THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

“Like many American cities, Charlotte was not immune to redlining and segregation by zoning laws,” Taiwo Jaiyeoba said.

“Our current make-up as a city is defined by this very thing. We refer to it as the crescent (arc) and the wedge.

The wedge (South Charlotte) is where the predominantly white population lives.”

He said that area has the best schools, well-designed neighborhoods, plus the best-paying and highest number of jobs outside of Uptown Charlotte.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

“We have more than 10,000 people who are visually challenged.

If they have to cross six or eight lanes of traffic, think how difficult and dangerous that is,” Taiwo Jaiyeoba said.

“You have to think of pedestrian safety, of connectivity for those who use a wheelchair for mobility, for those who do not have access to a vehicle – that is who you design your city for.”

Jaiyeoba said the city’s 2040 plan is founded on an Equitable Growth Framework.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

“We must calibrate our sidewalks to make sure they are not only wide enough to accommodate people who use wheelchairs, but complete – as in they don’t stop short of the destination,” Taiwo Jaiyeoba said.

“You cannot have a series of 10-minute neighborhoods and promote walkability, if there are obstructions in the sidewalk or there are gaps in the sidewalk.”

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

Taiwo Jaiyeoba said the city is fortunate to have 19 miles of light rail, where people can commute without owning a car.

He said about half the corridor has good connectivity to stations, but more can be done with trails and sidewalks to improve transit access for all.

Langston Hughes - I, Too

What better way to start the week, then to take stock in what we are about, how we treat others, what we should be...than through the words of Langston Hughes' I, Too (Sing America)

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

“Retail, already hurting because you can get everything delivered, has taken a hit from the pandemic,” CANOPY President David Kennedy said.

“I think this is an opportunity for commercial brokers to turn a lot of retail space into mixed-use with multifamily.

A lot of affordable, workforce housing could be built on the footprint of vacant retail.

You just need to be creative and mindful of not clustering affordable housing. 

You want to mix in affordable with market rate, so everyone benefits.”  

THANK YOU TO MAYOR FRANCIS SUAREZ AND HIS TEAM

GIVING CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

Where I grew up, you went out of your way to thank a person for helping you.

Recently, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and his professional team – in this case led by Director of Constituent Affairs Lazaro Quintero – addressed a problem that threatened the health, safety, mobility and civil rights of my wife of 33 years.

I will not go into much detail -- because if the person who illegally targeted Heidi Johnson-Wright ever attempts to hurt her again, a half dozen lawyers will litigate them into oblivion. Suffice to say, picture a super-sturdy and costly wheelchair ramp -- in place for 20 years at a 100-year-old home – coming under attack without cause or justification.

At the brink of launching an exhaustive legal recourse and unrelenting media campaign to underscore an unjust situation bordering on a hate crime, we reached out to Mayor Suarez.

Years ago, when he was our District Commissioner in the City of Miami, he resolved a longstanding battle over the future of the small green space we live on. Historic William Jennings Bryan Park was slated to become two acres of asphalt for a noisy traffic and parking nightmare that would trade tranquil open space for a grossly out-of-scale tournament tennis center.

A compromise was drafted. Basically, the eastern acre of the park became active space – three outstanding tennis courts, a restroom/park manager building the size of a small house, a barrier-free play area plus preserved trees and benches. The western acre remained as one of the few islands of green grass – where folks 8 to 80 could play dozens of games, from kite flying to soccer.

Long known as a free-thinker who speaks his mind, I think my praise for Mayor Suarez and his team means more because I have had no issue sharing problems with the city. This blog and all of my social media has called out the mayor, city manager, commissioners plus city departments and organizations.

Usually, it is about lack of wheelchair access. Dockless scooters blocking curb ramps, sidewalks and bus stops are a frequent target of my speaking truth to power. I also shine light on new or renovated buildings that illegally lack wheelchair access.

I’ve also been known to criticize development deals, especially those that encroach on precious park land.

While I don’t back every policy decision Mayor Suarez makes, but I appreciate him deeply for sincerely caring about people with disabilities.

We praise his actions while stressing that he DID NOT do us a favor. We did the city a favor, by alerting it to a civil rights-denying action against people with disabilities.

Recognizing this and protecting the interests of all who have physical, visual, hearing and cognitive disabilities, is what earns our praise.

