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Potential of Downtown Oxnard

ByRoy

Recently stated by others: “…Downtown Oxnard will never be the thriving hub of county commerce again, because 101 is now the main artery and other parts of the county, mostly near major thoroughfares, are now more developed.” Oxnard Renaissance: The 101 will not be king forever. Private cars, except for the very wealthy, will be a…

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Traditional Neighborhood vs Suburban Subdivision

ByRoy

In a recent Facebook post by Civic By Design Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND) is compared to a suburban subdivision. The benefits of the TND far outweigh the “benefits” of the more conventional suburban design. The graphics speak for themselves. Civic by Design notes that the TND is by DPZ click for link to Vermillion project in Hunterville, North Carolina.  …

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How Zoning Restrictions Make Segregation Worse

ByRoy

A new study identifies the precise ways that stricter land use regulations lead to greater divides. kropic1 / Shutterstock.com   We’ve long known two things about land use regulations. One is that elements of them—in the form of large lot requirements and other aspects of “exclusionary zoning”—have led to the racial and economic segregation. The…

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YES, YOU CAN BUILD YOUR WAY TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING

ByRoy

Lessons from unexpected places. Author: Alan Durning September 21, 2017 “You can’t build your way out of a housing affordability problem.” That’s conventional wisdom. I hear it all the time: Prosperous, growing, tech-rich cities from Seattle to the Bay Area and from Austin to Boston are all gripped by soaring rents and home prices. But what…

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IMPACT FEES: AN URBAN PLANNING ZOMBIE IN NEED OF SLAYING

ByRoy

Eight reasons why impact fees thwart the creation of equitable, sustainable cities. Author: Dan Bertolet September 28, 2017 When people make a mess we expect them to clean it up. If a private business harms others, we demand it pay the damages. These norms stoke the allure of impact fees—charges levied on homebuilders to compensate for the…

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Why Santa Monica got rid of parking minimums downtown. And why other cities should consider following suit.

ByRoy

“…the City Council decided to eliminate minimum parking requirements on new development in downtown Santa Monica.” “Here’s why: Parking has a much broader impact on a city than you might expect. It’s expensive to build, it incentivizes car travel over public and active transportation, and it’s been built with abandon, especially in Southern California.” “By…

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No More Sprawl

ByRoy

NO more sprawl. When our urban core and corridor areas and nodes – are suburbanized and underutilized, why would Oxnard decision makers consider areas protected by SOAR for suburban expansion? It was suggested that some future Oxnard expand into the area east of Rice and south of PCH and wrapping around to Pleasant Valley Road…

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How not to create traffic jams, pollution and urban sprawl

ByRoy

Don’t let people park for free Apr 8th 2017| AMSTERDAM, BEIJING AND TOKYO EVEN if the new headquarters that Apple is creating in California does not prove to be “the best office building in the world”, as Steve Jobs boasted shortly before his death in 2011, it will be an astounding sight. The main building…

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Do not Forget Oxnard Boulevard

ByRoy

Oxnard Boulevard is key to downtown revitalization success. We must not forget Oxnard Boulevard. Oxnard City revitalization must not ignore Oxnard Boulevard and only concentrate on the areas around Plaza Park. I strongly feel that only when Oxnard revitalizes Oxnard Boulevard, will Oxnard’s downtown come fully alive: Remove the medians from 3rd  (where Oxnard Blvd widens going south)…

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Why does Oxnard have only 6 City Planners?

ByRoy

The following is a VERY informal phone survey conducted by Roy Prince [ OxnardRENAISSANCE.ORG ] in early September 2017. While most Ventura County (VC) cities have about one planner per 10-12,000 – Oxnard has one planner per 34,000 people. Other VC cities have about three times the number of planners per resident than does Oxnard….