Metro Jacksonville

Below is the conclusion to a New York Times article today, entitled "Reinventing America's Cities - The Time is Now" found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/arts/design/29ouro.html?em .

Aside from considering the points made by the article such as accentuating urban density rather than urban sprawl, I had to chuckle about the call out of using the best talent to design courthouses. :D On this measure alone, Jax has a long way to go.  By the way, it discusses four examples: Los Angeles, New Orleans, the Bronx, and Buffalo.  A favorite point is the destructiveness of interstates to the urban fabric.

QuoteGiven that the administration has already made sustainability a priority, that money could be redirected to other projects, like efforts that reinforce density rather than encourage urban sprawl. It could be used to replace crumbling expressways with the kind of local roads and parks that bind communities together rather than tear them apart.

I am also a fan of a National Infrastructure Bank, an idea that was first proposed by the financiers Felix Rohatyn and Everett Ehrlich.

The bank would function something like a domestic World Bank, financing large-scale undertakings like subways, airports and harbor improvements. Presumably it would be able to funnel money into the more sustainable, forward-looking projects. It could also establish a review process similar to the one created by the government’s General Services Administration in the mid990s, which attracted some of the country’s best talents to design federal courthouses and office buildings. Lavishing similar attention on bridges, pump stations, trains, public housing and schools would not only be a significant step in rebuilding a sense of civic pride; it would also prove that our society values the public infrastructure that binds us together as much as it values, say, sheltering the rich.

A half-century ago American engineering was the envy of the rest of the world. Cities like New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans were considered models for a brilliant new future. Europe, with its suffocating traditions and historical baggage, was dismissed as a decadent, aging culture.

It is no small paradox that many people in the world now see us in similar terms.

President Obama has a rare opportunity to build a new, more enlightened version of this country, one rooted in his own egalitarian ideals. It is an opportunity that may not come around again.

The below worth re-referencing:

Quote from: stjr on March 29, 2009, 08:37:13 PM
Below is the conclusion to a New York Times article today, entitled "Reinventing America's Cities - The Time is Now" found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/arts/design/29ouro.html?em .

Aside from considering the points made by the article such as accentuating urban density rather than urban sprawl, I had to chuckle about the call out of using the best talent to design courthouses. :D On this measure alone, Jax has a long way to go.  By the way, it discusses four examples: Los Angeles, New Orleans, the Bronx, and Buffalo.  A favorite point is the destructiveness of interstates to the urban fabric.

QuoteGiven that the administration has already made sustainability a priority, that money could be redirected to other projects, like efforts that reinforce density rather than encourage urban sprawl. It could be used to replace crumbling expressways with the kind of local roads and parks that bind communities together rather than tear them apart.

I am also a fan of a National Infrastructure Bank, an idea that was first proposed by the financiers Felix Rohatyn and Everett Ehrlich.

The bank would function something like a domestic World Bank, financing large-scale undertakings like subways, airports and harbor improvements. Presumably it would be able to funnel money into the more sustainable, forward-looking projects. It could also establish a review process similar to the one created by the government’s General Services Administration in the mid990s, which attracted some of the country’s best talents to design federal courthouses and office buildings. Lavishing similar attention on bridges, pump stations, trains, public housing and schools would not only be a significant step in rebuilding a sense of civic pride; it would also prove that our society values the public infrastructure that binds us together as much as it values, say, sheltering the rich.

A half-century ago American engineering was the envy of the rest of the world. Cities like New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans were considered models for a brilliant new future. Europe, with its suffocating traditions and historical baggage, was dismissed as a decadent, aging culture.

It is no small paradox that many people in the world now see us in similar terms.

President Obama has a rare opportunity to build a new, more enlightened version of this country, one rooted in his own egalitarian ideals. It is an opportunity that may not come around again.