Memo to BRAC canvass czar Julio Melara and the Chamber’s Nicole David: Bag our planned trip to Richmond, Va., and make reservations ASAP for Sacramento, Calif.
This is not a request; it’s a moral imperative.
Normally, I’m all good for a trip to the East Coast—even to a city that isn’t high on my Mid-Atlantic hit list. And who isn’t giddy about visiting another city’s struggling public school system, walking around a downtown riverfront that’s being redeveloped faster than ours, and learning why foreign companies being lured to Baton Rouge is a good thing.
If nothing else, we can visit St. John’s Church, where in 1775 a rabble-rouser named Patrick Henry gave his “Give me liberty or give me death” speech; words worthy of reflection considering the never-ending escalation of local taxes and fees, many of which are imposed upon us without a vote of the people.
Despite all that Richmond has to offer, what’s happening in Sacramento screams for our attention.
Sacramento is using smart growth planning principles to 1] reverse decades of sprawl, 2] counter $4 a gallon fuel costs, 3] reduce commute times, clogged highways and a dependency on cars, and 4] address the nation’s 11th-worst air pollution problem.
Any of that sound familiar?
The man behind one of the nation’s most-watched experiments is Mike
McKeever, who seven years ago came to Sacramento as its regional planning director and brought with him a gospel that bikes, light rail and tightly packed neighborhoods are a better way to live, work and play than cars, freeways and suburban sprawl.
His goal isn’t to convince developers to build random TNDs like our Willow Grove or a handful of high-density, mixed-use projects like Perkins Rowe; McKeever’s out to transform an entire six-county region. Forget pockets of smart growth surrounded by jammed roads, strip shopping centers and single-entrance subdivisions. What’s happening in Sacramento is an all-out effort to mix single-family homes, condos, townhouses and apartments alongside retail-office projects connected by walking and bike trails, mass transit systems and, yes, roads—but far less congested roads.
As Linda Budge, mayor of neighboring Rancho Cordova, put it, “We’re a suburb that wants to become a city.”
Sacramento, when McKeever arrived, was no different than Baton Rouge and thousands of other cities: Residents loved their sprawl and their cars and developers were perfectly content building single-family subdivisions in the ‘burbs.
McKeever felt his best shot at changing attitudes was to show residents what their city would look like in 2050 if current planning policies—or lack thereof—remained in place.
His staff collected detailed information on all 750,000 pieces of property in the region and entered the numbers into a database that works with software McKeever developed to calculate the impact various types of buildings have on traffic, job growth and pollution.
McKeever hit the road, meeting with anyone who would show up, allowing them to play on the computer and become planning director for a day.
The more than 5,000 who came quickly discovered the Sacramento region was on a highway to disaster—and smart growth, based on their experiments on the computer, could reverse the course.
McKeever’s campaign gave birth to something called Blueprint, a plan for long-term growth that limits or bans development in some areas while encouraging denser, mixed-use growth in others.
Local governments in the region aren’t forced to follow the plan, and exceptions have been granted, but there’s mounting evidence that Blueprint is working.
At the moment, McKeever’s greatest allies are soaring gas prices and that region’s plummeting housing market. The expense of long commutes has people looking to move closer to where they work, and developers have been convinced that a mix of housing options better enables them to weather market fluctuations.
So eye-catching is what’s happening in Sacramento that the State of California is offering grants to help other regions develop their own Blueprints.
Sacramento is proving decades of poor planning and sprawl can be reversed. Considering what’s happening here in Baton Rouge, isn’t what Sacramento is doing worth checking out?
Comments
Posted by Papadeaux on July 14, 2008 at 8:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
J.R., Right on the mark with the comments. The sad thing is that BR has always been 20+ years behind more progressive cities. Now we are widening our interstates and considering adding a loop. I predict (assuming gasoline doesn't go over $6/gallon) that somewhere around 2028, Baton Rouge will begin what Sacramento is doing today.
Posted by pmccarron on July 15, 2008 at 1:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We need the loop like yesterday & the Interstate can't get much wider than it already is in parts of Baton Rouge. We need more Mixed-Use Urban Design Districts (UDDs) for Coursey, Old Jefferson, Old Hammond, Highland, Perkins like we did for UDD1 on Bluebonnet Blvd btwn Jefferson & Gail.
