Smart Urban Development
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
Can the current mixture of downtown uses, heavily weighted toward daytime office work, cultural and sports events, support the long term renewal of the downtown? In October the City of Oakland, California reported on progress towards its 10K Downtown Housing Initiative. The project, kicked off in 1999 by then mayor Jerry Brown, has resulted in the start and completion of 78 residential projects with 8,956 units, exceeding its goal of housing for ten thousand new downtown residents. The City of Boise Smart City Initiative reports downtown “residents support retail activity at a rate 20 times higher than workers, strengthening existing businesses and making a wider range of restaurants and shopping possible.” With the reality of the current economy, what should be Omaha’s next steps to ensure continued downtown vibrancy?
November 17th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
My sense is we need to keep moving forward and tweaking the plans we have in process. It won’t serve us well to hault the work because of the economy. The City will find a way to make its priorities a reality, regardless of the financial struggles. In fact, plans are in place to seek funding for the street car.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
While I do visit downtown, I do have concerns about living there. I know that there has been a great deal of effort to take care of the lead poisoning that was left by Asarco but I worry about the effects on children living in the community.