This is a readily available DVD produced by Northern Light Productions - it has been airing on public television for a while and just yesterday, a reporter with the Pittsburgh Gazette (see I told you I don’t have to read the Pee Dee) who covers architecture, Patricia Lowry, wrote an article about it. It’s about the effects urban sprawl has had on urban areas, specifically, Cleveland. They feature The Fairfax Neighborhood(committed and wonderful people working in that CDC) and the Hough area (Citirama) among others.
This quote slays me. I think it’s directly from the television production:
“….Revivals in other neighborhoods, like the Arena District and Tremont, are bringing back empty nesters and young adults who can’t wait to flee their suburbs. Middle-class families are a harder sell; they’re opting for new communities like Crocker Park, where they can have Main Street amenities without the problems of the city.
“We may no longer have to move to the city to enjoy urban living,” the narrator notes.
There are six new malls and more than 10,000 new stores in Cleveland’s suburbs, but suburbs in its inner ring, like Euclid, are suffering: most of the 100 stores in its mall have closed….”
Manager Mark (soon to become my partner in real estate yeay!) tells a story. He went to Crocker Park with his daughter so she could shop for school clothes. As he says, ‘how many clothing stores can you take at once,’ so – intrigued by a sign on some apartments/condos there saying ‘ urban living’ he decided to investigate. As he tells the story, the sales gal is all perky and pleasant as he browses through the unit. He says to her, what makes this urban living? She says, well, you have the sidewalks and stores just like a city. He says ‘honey, we already have a perfectly good city and it’s called Cleveland.’ She says, ‘oh but it’s sooo dirty!’ The above quote about ‘we may no longer have to move to the city to enjoy urban living’ reminded me of this story.
Nothing against anyone who wants to live in the ‘burbs, but it breaks my heart to hear these kind of stories.
Anyway, you can go to Making Sense of Place and learn more about the DVD (and purchase it if you like). It’s not a new production, in fact it was ‘premiered’ here in Cleveland – there is also a second DVD on Phoenix, since Phoenix is also experiencing problems with sprawl.
Here are some links to other sites that may be of interest, regarding urban sprawl:
Urban Sprawl The Big Picture- A NASA site with satelite photos to boot.
National Geographic on Urban Sprawl – this page features a Warren County family
Congress for the New Urbanism – a reaction to sprawl
Conscious Choice – Interesting and eclectic site with lots of news
EcoCity - making wise choices and fighting sprawl in our area
(photo courtesy of fotosearch, Ventura County rooftops)
Peace Out – 3C
0 responses so far ↓
1 Gabriel Silverstein // Nov 19, 2007 at 12:44 am
Carole, to borrow badly overused cliche format, downtown is the new suburbs (am I the first to put that one out there?!). The larger the city, the stronger the movement. Manhattan of course never lost it, Chicago has it really going on, Miami is booming, Seattle is, too, and Portland, Denver, Houston, even Los Angeles (the very definition of urban sprawl) has seen a downtown LIVING revival. Smaller cities, particularly in the Midwest, are starting to see the same: places like Kansas City, St. Louis, even Indianapolis.
The new headline should be: Coming to a City Near You…YOU.
2 Carole Cohen // Nov 19, 2007 at 2:17 am
Gabriel while I envy some of the cities you mention, we do have our own Downtown revival going on….and of course every time I get an out of town client, they want to live either Downtown or right on the outskirts of Downtown – especially if they are from Chicago!
I like that tag line ‘coming to a city near you…you! Thanks for informing -
3 Gabriel Silverstein // Nov 20, 2007 at 12:20 am
Carole, feel free to use that line royalty free for the greater of two years or selling 20 homes in downtown as a result! For anyone that doesn’t yet see why to live downtown, you’re missing it. If your city isn’t quite what you remember Manhattan being in any of the many classic films that might give you a romantic view of city life, it’s coming back fast. There is too much great stuff going on when that many people get put close together: restaurants, theatre, festivals and other cultural events, and, go figure, other people! Yes folks, especially in the Midwest you don’t have to hide from the world on your own 1/8 acre lot with a picket fence anymore, becuase people can be very fun and friendly to be around. Then you also get better high end shopping, amenties like hospitals and hotels…the list is neverending. If you want to live in the country, move to the country, not the suburbs.
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