From Seattle to Rome, Australia to Malta, and our urban ancestors in Italy, France and Monaco, here are 15 reasons assembled since 1998 to vote today for a compelling future built upon inspiration….
Author: Chuck Wolfe
Charles R. (Chuck) Wolfe, M.R.P., J.D. provides a unique perspective about cities as both a long time writer about urbanism worldwide and an attorney in Seattle, where he focuses on land use and environmental law and permitting. In particular, his work involves the use of sustainable development techniques and innovative land use regulatory tools on behalf of both the private and public sectors. He is also an Affiliate Associate Professor in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington, where he teaches land use law at the graduate level. He contributes regularly to several publications including Planetizen, CityLab/The Atlantic Cities, The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, Grist, seattlepi.com, and Crosscut.com. He blogs at myurbanist.com.
is he still dreaming of Denver?
Last February 16, in “I Dream of Denver“, David Brooks wrote about places like Seattle, where Americans are drawn, because “they offer the dream, so characteristic on this continent, of having it all: the machine and the garden. The wide-open space and the casual wardrobes”.
I view it as one of the year’s more provocative articles, because Brooks teasingly tested the pedestrian and bicycle premise, and whether cities like ours will really “in short, finally begin to look a little more like Amsterdam.” After all, he said, based on a Pew Research study, “Amsterdam is a wonderful city, but Americans never seem to want to live there. And even now, in this moment of chastening pain, they don’t seem to want the Dutch option”.
Election Day in our region is a good time to remember Brooks’ dream, and to test his premise anew.
voter group meets in front of the Pantheon to discuss the dead heat
Based on a just released poll, the Seattle Mayor’s race is a dead heat as election day approaches. A myurbanist photographer captured a group of voters conversing in their walkable, compact neighborhood after voting for multimodal transportation options.
help with learning more about TOD
This photo is from Nice, France, and taken in June. I’ve used it many times to illustrate the possibilities for a green, light rail infill solution in a formerly auto-centric downtown {perhaps currently easier said than done given the current economic morass). Moving forward, our region will benefit from two recently released research reports, both of which document the pitfalls and potential for transit oriented development. The first, of which I was the lead author, is entitled “TOD and Urban Centers: From Barriers to Solutions and Best Practices”, and was prepared by the University of Washington’s Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies in collaboration with the Quality Growth Alliance (QGA). The report and companion bibliography are available on the QGA website. The report was recently summarized in a seattlepi.com article. The second, the recently released Futurewise/GGLO “Transit Oriented Communities: A Blueprint for Washington State”, provides an applied analysis of what makes for successful development around transit stations and general guidance for future legislation. The Blueprint effort was recently summarized by a Northwest HUB article.
and on the eve of the election, from where will the land use vision come?
Hoping for breadth in a looming tunnel-centric campaign, my September 09 Crosscut article asked how a new mayor might “think boldly about planning”. I asked in the land use arena how the candidates might move beyond single issues and set an integrated agenda to reinvent land use administration in Seattle, through a focus on restructuring, regionalism and revenue, with national examples in mind.
Within a few days, Mike McGinn answered directly with a listening session with over 20 attendees, including several Joe Mallahan supporters (disclosure: held in my law office). Shortly after, his campaign produced a Planning, Land Use and Zoning Policy as well as Neighborhoods and Transportation Policies. Eventually, the Mallahan campaign included some land use and zoning components within Housing and Transportation Policies, a reference to tree canopy within an Environmental Policy and recently, some passing debate references about potential paring back of the “planning department”.
The McGinn Planning, Land Use and Zoning Policy took on the several questions posed in my September 9 article, which ranged from the future role of the Department of Planning and Development (DPD), neighborhood planning, the Mayoral-City Council relationship, to regional cooperation and revenue generation tools. The McGinn policy envisions sensitivity to neighborhood needs and achieving consensus results through expanded incentive zoning and work with the City Council. The policy also proposes a zoning audit to assure sound land use practices and underscores collaboration with the region and necessary work to secure new approaches to infrastructure funding from Olympia.
In the end, the candidates have not jousted about zoning with deep bore vigor, and policy breadth has gone unnoticed in favor of alleged single issue “flip-flops”. Important land use issues beside transportation infrastructure choices will likely await discussion in the early days of a new administration. Depending on who wins, the conversation may be led by some combination of the Mayor and City Council or, in a vacuum, by facilitating organizations outside of government such as the Quality Growth Alliance, the Cascade Agenda or Great City (ironically founded by McGinn).
In late October, the plot thickened, as Great City independently released a ”Land Use White Paper” to the campaigns, City Council, Planning Commission and city land use leadership. The Great City White Paper is reflective of advocacy research by non-profits who champion policy areas in need of government action, heretofore reserved for more boutique areas such as climate change and transit oriented development.
The Great City premise? Not unlike mine on September 9–new elected officials and a recession provide a window of unparalleled opportunity to reevaluate how land use planning is done in Seattle. Great City’s focus repeats many of the key focal points and provides an associated action plan, alluding to an enhanced role for neighborhood planning, the Planning Commission, and a greater role for the Department of Planning and Development:
- Articulate a clear and long-term vision for growth
- Elevate our planning process
- Invigorate neighborhood planning
- Build bridges between departments and disciplines
- Create a flexible and responsive planning environment
The Great City action plan suggests empowering the Planning Commission to develop a vision for Seattle growth, and calls for an alteration in planning culture, including more neighborhood empowerment, and enhanced relationship between DPD, the Planning Commission and the neighborhoods. Implementation measures include consolidation of land use resources, a zoning audit, reevaluation of incentive zoning and greater attention to existing infrastructure finance tools.
Harry Truman once said that “[m]en make history, and not the other way around…[p]rogress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better .” While we still don’t know the answer to how a new mayor might “think boldly about planning”, the late-campaign appearance of the White Paper–and its similarity to the McGinn Planning, Land Use and Zoning Policy–also shows that many ideas championed within are generational and may not disappear should the election tilt to Mallahan.