Around two weeks ago, a friend of mine directed me to an article in the LA Weekly about how some developers have misused “smart growth” concepts to attract federal incentives to help subsidize sprawl developments, including strip malls and suburban subdivisions. Today, I noticed that fellow Cenla blogger, CenLaugh, also came across the same article, and he offers some analysis regarding the application and implementation of smart growth in Alexandria.
To be sure, CenLaugh is correct when he states that the term “smart growth” is now in common currency here in Alexandria. He writes:
It is possible that this term may have run it’s course, and it is time to coin a new phrase for the administration. There are many others that you may see in the new future and some may have been used already. Here are some examples of what other terms may be beaten to death in the near future when allotting more money to useless projects. New Urbanism, New Pedestrianism, Urban Sprawl ( I think this one has been used, maybe not on a local level though).
It is worth noting that, here in Alexandria, the term “community-based planning” has often been used in place of “smart growth,” but this is not necessarily due to the fact that “smart growth” has been overused or exploited. Indeed, unlike many other places in the United States, Alexandria is only recently discussing what smart growth means and how it can be implemented.
In order to avoid a situation in which developers can exploit “smart growth” concepts, it is critical that we all understand what exactly smart growth means– because it isn’t simply a rhetorical device or an abstraction.
Smart growth and New Urbanism seek a new approach to city planning, and in many cases, this requires cities to completely rewrite their codes and ordinances. Truth be told: New Urbanism isn’t so “new.” It’s actually based on the way people planned cities for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The birth and maturity of the Interstate Highway System and America’s subsequent reliance on automobile-centric transportation led to a host of changes in the way Americans planned cities; these changes were codified, making it much more difficult for developers to plan “traditional neighborhoods.”
To paraphrase Jim Kunstler, the author of The Geography of Nowhere, cities seemed to care more about the driver and less about the kid riding their bicycle to school. Automobile-centric planning means wider roads, more lanes, fewer sidewalks.
But it’s much more than that. We need to each, independently, read about smart growth, and if community-based planning is to occur, all Alexandrians must consider themselves as “stakeholders” in our future.
More later…
CenLamar 
Actually this is a great post. My intent is not so much to question the term smart growth. It was meant to make people aware of different examples of such smart growth, of course I sometimes ramble…hence the category of the post “rambling/news”. I still continue my learning a “work in progress” as our favorite media blogger would put it. Thanks for the insight on the situation.
cenlaugh
Peddling is an interesting term for the title. Of course the sales angle is there, but I can’t count the number of times I met people in New Orleans or Baton Rouge or other places who told me how much they loved to come up to Alexandria to cylcle in the surrounding area. Bayou Rapides is extremely popular. Our are is known for having some of the best cycling in the region, yet trying to cycle within the city of Alexandria is death wish!
Alexandria and Pineville need to follow the lead of other progressive metro area like Ithaca, NY, Maddison, WI, Pinellas County, FL, etc. and start planning the city in a way which incorporates cyclists, pedestrians, and such.
We’re already having problems with traffic and downtown will never develop as long as it is separated from the rest of town and only accessible by car.
We should really be looking for way to chart metropolitan greenways through the area. You should be able to ride your bike from The Lakes to Pineville without taking your life in your own hands. Towns with lots of cycling and pedestrian options enjoy a happier, more fit population and less traffic.
As a first step, we should get off our rumps and develop Bayou Rapides from the River to Hotwells as a paved, well lit, clean urban greenway in much the same way that New Orleans and Jefferson Parish have done with the Mississippi River Levee. This was approved years ago and the city council halted construction because they didn’t want to commit to 50K per year for landscaping and upkeep….of course I’m sure the mangled trash hole meandering through the city has mad up for the 50K with all the economic development and tourism it has brough in in its current form.
If Alexandria wants to brag about its Tree City USA status, we should be doing what we can to capitalize on it.