Oh so nice
Instead of going on another one of my cynical rants, I thought I'd write a post about something positive for a change.
I love lower 25th Street in Ogden. Out of the entire Wasatch Front north of SLC, 25th Street best fits Jane Jacobs' description of a successful urban neighborhood. It's built on a human scale and has a pretty good mix of uses. And at the bottom of the street Union Station serves as a nice focal point (Kunstler talks more about the importance of street-terminating focal points in The Geography of Nowhere).
Of course historically, 25th Street has a bad reputation of being an unsafe place with many bars and bordellos. But today that's not the case. As a matter of fact, compared to other streets nearby, I would dare say that lower 25th Street is the safest place in downtown Ogden. Why? Because the mix of uses creates a pretty constant flow of foot traffic that keeps eyes on the sidewalks. This is what Jane Jacobs describes as a self-policing street. People are on the sidewalk from seven in the morning when employees are going into the municipal building until 1 in the morning when people are leaving the clubs. I would rather be on 25th Street and Grant at night then on Adams and 21st. I dare guess that anyone familiar with Ogden would agree with me on that one.
If only the rest of our communities were set up as nicely as 25th Street.
I love lower 25th Street in Ogden. Out of the entire Wasatch Front north of SLC, 25th Street best fits Jane Jacobs' description of a successful urban neighborhood. It's built on a human scale and has a pretty good mix of uses. And at the bottom of the street Union Station serves as a nice focal point (Kunstler talks more about the importance of street-terminating focal points in The Geography of Nowhere).
Of course historically, 25th Street has a bad reputation of being an unsafe place with many bars and bordellos. But today that's not the case. As a matter of fact, compared to other streets nearby, I would dare say that lower 25th Street is the safest place in downtown Ogden. Why? Because the mix of uses creates a pretty constant flow of foot traffic that keeps eyes on the sidewalks. This is what Jane Jacobs describes as a self-policing street. People are on the sidewalk from seven in the morning when employees are going into the municipal building until 1 in the morning when people are leaving the clubs. I would rather be on 25th Street and Grant at night then on Adams and 21st. I dare guess that anyone familiar with Ogden would agree with me on that one.
If only the rest of our communities were set up as nicely as 25th Street.
posted by Utah Peaknik at 11:08 AM
3 Comments:
25th street owes it's character to the fact that it was the street leading to a major passenger rail station in the first half of the 20th century. During that part of our history, didn't fly places or make long journeys by car. If you wanted to go very far, you did it on a train. There are other streets with similar histories, like Broadway in SLC and Fremont street in Las Vegas. Fremont Street for most of the last century ended in the Railroad Station (where the Plaza is now). Glitter Gulch came to be because the rail station at the end of the street fed it tourists. Then after the war, everyone started coming by car and the Las Vegas Strip became the center of activity.
I am sure there are many more interesting rail station streets in places I haven't visited. Sadly, they are dying for lack of rail travel. I hope they can hold on until rail travel makes it's inevitable comeback.
Have you seen October's Catalyst magazine yet? It has an extensive feature story on Peak Oil. (you can pick them up for free at health food stores).
Do you really believe that rail travel will make an inevitable comeback, or will it be too late to re-establish our railroad infrastructure by the time peak oil realities set in?
Yes, I believe rail will make a comeback. The rising cost of fuel per seat/mile will force people out of long distance travel by car and air. There will be a surge in intercity bus and rail travel. Bus travel will eventually become problematic as buses depend on excellent roads, which will fall into disrepair. It costs far less to build and maintain rail lines than it does to build and maintain ashpalt and concrete highways that carry the same amount of people and freight. The economics of scarcity and austerity will push us back toward the rails. Remember we had an extensive passenger rail system 150 years ago in a coal and firewood economy.
Post a Comment
<< Home