Solutions for Affordable Housing (Part IV)

J&A/SmithGroup JJR announces SMRT Team for Cool Cities

National Main Street Conference and Main Street News features Juergensen & Associates

Orange Barrel Slalom: Rethinking our Transportation Investments

Cali Chronicles - Memories of the PCH

The Original Detroit Music Scenesters:  Gospel Music

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J&A/SmithGroup JJR announces SMRT Team for Cool Cities

Great places – the districts that will make Michigan’s cities cool – are a collection of buildings, real estate developments that provide the fabric for exciting activities. However, gaps in specific real estate development expertise can often stand in the way of buildings achieving a higher and better use and contributing to the vibrancy of the district they inhabit.

To assist communities as they become cool, Juergensen & Associates in partnership with SmithGroup JJR has formed the Strategic Multidisciplinary Regeneration Team (SMRT) to stage your downtown for real development. The world-renowned architectural and planning expertise of the SmithGroup JJR and our nearly twenty years of economic development and financial expertise can help put shovels in the ground and make development happen quickly and efficiently.

To learn more about how the SMRT team can help make your downtown cool, call us today at 313.824.0824.

National Main Street Conference and Main Street News features J&A

On Tuesday, May 11, Jay C. Juergensen, President of Juergensen & Associates, will present "Be a Main Street Developer" a three-hour real estate workshop for Main Street and community development professionals at the National Town Hall Meeting on Main Street in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The training will provide an overview of the real estate development process, terminology common to the real estate industry, and identifying members of the team necessary to make investment happen.

The workshop will also use a case study to walk participants through the basics of doing a real estate deal, including using the use of incentives like Historic Tax Credits, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, HOME funds, along with private investment. The purpose of the workshop is to demystify the development process and empower Main Street managers as they take on real estate development challenges in their community.

And don’t forget to keep you eye out for the next issue of the Main Street News. Jay Juergensen wrote the lead article on developing housing on Main Street. The article will be made available through our web site once it is published.

Orange Barrel Slalom: Rethinking our Transportation Investments

For the besieged motorists of Metropolitan Detroit, springtime is synonymous with road construction season and traffic delays. As a low-density metropolis with limited mass transit options, Detroiters are dependent on an extensive highway system to get around and any delays raise the ire of even the most affable of Michiganders (or Michiganians, take your pick).

Metropolitan Detroit isn't that different than most American cities. Even with New York, Chicago, and the eight or so high-density transit-oriented cities in the U.S., a shade less than five percent of Americans get around via mass transit. We own cars, we like cars, and as much as I get wistful for my days riding the Green Line Metro to Capitol Hill (with a transfer at L’Enfant Plaza) for work every morning, cars are here to stay. But, that shouldn’t preclude us from having a sensible and balanced transportation investment strategy and a congestion mitigation policy that actually reduces congestion.

For now, I will leave the discussion on mass transit for a later day, and discuss the question of congestion. By definition, insanity is the art of doing the same thing, yet expecting a different result. When we add lanes and expand our road capacity as a method to reduce congestion, we are on a clear path to traffic insanity. In Michigan, we still haven’t learned, as illustrated by the I-75 Corridor Study, which stated, “widening I-75 by adding one lane in each direction where it is needed to provide four through lanes in each direction is the single most productive element in addressing congestion.”

It is counter-intuitive, but more (and wider) lanes actually increase congestion over time. Anthony Downs of the Brookings Institute calls the phenomenon, “triple convergence.” Mr. Downs, in an article published in January 2004 said, “traffic flows in any region’s overall transportation networks form almost automatically self-adjusting relationships among different routes, times and modes.” In layman’s terms, Mr. Downs suggests that drivers hit the routes that we think will get us there quickest.

The implication is that when we add capacity to our roadways, the additional capacity attracts new drivers and we achieve the same level of congestion over time. The mere fact that Metropolitan Detroit has about the same population today, as it did in 1970, yet by any account congestion is far worse than it has ever been, suggest there is some legitimacy to this argument.

