Urban advice for Midtown developers
Opinion // Outlook
Get on a plane, visit other cities' parks, take notes
JOHN WHITESIDE
As a new resident of Midtown (and of Houston) I read last Tuesday's Chronicle news article, "Ideas filling vacant block / Some see park, others see urban oasis in Midtown," with great interest. I love Houston — its spirit, its climate, the can-do attitude of the people here and the feeling of endless possibility this city has. But living in Midtown is a big disappointment — I'm glad I chose to rent at first rather than purchase a home here.
I've spent most of my life living in inner-city, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods like the one Midtown developers say they want to create. Having experienced that kind of environment — and lived through the rebirth of an area much like Midtown as a homeowner in Washington, D.C. — it is depressing to see what is happening in Midtown. If there is any real planning happening, it appears to be guided by people with no understanding of the ingredients that make a true city neighborhood come to life.
Garages just dead space
The Post apartment complex is a promising nucleus of a real neighborhood, with its street-level retail and sidewalk cafes. But everything else I've seen in the area is just dreadful.
Most of the apartment developments are entirely residential, with massive parking garages nearby. This creates blocks of dead space, with nothing to attract pedestrians. What retail businesses that have appeared seem to be entirely suburban, car-oriented development — handy when you're driving around but not pedestrian-friendly. The rest is vacant lots.
What Midtown needs is urban commercial development — buildings without parking lots in front, with retail and restaurant space at the sidewalk, places that people will enjoy walking by, where they will run into their neighbors, places that will draw people into the neighborhood and give it some vitality.
Spruce up store fronts
The new Randall's supermarket, for example, is a nice place to buy food, but from the outside adds nothing to the neighborhood. Every time I go there, I think of the Whole Foods that opened in my D.C. neighborhood on a nearly abandoned block a few years ago. The store fronted right on the sidewalk, with enormous windows that invited you to come inside. Tables on the sidewalk in front immediately became the hot neighborhood lunch spot, as people would buy food, sit and eat, and chat with friends and neighbors passing by. Parking was out of sight in the basement and on the roof of the building. What was once a desolate block, frightening to walk on at night, became the center of a neighborhood renaissance.
The right way to do parks
The idea of a park on the superblock in the absence of that kind of commercial development worries me. Parks can be great additions to neighborhoods, but parks draw their vitality from the surrounding streets.
Visit parks such as New York's Washington Square or Washington's Dupont Circle, and you will find places where the people who live, work, shop and dine in the surrounding area stop to socialize, read or simply enjoy a pleasant day around their neighbors. These parks are busy from morning till night, and as a result become the back yard of residents and visitors, who feel safe because of the high level of pedestrian activity.
Parks in areas such as Midtown, where pedestrian traffic is nearly nonexistent, all too often become gathering spots for vagrants and the focus of criminal activity in a neighborhood.
Enough of Midtown is undeveloped that there is still the potential for a vibrant urban neighborhood. Unfortunately, everything that's happened so far points to a future of suburban developments, empty sidewalks, residents driving around three-block circles and unfulfilled potential.
My recommendation to those guiding Midtown's development is this: Get on a plane, go visit similar areas in cities such as Boston, New York, Washington and San Francisco. Take careful notes of how the neighborhoods are built. Talk to the business owners there. Then bring some of that knowledge back to Houston and build a neighborhood that will live up to the promises you're making — and make us all proud.
Whiteside is a marketing consultant who moved to Midtown in June. He can be reached atjohnw@fusemail.com.