Posted by pmccarron on July 15, 2008 at 1:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In other words, use the Mixed-Use Urban Design Districts (UDDs) to connect and act as transitional areas between all-commercial and all-residential areas. Especially useful along 4 lane highways or blvds that border along different zoned areas. While the TND is a centrally located development for one area, the narrow UDD can run for miles-connecting different types of zoning areas (neighborhoods, strip malls, parks, etc.) and creating cohesion amongst areas along a major thruway.
Posted by FIXthestick on July 18, 2008 at 2:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Great points Mr. Ball. I'm totally for fixing BR by a number of means mentioned...building an impressive downtown and river front, etc. I'm also for fixing the sprawl and building a loop, OR TWO around BR! However, I've owned a home near Highland Road and Airline Hwy. for 15 years now and have seen little or no improvements with the congestion there. Traffics unbelievable on workdays at 5:00 to 6:00 pm or longer. I leave for work at 7:15 am to get to a job that would be 15 minutes away on weekends, but it takes me 45 minutes to an hour instead.
Mr. Ball, PLEASE see what you can do to bring attention to this specific area? There are two main highways that converge with I-10 in that area, Highland and Perkins, not to mention two "Old Perkins" roads and a number of businesses. There needs to be an overpass or two in this area and obviously Highland Rd. needs to be widened to four or five lanes from Old Jefferson to I-10. This is an area that consist of an amusement park, Louisiana Country Club, Santa Maria Golf course and Alligator Bayou nearby. Very soon Woman's Hospital will be around 3 miles away on Airline Highway and it maybe impossible for emergency vehicles to get to it from I-10. There has to be an enormous amount of property taxes collected by the residents and businesses there? Why isn't this money going to build wider roads and provide alternate paths?
Isn't anyone as frustrated as I am that I haven't yet seen my tax dollars used to provide some relief I can see and feel on a daily basis? Come on people!, we should be as upset about this as we were about the lawmakers pay raises!
Yes, I want very much to see Baton Rouge develop and "fixed" in many ways, but how about we take care of the obvious traffic problems first and foremost? I'm getting angered paying my share and not reaping the benefits in my own backyard.
Thank you.
Posted by richyb on July 18, 2008 at 2:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yet another nice article JR
BR is a over-grown country town trying to become a legit mid-sized city! Many locals still have a suburban mentality when the fact is BR could be alot more dense/compact. There are plenty of large un-developed gaps where Smart Growth could be implemented. I only wish a development like Perkins Rowe was built closer downtown; maybe along Nicholson near the I-10 Bridge??
It suprises me how many nice/older neighborhoods in BR do not even have sidewalks like Southdowns(except Stuart Ave. median) and Old Goodwood. Walking your kids in strollers on the streets is not safe. Why should you have to get in a car and drive to a park??
BR has come a long way, but still lacks connectivity and adequate turn lanes around the city.
UDD's are a good idea as long as there is some variety in architecture other than the beloved French-faux-paus(JR's favorite, ha) garden offices that dominate the region.
I would love to see a bike/walking path run along the Bayou Duplantier watershed; connecting Olympia Park/Pennington Research Center to University Lake. You could cut across LSU to the bikepaths on the levee to downtown!
Posted by richyb on July 18, 2008 at 3:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
FIXthestick, I can imagine your frustration. Hopefully the new "interchange" on I-10 at Pecue Lane will help alleiviate some of the congestion on Highland?? and Siegen too. Also Pecue Ln. is supposed to be re-aligned with Stumberg at the new Women's hospital.
When is Highland supposed to be widened between I-10 and Airline??
Posted by FIXthestick on July 18, 2008 at 3:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you "richyb". I didn't realize that it was "a go" on the Pecue and I-10 interchange? When is construction supposed to start on that?, finish? It certainly would be an alternate route that might redirect a third of the traffic at I-10 and Highland.
I've heard about the Stumberg re-alignment years ago, but see no signs of it happening? I could see how that might be a big help, getting from Perkins to I-10 to Airline to Coursey via Pecue and vice versa, do I have that right? Thanks for the input.
Posted by fourx5 on July 23, 2008 at 8:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Great column, JR. How are any of these things going to get done in Baton Rouge, where the culture is "I got mine" and "God didn't will it, so I'm not paying for it"?
Sacramento and its suburbs are actually pretty conservative for a California metro area, but pale in comparison to the ruthless and usually ignorant conservatism and fundamentalism that pervades Baton Rouge.
Witness the latest rancor against a tax for schools in Central. People in Louisiana won't even fund the common good when it comes to education...you expect them to build sidewalks and mass transit?
As always, I hope for the best in Baton Rouge, but never see change.
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