As an alternative, economists would argue that nothing works better than a congestion-pricing scheme. Suppose we paid a fee to drive on the highway between 6 am and 9 am and again during the afternoon peak rush hours. Would you considering getting to work before 6 am to avoid paying a fee or moving closer to your place of work to avoid the fees altogether? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, in the economist world, we could theoretically set the fee at a level that would encourage driving at alternative times and spread out the traffic and reduce congestion. The fees would then be used to maintain the highways.

Though politically unpalatable, a congestion-pricing scheme is in place in New York State, New Jersey and Massachusetts. My in-laws, who live in Albany, New York, have a small electronic sensor (EZ-Pass) attached to their front windshield that charges their account every time they enter a New York Sate Thruway. Though New York does not use peak hour pricing mechanisms to spread out traffic, the toll system does affect overall congestion levels and the quality of the roadways is notably better.

Toll plazas on the highway might cause riots in Metropolitan Detroit, but there are other options. Highways can be designed with common lanes that can be utilized based on peak traffic flows. Simply building roads to manage peak hour traffic, according to Anthony Downs, is expensive and would be virtually empty during non-peak hours, not unlike many Metropolitan Detroit highways. Suppose instead of two news lanes, the four center lanes of I-75 were southbound only in the morning, and northbound only in the evening.

This approach could significantly reduce cost while adding lane capacity during peak hours to reduce congestion. This method is used in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area including the Rock Creek Parkway. This option is trickier in Metropolitan Detroit because, unlike Washington, D.C., downtown Detroit is not the preeminent job center and a good number of trips are between Oakland and Macomb Counties and not into downtown Detroit.

If we are serious about building “cool cities,” Michigan needs to take a much longer view of its transportation infrastructure. When cities were polled about elements of “cool cities,” walk-ability was the overwhelming response. Michigan cities with state trunk lines that bisect their historic downtowns and traditional centers of commerce need greater flexibility and resources to deal with transportation issues. Spending billions in transportation dollars for needless lane expansions to mammoth highways so that commuters might get to their destinations a few minutes quicker, puts us on the onramp to transportation insanity.

I will continue the transportation discussion on another day, right now, I have to get in my car and drive home in rush hour congestion.

Mike Scholl holds a Master of Public Policy and Master of Urban Planning from the University of Michigan and he supports both research and policy efforts at Juergensen & Associates. He and his wife Ann are avid hockey players and he is the volunteer Executive Director of 1,000 Friends of Metropolitan Detroit.

Cali Chronicles – Memories of the PCH

For some time, I have had a desire to experience the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH or Highway 1). I recently made a commitment to myself to make the trip and my colleague and friend, John Morey, joined me for what was a refreshing, humorous, enlightening and awe-inspiring two-week vacation. Having been to LA and San Francisco recently, I knew where I wanted to stay in metroplexes that provide lots of options, but John charted the course for most the trip. Each morning we reviewed the previous days’ experiences and kept a sort of journal of our thoughts throughout the journey. The following are some excerpts, with more likely to follow in the months to come.

On March 15, we arrived in sunny San Francisco and quickly realized, we packed enough for 4! The trunk on our candy apple red Mustang convertible couldn’t accommodate our luggage and we briefly considered the slightly more expensive Thunderbird parked almost directly across from us. It had even less room in the trunk! So, we re-arranged put down the top and took full advantage of the 70 degree, cloud free sky as we exited the parking deck at SFO and headed north.

We had lunch just north of the Golden Gate Bridge and continued north to Santa Rosa, where the 101 turned into a parking lot and we turned left to Bodega Bay. We bopped and weaved up the coast and figured the traffic engineers must go crazy making Highway 1 work. We had the top down and my shirt was off for most of the day as we hit highs on hillsides that had to be near 90 and sunny lows of 40 in the microclimates close to the beach and in the woods. The first day of huge rocks, ocean splendor and amazing landscapes ended with a great meal and a powerful sunset at Pt. Arena and we ventured further for an overnight stay at Ft. Bragg.

