ADT

Here's another classic example of how my Elk Grove has done things completely wrong (actually, every city in America for that matter). After spending the last eighteen years doing everything it could to fuck up its historic town center, to intentionally destroy it, Elk Grove is priming itself to "revitalize its core."

Old Town is right on Elk Grove Blvd., an east-west street dating back to the 1860's, and this road (dirt at first, then a two lane for many, many years) was more than enough to service the town core. Elk Grove was always something of a very small city, but (wouldn't you know it) people a century ago decided that a human scaled, walkable, tree-lined, compact community would provide for most everyday needs for its residents who lived both on the main street as well as close adjacent streets.

For over a full century, there was never a need for "redevelopment," or "revitalization." The city core organically adjusted to the new conditions of living during the earlier decades of this century.

Today, within a span of less than twenty years, we are shuttling 22 thousand cars per day (ADT, or average daily traffic) through the intersection of Elk Grove Blvd. and Elk Grove Florin Rd, a half mile west of the Old Town. To preserve the core "character," Elk Grove Blvd. became a zipper street, necking down from a four lane 'freeway' to a two lane 'expressway' straight through the heart of the town core, slicing it in half with commuter traffic from Highway 99 to the 8,000+ housal units (we'll call this development) to the east. The city has no intention of stopping further development to the east...although our "tough economic times" has sorta squashed any recent growth. Once Elk Grove is back to 15% growth and 20% annual housal unit price increases then Elk Grove will expect (and rightfully deserve) suburban sprawl all the way from Old Town to the Consumnes river, with all these new "happy" citizens gleefully commuting through Old Town to get to the freeway and to all those jobs elsewhere in other cities. They represent all the future potential spenders in the core.

Having already spent north of $6 million to "revitalize" the core with sidewalks and vehicular amenities that (wouldn't you know it, it made traffic worse!) was a complete failure, businesses are dead and dying. And guess what all the council members, business owners, and historic preservationists are suggesting as the "antidote" to this fucking fiasco?

A Parking Structure!

Wa-hey! That will cure it!

Strip retail success in our great, grand America is predicated on one thing, and one thing only: ADT. The only bit of information any developer needs is "how many cars will drive by, because that defines the pool of potential 'hits.'" Hmmmm....somehow, eight thousand vehicles a day commuting through Old Town, somehow, hasn't managed to spur Old Town spending. So let's build vertical parking and lure those citizens consumers in. And make it free! Yes! Free parking, subsidized by all of Elk Grove.

"Some type of parking structure [is] vital, vital for the area." -- Elk Grove Mayor Pat Hume

You know, my fair city is going to spend hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, studying, planning, examining, reviewing, and recommending options that won't do, that can't do, anything to rectify decades of bad civic design. The only thing that works is correct urban design from the beginning or correct infill afterwards. Unfortunately, with suburban sprawl proponents funding 87% of our elected officials' coffers and re-election campaigns, Elk Grove will never be in the business of doing things correctly. It can never recommend solutions that work for an old city core atop a framework of car dependency and single use zoning.

Why do you suppose nearly every original city core in America also needs "revitalization?" If our suburban sprawl model is so fucking superior, then why is anyone concerned with "preserving" these cores? Why don't we just raze them all down, all of 'em, and erect more efficient large format retail and acres of parking to shuttle in all our superior citizens consumers?

Old Town Elk Grove is doomed to fail.