For several years now, folks across Lincoln have been selling the idea that reurbanization is good. It's all part of "new urbanism", or "traditional neighborhood design", or whatever you want to call it. The best neighborhoods, they've said, are those that promote diversity: diversity of residents; diversity of modes of transportation; diversity of design; and so on. The result of their efforts has been neighborhoods like Fallbrook and Village Gardens, plus renewed efforts to rejuvenate Downtown. The Antelope Valley Project was created by and is guided by the same mentality.
Antelope Valley is where I notice an inconsistency. We are told that diversity is a good thing in Lincoln's new projects. And yet it seems like the proposed Antelope Valley design guidelines promote the opposite. The proposed guidelines encourage sameness and conformance, not uniqueness and creativity. The cost of abiding by the rules artificially raises the cost of each project. As a result, the type of use for each parcel is limited. That means fewer small, local businesses can afford to locate within the area. The residents and businesses that were or will be displaced to make room for the project? Don't count on them being able to move back in.
I'm not against development guidelines. The City has an interest in protecting its investment, and part of that involves creating the atmosphere it wants to create. That will require some rules. But an important part of dynamic, thriving urban environments is spontaneity. If the rules are too onerous or too specific -- you can judge for yourself if they are -- the environment becomes predictable, and even stale.
Regardless, it'll be interesting to watch as the Antelope Valley matures over the years. What will the area look like twenty years from now? Will all of this work and money have been worthwhile? Let's hope so.
[My apologies if this post seems incomplete. It sort of is. I had hoped to discuss this in more detail, but alas, work beckoned. If there is interest, I can write more on this topic later this week.]
Comments
See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.
Mr Wilson,
You should apply to be one of the Journal Star’s community columnists.
I have thought about that, but so far I just haven’t completed the application process. Why? I don’t know.
Tell you what, assuming I see the notice for the next round of columnists, I’ll be sure to apply. I don’t make any promises about being able to match the number of letters to the editor that your work generates, though. 😊
This is scaring me, but I would tend to agree with Neal again.
Perhaps I should see a doctor or something.
Gentrification/urbanization projects always bug the hell out of me. Sometimes the sentiment in the beginning is not bad. Once developers catch wind of profit to be made, though, they move in and the former residents and business owners of an area get pushed out into nearby areas only to be pushed out again when the cyclical process continues.
To make matters worse, city governments often give huge tax breaks to the developers while offering nothing special to the people that actually want to live in an area.
I think Lincoln is jumping a bit too quick into the “raze everything and build fresh!” mindset rather than trying for incremental change in the form of tax incentives for owners to improve property, tax incentives to buy family homes in target areas, etc. Maybe that’s just my perception.
I’m still a little bitter they found it necessary to tear down all the trees to build a park.
Anyway, I’d love to hear more on the topic from you.
I say we blight the area south of I-80, north of Yankee Hill Road, east of the west Bypass, and west of 98th Street. That ought to cover it.
Share your thoughts with the community.
Commenting is no longer permitted on this post.