 

 

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

Charlotte’s CANOPY REALTOR Association is working with city staff and elected officials to help guide the 2040 plan.  

CANOPY, which is working with several Charlotte builder and commercial REALTOR groups, has stated

“while we support many of the concepts being proposed, we are concerned about the costs and the impact of unintended consequences.”

CANOPY President David Kennedy, a Property Manager at T.R. Lawing Realty, said the 10-minute neighborhood concept could be helped greatly by reprogramming retail space.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

Charlotte’s Taiwo Jaiyeoba said there are parts of the city focused on innovation, health care and manufacturing that need more housing developed close to them.

It’s a move away from 20th century planning where residential was separated from commerce and job centers.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

“We’ve got right now a zoning code that is 1,000 pages. 

We want to reduce that number, so you can read the comprehensive plan and understand (the focus on) creating 10-minute neighborhoods,” said Charlotte’s Taiwo Jaiyeoba.

Some will have less density, some higher density -- but regardless of where you are, you will be able to walk to different things such as childcare, schools, healthcare, jobs, services that meet daily needs.”

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

Charlotte, consistently one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S., is creating the 2040 Vision Plan –

a comprehensive approach to land use, transit, diversity, equity and dozens of issues related to a city of nearly 900,000 that is predicted to swell in population by upwards of 400,000 residents in the next two decades.

Taiwo Jaiyeoba, Assistant City Manager and Director of Planning, Design and Development, said Charlotte is focusing on the 10-minute neighborhood.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

Anthony Breach said he is skeptical that urban planning alone can produce equity. He said not all good jobs can be available to all people within a 15-minute walk or bike ride.

Breach said if car congestion and pollution is the problem, vehicles and driving could be taxed at a higher rate and transit could be expanded by making it more profitable – via land development rights around stations.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

Anthony Breach, Senior Analyst at the UK-based Centre for Cities, has some concerns that the 15-minute city is unrealistic in terms of thinking there ever can be enough affordable urban core housing for the millions of people working hard at jobs that don’t pay well.

“People live in suburbs not because they are stupid, but because of cheaper space outside the city center.

If you force them to own within 15 minutes of where they work, they are priced out,” he said.

If you discourage commuting from farther out, their economic opportunity is cut off.”

THE NEW ME

I75 POUNDS – DOWN FROM MORE THAN 300

I guess this is still me.

But when I look in the mirror, I’m not sure it’s me.

I’m used to a double chin, maybe a triple.

I’m used to cropping every photo at the shoulders – because there was a mountain of fat below.

I weighed 175 pounds before I entered high school.

The last time I was ever my proper body weight for height and age was entering the summer between 2^nd and 3^rd grade.

I still may well suffer the body damages brought on by four-plus decades of obesity…I wonder aloud whether a knee or hip replacement is in my future or if overworked heart and organs will have something to say about the way I treated them.

I’d be lying if I said I no longer crave eating an entire pizza to celebrate something, or to eat two bacon cheeseburgers, a super large fry and chocolate shake to cope with something depressing.

Just this month, while in New York on business, I certainly indulged in a bit more pastrami, slice pizza, cannoli and Korean Fried Chicken than my daily regimen allows.

But I also got up early to run and took a super long walk before day’s end.

I totaled just more than 70 miles run/walked in seven days.

My poor wife didn’t see me get up early to work out more than a half dozen times in the 30+ years she’s been with me.

I’m not sure what she thinks of this guy with a closet full of men’s medium shirts and 32-inch waist pants.

For most of our life, she knew a guy that went up and up and up – till his pants waist was north of 50 and his 3XL shirts were getting tight.

I hope to share some secrets to my success. But it mainly was eating right, moving around more and most of all – believing in myself and seeing food as an energy source, not a drug of choice to medicate all that ails…plus a substitute for love when I needed a boost and celebrated by eating a 7-course meal of fatty, sugary, fried food.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

Carlos Moreno said connectivity to the suburbs (which are much more dense that those in America) will be boosted by Grand Paris Express,

a $25 billion expansion of the century-old Paris Métro to be completed in 2030, and the system will have gained four lines, 68 stations, and more than 120 miles of track.

Moreno noted that the lines will boost inclusion for people with disabilities, as all stations will be wheelchair-accessible (currently, only three percent of the historic metro is accessible.)

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

Carlos Moreno said Paris has committed to creating much more social housing, to allow people to age in place, to combat gentrification and to create rental properties for low-income workers. 

