Universities step up to the plate of City Redevelopment

The Wall Street Journal recently wrote an article about universities across the country becoming major city developers and de facto planning commissions of their own neighborhood. The main focus of the article was on the University of Pennsylvania's (UPENN) $2 Billion redevelopment of a 42 acre parcel on the Schukill River, which separates the campus from downtown Philadelphia, that will include a 50 story plus high-rise.

Proposed UPENN redevelopment site

Focusing on UPENN, which has been lauded by many developers and universities outside of Philadelphia for successful redevelopment and partnership with surrounding neighborhoods and the university, leads the question of whether having universities as a developer or a de facto city planning agency is ultimately a good thing for cities.

The answer would seem obvious in UPENN's example, the redevelopment of the site will bring over 4,000 new jobs and the University has the resources and capital that the city of Philadelphia does not, with UPENN almost having an operating budget larger than the entire operating budget of the city. There is a down side that is not talked about, especially in UPENN's example outside of Philadelphia. UPENN's continues growth beyond it's campus whether it's for university use or economic development growth has uprooted many long term residents and has almost totally cleared some neighborhoods original character.

While change is inevitable, many neighborhoods adjacent to UPENN feel that change is only accommodated when the old neighborhood is completely removed and their needs go unaccounted for as new residents reek the benefits of new amenities that long term residents never had. Many long term residents do not feel their neighborhood were gentrified, they feel their neighborhoods were steam rolled over by the university.

With the previous example in mind, one has to wonder about the danger of having a university, which is still a private entity take on de facto planning roles that should be handled by a city planning agency which could help better integrate existing needs of a neighborhood with the the new demands of a university. If Universities are left alone solely to be the developer they may only look out for the interests of their clientele which are the students and faculty who are a lot of times of a different socio-economic class then the residents of adjacent neighborhoods and expect different needs and services.

So what is your opinion of Universities becoming major developers or de facto planners? Has University development been successful or unsuccessful in cities where you live? Let us know.

Reclaiming a historic restaurant in Baltimore

Yesterday the Baltimore Sun reported that the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC)reached a deal to buy the historic and iconic Chesapeake Restaurant which is located on Charles Street near Penn railroad station. BDC proposes shops, restaurants, a gallery and condos for the site.

Excerpt from the article:

"The BDC selected Station North Development Partners LLC in 2005 to build Chesapeake Square - then proposed as an estimated $40 million to $50 million project with shops, restaurants, an art gallery, subsidized artists' lofts, a 91-unit condominium tower and 11 townhouses."

This deal is not only important in providing commercial activity near Baltimore's train station which is currently almost non-existent or out of visible sight to travelers but will help invigorate the Charles North community which is sandwiched in between the prominent neighborhoods of Charles Village to the north and Mount Vernon to the south. Filling in the gap of development along Charles street can only make the corridor stronger and help revitalize the intersection of Charles Street and North Avenue, which is one of the city's most prominent intersections but has been in decline for the last three to four decades.

Currently there are some positive signs that the crucial intersection of Charles St. and North Ave. is coming back online with the redevelopment of the North Avenue Market site but there is still signs of a weak market with the failed redevelopment of condos on Calvert Street just a few blocks away which was also in close proximity to the train station.

Hopefully, the new proposal by BDC will provide a stronger link to the train station as well as provide more density and amenities to the site and neighborhood that will attract potential residents and frequent passerbys from the city but also from the much coveted D.C. commuter crowd as well.

The Next Slum

The Atlantic Magazine recently wrote an article titled, The Next Slum, about the rapid decline of new suburban tract housing as the real estate market takes a down turn and homeowners are now making life style changes to live closer to where they work. The suburbs of Charlotte, which have been particularly hit hard by the real estate crises as has many communities across the nation, has seen McMansion neighborhoods that were built during the real estate boom of a years ago turn into slums.

