Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas
Well I doubt suburban neighborhoods will be "destroyed". Most of the development would happen on the main arteries. The only way bigger projects could be built on smaller residential streets is to actually demo those neighborhoods completely and widen those streets. It would be like starting over. Personally, I'd rather see all our fugly apartment complexes demoed for more urban projects. I hate HATE apartment complexes. Their fenced off borders and maze of parking lots. Sure, they're packing in more people onto that property, but it is NOT urban. Even skyscrapers can be suburban. Density by itself isn't urban, it's how it interacts with its surroundings that makes it truly urban. And I would actually be against the idea of demolishing neighborhoods since it would also mean destroying our city's tree canopy of 200+ year old Oaks.
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I feel you. Apartment complexes are
not urban. But they
are more likely to be demolished. They're easier to be bought out, because they have single owners, whereas neighborhoods of suburban houses have completely decentralized ownership. It's just a
huge nightmare. I like the idea of demolition of these neighborhoods, because these neighborhoods are such serious problems, with almost no solution in sight. They might as
well be fenced off, because there's no reason for any person to go into them unless they live there or are visiting someone who lives there.
Is it possible to retrofit them, so that they're mixed-use? I don't know. Doesn't seem likely. Residents and Neighborhood Groups would be against it, because it would mean that their neighborhoods would see increased pedestrian activity and through-traffic. In other words, they would be incorporated into the city (not secluded from it) and they can't have that!
When I was young, probably in my early teens (this would have been the late 90's), there was this sno-cone trailer in this lot on North Lamar, really close-by my neighborhood; within walking distance. Maybe some of you remember it. It was run by this old, retired couple. They sold shaved ice. Really a labor of love for them. Sno-cones on hot summer days. For the kiddos. You could mix any flavors you wanted. Every kid in my neighborhood in the summer would set out from their doorstep on a walk to this sno-cone place. We couldn't drive, so this is what we did. It was glorious. The place ended up getting really popular. But after a few summers, they stopped coming out.
The point of the story is that suburban housing subdivisions are desperate for places like these. They're each a desperate, hungry, untapped market and keeping commerce out of them is unnatural and the result of overbearing government restrictions. The only companies that are able to penetrate and capitalize on these markets are ice cream truck companies. And, even then, not very well, because they're forced to be mobile, and not stationary. I would be okay with not demolishing these neighborhoods -- because I do love their greenness and abundance of majestic old oaks -- if there was an easing of the zoning laws that keeps out commerce. Stores belong in these neighborhoods. Not
just outside of them;
IN them.
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