The second day took us to the scenic route through the Avenue of the Giants where a meandering two-lane road had been conveniently carved for tourists out of the old stand redwoods. John found an even more spectacular route on the way to Honeydew where the redwoods were exponentially larger and encroaching on the road, narrowing it to places where one car could barely pass. After high-speed switchbacks and 180 degree turns up and down two mountain ranges I was enjoying the screeching sound of the rubber on the road until I realized it was John screaming.

The mountains gave way to an ocean-side straightaway that made me feel like a Mazda commercial (zoom-zoom) and that was followed by what seemed like an Irish mountainside pastureland, complete with grazing cattle and goats. A late lunch in the Victorian village of Ferndale and an evening in historic Eureka (featured in Main Street’s Success Stories) made the second day complete, including a late night café in the city’s historic core.

On the third day we experienced and absorbed Eureka, boogied back down the 101, and headed instate to Clearlake, just north of Napa. The abject poverty we experienced in the rural parts of the state on both days 2 and 3 were a stark and disturbing contrast to the vitality of the urban centers we visited.

On Day 4, we headed through Lake Barryessa and Napa to Berkeley and San Francisco and it appeared there were several ways to get to Napa, none of which we could find and even the road construction workers, whose aid we sought, couldn’t read the map. The disappearing grid in the vineyards entranced us and our return to “civilization” (if that’s what you should call it?) was shocking as I-80 was a parking lot and a detour to Berkeley proved helpful. Berkeley looked hard used and we were a little burnt too as we pondered how many Iowans found their way to Berkeley as we made our early evening journey across the Bay Bridge.

On Friday, a junket to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Marin County Civic Center was inspiring and enlightening as we got the inside scoop on the building’s failures from a retiring courthouse worker. Lunch in the cafeteria by an outstanding short order cook was followed by a sun-filled afternoon on the Point Reyes National Seashore, dinner in Stinson Beach and a dark and dangerous meandering on Highway 1 back to the city.

Saturday brought more traditional tourist stuff as John sought to find the neighborhood where he hung out in the 70’s and we met later at Ghiradelli Square. The bay filled with sailboats and the blanket of fog that covered them was almost as quickly removed. A walk along the marina led to the Palace of the Fine Arts and the evening was complete with shopping and dinner in the Castro and the weekend was complete while I reconnected to some old friends and made some new ones.

The first day of the second week began as the only gloomy one as the rain and fog that often plague San Fran clouded our exit from the City by the Bay. By midday, the top was off as we found our way to Santa Cruz and a disappointing seafood lunch on a wharf whose aromas we’d rather forget. By mid-afternoon we arrived in Monterey to visit the infamous (yet, somewhat disappointing) aquarium, the clouds and rain were back, but we ended the day with an outstanding meal following musical chairs in a downtown fire house converted into a bistro.

Winnie the Pooh would have called Tuesday a blustery day as we continued south in the sun. The sites were continuously spectacular and we constantly were conflicted about stopping to enjoy the view and making progress on our journey. Beyond more amazing views we found para gliders, boogie boarders, porpoise, otter and elephant seals enjoying the sea, surf and sun as we found our way to the infamous rock of Morro Bay, where we couldn’t seem to find some sunny sand protected from the wind. Dinner in historic downtown San Luis Obispo (SLO) was enchanting as John sought a functioning espresso machine.

We spent some time the next day exploring SLO’s vibrancy (a 1999 Great American Main Street Award Winner) including the development a downtown “lifestyle center” complete with the Gap, Express, Barnes & Noble, Victoria Secrets along side local entrepreneurs that all seemed to be doing very well. Higuera, SLO’s main street, abuts a babbling creek that provides a excellent backdrop for a waterside meal opposite the Spanish mission.

Santa Barbara and its amazing beaches were the destination for Wednesday and we did our best to take full advantage of it. Downtown was vibrant and alive with a great selection of restaurants as well as a lifestyle center that included Macy’s and Nordstrom’s and incorporated a local arts organization and a theater venue. Design controls on development were clear with a predominance of Spanish stucco and while the vibe in SB was great and it was hard (really, really hard) to leave the beach on Thursday, I was struck by the pale color of all the architecture and most of the people.

