Plans for housing in the strip district (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: 2014, violent crime)

[pman]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Looking at those pictures I can see why. Goodness talk about lean tos. Goodness, think we can do better than that!

those are the hoovervilles not the permanent structures. it would seem they were too effective in knocking things down judging by the population numbers.

SCR-you're welcome. given the sheer number of organizations that have problems with bunchers development, one should be wary.
eschaton-there are groups trying to change that. modular housing is a big key in lowering costs since labor is often too expensive (and that really shouldn't be when people need work but that's another topic). thought you'd find this of interest.
The Hundred Thousand Dollar House | Conscious Geek
in the old days when affordable housing was built (small rowhomes) many of the materials were local. today everything is shipped in and there are significant costs associated with wait times and coordinating everything.
anyway, regardless of what kind of structure is built, gated streets (not just buildings) are everyone's concern, particularly since this isn't tucked away on some dead end street.

[eschaton]

I was just thinking about it today - I bet the gated part of the design is not due to crime concerns, but parking.

Any development so close to the commercial core of the strip is going to have a fair amount of people attempting to park in reserved spaces on the weekend for a quick trip to a store or two. Even if they're threatened with towing if caught.

Not that I'm defending the design decision, but I'd bet anything the concern is mainly to keep off-street parking reserved for homeowners and tenants.

[gg]

I have been reflecting on this a bit myself and never really stated an opinion on it, just figuring out who Buncher wants to market to.

1. They want to take down 1/3 of the dumb loading dock. That is good news and will provide much better access.
2. They want an entrance to the riverfront and promote the river. I see nothing wrong with that.
3. They want to build a parking garage. Well it is obviously needed and certainly better than some giant lot taking up a ton of space.
4. They want two blocks of it to have gates and have private drives. The entire plan is 6 miles long. Can we not give the retired older set with their two homes a place to live in this plan? Are we that prejudice against older folks with some money, we say NO you can't have those two blocks of this 6 mile plan? I think it is no big deal and people are making a mountain out of a mole hill. As it is right now the entire thing is a mess. This plan sounds pretty good and there is a trail that is riverfront that whole stretch, so I think that is great. Much better than it is now.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I was just thinking about it today - I bet the gated part of the design is not due to crime concerns, but parking.

Any development so close to the commercial core of the strip is going to have a fair amount of people attempting to park in reserved spaces on the weekend for a quick trip to a store or two. Even if they're threatened with towing if caught.

Not that I'm defending the design decision, but I'd bet anything the concern is mainly to keep off-street parking reserved for homeowners and tenants.

You can gate an area off to cars without gating it off to pedestrians. If they are only doing that it wouldn't be so bad.

[gg]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

You can gate an area off to cars without gating it off to pedestrians. If they are only doing that it wouldn't be so bad.

Goodness, it is only two blocks. If people are too lazy to walk two blocks, I suspect they wouldn't make their way down to the riverfront anyway. Have you ever walked across that parking lot from Smallman to the river? It isn't a short walk for the average person. That is a huge area.

When I read people writing, "rich" or "yuppie" when referring to the two blocks of gated area, I actually find that a little offensive. There are people out there that want extra security. So what? People shouldn't deny or make fun of them. For the record and as I have stated before, I hate "gated communities". I would never live in one, but I have no problem with others that want that. I don't care about two blocks of a 6 mile stretch being gated. This is a huge development and two blocks really means about nothing.

[aw_now_what]

I can't wait to open a store on Smallman Street selling full body armor to people wanting to set foot in the Strip without getting murdered.

[gg]

Originally Posted by aw_now_what

I can't wait to open a store on Smallman Street selling full body armor to people wanting to set foot in the Strip without getting murdered.

Sorry, there already is a store on Smallman in the Strip that sells body armer. You missed the boat.


North Eastern Uniforms

[CaptainPittsburgh]

Denying a group of people who already have more wealth, power, opportunity, luxurious comfort, etc., etc., than the vast majority of society the ability to carve out sections of inner-city neighborhoods for their own private use is not prejudice; it's just drawing a line.

It's about principal, to me. We're talking about people who have such a disproportionate accumulation of wealth that they are already several steps removed from common life. Plans like this are nothing more than those over-privileged folks deciding that this isn't enough, and they, in fact, need to literally build their own little fortification to contain their elite group from the rest of the world. For me, this is a good place to draw the line and say, "Sorry, no. You have enough. You can live here. You can have a super fancy, decadent house, if you choose. You cannot rope off a section of the neighborhood to keep the normies out."

Again, I want to be clear that this is just my opinion, and I'm a very, very liberal guy. I totally understand that there are tons of people who see the world differently then me, and I'm trying to be respectful of that. If my post sounds combative or rude or any of that, I apologize in advance; that's not my intent at all.

[BrianTH]

Of course better walking access to the river will benefit rich and poor alike. In other words, it is not like only poor people will visit the Strip.

[gg]

Originally Posted by CaptainPittsburgh

Denying a group of people who already have more wealth, power, opportunity, luxurious comfort, etc., etc., than the vast majority of society the ability to carve out sections of inner-city neighborhoods for their own private use is not prejudice; it's just drawing a line.

It's about principal, to me. We're talking about people who have such a disproportionate accumulation of wealth that they are already several steps removed from common life. Plans like this are nothing more than those over-privileged folks deciding that this isn't enough, and they, in fact, need to literally build their own little fortification to contain their elite group from the rest of the world. For me, this is a good place to draw the line and say, "Sorry, no. You have enough. You can live here. You can have a super fancy, decadent house, if you choose. You cannot rope off a section of the neighborhood to keep the normies out."

Again, I want to be clear that this is just my opinion, and I'm a very, very liberal guy. I totally understand that there are tons of people who see the world differently then me, and I'm trying to be respectful of that. If my post sounds combative or rude or any of that, I apologize in advance; that's not my intent at all.

Captain, you know I enjoy your posts, but in this case I have to say it isn't pretty. People with money and without money are equal. No one will be able to live in the Strip that are poor in this new plan. It is just too expensive to build these days, so the costs are going to be high anyway. We are talking about a couple of blocks in a 6 mile plan.

Also, I want to point out the terminal building (loading dock) runs from 16th-24th Street blocking the ENTIRE access to the river. That is a very long run. Buncher, whom I am not a huge fan of, but do want to look at the plan objectively, is going to take a big chunk of the loading dock down to provide access. Good job Buncher. I wish they would take the entire building down to be quite honest, but I digress. Anyway, the part that will be gated will no doubt be in a section that is blocked by the loading dock, so it isn't like people are going to walk from the Strip through that gated area anyway, it is already blocked. It really won't matter. People are going to go through the opening in the loading dock and use the entrance to the riverfront. I really feel the gated part means nothing and won't mess with the flow of people at all. Have a look at google maps and look at the loading dock and those streets it blocks right now. It really kills access. At least Buncher is addressing that and providing an entrance to the river.