[RP TownTalk] Sarah's Cyburbia link

[Alice Ewen Walker]

Thanks for sending the link. For those interrested, here are a couple
of web links on urban planning that often have good visuals.

http://www.planetizen.com
http://www.cyburbia.org (again)
http://www.smartgrowth.org/
http://www.mncppc.org/cpd/riverdalepark.htm (MUTC guidelines for Riverdale Park)

It seems like a lot of the feedback I've heard centers on execution. 
Good design and materials can make a large building attractive.  Bad
design can make it seem like a giant box.

For the developer, being able to visually see what we mean when we say
'make it look good', can be helpful.  I think the MUTC guidelines
articulate what the town wants pretty well.  Feel free to send along
other images that exemplify what you mean.

- Alice

PS - A co-op would be cool.  I don't know what it takes to make it
work as a business, but Greenbelt Co-op, TPSS Co-op, Glut, and Mom's
appear to be successful.

On 4/5/06, Nancy <ng_md at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> An interest paralleling is that Forest Park is a "streetcar suburb" of
> Chicago. I know we don't use that term in the DC area, and we don't make
> much of there being a transit station in the midst of our fair town (or have
> I missed that?). I love that they have retail on the ground floor. Not
> seriously suggesting that here, of course, given the many empty storefronts
> just across the tracks.
>
> A propos of nothing, except that all those empty storefronts are now on my
> mind, wouldn't it be cool if we have a food co-op "downtown?" Sure would be
> nice to have a store within walking distance that carries real food. If Mt.
> Rainier can support it, why can't Riverdale Park?
>
> Nancy
> From the Peanut Gallery
>
>
>  ________________________________
>  From: TownTalk-bounces at riverdale-park.org
> [mailto:TownTalk-bounces at riverdale-park.org] On Behalf Of
> Sarah Michailof
> Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 1:06 PM
> To: TownTalk at riverdale-park.org
> Subject: [RP TownTalk] (no subject)
>
>
>
>
> I occasionally visit an internet discussion forum called Cyburbia,
> self-described as "the Internet's most active urban/town planning-related
> bulletin board".  I found this discussion (follow link below) and pictures
> very interesting in context with our own discussions about the condo
> proposal at the Spiropoulos (sp??) property:
>
> http://www.planetizen.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23925
>
> The link contains pictures of a 4-story infill condo/commercial development
> in Forest Park, IL.  Actually, I think it is really 5 stories - the first
> story is really tall.  Parking is in the rear and under the building though
> it doesn't appear to be underground.  The neighborhood around the condo
> seems not unlike Riverdale - it's primarily residential, and of a similar
> age (you can see four-square houses in the background of a couple pictures).
>
>
> I thought this was interesting and helpful in imagining what a condo
> development in in Riverdale might look like.
>
> Sarah Michailof
> 6404 46th Avenue
>
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