I’ve noticed something a bit troubling recently. There are a couple of vacant storefronts on Main Street. In addition, there is another that is about to close and a recently closed business was replaced with a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu studio. I don’t know about you, but a martial arts studios
As I mentioned in my last post I am part of a grassroots organization looking to bring Urban3 and Strong Towns to Sonoma County to evaluate the development potential around the SMART train station areas, and to help our local decision makers and community at large, understand the financial implications
Last week, the local newspaper ran an article about the city of Santa Rosa’s consideration of updating their development fees to spur housing construction. The article explains how the city has hired an economist to review the city’s fee structure and advise how they can spur housing development to counteract
I’ve discussed the issue of lane width several times on this blog (here and here). Main Street in Sebastopol has absurdly wide travel lanes. This is largely a legacy of the days when a train rumbled down the center of the street. But the train is long gone and yet
Nice blog post keeping things in perspective when comparing the impacts to our communities between cars and bikes and how the scales have been tipped in favor of the car for quite some time.
Sebastopol, like many other small towns, needs to get a handle on its parking requirements. Current zoning code parking requirements is often at odds with good urbanism. Without a mechanism such as a parking assessment district, or simply reducing on-site parking requirements, our attempts at creating good pedestrian-friendly urban environments
I am working with a group of people to bring Urban3 and Strong Towns to Sonoma County to study the existing development patterns and evaluate the financial productivity of different forms of land use. We hope this will help community officials make better decisions about growth by showing that sprawl
Just wanted to send out a quick link to a recent blog post on Strong Towns about small towns and urbanism which is obviously the focus of this blog. We don’t often think of small towns as being urban. But good small towns are urban places, albeit on a different
I walk. A lot. I try to walk or bike when I need to get around town as much as possible. Which generally works well. I’m fortunate in that I live 2 blocks from my office and within walking or biking distance of most of my daily needs. Occasionally I
I was asked recently to suggest ways to provide vitality in a small town downtown in the evening, after the shops close. It’s a great question and one in which many small towns struggle with. People are out and about downtown during the day and on weekends in particular, but
urban design thoughts through the filter of
living in a small town
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