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Public Voices on Redevelopment

vdogg

By vdogg
in Virginia Beach

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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Well the mods have finally met. We had the opportunity to attend a forum today at the Virginia Beach Convention Center entitled "Public Voices on Redevelopment group".

Joel Garreau- Senior writer for the washington post

Don Maxwell- Virginia Beach Director of Economic Development

James K. Spore- Virginia Beach City manager

^^^^Above is a list of just a few of the people me and urbanvb got to speak to at todays symposium on redevelopment. Of the 100 pamphlets we had with us there are only 20 left. I was very impressed at the hundreds of people who showed up to this who were interested in development in Virginia Beach. Many of the ideas these people support are the same ideas and concepts you hear put forward everyday on urbanplanet. It is inspiring to see that so many people get it and hopefully, the Va. Beach forum will be a lot busier here shortly. :yahoo: Today was a successful day.

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erdogs Burg

erdogs

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Well the mods have finally met. We had the opportunity to attend a forum today at the Virginia Beach Convention Center entitled "Public Voices on Redevelopment group".

Joel Garreau- Senior writer for the washington post

Don Maxwell- Virginia Beach Director of Economic Development

James K. Spore- Virginia Beach City manager

^^^^Above is a list of just a few of the people me and urbanvb got to speak to at todays symposium on redevelopment. Of the 100 pamphlets we had with us there are only 20 left. I was very impressed at the hundreds of people who showed up to this who were interested in development in Virginia Beach. Many of the ideas these people support are the same ideas and concepts you hear put forward everyday on urbanplanet. It is inspiring to see that so many people get it and hopefully, the Va. Beach forum will be a lot busier here shortly. :yahoo: Today was a successful day.

More teasing! :(
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urbanvb City

urbanvb

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I also think today was successful, in fact much more so than I expected. I really enjoyed hearing Joel Garreau speak about Edge cities and how they are fast becoming in their own right. Btw, he has a book called Edge Cities and I think the library has it available as well. One thing I was surprised to learn was the reason for this meeting and the reason a committee has come about is because citizens came together and advocated the city to start such a committee. That group of citizens sat in front of us and there were actually quite a few of them. I am glad that the city gave them a venue such as this. In addition I thought the forum was quite interesting. The forum was comprised of people from all walks of life including civic leaders, attorneys, smart growth advocates and interested citizens. A few from the forum suggested that redevelopment should not rest on the shoulders of developers, city leaders or citizens but rather all should come together as one to address such issues. Interesting enough though, the mayor is not endorsing this group though I wonder why. Now on to some pics I took of the convention center.

I actually forgot to some shots of the outside of the building from a distance but here are a few interesting shots I took. I thought the water features directly in front of the building were pretty neat.

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The ceiling of the alcove from the front of the building.

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Comfortable seating area located just inside the building.

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Checking in.

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I think about 100-120 people turned out today.

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The forum up front.

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Joel Garreau, our guest speaker.

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The mayor's introduction.

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Don Maxwell, Director of Economic Development city of VB.

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The ballroom we were in had some interesting architectual elements I thought.

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That's it for now. I do hope to keep up with the redevelopment committee and hopefully as things progresses we can all come together for the good of the city and it's citizens.

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urbanvb City

urbanvb

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I really like the convention center! How is construction looking for the other part of the center?

I like it a lot too. I am really not sure about the rest of the construction. I didn't notice it too terribly much this morning as I was a bit of a hurry.

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Stunad Whistle-Stop

Stunad

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Hey Vdog or UrbanVB, Did you guys pick up a vibe as to the opinions of the people that gathered at the convention center? I mean were there pro development camps and slow growth blocks or was it just concerned citizens with varied opinions or mostly developers or as I'm hoping, a mix of them all? I'm really interested as to who it was that turned out...because those who are showing up for these events will have a voice that is louder than those who don't show up. Thank's guys for any feedback.

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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Hey Vdog or UrbanVB, Did you guys pick up a vibe as to the opinions of the people that gathered at the convention center? I mean were there pro development camps and slow growth blocks or was it just concerned citizens with varied opinions or mostly developers or as I'm hoping, a mix of them all? I'm really interested as to who it was that turned out...because those who are showing up for these events will have a voice that is louder than those who don't show up. Thank's guys for any feedback.

