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D J TICE What,matters;are these demonstraip�
<br /> • — adrilittedly, still rare;enough tarbe
<br /> newsworthy —.that a few developers';&.
<br /> IS
<br /> seeing the market:potential of wha
<br /> called "new urbanism.".
<br /> Suburbia s resistance to old-style to`V V 1 LJ New urbanism is merely:the,idea oun' ,
<br /> people who don't••really liver in the coun'�
<br /> try ought to live with the.charms-of,.real is
<br /> condemns It to :worst ..of rural, urban n ghborhoodces•°with town centdrs;
<br /> neighborhood parks f• and'.' stoi•��;
<br /> streetscapes with:def inition and charac
<br /> ,M • very day, some 2,700 vehicles roll community bestowed by town life at its ter. Above.all,.places with connections ;
<br /> �...
<br /> down Harriet Avenue in Shoreview. best. between the public and private realms,
<br /> ` Yet, according to recent news reports,
<br /> Ha it though, there are sporadic Porches, sidewalks and gathering srpistd
<br /> �•;, rs° ,, some residents along the street are dis- signs of an awakening. A 34-lot addition hospitable to pedestrians are,the s�G :t;3
<br /> traught about losing their neighborhood's in Woodbury will reportedly sport radical that every small;town in:America
<br /> OV7 oe
<br /> " ay "rural atmosphere. features. All the houses will have — kneW.
<br /> 1a The threat to Harriet's' bucolic sereni- brace yourself — front porches, where Meanwhile, many old-time town plan=
<br /> ty. A sidewalk.
<br /> residents might relax on a' summer's ning -concepts underlie downtown sv.
<br /> Evidently, "rural atmosphere" is syn- evening and watch neighbors stroll by on, Paul's new "design framework,":witIm
<br /> onymous with "walking in the road" to yes, a sidewalk. Project manager Jay promising plans for "extroverted build=
<br /> EDITORIAL these disgruntled sidewalk opponents. Liberacki warns this could result in spon- ings" connected to and In visual harmony
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<br /> WRITER How else to understand people's belief taneous greetings, even conversations. The with their surroundings. ,,..•r
<br /> that they are enjoying country living as a sidewalks will connect with a community What's been lost in the fractured, place: ;
<br /> From the St. car passes every 21 seconds during a 16- trail system, raising the risk of residents less suburbs is also, in part, behind.dip=
<br /> hour driving day? taking walks, maybe even reaching a con- putes over free , speech rights � at
<br /> Croix to Lake This peculiar street of dreams mean- venience store, without stepping into the Bloomington's Mall of•America.•The idea
<br /> Minnetonka, dens across suburbia; where "rural" val-. road once. is that private malls'have, an-obligatioii
<br /> residents resist ues are regularly cited to oppose But the greatest danger to Woodbury's to function'as' today's public squares
<br /> encroaching urban features. The lifestyle suburban purity may be this new develop- because suburbs have no other physical
<br /> sidewalks, ideal that has inspired the suburban pil- ment's plans to move garage doors to the habitat where community can thrive. nt;
<br /> smaller lot sizes grimage these past 50 years is the vision . side.or rear of houses. Without these gap- Free market devotees should notice;
<br /> of a best-of-both-worlds existence' a ing maws to dominate home fronts, ingidentally,..that the modern'subiicbifi .
<br /> and mixes of life amid.the spacious quiet of the coup- passersby may get the impression that landscape wasn't .created by.unhindei'od .
<br /> commercial and , try with access to the economic and cu
<br /> these are the dwellings of human beings consumer choice. It has been largely,
<br /> total opportunities of the city. 'rather than automobiles. mandated by minimum lot sizes, setbacks
<br /> residential Trouble is, suburbia's open-spaces Similar subversion is reportedly afoot parking and zoning requirements':ana
<br /> properties, splendor is rapidly being destroyed by at Marine on St. Croix, where a new 64- other government edicts that essentii311}i
<br /> wildfire residential and commercial home neighborhood will feature modestly have made traditional small town design;
<br /> almost as if development. But the dream of "rural sized houses clustered in "an old-fash- . illegal.
<br /> atmosphere" persists long after the reali- ioned town grid" of narrow streets, all Suburbs needn't becbme;cities. They
<br /> they'd rather ty has _dissipated, .and not, just in connected to town by walking paths: can retain the elbow room', secluded
<br /> preserve the' Shoreview. Garages will be detached and in back of neighborhoods and natural areas that.•'ar .:;
<br /> From the St. Croix to Lake Minnetonka, the homes, reached by what is described their unique assets, and.still enjoy mink, ..
<br /> disadvantages of suburbanites resist sidewalks, smaller lot as a "lane" between adjoining lots, small-town amenities.. They.can, maybe
<br /> country living sizes and mixes of commercial and resi- This was called an "alley" in prehis- for the first time, truly have the. bes...of
<br /> than admit'they dential properties, almost as if they'd toric times. The need to give pretentious both worlds. = ;.
<br /> rather preserve the disadvantages of new names to old ideas is contagious What has to be discarded is the'modern
<br /> live in a town. country living than admit they live in a among suburbia's new revolutionaries. delusion that .everything old-fashioned.i
<br /> town. The result is that many suburbs The sidewalks in Woodbury will reported- second rate,;the disdain for community
<br /> increasingly enjoy the "best" of neither ly be called "promenades," on the theory that makes solitude a futile fixation, and
<br /> world -. neither country solitude nor the that.•it sounds "more romantic." y the fantasy that rural atmosphere can b
<br /> cozy, convenient, interconnected sense of Call them "Paths of Power" if it helps. found by dodging traffic. �-
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