Atlantic Magazine writes:

"At Windy Ridge, a recently built starter-home development seven miles northwest of Charlotte, North Carolina, 81 of the community’s 132 small, vinyl-sided houses were in foreclosure as of late last year. Vandals have kicked in doors and stripped the copper wire from vacant houses; drug users and homeless people have furtively moved in. In December, after a stray bullet blasted through her son’s bedroom and into her own, Laurie Talbot, who’d moved to Windy Ridge from New York in 2005, told The Charlotte Observer, “I thought I’d bought a home in Pleasantville. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that stuff like this would happen.”

Who would have ever thought that suburban tract housing located in the fringes of American cities would become America's next slums. What is your opinion? Have you observed any suburban blight in your local metropolitan region?

To read the entire article, click here.

Designers push to make cities more female-friendly

Late last year, the USA Today wrote an article about Designers pushing to make cities more female-friendly. The article explores what the City of Philadelphia is doing to make a safer and comfortable environment for women, especially in districts where more than 2/3's of the households are headed by females and over 2/3's of the elderly are female.

This blog has previously made post about the lack of female designers of urban space and this article by USA Today points out the need for a better planned urban environment that is accommodating for everyone’s needs. Issues such as neighborhood violence, crumbled sidewalks, poorly lit streets, multi-story rowhouse stairs that make it tough to carry strollers or walk with a cane not only may disproportionably affect some women but also children and the elderly as well. The article argues that all of these factors create an urban environment that is not contusive to walking which is creating several health concerns for some women in these environments.

Excerpt from the article:

Consider these statistics:

• There are 118.5 million women in the nation's central cities and their suburbs, more than half the urban population.
• About 17 million women in those areas are age 65 and older — almost 60% of the total number of seniors in cities.
• Women 65 and older are three times as likely as their male counterparts to live alone.
• More than 14 million women live alone in cities.
• More than 23 million women are heads of households.
• More than 60% of those who care for an older person are women.

What is your opinion?

An Inner City Staple...Check Cashing Stores

Through out many of Americas’ inner-city commercial corridors you will find Cash Checking stores or liquor stores that have cash checking services. In many inner-city communities Cash Checking services have replaced Banks, which have either closed down or fail to see a viable market for investment. While residents of inner city communities have a higher probability of having poor credit that would not allow them to open a checking or saving account, the lack of any banking institutions hurts a community’s chances for reinvestment and redevelopment.

Furthermore, many Check Cashing services charge high fees to a community that is already strapped for cash and may help continue bad spending habits for residents who have never a checking or savings account. To be fair, check cashing is a needed service for many people for varied financial reasons. The problem is that in the inner-city; Check Cashing services are over represented and often times replace banks as the primary financial service institution for these neighborhoods.

The combination of check cashing services and rent-to-own services in communities with poor or limited knowledge of banking will leave them vulnerable to paying higher fees and interest rates for their financial services as well as leaving them vulnerable to predatory lending such as “Payday loans.” So not only can Check cashing services lead to a lack of positive financial investment in inner-city neighborhoods, it often leads to a continuing cycle of disinvestment which will make communities even poorer and more of a financial risk to banks to invest in the neighborhood.

So what are your thoughts on check cashing services in the inner-city? Do you feel that this is a needed services that has some flaws or do you feel that stronger action needs to be made against check cashing services to help protect inner-city residents?

Recognize: Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture

The National Portrait Gallery is showcasing an art exhibit about Hip Hop called Recognize: Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture that will focus on photography, painting, graffiti, film and poetry. As some of the older readers know, this blog focuses a lot on Hip Hop because it is the only American genre of music that was created from the inner-city with almost no outside influence from anyone outside of the city. This blog always like to show the intersection of Hip Hop with cities and city planning. Any exhibit showcasing Hip Hop will inherently show the art, creativity, culture and mindset of the inner-city.

An excerpt about the exhibit from their website:

"Since it's inception in the late 1970s, Hip Hop has become hugely influential in America. While the images of Hip Hop performers are as pervasive in our culture as the music itself, some visual artist have created powerful images that both celebrate and explore the complexity of this creative form. These six artist and one poet whose work is included in RECOGNIZE! have approached Hip Hop culture through the lens of portraiture, and, in combination, their contributions highlight it's vitality and beauty."

For more, click here to go the site's website.