Comprehensive Planning

Looking forward: thoughts for the next 20 years from the final edition of the Planning Commissioners’ Journal

Looking forward: thoughts for the next 20 years from the final edition of the Planning Commissioners’ Journal

I have had the privilege for the past couple of years of writing a regular column for Planning Commissioner’s Journal, a publication geared toward citizen planners and the professionals who ...

Don’t forget what success looks like.

Don’t forget what success looks like.

The following blog post from www.businessinsider.com hit my inbox a couple of weeks ago during an intensely busy period.  We talk a lot in the Wise Economy world about the necessity ...

Simplistic R Us

Simplistic R Us

We have a plethora of wisdom available to us in this era.  We have developed tools to allow us to access unprecedented volumes of information and ideas, and you would ...

Here’s a quite well done review of a neighborhood in Chicago and how a magic bullet called Tax Increment Financing (TIF) didn’t create the revitalization funding that was projected. Two lessons here: 1) Not surprisingly, TIFs are not the sure-fire solution that they have been sometimes touted as. If the TIF district does not generate property tax increases naturally, it ain’t gonna work. 2) If a consultant generates a one-point, single-number projection of the future economic impact of any project, don’t accept it. Demand a range of potential outcomes that cover a range of possibilities – what happens if there is less development that full buildout? What if there’s a lot less? What changes to which factors in the assumptions will have the biggest impact on the outcomes – for example, if the land use mix changes from the initial game plan, how will different possible mixes affect the projected outcome? At this moment in history, we should be acutely aware of the fact that simple linear projections of the future aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. If we settle for that kind of intellectual laziness, from either consultants or ourselves, we cannot pretend to be surprised when the results don’t turn out as we hoped. We must be more practical and more aware of the full range of possibilities if we are going to create wise – or just reasonably functional- communities. Hat tip to Storm Cunningham of www.revitaliz.com for this link.

Here’s a quite well done review of a neighborhood in Chicago and how a magic bullet called Tax Increment Financing (TIF) didn’t create the revitalization funding that was projected. Two lessons here: 1) Not surprisingly, TIFs are not the sure-fire solution that they have been sometimes touted as. If the TIF district does not generate property tax increases naturally, it ain’t gonna work. 2) If a consultant generates a one-point, single-number projection of the future economic impact of any project, don’t accept it. Demand a range of potential outcomes that cover a range of possibilities – what happens if there is less development that full buildout? What if there’s a lot less? What changes to which factors in the assumptions will have the biggest impact on the outcomes – for example, if the land use mix changes from the initial game plan, how will different possible mixes affect the projected outcome? At this moment in history, we should be acutely aware of the fact that simple linear projections of the future aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. If we settle for that kind of intellectual laziness, from either consultants or ourselves, we cannot pretend to be surprised when the results don’t turn out as we hoped. We must be more practical and more aware of the full range of possibilities if we are going to create wise – or just reasonably functional- communities. Hat tip to Storm Cunningham of www.revitaliz.com for this link.

RT @restorm Chicago discovers TIF can’t revitalize all by itself in poorest neighborhoods. http://t.co/bBCBUjJU

Slides from APA Ohio, National Trust and Downtown Colorado presentations (also known as the Dry Throat Tour)

Slides from APA Ohio, National Trust and Downtown Colorado presentations (also known as the Dry Throat Tour)

 For those of you that attended sessions with me at conferences in September or October, I am glad to say that I finally got the slides posted to Slideshare so ...

Why we need better public participation: Complex issues and how structure makes us think better.

Why we need better public participation: Complex issues and how structure makes us think better.

This article on innovation research captures a critical truth about public participation: if we don’t create a clear structure for people to think within, their thinking won’t be worth very much.  Here’s ...

Dust, Bravery and the Usual Suspects: Q&A with Planning Commissioner’s Journal

Dust, Bravery and the Usual Suspects: Q&A with Planning Commissioner’s Journal

Ah, July… I’d like to say that I haven’t blogged lately because I have been working so darn hard, but there’s too many pictures of me at a U2 concert ...

What can planners do to help the economy?

What can planners do to help the economy?

We all know that most of our local economies are in some form or another of mess.  Draw the border around your town, your county, your region, your state, doesn’t ...

How to keep your community from eating the ice cream

How to keep your community from eating the ice cream

It’s that time of year when even the most laissez-faire of us get hit with the Set  Goals bug.  We all resolve (myself included) to lose more weight, eat better, ...

Would we make better plans if we knew whether our plans work?

Would we make better plans if we knew whether our plans work?

My post last week about whether comprehensive plans are worth doing and what goes on with them generated a lot of very thoughtful feedback, both in the blog comments and ...