy until you realize that the police force would not be stretched so thin if they had less area to patrol and could focus on reducing and controlling crime in selected pockets, making them safer and more attractive. The rest is cosmetic. Once there is a base of similarly priced homes in an area, value will be supported for further development.
The main reason new development has gravitated to Jackson Street Extension and beyond has been the issue of perceived personal and property safety, combined with the ability to build modern, large, energy efficient structures. Provide those same conditions to empty lots in formerly blighted areas, and I feel people will chose to move closer to the center over time. Especially if Alexandria refuses to extend services beyond established population bands. If you don’t think that is an incentive, then price what it takes to place a house in the country.
These are estimates so use your knowledge of current pricing to adjust.
1. 3-6k for an acceptable sewerage treatment plant.
2. 5K for a well
3. $600. per pole to access nearest electricity
4. Driveway connection to nearest road.
5. Increased homeowners insurance due to reduced fire rating.
One thing is certain, and that is that the city as an organization cannot continue to expand with the attending maintenance and static tax base and boost livability standards to attract population whether it is through retention of our youth or influx.
This is my town, I love it, but I can speak the truth and that is that we have had population loss from a peak of 58,000 in the mid ’80’s to our current 46,000.
The first step is to realize this single truth indicates decline, not growth and the folks that are talking about blue sky had better wise up and look at doing things differently or pay the price.
CenLamar 
Ah, a practical approach to our urban blight. Where will the emporer and the fairy princess live?
from Town Talk
$10 million plan for downtown condos announced
By Tom Bonnette
tbonnette@thetowntalk.com
(318) 487-6340
A $10 million plan to develop 60 to 80 condominiums on Third Street in downtown Alexandria was announced today by Garry Brown, owner of the downtown Internet Café.
“We’ve done the research, and the only way to revitalize downtown is to bring people back to living downtown,” Brown said.
“The only way to do that is to build places for them to live. If we do that, new businesses will follow.”
The plan would develop and sell 60 to 80 condos above Sentry Drugs, New York Hi-Style, the Weil Co. and Brown’s café.
Brown expects to be able to break ground on the 18-month project early next year.
now thats a great idea!
The emporor and fairy princess will reside in Charles Park with the rest of the scam artists.
Some very good thoughts. I would love to see something like that happen, if you can get the slum lords to sell! And where will those displaced residents live? You have to plan for all economic levels.
Actually, look at part of the Garden District from Bolton to Chester and Marye to White Street, even parts of Polk St. That area of town was headed down until a few residents decided it was not going to happen and bought and fixed up houses in the area. It’s a good example of what a neighborhood can do to save itself.
Alexandria took a huge population hit when EAFB closed. 7% of the population basically walked out the door – and yes, I realize some of the population resided on base; however, a greater portion resided off-base. Good Earth subdivision and Deerfield are prime examples of subdivisions which took huge hits as base personnel transferred out to other bases. We have slowly been recapturing that lost population. Estimates do indicate growth, which developers are trying to stay ahead of in terms of development.
One consideration being looked at right now is to factor in what the impact on police and fire budgets and personnel these new developments will be. The same for properties being considered for annexation.
NO ONE AT THIS TIME DOES WHAT IS CALLED FISCAL IMPACT ANALYSIS ON ANY PROJECT!!! What Fiscal Impact Analysis considers is how much a community will need to spend on education, fire, police, and other emergency services – including hospitals, water, sewer, electric, etc. to serve the number of people a project brings to the community. It will also project the number of homes needed an an average price range to meet the housing needs to those that will in-migrate to the community to fill those jobs. The same analysis can be applied to residential developments.
The area you described – Texas, Monroe, Rapides and Bolton is within the boundaries of the Renewal Community Program. However, there are limitations to residential developers on receiving credits under the program. Some of the area is being reclaimed by the Great Church on Rapides and cleaned up – specifically the area in its immediate neighborhood. The area bound by Texas, Levin, Monroe and Chester are of more concern to me. This area has truly declined in the past decade and NO ONE seems to be doing anything in regards to addressing this. There are pockets of restoration from Chester north towards Bolton, but there is still much work that can be done.
A revitalization program for homeowners in blighted areas might be the answer. The problem is what do you do for those who are renting the property? In this instance you would need for the AHA to step up requirements for houses to be placed on Section 8 and force these so-called slum lords to improve their properties and require tenants to meet a higher standard as well. It can be done and has been done in much larger metros such as Chicago and Detroit. Looking to those cities for examples would be a start.
Spanky,
Where do you live?
I live in the van down by the river.
Wow, Spanky. I did not know you were helping with the downtown development. Do you get power like the guys that live in the river??
Yep, when the sun goes down I run my extension cord over to the boat dock to power my battery charger. Once the sun comes up, you never would know I was there. It one of the perks for helping with downtown development.