lockmat Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 (edited) "The City of Houston has a unique opportunity to shape neighborhoods and commercial areas along Houston Edited January 20, 2007 by lockmat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 (edited) I don't know who here has and has not read this document. To get a real grasp on where the city inside the loop is planning and wants to go is in this document. I highly suggest reading it if you haven't.This isn't a plan. I attended this phase 1 meeting along with several members of this forum. Basically we were divided in groups and a wish list of things people would like to see was developed. it says "phase 1 was was the imporant kick-off of the overall process, but no decisions have been made." It was interesting that most of the volunteers were METRO consultants not city employees.The city brought in a lady from denver who is a TOD planner. She happened to be in our group. Just like here, everyone had opinions. the planner had some basic questions about houston. She was surprised when someone said that so far new TOD construction has been slow at best. I think my favorite comment from my group was "let's bulldoze 3rd ward" That mentality is hard to believe. Edited January 20, 2007 by musicman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 Why are there hearts drawn everywhere? And why wasn't I invited to the coloring book party? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double L Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 As a neighborhood densifies you need to provide services geared towards the context of a densely designed neighborhood. This is a part of that. Houston will become a densely defined city according to statistics cited in the report. We know that the date of these occurences is 2036. If that is the case, then we need to be providing these services. We cannot fall behind the rest of the country when it comes to services for densely designed neighborhoods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 (edited) Why are there hearts drawn everywhere? And why wasn't I invited to the coloring book party? You don' t play well with the other children? The phase 1 meeting basically tasked volunteers with several functions. If I remember correctly, the heart symbolized something that needed to be saved at all cost. Some examples would be Hermann Park, Memorial park, the various universities, etc. of course even this was controversial at times. Edited January 20, 2007 by musicman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double L Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 btw...for those of you who aren't too keen about researching the entire plan, why don't you just scroll down to the powerpoint slide show and you'll get all the information you need....and of course, musicman's right, this isn't a plan, it's community involvement for all those who care about our inner loop/city urban corridors along METRO transit routes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted January 20, 2007 Author Share Posted January 20, 2007 This isn't a plan. Oh, sorry. I guess the word "plan" in the title threw me off (no sarcasm intended). But was this phase I just a step in the process of the "plan?" One in where they were just gathering the opinions of the residents it intends to affect? There's some language in the document that leads me to beleive this. I may be reading it out of context, but I can't find a reason to think so. This is the part where I'm getting this idea: "...This will need a fresh look at the way decisions are made about public investments and how to involve the community in those decisions. Thus, the Urban Corridors' Planning process has been defined as an opportunity to think holistically about the future of the city through a process that is inclusive, integrated and accountable.To address this need, Mayor White authorized the Planning Department...to initiate the Urban Corridors planning process... This process allows citizens to influence the future of their growing community by asking questions... The outcome of the process will be a policy framework to encourage new private development and public infrastructure to produce a more walkable and attractive urban environment that reflects community desires. The City will formulate public infrastructure standards, urban design guidelines, and development ordinances that would be recommended to City Council for adoption. These tools would help the City guide its own investments in the transit corridors, shape private investments and protect neighborhoods as well... Ultimately, the work program was organized into three phases: Phase I framed the overall effort, convened a community-wide steering committee that met every week for two months, and held a community wide workshop on August 26th... Phase II & III will build on Phase I, commence in November 2006, and will produce individual plans and implementation framework for each of the corridors based on on-going community engagement and dalogue...These will result in specific public policy recommendations as well as modification to City ordinances and standards. Phase II & III will be jointly funded by METRO, City and Main Street Coalition." All this was taken from pages 9 and 10 of the report. So it seems to me, that Phase I, which this document is, isn't any kind of a specific plan, but it was to get the community involved so the City can make changes to move in these directions. no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 (edited) Oh, sorry. I guess the word "plan" in the title threw me off (no sarcasm intended). But was this phase I just a step in the process of the "plan?" One in where they were just gathering the opinions of the residents it intends to affect? There's some language in the document that leads me to beleive this. I may be reading it out of context, but I can't find a reason to think so. This is the part where I'm getting this idea:All this was taken from pages 9 and 10 of the report. So it seems to me, that Phase I, which this document is, isn't any kind of a specific plan, but it was to get the community involved so the City can make changes to move in these directions. no? Before you said "To get a real grasp on where the city inside the loop is planning and wants to go is in this document," now you're saying there "isn't any kind of specific plan." I just think your second statement is more accurate while the first is misleading. All i'm saying is there is no definitive plan. The city is just talking with citizens. To reiterate the summary "phase 1 was was the imporant kick-off of the overall process, but no decisions have been made." Phase 1 was basically gathering "wish" type stuff from citizens. There is no plan nor direction as a result of phase 1 as the summary stated. Remember that much of this will be based on METRO's future corridors which are still in flux as well. Maybe some compromise is in order by saying this is the first step in the planning process but no plan has been developed. Edited January 20, 2007 by musicman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted January 20, 2007 Author Share Posted January 20, 2007 Before you said "To get a real grasp on where the city inside the loop is planning and wants to go is in this document," now you're saying there "isn't any kind of specific plan." I just think your second statement is more accurate while the first is misleading. All i'm saying is there is no definitive plan. The city is just talking with citizens. To reiterate the summary "phase 1 was was the imporant kick-off of the overall process, but no decisions have been made." Phase 1 was basically gathering "wish" type stuff from citizens. There is no plan nor direction as a result of phase 1 as the summary stated. Remember that much of this will be based on METRO's future corridors which are still in flux as well.Maybe some compromise is in order by saying this is the first step in the planning process but no plan has been developed.My second statment was different from my first because you had brought to my attention that it was not a plan. I rethought things. I'll go back and delete the first comment so not to mislead anyone.But at least it's a good thing that they're involving the community and at least listening. Was part of this process to help determine future LRT/BRT lines you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 (edited) But at least it's a good thing that they're involving the community and at least listening. Was part of this process to help determine future LRT/BRT lines you think?Public input is the way to go if you want to get some support. I got the impression that they were attempting to influence development around the proposed LRT lines. When you mean future, do you mean beyond the proposed ones? if that is the case, then i'd answer no.One of the future plans is to modify ordinances to as to promote more TOD. But at the rate Houston is going just with historical preservation, I think modifying ordinances to promote more TOD may be more in the distance than historical preservation.Oh, one thing i forgot, there were a couple in my group from outside the loop who were a little peaved that they were being left out even though they consider themselves urban. The discussions were inner loop only. Edited January 20, 2007 by musicman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted January 20, 2007 Author Share Posted January 20, 2007 Public input is the way to go if you want to get some support. I got the impression that they were attempting to influence development around the proposed LRT lines. When you mean future, do you mean beyond the proposed ones? if that is the case, then i'd answer no.One of the future plans is to modify ordinances to as to promote more TOD. But at the rate Houston is going just with historical preservation, I think modifying ordinances to promote more TOD may be more in the distance than historical preservation.Oh, one thing i forgot, there were a couple in my group from outside the loop who were a little peaved that they were being left out even though they consider themselves urban. The discussions were inner loop only.Well, ya know how there's so much debate over the "Richmond" line? I was just wondering if they're being more proactive so they can limit what they just went through with that line. So I guess I'm just questioning the proposed ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 (edited) Well, ya know how there's so much debate over the "Richmond" line? I was just wondering if they're being more proactive so they can limit what they just went through with that line. So I guess I'm just questioning the proposed ones.IMHO, opposition in the poorer sections of Houston will be less than what is on Richmond because they actually use mass transit as a whole more. Edited January 20, 2007 by musicman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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