(More about) The tyranny of neighborhood parochialism

While talking with the person from Minneapolis, I mentioned that I had forgotten about the Neighborhood Revitalization Program there, a ground up neighborhood-based planning system that is one of the best practice examples nationally of focusing planning around civic engagement.

Her first response was that in many respects, neighborhood-centric planning promotes nimbyism to the nth degree. Of course, this is something I write about in terms of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in DC.

E.g., on the Eckington list people are complaining because a revitalized condominium building, once abandoned, will bring more cars competing with current residents for scarce spaces on the street.

We need more residents and fewer vacant buildings.

We also need fewer cars! (See the earlier post about competitive advantage.)

But most people, especially at the neighborhood level, are so patterned by thinking around automobile centricity that they can't imagine any other way to get around.

Somehow we need to build within people an appreciation not just for neighborhood based planning, but for broader objectives.

(I wanted to cite from a St. Paul Pioneer Press editorial column on public purpose, but I can't find it online, so I'll add it later. Note that the Twin City newspapers could have far better online newspaper capabilities. Both newspapers appear to not put a lot of their content online, but the navigation and search capabilities have a fair amount of room for improvement. The DC region is well served by the online Washington Post!)