Placemaking Project Part 5 - Reflections

Reflections

Throughout this course we have discussed many characteristics of building sustainable places. The three E’s, in particular, economy, environment and equity (“What is Sustainability?”). The Washington Quad has a unique sustainable aspect that promotes its environment, the first E. Environment refers to “preserving and restoring the health of living systems.” The Washington Quad underwent environmental renovation in 2008. This renovation focused largely transforming the area into a place for residents’ relaxation and enjoyment while utilizing the space for environmental friendly improvements. In example, the renovation built the campus’ first storm water irrigation system in the Washington Quad. The sustainable UMD website notes a 10,000 gallon cistern collect water from the roofs of the surrounding buildings that is then distributed to a drip irrigation system to nearby plants. Additionally, this renovation added a lot of trees and plants to this area along with recycling and trash containers, and adding bicycle racks. During renovation concrete, asphalt and other byproducts of construction was recycled rather than being dumped into landfills. The second E is economy, which refers to a fair distribution of resources and limited economic growth in order to prevent unstainable growth and pollution. I think that the 2008 renovation also included aspects of economic sustainability. The renovation included adding more than fifty-two bicycle racks, more than one for each hall. Biking has become an increasingly popular mode of transportation for those who are both trying to move around quickly while also reducing their environmental footprint. It would be unjust and unfair to only put in bicycle racks for a single hall, considering a lot of students opt to bike to and from class, and further, rely on their bikes as a regular form of transportation. As someone who bikes frequently around campus, I would certainly be upset if I was living in a community where only one hall had bike racks. it would create an unwelcoming atmosphere for the other halls that don’t have bicycle racks but have residents who have bikes.

One of my favorite topics we covered in class was eminent domain. I think eminent domain is a really interest topic due to the fact that it is not always so black and white. Recently, the popular game Cards Against Humanity purchased land along the U.S.-Mexico Border in attempt to make it difficult for President Trump to build the wall. The laws of eminent domain define it as the “the exercise of the power of government to acquire private property necessary for a public use on the payment of just compensation and following due process of law.” On their website, Card Against Humanity states that they have “retained a law firm specializing in eminent domain to make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for the wall to get built.” The big question here is, would an eminent domain case be ultimately successful or unsuccessful in this scenario? While Card Against Humanitys’ lawyers will surely delay the condemnation, I do think this case follows the three major rules of takings. Firstly, in order for an eminent domain condemnation to be successful there must be public use involved for the taking.  Secondly, there would obviously have to be just compensation. Thirdly, there must be due process in the taking. Due to this case being speculative, I am going to focus on whether or not there is indeed public use in this wall.  While the wall is a very controversial topic, it would make no sense to be stuck in limbo between wall and no wall. It should either be built, or not built. Should the rest of the wall not be built, there definitely would be no public use. However, if a majority of the wall is built and Cards Against Humanity owns the last remaining property for it to be constructed, I do think there is public use in the taking.

Another topic I found rather interesting was historic preservation through historic tax credits. Recently, the Taylor Hotel in Winchester, Virginia received $2.75 million in historic tax credits. This Taylor Hotel was built in 1848, more than 150 years ago. When the Civil War emerged, General Jackson temporarily chose the Taylor Hotel for his base of operations. The City of Winchester has a deep Civil War history, many battles were fought within city lines. After the war, the Taylor Hotel saw a stream of various commerce and department stores, however eventually the hotel was left vacant due to economic issues. After several years, the buildings’ roof was severely damaged and was prone to collapse, this damage made many restoration plans moot and the property was condemned to be demolished. After public outcry for preservation, historic tax credits were distributed to the site for redevelopment. As with many other cases of historic preservation we have discussed in class, this redevelopment would have never, ever in a million year have been undertaken without historic tax credits. Historic tax credits are vital for old cities with a rich history facing temporary issues of developing due to damage caused by the course of time.

Previously, I reflected on the idea that the Washington Quad instills a feeling of safety and security amongst its residents’ due to the walls the halls form around it. I would like to expand off this due to a comment I received from someone who had lived in the Washington Quad previously. The former resident told me that she had never really thought of the security the surrounding buildings provide, however, she did always feel secure due to the large community she lived in. I think this is an interesting take on the idea of security. Often, people tend to feel the most secure when they live in an area that does not have a lot of random people you do not know living there. However, perhaps there is a special social connection in between each student here based solely off of the fact that they are going through college together. Why is it that many college graduates often frequently keep in contact with their college peers? Perhaps, it is due to the large number of experiences they shared together. For  memories, the place is as important as the people. I think the Washington Quad does a great job at fostering good memories within its residents due to its place, and its people.

As mentioned previously, the three components of sustainability – environment, economy and equity – are vital in order to ensure that everyone has the right to live in a sustainable community, not just specific groups of people. I think that the most effective way to promote the global right to sustainability is through affordable housing and inclusionary zoning. Housing in the United States has a racist and discriminatory past. In 1933 the Home Owner Loan Corp was founded to set a standard for evaluating credit for mortgages. This noted the start of red-lining, the practice of withholding mortgages from areas it thought were poor economic risks. It was also common practices to put discriminatory rules built into leases to segregate neighborhoods. Additionally, minority neighborhoods were historically placed next to areas that were zoned industrial – this includes areas near factories and other production facilities that emit high pollution and toxins. In order to have a completely sustainable community it’s environment must be sustainable as well. It would be nearly impossible for communities placed near toxic or polluting sites to be able to be environmental sustainable. Even if the community itself is environmental friendly, the negative externality of pollution caused by neighboring industrial zones would be out of their control. It is absolutely pertinent to encourage developers to build affordable housing in areas of inclusive zoning. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has already put in place incentives to encourage the development of affordable housing, including the HOME Investments Partnerships Program (HOME) and the National Housing Trust Fund (HTF). HOME serves the purpose of providing grants to States and local governments to fund affordable housing, while HTF helps fund the acquisition, construction or redevelopment of rental units for families below the poverty line.  While this is a great step towards affordable housing, we should further incentivize affordable housing construction. Affordable housing is good for economic sustainability as well, according to the  “Center for Housing Policy (CHP), [the] impact of a new affordable housing development on nearby property values is more likely to be neutral or positive than negative”  In addition to increasing property values, affordable housing development  creates jobs in the construction field. The third and final E, equity, is what affordable housing is primarily about. Equity “includes freedom from unhealthy living conditions, and equal access to food, water, employment, education and healthcare." As mentioned earlier, inclusionary zoning and affordable housing improve the environment of low-income and underprivileged neighborhoods. Additionally, affordable housing allows for low-income families to send their children to schools in good school-districts. At the end of the day, affordable housing is a stride for equity.

Additional Works Cited:

“What is Sustainability?”, pp. 3-8; “A Brief History of Sustainability”, pp. 10-20 in Sustainability Principles and Practice (Course Reserves)