Saint Paul Greens - Land Use

Like I said in yesterday's piece, there are a few things about the Green Party platform that, at least at a conceptual level, make sense to me, the libertarian-conservative Republican. They have a few points about grassroots politics that resonate.

The St. Paul Greens' "vision" on Land Use is one of those things; at a conceptual level, it sounds good. Even just a bit conservative:

A livable city will be arranged so that the daily needs of people can be
met efficiently, conveniently and economically.

Land use will encourage vital, compact neighborhoods where people can
live, work, shop, study, worship, and play without traveling great
distances.

Makes sense, right? Economy of effort is a good thing, as a general rule, right? The less time you spend driving five miles to the nearest Cub, the more time you have to do something useful.

So far so good.

It will encourage walking, bicycling, and getting to know each other.

Love walking, biking, and getting to know people.

It will preserve the beauty of the land itself in green open spaces, in wooded bluffs, in lakes, rivers, and sweeping views.

Which makes sense in and of itself.

Wise and conservative land use underlies many other elements of the vision -- housing, business, transportation, public services, energy, and environment.

St. Paul has already moved in the direction of better land use by making some zoning code changes in accordance with a plan for traditional neighborhood districts (TND).

Which, if you accept the notion of urban planning, is not a bad thing - again, as a concept.

Of course, with most of the Green concepts, behind the sweet carrot is a nasty coercive stick. And as we get into the beef of the next several elements in the "vision" (I'm doing one per day), we'll see the twisted arm behind the sane-sounding concepts.

Stay tuned.

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Posted by Mitch at July 18, 2005 07:53 AM | TrackBack