Pueblog USa
Friday, February 24, 2006
Growth and Revitailization
Plans within plans within plans….and codifcation thereof.
Interesting article in today’s Pueblo Chieftain.
All about how the City Fathers are looking at getting their act together vis-a-vis critical issues; Growth and Revitalization.
I’m a big fan of going about things like this in an organized manner. Heaven knows the town is something of a hodge-podge of helter-skelter planning and management of growth. All you need do is drive around a bit to notice that. So planning for growth and for revitalizing should be very high on their list of priorities. It would probably help if they followed through on plans as well. But even more important, it would be good if they got good advice. The question comes to mind as to whose advice they are heeding.
But let’s look at the article. I think there are some interesting things in there we should all pay attention to.
Those challenges [...how the government can promote development while encouraging growth and revitalization in some of the city’s oldest neighborhoods…] likely will rise to the top of a very long list for Jerry Pacheco, the city’s planning director. Creating a site planning ordinance will be a part of that process.
I’d like to get to know Mr. Pacheco a LOT better. Maybe give him my copy of SimCity and watch how he plays it. I understand that there are ways to get your geographic maps loaded into this excellent simulation. Then again, I understand that there are some truly ‘professional’ simulations that the city planners are supposed to be using in doing this sort of thing. I’d like to see them play with those. Heck….I’d like to play with them myself. I’m a BIG fan of using simulations for training and planning purposes. Nothing like throwing an army division made up of electrons at a heavily fortified position in order to see what happens before one throws real flesh and blood against real walls and steel. I suppose the same is true in situations where one has to decide whose neighborhood to ravage in order to promote city ‘growth and revitalization’. That is, if one has to try to pull a Kelo v. New London.
I wonder if those professional simulation include political affects? What is the political downside of demolishing the homes of some poor blue-collar family that lived in a house for generations as opposed to condemning, seizing and razing the house of Bill Gates? Or, in our case, CW Smith?
I wonder why we never hear of the latter scenario?
Such an ordinance wouldn’t necessarily be a new law, but an effort to combine existing development laws, and organize them in one section of the city’s voluminous code book.
Organizing the city ordinances into a succinct and easily understood document that any high school graduate could speak about would be a GREAT idea. Indeed. I think it should be THE ideal. However, I suspect that a good number of lawyers might object, as they could be out of a job.
The real challenge would be for the teachers. They need to bring the high school graduates up to a level that can understand what lawyers put into such things as city ordinances.
“Really, what we’re talking about is making the codes very clear and very easy to understand,” Pacheco said.
Easy? Great! For whom? Therein lies the proverbial rub. I sure hope he plans on doing the Napoleon approach to testing whether a code is “very clear and very easy to understand”.
For the uninformed, Napoleon—one of the greatest military generals in history—would have a simple soldier of his army brought into read any major orders that he sent to his subordinate commanders. The theory was that if a simple soldier could understand the order, by God, his commander should.
It may also help the department as it addresses other issues, ranging from parking on front lawns to creating a conservation zoning district for Bessemer that could encourage infill and redevelopment.
These are good ideas, if they are implemented well. However, as I’ve commented above, there seems to be issues with how things have been implemented in the past. Or maybe they were issues with planning. Either way, I think we can do a lot better.
The council and the planning commission talked about a number of different issues and possible ways to solve them, but no official action was taken.
Good. I’d like to see what they are planning BEFORE we get to the point of ‘official action’.
The conversation touched upon the possibility of creating a transportation utility to help pay for road improvements in the city and how that concept might be expanded into a regional transportation authority to address connectivity issues throughout the county.
We probably need to do SOMETHING about the transportation issues around here. There are significant indications that there is a need for a bridge over the rail yards in the vicinity of 11th Street. Such a bridge would provide great access to the downtown area; an area of interest with regards to ‘revitalization’.
Unfortunately, such a bridge would have to be built on city funds. As it is not a state or federal roadway that it would support. So, where is the money going to come from? Three guesses. First two don’t count.
But then again, maybe the money is already available? It’s just going to different places at this time. After all, Pueblo has close to, if not actually, the highest taxation rate in the state. More on THAT later….
City Manager David Galli also said there are some neighborhoods outside of the city limits where property owners signed extraterritorial agreements to use Pueblo water and eventually be annexed into the city when the time is right.
Galli asked the commission to identify some of those neighborhoods that may be in the city’s best interest to annex.
“It may not be very popular with the property owners, but we need to remind them that they signed an agreement and they are getting city water through these agreements,” Galli said.
Specifically, he said there may be some neighborhoods west of city park that are ready, even if the property owners are not.
This will be interesting to watch. And in more ways than one. I remember efforts on the part of Colorado Springs to annex the Broadmore area. That was fun to watch too. One way or another, it will make fine reading.
Finally, commission member Jean Latka asked that the landscaping ordinance be enforced in order to keep trees healthy in both old and new subdivisions.
Latka said landscaping is part of the overall aesthetic of the community and helps make the city attractive to new people and aids economic development.
Here’s another person I’d like to watch more closely. There is SOOOO much that could be done with regards to the downtown area. I’m curious as to what is planned and how it is going to be implemented.
All in all, it’s going to be interesting to get involved in this. And that is EXACTLY what I think everyone in town ought to do; get INVOLVED.
As I’ve often said, “Everybody ought to have a hobby.” And keeping an eye on what other people are planning to do with your community is probably one of the best.
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