Much as I hate bureaucracy, I have to agree with Tim on this one. Paris, for example, may be seen as beautiful (I haven't been there), but it was heavily planned - after a great fire. I hope a history buff can give me the year.
So, before we decide that great cities were built without planning (and thus dump zoning codes in Minneapolis) perhaps we should look at the hitory of urban planning (both modern and ancient - yes, I said ancient). A good start would be the University of Melbourne's site on the history of urban planning: http://www.arts.unimelb.edu.au/amu/ucr/student/1996/b.hill/wpurbpln.htm#urbpln Jim McGuire Como ----Original Message Follows---- From: Tim Bonham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: mpls-issues <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [Mpls] Environmental Concerns, and more Date: Sat, 06 Jul 2002 17:10:47 -0500 > Here's a few arguments some New Urbanists have against zoning: > > The most beautiful cities in the world were built without zoning and > planning. A few years back, I visited for a few days at a friends new home in southern Indiana. This is an area that has little or no zoning codes. My friends were rather upset about a new neighbor, who had purchased the house & an empty lot next door at the end of the cul-de-sac they lived on, and had proceeded to start a metal plating & recovery business there. This involved big, noisy, stinky operations for hours on end, often extending into the night. Plus the recovery part involved buying junked cars and extracting metal parts from them. The remainder of the cars sat there in his "junkyard" until once or twice a year when he had them hauled away. The activities of this 'neighbor' put a serious restriction in the enjoyment of their own home for everyone else in the neighborhood. And when they recently moved back to Minnesota, their house sold for less than expected, largely due to this business in the neighborhood. They actually had potential buyers who drove away without ever getting out of their car, once they saw what was going on at the end of the street. So I would argue that zoning codes are very useful & protect our homes. Finally, I seriously doubt the accuracy of the statement "The most beautiful cities in the world were built without zoning and planning." I've read much about the plans for various European cities, seen photos of the city walls and the defensible gates built in them, read how city parks served as in-wall pastures & food gardens when a city was under siege, etc. One of Leonardo da Vinci's early jobs was to draw up plans for the city of Florence. Certainly these cities were planned! And I remember that in ancient Rome, the prime land on the 7 hills was reserved for people of the Equestrian class or higher. Plus there was the Forum area, set aside for public speeches, with the surrounding area mainly political & city buildings & temples. There was also the city market and commercial area, etc. Pretty close to what we would call zoning nowdays. Tim Bonham, Ward 12, Standish-Ericsson _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
