Saturday, I received the mail piece from the "Vote No" folks and noticed that all the supporters listed appeared to be current or former elected officials. Since this is, at its root, an urban design issue, I wondered why there were no urban planners, designers, architects or engineers listed. Perhaps the curious contradictions of this project were also clear to them and they had resisted at least the appearance of active support.
Apparently not. I was disappointed to read in Saturday’s Dallas Only how the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects had come out in favor of the "Vote No" position. Seems they had a hand in and remain committed to the Balanced Vision Plan, which includes the toll road for relief of traffic congestion.
I confess this is not nearly the first time my opinions have differed from those of my distinguished colleagues at the AIA. To me, the term "Balanced Vision Plan" is a spin on what should more accurately be called the "Compromised Vision Plan", with the road being at the heart of the compromise. For decades now, the architecture community has railed against the damage done to our cities when highway construction takes priority. Has Manhattan’s FDR taught us nothing? I hate traffic as much as anyone, which had a lot to do with my locating my office about 2 minutes from my house. However unpleasant it may be, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that traffic congestion has little effect on economic or real estate development. Los Angeles would seem to illustrate that.
The most poignant comment noted in the article, however, is the AIA’s contention that to move the road to Industrial "would negatively impact the revitalizing neighborhoods through which it would pass". Honest, that’s pasted straight from the article. The toll road would negatively impact Industrial, yet they are in favor of putting it in the park, which is perhaps the biggest and most important urban redevelopment project in Dallas in our lifetime? To me, this sounds like a back-handed admission of the very concerns that caused Councilwoman Hunt to initiate this entire debate. I had hoped for better.
