Our Urban Neighborhoods

A KPFT radio dialog

David Crossley, Jun 23, 09.

Tagged with neighborhoods, houston, transit, city, radio, kpft

UPDATE (6/26/09, 2:03 pm): The show is now posted on KPFT’s archives.  You can stream the show or download an mp3.

On Friday, June 26, at noon, Houston Tomorrow will host a one-hour radio dialog on KPFT (FM90.1) about the City of Houston’s proposed new transit-oriented development ordinance. Crossley will be joined by Robin Holzer, chair of the Citizens’ Transportation Coalition; and Kay Warhol, co-chair of richmondrail.org. There will be opportunities for listeners to participate by telephone.

In about 2013, 68 City neighborhoods will have high-quality transit service. Thousands of destinations - and hundreds of thousands of jobs - will be accessible via light rail transit. Those destinations will change as people from other places arrive on foot, needing services and amenities, while hundreds of thousands of residents using the transit service will have opportunities to cut back significantly on driving and transportation costs. But the station areas will change, and the seemingly opposite goals of producing walkable, convenient urbanism and protecting existing suburban neighborhoods will produce a political maelstrom - unless the City begins to plan for that future.

Now a new ordinance is before City Council, voted forward yesterday (June 22) by a Council committee, that will mandate wider sidewalks on transit streets and a new classification called “A streets” that intersect transit streets. It will also offer an optional new program for developers who can more fully use their land without the setbacks now required - but will have to deliver a series of “performance standards” including a 15-foot “pedestrian realm” behind the curb.

Is this going to be enough? Does this ordinance finally begin to make urban development legal in Houston? Are there pitfalls and unintended consequences? The dialog will explore those topics and more.

Telephone questions and comments are encouraged beginning at 12:30 pm.  The call-in number is 713-526-5738 or 713-526-KPFT.

More Initiatives

Comments

Page 1 of 1 pages