Never mind the second car; live over the store

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

In response to this article, "New Urbanism dominates rebuilding chatter," Page 1, Nov. 14., Matthew Rigby writes this letter, "Never mind the second car; live over the store." This is what I call Old Urbanism by the way... it's already real in our center cities, as Steve Pinkus' photos from earlier today illustrate.

Mr. Rigby writes:

Doug MacCash provides a balanced view of several of the benefits of implementing New Urbanism in our rebuilding effort. However, the article does not emphasize a couple of key considerations for New Orleanians:

First, an American must spend an average of $5,000 per year to own and operate a motor vehicle. That's just for one car. One of the principal benefits of the New Urbanism style is its focus on pedestrian-friendly streets with walkable access to many of life's daily needs. In many of New Orleans' older neighborhoods, we are able to walk a couple of blocks to the grocery store, the drug store, the local bar, the po-boy shop.

Also, New Urbanism emphasizes tight integration with public transit systems that will allow those who do commute to work to do so more easily. If we apply this principal in our planning and zoning, we will create a city that provides an opportunity for a lower cost of living and greater accessibility all of us.
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(BTW my criticism of Greenfield New Urbanism is that it does not do this, it builds new large subdivisions in areas without tight transit links, such as Kentlands in northern Montgomery County, Norton Commons in Louisville, etc. So it only reduces automobile dependence on the margins, unlike recentering development and living in center cities where such connections are extant, and the marginal "cost" of increasing transit use for individuals is pretty small.)
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Second, New Urbanism combines an emphasis on pedestrian access with the right density of homes, apartments and condominiums, and retail and commercial businesses.

In New Orleans, we've always been short of dry land for development. Our zoning and permitting requirements should help us to make the most of it by encouraging multi-story development with retail and other commercial space on the first floor and residences above. As we walk down any of the most thriving streets in New Orleans, we find countless examples of this already in use.

If our citizens do not demand this, and if our civic leaders do not implement it through zoning and development ordinances, it will not happen. We also must demand that this is done while preserving the historic buildings and residences in our midst.
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This is an architectural design proposal, by Ben Pentreath, for a Wal-Mart store in Pass Christian, Miss.

Speaking of reconstruction of Louisiana and Mississippi, this article made USA Today, "Miss. Wal-Marts may apply 'new urbanism' in rebuilding." As I said in a blog entry last week, fitting WalMart into the urban fabric isn't the issue, I can't think of a better way to destroy independent retail. If you want to build a local economy, rather than Bentonville, Arkansas' economy, this needs to be rethought.