He said government also must take an active role in preserving mom and pop commerce, the low-rise density of the Hausmann 6-story city and the human scale of Paris

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

Carlos Moreno acknowledges that increasing the livability of a big city can add to housing woes.

This is particularly true in Paris -- where a 1-bedroom, 600-square- foot apartment in the 11th arrondissement relatively far from the Notre Dame, the Louvre and Eiffel tower, still costs more than $1,000 per square foot.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

“I call this the new happy life, the happy city. We need to rediscover proximity in a peaceful, greener city. It also is healthier because of a low carbon impact,” Carlos Moreno said.

While Paris, which developed long before the car was the primary means of transportation, already is a 15-minute city to a large degree

– Moreno points out that it still benefits from turning parking lots into greenery, making traffic circles pedestrian and bike friendly, and decentralizing the city.

That means more medical centers spread through the neighborhoods and affordable housing introduced into wealthy neighborhoods, so support workers don’t have to live far outside the center.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

“This is in the tradition of Jane Jacobs,” Moreno said of the legendary urban activist-author who published The Death and Life of Great American Cities in 1961.

“She developed this idea for livable cities -- very vibrant, with green public space, social uses, different activities.

The internet, technology and economic system is very, very different then her times, but this is still relevant today.”

Moreno said people are living in hard times of a pandemic, job loss, income disparity, long commutes and other pressures.

He said making cities more livable is the medicine for urban ills.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

Moreno has four guiding principles of the 15-minute city:  

Ecology: for a green and sustainable city.   

Proximity: to live with reduced distance to other activities.   

Solidarity: to create links between people.   

Participation: actively involve citizens in the transformation of their neighborhood.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HEIDI

MY SOULMATE OF MORE THAN A THIRD OF A CENTURY

Heidi Johnson-Wright entered this world on September 11, 1964.

I’m posting this the next day for two reasons – I was on the road yesterday and my Sunday posts get the highest readership.

I could write so many things, but this online birthday card will focus on my love of travel and how I never would have made it to New York, Los Angeles or Chicago – let alone vast parts of South and Central America, Mexico, Turkey, France, Italy, Morocco, the U.K. or Egypt without her encouragement.

We were born hillbillies, or at least I was. A station wagon trip through the Smoky Mountains was as exotic as jet setting to Paris in my family.

Heidi set the tone with our honeymoon – the Wrights took Manhattan.

Yes, we stayed in a bland and gigantic chain hotel in Midtown and went to Cats (we love felines, but the Broadway play was pretty darn safe and tourist-friendly).

We returned another time to the Drake, a legend – also in Midtown – as a residence of many an old-time performer and the Swissotel where Donahue put his guests up back in the day. It was torn down for a super tall tower for billionaires.

We found out about Affinia Gardens, a residential hotel with a full, albeit shabby, kitchen and amazing wheelchair access. The room was on the ground floor, so no relying on an elevator for full access to our suite. We lived like to residents of the Central Park area.

Our shabbiest visit was to the famed Chelsea Hotel. We were checked in by legendary manager Stanley Bard and bedded down in a careworn room among the art and artists.

A friend told us about the most-loved (but not most expensive or famous) hotel in all of Manhattan. The late, great Wyndham. Not to be confused with the chain of the same name.

For decades, a husband-and-wife team ran the Wyndham more like an apartment building. Countless A-list celebrities lived there year-round or for months. We spotted a few, as we rode an elevator so old it had an elevator operator. The location was footsteps from the Plaza, but with prices we could afford and no pretension.

We stayed in Chelsea a few more times, near the developing High Line. And we slept at a gilded Midtown palace once – getting a free upgrade because the lower priced sister property near Grammercy had a ramp so steep to the lobby that entering the proper was a disaster waiting to happen.

Another time, we stayed way downtown at a chain property – at a deep discount – and watched crews rebuilding the ground zero site.

Along the way, we visited every museum, road the subway via the fraction of accessible stops, dined from dirty water hot dogs to Michelin starred impossible to get tables to funky Vietnamese fried fish Bahn Mi style sandwiches from a parking garage.

We were going to celebrate Heidi’s 57th in New York for a week.  Booked it in June when it looked like COVID would be under control. But the traveling Wrights will have to wait another year to fly safely.

Happy Birthday, Heidi, my love.

