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Malone, Walter
From: arkansas-active-comm-info-ex@googlegroups.com on behalf of david laumer
[david.laumer@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2012 10:59 PM
To: Mayor; City Manager; board; Hurst, Stacy; Director Hines; Director Adcock
Cc: david@arktimes.com; Dana Gaddy; 'kborrelli@sbcglobal.net'; Angela S. Baste; Andy Lain; Chaney
Rachel O; Chang Jason Y; Craig Bowlby; Dana Gaddy; Dave Slaton; dbandpb@sbcglobal.net;
donna _cone@sbcglobal.net; Hadley Matthew V; Jeff Fairman; jo-bob@att.net; Judy Bell;
kajones@ualr.edu; Kyle Ross; Lewis Mahoney; Mcsweeney Jean C; Miller Grover P.; Mitchell Anita;
Morello Roy; Rodney Blocker; sara@leatherbrothers.com; Smith Charles W; Sue Carpenter; Tsai Pao-
feng; Val Carr; West Delia; Williams Linda D "COM Research"
Subject: Say No to Rahling Road Rezone -Say Yes to Complete Streets
we have finally had enough of the sort of private dealing that
passes for public engagement and public decision making in
Little mock.
If you do not know what we are referring to, take a close look
at the process right in front of us in the proposed Rahling Road
Rezone to find a couple of neighborhoods and a developer being
manipulated by a City Director for the benefit of his
neighborhood. This sort of self dealing drives homeowners to
the suburbs and believe it or note, it has everything to do with
how this city develops streets. Here is how it works:
. The City refuses to pay for streets and instead
forces developers to pay for them;
. Developers are in the business of development and so
the trade-off is a little extra intensification now
and again to pay for a road here and there;
. The losers in that process are the surrounding
neighborhoods where hundreds of family's investments
are based upon their reasonable understanding of
existing zoning, but
. A few days before Thanksgiving a proposal appears that
proposes to put office and commercial uses where the houses
should have been.
• And, that is all the notice you get in this process that
tends to pit one neighborhood against the other.
The other dirty little secret of the City's streets deals is
that these schemes tend to force cheaper collector streets into
service as de facto arterial streets and, again, the victims are
the homeowners whose neighborhoods are overwhelmed by traffic.
Again, this behavior drives investment out of the city where
buying a home in Little Rock can be a gamble and the odds can
get long.
• The usual solution is to cut a deal and burn the
neighborhood over the hill and that is exactly what we see
with this Rahling Road Rezone. our Director is moving this
agenda item on a holiday sleigh ride between Thanksgiving
and Christmas and all stops are out to get this done before
most of us even know what he is proposing: less intense land
12/18/2012
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use near his home, a disconnected street grid near his home while
office and commercial replace the single family homes at the
other end of the development where we have to deal with traffic
and such.
• You cannot blame Lance, he is just looking out for his
investments, but we are asking for a new way of thinking that
does not set neighbors against neighbors in this fight to avoid
the real negative impacts of these unnecessary street Fights.
There is no justification for linkin anterial streets with
collectors, and in fact, it is exactly what not to do. The underlying
assumptions about connectivity are wrong here and I say that as
someone in a position to make that sort of assessment. But, you do
not have to take my word for it, just ask anyone on Pebble Beach or
Dorado Beach or Sawgrass what happens when you do that.
so, again, you can't blame Lance -we are all afraid of these crazy
rouge collector streets once they are connected as short circuits
between arterials. Lance is just looking out for his investment, but
can't we look just a little more broadly and find solutions that do
not involve creating winners and losers?
we need to unwind the Pebble Beach connection instead of replicating
it in other neighborhoods. It simply does not work and there is a
solution that would, but we can't even begin that argument here --
there is no time under the schedule adopted by the City Manager --and
again we point to a decision process that takes place before the
public involvement is ever initiated.
In just the few days we have had our signs up on Dorado Beach,
5awgrass, Montvale, and Beckenham we have collected over 300
signatures of people who tell us that they are ready to get together
and help the City see a bigger picture where streets are public
places.
Every one of our petitions demands Complete streets --those petitions
should be in your packets and we will bring copies.
You do not need this intensification to pay for these streets.
Instead, let's get Gary Toth or Dan Burden or john Norquist to take a
look (see Links Below), you will find that there is every reason to
stop this sort of road building --it hurts neighborhoods and creates
places where you cannot make a choice to ride a bike, walk or drive a
car. we can do better. If we are to compete, we must do better.
Please SUPPORT YOUR PROFESSIONAL PLANNING STAFF and say no to Lance
and this scheme to benefit his neighborhood at the expense of the
rest of us.
And, then let's sit back down with Lance and the Mayor and work for
the best interests of Little Rock -and for wellington.
we finally have the money to do this right, so why not take the time,
hire a consultant and learn about the possibilities that are open to
us if we just work together?
David "Bud" Laumer, AICP
HPOA Board
www.activeplaces.us
www.live-active.org
12/18/2012