HomeMy WebLinkAboutRebuilding a Sense of Community . .
Rebuilding a Sense of Community .
Dy.C1tnm.ts Locxwuuu_____..___community's traditional crossroads. - residents who may want to lessen their de-
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The New Turk Islanders,a professional After clearing the 29-acre site,it started peudence on automobiles.These suburban
hockey team in suburban Nassau County, selling off parcels to developers, who are residents (and Many traditional families,
won the Stanley Cup four years in a row now constructing utie-and two-story stores too) are attracted to multifamily housing
between 1980 and 1983.Each year the leant and restaurants around the 'fowl Square on or near the new Main Streets.
faced the same problem: It didn't have a ill accot•dallce with the project's master 13ut even with these powerful forces•be-
downtown or a Main Street where it could Platt. Parking lots are tucked behind the hind the development of new suburban
• hold a victory parade. So [arts gathered buildings. Schaumburg also put two pow- Main Streets, this emerging trend•still '
outside the.Nassau Coliseum to cheer the er[ul anchors in its new Town Square: the [aces several hurdles.For one,how l'iaily
Islanders as their motorcade drove around Schaumburg Township Library,which will developers or municipalities can afford to
the parking lot. draw an estimated one million visitors a fund these large, long-term development
• The scene would have been funny, if it Year, and a popular 70,0hJU-square-foot Do- projects? Unless they have owned their
weren't so sad.Most of America's sprawl- miiick's supermarket.'These two anchors sites for decades,developers must pay.to-
iug post-World War II suburbs resemble will generate strong pedestrian traffic for day's high prices for the land. Develop- •
Nassau County. Developed as low-density the smaller rowii Square businesses. mel't-minded municipalities. that don't
automobile-oriented alternatives to tradi- Why are suburbs that previously cote- have Schaumburg's solid tax base niay melt
liana!towns and cities,they have no heart, brated their shopping center-dominated be able to support new Main Street pro-
mu central core,no sense of place that res- jells. . •-
'dents can lean on,take pride hi or turn to . Equally difficult, many logical siles.fur
in times of celebration. S'UUUrUltl has realized new Main Streets straddle several dlf(er-
Answering the Call that Main Streets are es- ens suburban jurisdictions.Will these our
nicipahities be able to put aside their dif-
After doing without fur 5U years,Amer- [erences •
and murk together to create anew
(cans are increasingly recognizing and ar Se9lllcll lU a community's- Alain Street that will meet their commuii-
ticulaliug their hunger fur a public reahu• ecU9lol11•y, vitality, identity Lies'deeper needs? •.
Intellectuals,church leaders,TV and radio 'Traffic codes present another problem.
commentators and everyday citizens are and sense Uf place; and it is Alaiy jurisdictions require overly wide
calling for the return of a sense of couul'u lJ UilCli91 cICCU streets that would spoil the intimate scale
'lily. Developers, architects and laud-use I'lllllblly. of these pedestrian-oriented Main Streets •
planners are answering the call in practi- • and introduce high-speed traffic into their
cal and innovative ways. In a dramatic lifestyles suddenly building .these new roadways. .
turnabout from their origins as bedroom Main Streets?The first reason,of course, And some suburbanites just don't want
communities,several postwar suburbs are is many Americans' growing hunger for a new Main Street in their community.
building new Main Streets from scratch,in cunuul'ity after being isolated front each They worry about increased traffic,air pot-•
an effort to strengthen their communities, other by postwar development patterns lotion, higher taxes, and crime fruni.out-
their economies and their quality of life. that emphasized privale;••disconnected sitters.They also worry, rightly, that view
'Elie key to this emerging trend is the space over a unifying public realm. suburban Main Streets—if developed with-
recognition that a Main Street is Much Second, as many cash-strapped sub- out careful design and a mix of many dif-
more than a place to shop. A true Maui w•bs compete fur residents,jobs, conven- fereut uses—could become little more than
Street unites retail with restaurants, en- ,� ,_ = nostalgic window dressing,like faux turn-
lerlainuteul,jobs,housing and civic foul ,°ia�r " z *`af�� , +' r,'l "etc li of the century store runts suburban malls.