 

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

Carlos Moreno, father of the 15-minute city and Hidalgo’s special envoy for smart cities, is scientific director and professor specializing in complex systems and innovation at Paris - Panthéon Sorbonne University.

“Cities should be designed or redesigned so that within the distance of a 15-minute walk or bike ride, people should be able to live the essence of what constitutes the urban experience: to access work, housing, food, health, education, culture and leisure,” he said in a lengthy, exclusive interview. 

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

“Using only paint and screw-in markers, nearly 100 miles of Parisian roads were temporarily reallocated to cyclists in the early months of the pandemic – a revolution in urban reprogramming.

It was later announced that the changes would become permanent,” wrote Carlo Ratti, co-founder of the international design and innovation office Associati and Director of the Senseable City Lab at MIT,

and Richard Florida, professor at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities and Rotman School of Management in Project Syndicate.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

The rapid response needed to cope with COVID-19 has given many urban cores the opportunity to quickly convert traffic lanes in the pedestrian-bike space.

To cope with social distancing while preserving main street businesses, the transformation has often been at a warp speed pace -- compared to the usual array of public hearings and months of review by myriad agencies.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

For decades, smart growth policy, the movement of New Urbanism and other policies have tried to steer cities away from the high cost of sprawl and car ownership. 

The pandemic has accelerated the trend toward creating more pedestrian and bike space.

The goal is to ensure each neighborhood has open/park/recreation space and greening streetscapes and more to create a healthier environment that fights obesity and other diseases contributed to by car-dominated lifestyles.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

Whether the goal is focused on increasing a mix of uses and amenities citywide or in key neighborhoods, the 15-minute concept emphasizes meeting all needs on foot, via bicycle or by using public transit.

Because areas that are amenity-, activity- and transit-rich tend to become very expensive to live and work in, many cities are grappling with how they can ensure equity, inclusion and accessibility in these economically-powerful zones.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY

OLD-FASHIONED COMPACT, CONVENIENT, MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A MODERN, POST PANDEMIC, WALKABLE WORLD

The 15-minute city harkens back to an era when the predominant mode of travel was by foot and a person could meet most of their needs within a 15-minute walk of their residence.  

The concept, coined by Colombian-French scientist Carlos Moreno and being rapidly implemented by Socialist Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, has taken root in many urban areas around the world – including the U.S.

In rapidly-growing and urbanizing Charlotte, it’s the 10-minute neighborhood. 

In Louisiana, with more small and medium cities spread out and developed to suburban standards, the goal is the 20-minute neighborhood.

UNIVERSAL DESIGN:

THE KEY TO EQUITY, INCLUSION, DIVERSITY AND ACCESSIBILITY

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on Universal Design to 50+ experts at the American Planning Association statewide conferences in Miami this week.

I spoke about how design for all delivers more welcoming, durable, flexible and sustainable homes, transit, parks, buildings, waterfronts and streetscapes.

I was joined, via pre-recorded messages for health/safety reasons -- by my brilliant soulmate of 33+ years, ADA and inclusion expert Heidi Johnson-Wright

Thanks David Height and Wiatt Bowers Wiatt Bowers, of Atkins, for making this happen and joining me in the presentation.

HOT TOWN

SUMMER IN THE CITY

Hot town, summer in the city

Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty

Been down, isn't it a pity?

Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

All around, people looking half dead

Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head

ST. MARK'S PLACE

EAST VILLAGE, NYC

Funky Town seems to fill a wide variety of needs of St. Mark’s Place habitues.

There are convenience store items.

There are tons of cool punk rock, new wave and other rock band T-shirts, stickers and patches.

In the back, they do body piercing.

All around, there are bongs, vaping gear and other things we used to call head shop products.

Also a lot of cheap sunglasses and nice, patient, polite workers there.

ST. MARK'S PLACE

EAST VILLAGE, NYC

Search & Destroy is a legendary punk rock clothing and accessories boutique.

Yes, that’s a bunch of dolls stacked in the window to look like dead, well…

And you probably see something vulgar in the image – half the photos on the entry foyer/door are obscene and it doesn’t get any less raw inside.

Famed for high prices and surly workers – plus dozens of signs telling you NOT to snap a picture inside – we’re not sure how this far from wheelchair-accessible, worst customer service in the neighborhood place survives.

But it is highly photogenic and part of the nabe’s punk history.