RECAP: EXPRESSWAY BATTLES IN NEW YORK CITY

1. RECAP: EXPRESSWAY BATTLES IN NEW YORK CITY • Notable players: Robert Moses vs Jane Jacobs • Superhighways across dense neighbourhoods • “Slum clearance”: Highways, anonymous high-rise tower cities • Next: The Penn Station battle

2. TWO FINAL OBSERVATIONS • North American expressway battles • Congestion: The big lie

3. ALTERNATIVES Politics and policy

4. CONVENTIONAL PATTERN: CAN WE REVERSE IT? • Rural fundamentalism • Love affair with the automobile • Decentralization of industry and routine decision-making • Culture wars won’t end sprawl

5. TOPICS • Politics of transportation • Politics of exurban development • Counter-measures • Mobilizing support

6. POLITICS OF TRANSPORTATION The power of the argument in favour of expressways

7. DEFINITIONS • Grade-separated roadways • By-pass highways • Radial roads • Downtown loop • Arterials • Collectors • Local streets

8. ARGUMENTS ANSWERS • Ugliness • Noise • Pollution • Destruction of neighbourhoods • Increase in traffic • Traffic builds despite congestion: shortcuts • Traffic on residential streets • Congestion affects buses too • Arterials must be widened, aren’t grade-separated • Worst pollution comes from idling

9. THE TRANSPORTATION-LAND USE CONNECTION • Traffic counts guide road policy • Implicit assumption: continuation of status quo • Low-density, single-use development requires roads • A road-dominated system limits the feasibility of anything but low-density, single-use development • The alternative: LUTRAQ (Land use, transit, air quality connection)

10. THE ENGINEERS’ COUNTER-ATTACK • Open advocacy of expressways • The underground phase: Incremental implementation • “Four-lane arterial”: Scaled-down version • Bridge projects • Inaccurate cost estimates: Norwood Bridge

11. ROAD CREEP IN WINNIPEG • Circumferential routes: “Loops” spread the city • The mid-town loop • Chief Peguis Bridge • Kildonan Corridor • Hwy 90/Kenaston Blvd. • Bishop Grandin • Lagimodiere Blvd.

12. CIRCUMFERENTIAL ROUTES ARE OK IF… • Rights-of-way have been reserved • Non-contiguous development is not allowed • Winnipeg flunks on the second condition

13. AFTER 2020

15. MORE ROAD CREEP • Radial routes: Destroy neighbourhoods • Charleswood Bridge • Norwood Bridge extensions • Widening of Ellice

24. EXPRESSWAY BATTLES • Balance of forces • System reinforces itself over time • Resistance building?

25. TRANSPORTATION POLITICS: CONCLUSIONS • Road-dominated transportation policy • Sources of support • Suburban residents • City officials with an engineering background • Sources of opposition • Inner city residents and business people • Environmental & financial concerns

26. PROGRESS • Urban decay: No longer a taboo subject • Downtown development incentives • Provincial Land Use Policies (PLUP) • Broad-scale culture change • Growing salience of environmental issues

27. REMINDER: TOPICS • Politics of transportation • Politics of exurban development • Counter-measures • Mobilizing support

28. POLITICS OF EXURBAN DEVELOPMENT • Suburban subdivisions don’t pay for themselves • Inflated costs of infrastructure and services • Tax flight

29. COMPARATIVE PROPERTY TAX BILLS (nearest 100)

30. WHY WORRY? First reason: trends

31. WINNIPEG’S POPULATION GROWTH • 1986-91: 3.7 % • 1991-96: 0.3 • 1996-2001: 0.17 • 2001-06: 2.2

32. GROWTH RATES (%)

33. THE TREND Exurban - Winnipeg growth ratio: 1996-2001 - 38:1 2001-2006 - 3.3:1

34. WHY WORRY? • Second reason: Political implications of the trend

35. CITY PLANNING CONTROLS • Design • Location • Development charges

36. CURRENT DEVELOPMENT CHARGES • Roads and bridges • Underground municipal services • Park allowance

37. COSTS NOT CHARGED FOR • Subsidized transit service • Community centres • Library branches • Police service • Fire service De facto subsidy for fringe development

38. EXURBAN DEVELOPMENT PROCESS • Subdivision of farms • Residential competition • Installation of sewerage, water • Edge cities: Commercial, industrial development

39. DIMINISHING BARGAINING POWER OF THE CITY • Residential competition • City advantages: Location, quality of services • Exurban water and sewerage • Exurban competition becomes more formidable • Declining city control over development

40. GROWING IRRELEVANCE OF THE CENTRE • Exurban location of jobs, as well as residence • Remember: peaking • Traffic patterns become circumferential, rather than radial

41. TOPICS: REMINDER • Politics of transportation • Politics of exurban development • Counter-measures • Mobilizing support

42. COUNTER-MEASURES Dealing with sprawl

44. THE NEED FOR PROVINCIAL INTERVENTION • The Capital Region Partnership • What’s wrong with it • Population/representation balance • Clashing political interests • Remember: Geographic patterns of political conflict

45. MANDATORY METROPOLITAN PLANNING FRAMEWORK • Taxation • Metropolitan tax equalization • Exurban tax surcharge • Split tax • Raise tax on land • Lower tax on buildings

46. SPLIT TAX(Incentive taxation) • Incentive for compact development • Disincentive for large lots, surface parking • Georgists – followers of Henry George: single tax

47. MANDATORY FRAMEWORK II: LAND USE MEASURES • Agricultural land reserve • Growth boundary • Twenty-year plan • Boundaries • Review every five years

48. QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION Instead of the complexities of growth boundaries and tax equalization schemes, how about simply expanding the boundaries of the central city to include all the exurban areas?

49. FAILURE TO DEFINE URBAN-AGRICULTURAL BOUNDARY… • Brings the many ills of sprawl • Erodes viability of agriculture

50. URBAN-AGRICULTURAL CONFLICTS • Septic tanks & the water • Pets/farm animals • Smells • Heavy machinery on roads