Not only was it a mix of them all, but it makes me wonder how anything will get done with all the bickering :lol:

The group that organized it was mostly citizens concerned about their property rights and the RHA but all seemed to be in favor of some form of redevelopment, they just differed on how to go about it. You could basically divide them into 2 camps, pro-market and pro-government and then you had a libertarian on the panel who split the difference. From my observation the pro-market side had a decidedly conservative lean while the pro-government side had of course a liberal lean. The pro-market side was pretty much for letting private industry take the lead and letting the market determine what type of redevelopment occured in what areas and when. The pro-government side focused on the need for an RHA or some other governmental authority to spur redevelopment in blighted areas, etc. Something to which the other side was strictly opposed. My favorite person on the panel was the smart growth advocate from D.C. (Stewart Schwartz) Five minutes of listening to the guy and you could tell he was on point. He really has his stuff together and if anyone gets the chance I recommend visiting his site at www.smartgrowth.net. Urbanvb stayed behind and talked to him (he said he was already aware of this site) but unforunately I had to leave and didn't get a chance to speak to him myself.

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  • 2 months later...
urbanvb City

urbanvb

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The next redevelopment meetings are scheduled for the 12th, 19th and the 26th at the Central Library but the meeting scheduled for the 19th is booked up. I put my name down to attend on the 12th. More info can be found here on the city's website and a downloadable pdf guide on redevelopment can be found here.

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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The next redevelopment meetings are scheduled for the 12th, 19th and the 26th at the Central Library but the meeting scheduled for the 19th is booked up. I put my name down to attend on the 12th. More info can be found here on the city's website and a downloadable pdf guide on redevelopment can be found here.

Do you need extra brochures? I still have about 30 if you do.

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vdogg Megalopolis

vdogg

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I really do. I only have a couple if that even left.

Ok, Pm me and we'll figure out a time to get together so I can give you those. Work has been extremely hectic lately and I really haven't had the energy to get out and do too much promoting. This will be a good opportunity to get some more fliers in circulation. They seemed to work really well last time. We get rid of these and i'll ask Neo for a restock.

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  • 3 months later...
scm Hamlet

scm

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This was in yesterday's Beacon -- any opinions?

City needs a better way to manage development

It is my opinion, having lived in Virginia Beach since 1968 and (in) the same neighborhood that entire time, that the city of Virginia Beach has reached a stage of maturity that requires that it have some mechanism and some process for redevelopment as well as the authority to oversee that process.

The idea that the free market can do that on its own is a lofty idealistic concept, but one that is likely to not play out as well as the proponents of such an idea would like for us to believe.

As times change, and housing and neighborhoods age, some system must be in place to to ensure an orderly process. I do not believe that it should be strictly left up to the free market, nor do I believe that it should be left up to the city.

I would rather see a system where a commission would be set up equally balanced between citizen members and city employees. Citizen members could be elected by other citizens in a general election, and the city manager could appoint city employees. The chair would be elected by the members of the commission.

This concept would serve to balance the wishes of the citizens of Virginia Beach against the wishes of the government of Virginia Beach.

Each city department with an interest in redevelopment could act in an advisory capacity. The commission would have the authority to condemn property as appropriate. To sell condemned property as appropriate. To request rezoning of areas of the city as appropriate. To offer incentives for revitalization of areas in decline. To assist individual property owners in rehabilitation and revitalization of individual properties.

The commission would have the final authority to carry out its findings based on the legal authority given it by law.

Although there are yet other concepts to be discussed in the coming days, I believe that this concept may ultimately be the best, and have the best chance of ever becoming reality.

Charles Don Clark

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mistermetaj Hamlet

mistermetaj

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I don't think the common NIMBY or Urbanite knows enough about realestate or development for the writers plan to be effective. I do think public opinion matters and should be considered, however the type of power this person wants to vest in the common man, especially when it comes to larger projects, would cause more contraversy than good for redevelopment.

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