We beat the worst of the traffic into LA that afternoon and found our way to a popular eatery in Hollywood. Friday, with the sun at full bore, John made his way to the beach as I found the Walmart in LA’s Crenshaw neighborhood and the much-raved-about lifestyle development known as The Groove.

On our last sunny Saturday, we were joined by friends and had lunch and wandered the grounds of the Ghetty, where the art seemed secondary to the entertainment opportunities provided by the inspiring grounds as its seems Richard Meier’s mountainside museum-sculpture has been turned into community play space. The balance of the weekend I hung out with old friends, made some new ones and looked forward to my next junket back to Tinsel Town.

Sunday evening’s late evening trip to the airport for our red eye to Detroit came with great hesitation. Simply put, I tearfully said, “I don’t wanna go home!”

In reviewing the photos, I was amazed by the quality of my cheap little digital camera, knowing that you could never capture the beauty in pictures. And while these few words remind me of the great time we had, words really can’t describe the amazing sites we viewed, the gut busting laughter we enjoyed, the meals savored and the friendships heartfelt. It was a trip for 2 weeks that I dreamed of for years, that we planned over several months, but with memories that will last a lifetime.

Stay tuned for more laughs and photos...

The Original Detroit Music Scenesters

While browsing a newsstand during a layover at an airport a few weeks back, my eyes caught sight of the headline on the cover of Spin Magazine “The Battle of Detroit: Von Bondies vs. White Stripes.” The article, under the misleading headline, declared the Von Bondies, a local punk rock outfit, the next big thing out of Detroit following in the footsteps of the White Stripes, the internationally acclaimed Detroit punk rock duo.

In the wake of Create Detroit, and various discussions on making Detroit cool and the importance of arts and culture, it is a little bit unfair that the Von Bondies, White Stripes and their ilk, Blanche, the Dirtbombs, and Detroit Cobras, seem to get most of the ink and the attention for the local scene.

Consider the quote from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, “During the 1980’s, Detroit became known as the “Gospel Music Capital of the World,” but Detroit has long been an integral part of gospel‘s development, thanks to an abundance of gifted singers, composers, and instrumentalists. Various popular musical styles have been influenced by the sound of gospel soloists, groups and choirs. Today, Detroit is a nationally recognized gospel mecca, know for its mass choirs and talented directors, and as the birthplace of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, the largest organization of its kind in the United States.”

When we consider Detroit’s music scene, it is critical that we not overlook the contributions that Gospel music has made to our regional arts and culture. The “Motown Sound” was heavily influenced by Detroit’s Gospel music scene. Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, got her start as a Gospel singer with her father Reverend C.L. Franklin at the New Bethel Baptist Church. The Gospel scene can trace its origins to 1920’s radio programs on WMBC 1400 AM in Detroit.

Today, there are six independent music labels based out of Detroit, along with the Gospel Music Workshop of America, which organizes an annual convention and the Annual Gospel Music Awards ceremony. The Gospel Music Convention, held annually in August, originated Detroit in 1968 and is attended by more than 20,000 people.

How many of us knew that the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame is located in Detroit, Michigan and is looking to relocate near downtown Detroit? I have to admit that until recently I was ignorant to the contributions Detroit made to Gospel music. The Hall of Fame recognizes the contribution of Gospel music includes Detroiters such as the Winans Family, the Meditations, and the Clark Sisters among many others.

As we struggle to promote diversity and tolerance, we need to understand the long history and importance that Gospel music has had in the African-American culture. Gospel music is as old as our nation, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame traces the origins of Gospel music to slaves on southern plantations around 1650.

With no offense to the punk scenesters de juer, when we speak of Detroit’s art and culture and what makes us “cool”, we owe it to our city to mention Gospel in the same breath as the White Stripes and others. Our music scene is as diverse as our population, its time we embrace our diversity, in all its forms.