A Coconut Grove, Fla., McMansion circa 2003. Are McMansions destined to be apartment houses in the next decade? (Miami Herald photo)
I came away from last week’s New Partners for Smart Growth conference with a notebook full of interesting ideas, factoids and thoughts:
Category: McMansions
Why conservatives should love transit, and more
A few links to interesting reading: A piece on “Why Conservatives Should Care About Transit,” here.
One provocative excerpt: “Support for government-subsidized highway projects and contempt for efficient mass transit does not follow from any of the core principles of social conservatism.
A common misperception is that the current American state of auto-dependency is a result of the free market doing its work. In fact, a variety of government interventions ensure that the transportation ‘market’ is skewed towards car-ownership.”
A wonderful profile of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood by the NY Times’ inimitable Mark Leibovich here.
Here’s a closer look at the new state of Virginia standards that won’t put state highway money into developments that don’t meet a connectivity index. The article is from New Urban News, and it criticizes VaDOT for not being aggressive enough with its connectivity standards.
It also references the study done in Charlotte by CDOT and Fire Department staff that found more cost-efficiency for emergency services in connected neighborhoods than in cul-de-sac-collector neighborhoods. Here’s a link to where I wrote about it, and here’s a link to a slide show about the study itself.
(Note, Delaware is doing something akin to Virginia. The New Urban News main web site says: Delaware mandates connected streets The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT), which has jurisdiction over most streets and roads in its state, is — like Virginia — requiring that new subdivision streets be connected to neighboring areas.
From the Colorado-based High Country News, a piece on the possible end of Exurbia, at least in the West.
A word about that story: I’ve read several pieces in recent months in which people say suburbia is on its last gasps, and the recession will kill it. I’m skeptical. Among other reasons: At least in my neck of suburbia (Charlotte), financial stress means people are less mobile than before – they can’t sell their houses, or find jobs to move to. Thus, they are not leaving exurbia even if the want to. In addition, housing in the far ‘burbs is still, dirt for dirt, cheaper than in the city (vast exurban McMansions and uptown luxury condos notwithstanding.
Many “Death of Suburbia” themes are premised on the assumption energy prices will rise. I believe they will, and savings from cheap housing will be undercut by the gasoline prices needed for long commutes to work and shopping. But for now gas prices seem to have stabilized. Further, local governments around here – and I suspect elsewhere – are in no mood to crack down on any kind of development, there being, for now, virtually none going on.
‘Extreme’: Higher taxes? Who pays?
Plenty of folks reading the previous post worried that the King family might not have money for the higher taxes they’ll pay. Some suggested the day care they run isn’t licensed. It is, and has a four-star rating.
Newsroom colleague and great writer Elizabeth Leland, apparently a Naked City reader, e-mailed me with a note pointing to Mark Washburn’s article Saturday about the size of the house and the family’s upcoming bills.
A pertinent excerpt is below, or you can read the story online. Mark’s story doesn’t address the questions of “green” building, though some who left comments
say the show makes a point of using energy-efficient techniques. Does anyone have any information?
What is not generally known is that producers often set aside money to ensure families can afford their gift homes. Community fundraisers, such as this week’s concert at SouthPark, help underwrite the accounts.
“Most family mortgages are paid off,” says Didiayer Snyder, one of the designers on the Charlotte build. Also, money is put in escrow for things such as power bills and other expenses, including scholarships.
In the case of the Kings, they are planning to finish degrees at UNC Charlotte and the show might make that part of the package, but it probably won’t be known until the show airs in October.
“We do not build McMansions,” says Diane Korman, senior producer with Lock and Key Productions in Hollywood, which creates the shows for ABC. “Houses need to be affordable for the residents.”
… Korman said this week that the Charlotte project has been designed to fit in with the Windsor Park neighborhood, which is mostly one- and two-story brick homes. Lavish palaces are not the goal of the program, she said.