The heart of the matter is that this isn't the way we should treat shared infrastructure. We need to constantly be on the lookout at the most local level and constantly care for its health. If we don't maintain what we have, it will fall apart. And it'll cost us a lot more money to fix it back up.
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Due diligence: Running the numbers, running them again, and predicting the future outlook against all known variables. Then, be skeptical still.
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Paris and Florence don’t have entertainment districts. Neither does San Francisco. What these cities have are spaces for people. Let's focus on building more of that.
Read MoreThe next big idea is small ...
This isn’t a call to end long-range comprehensive plans. In lots of circumstances, they are necessary. This is a call to consider that many small players can be much more effective, and more risk-adverse than one large project. Large plans like Elk Run expose us to tremendous risk if they fail. The future of our plans need to be everything that Elk Run isn’t: small, numerous, and nimble.
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The desire for convention centers is simple: it brings in visitors with outside money who consume things that are taxed at higher rates (alcohol, hotel rooms, rental cars, etc). From the city’s perspective, it appears to be a win-win. But, these investments come at a cost. In this case, the cost is increased competition.
The number of conventions and total number of people going to conventions has decreased since it peaked in the mid-1990s. The situation we have now is that of more cities are competing for fewer dollars.
It's a classic race to the bottom.
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Kansas City's Power & Light District is an infill project in an urban area that connects with the street grid and brings people downtown. It sounds like a success story, but in reality, it’s a financial drain.
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