lions like a post office or town hall to cue- °;,'r f ' k t k�a tl` i rj�y7�li4.i le. ,•
u,Gr 1` .1,4.4: 'z ..;,..W.Ti. r, +, ∎ 1,o171lIdaL)le Allies ate a'l►ullidimeusiuual public realm. ,f td� . ,f
iii ` ttk g Ib y#tt+Its o
In Valencia, Calif., 3U miles north of S, = 1 a��} p{,+ �w c k These obstacles are formidable,but'tlue
t rNt !- C. F 1 , I
downtown Los Angeles,the Newhall Land tai jIel�'.f, a"•' q,?t",r ' "t r.`xjt; z new suburban Main Streets have an even
II 11 ,,',....034 t r+ + l 'lore formidable ally:American business.
and Farming Cu.is building a$1.UU million j R p y:pi;�;`"' �! x„t-.�,i.4-44.4rfo 4' _ '
sl The new Main Streets may.not be paved in
pedestrian oriented Main Street called L1 )�.r r 1 a'v� ,1'iti l kY't 1'1'1 reel 7
Town Center Drive an a half-wile stretch ter ,•: ' rt«r E ,,i lsri ' gold, but they do have great profit potent-
Town
designated as a conunu'lil hub in Valera a: t lial.Indeed,some shopping malls owners,
g y ? it u idlyb x 1 'fit !"a;4ri ts. 31111111f,T to lure customers, are thinking of
cia's 19GUs Master Plan. A three-story o[ , `et a = o,• ,. , i,. building new Main Streets re thinking
used f
[ice building ith shops and restaurants f; ( r u
g P •r, Q i 1 �. o •• l x, portions of their parking lots. Residential
T the ground [lour opened a year ago. l`"� 1. S`} ii iii r.' Sk
Three other buildings—a hotel and confer- lSr i r A� ft�r,: ��:��:�� U'�� real estate developers already see big prof-
,.1 ., ,_,,;•.'..11` -;m'„,r; ,, r.�,,tam+�; ;�,ir;:ryto Its in the new Main Street trend. In
ence center, a health club and a large re- p .. ,. ► ' Schaumburg, advertisements for lot new
tail-entertainment complex—are under Schaumburg,Ill.'s planned cluck lower, upscale townhouses near the Town Square
• construction. Another office building is purl of its lawn Square deueloputenl stress the development's proximity to this
scheduled to break ground this fall. Sev- new hub.And some big businesses are re-
eral hundred apartments will be clustered lions, and tourists, they see new Maio locating to the new Main Streets. Next
at the'western end of the street. If Town Streets as one way to create an easily rec year Princess Cruises will move its 000 ear
Center Drive lives up to expectations, Rs ugiiizable—and marketable—ideulily that ltluyee customer-service operations from
•growid-floor shops and restaurants, wide will attract new businesses, development, West Los Angeles's high-rise Century City
tree-shaded sidewalks and variety of uses and shops,which in turn will generate in-
to Valencia's 1'uwn Center Drive.
will attract people from early morning un- creased sales tax revenues. The postwar suburbs that were the chi-
lli late at night.Thus,Town Center Drive 'Third, many iucdiwa-size and higher ving force behind the decline of America's
will become a genuine community hub,nut end stores like Williauts-Suuunia, 13arnes
traditional urban and small-town Alain
an outdoor mall masquerading as a lawn &Noble and Crate&Darrel no longer want .Slreels are now seeing the error of their
center. • to locate inside typical suburban Malls. ways. Suburbia has realized that Alain•Sometimes a municipality ranter than a They want a separate ideulily—distinctive Streets are essential to a counnwtity's
developer is the catalyst behind a new stand-alone stores near lousing and coin economy, vitality, identity and sense of
Main Street. Schaumburg, III., a thriving utercial buildings. Suburbia's new Mail'
place;c and it is building accordingly.In the
90-year-old city of 75,000 near Chicago's Streets fill Unit niche. 1 ° 6 g'
O'Hare Airport, is developing a 'Town Fourth, suburban demographics have new millennium,we may well look back,uu
Square,similar to the New England village changed dramatically. Whereas suburbs the postwar decades as ie aberraliuu-as
green, the Italian piazza, and the Spanish . began by housing mostly young families
the only period when America's comntwti
t f.i 1' 1' Y tics lacked true Main Streets.
plaza. Using money[runi a special taxing wills children, residents now include in- •
district, Schaumburg's village govern- creasing numbers of single adults and
• nent acquired a half-empty retail center childless couples, who may prefer a town- Mr. Lockwood is the author of seven
and several 7uljar•rirt In rrliys a illy hnnnr In a sine le•family house. and older brruk.s Omit architecture and cities. . .