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Putting things in context
- or -
how privatized planning
undermines fairness in our cities
Just about everything that isn't bolted down in America is getting
privatized these days. All is fair game, from prisons and other
seemingly profit-proof institutions, to big public infrastructure
like water and power supplies, to basic government services like
welfare and even (well, maybe not anymore) social security. The
driving assumption behind these moves is the belief that the private
sector can get things done faster, cheaper, and just plain better
than the public agencies it seeks to replace. Experience, including
the recent adventures of Enron and the California Utilities Board,
points out that this is not always so. But judging privatization
by cost efficiency alone overlooks a more important measure: that
of fairness.
Consider emerging practices in city planning. New public/private
planning initiatives threaten to undermine the already precarious
balance existing between economic efficiency and fairness in our
cities. In Minneapolis, a business group calling itself the Phillips
Partnership is leading efforts to modify transportation infrastructure
in the central city. Partnership members, a virtual Who's Who of
corporate big boys, have used their political and economic connections
to gain control of project direction and management. Not surprisingly,
project
recommendations benefit their business and real estate interests
while negatively impacting area neighborhoods and small businesses.
The story of how this private group managed to gain control of transportation
planning is a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of privatized planning.
The I-35W Access Project began in 1996. That year, Honeywell and
Allina Healthcare hired OSM Consultants to prepare preliminary
designs for improved access to their sites. Both companies were
concerned about losing customers and employees to widespread fears
about crime and safety. After all, they argued, they were in the
middle of Phillips and people were afraid of driving through the
neighborhood to get to their sites. Phillips was (and still is)
the poorest neighborhood in Minneapolis, with poverty rates that
reach 50% within one of the most prosperous metro regions in the
country. The solution OSM came up with was brilliant: instead of
helping drivers navigate their way through the neighborhood with
clearer signage, new
ramps from 35W would be constructed that would deposit drivers at
the institutions' parking lots at 26th and 28th Street. Of course,
such a solution was expensive, and would require funding from and
cooperation with federal, state and local agencies. To broaden their
base of support, Honeywell and Allina invited other area corporations
and landholders to join their initiative, and expanded the focus
of their strategy to make it more palatable to politicians and public
agencies.
The Phillips Partnership formally organized in early 1997, and
included Honeywell, Allina, USBank, Great Lake Center (the old Sears
site), and the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County. The stated
goal of the Partnership became the improvement of the physical and
social landscape of Phillips. The Partnership's transportation plan
expanded to include the construction of two new ramps at Lake Street,
which was provided with incomplete access to 35W when the freeway
was built in the 1960s. This was a smart decision, as it guaranteed
support from politicians
and small businesses who saw the new ramps as critical for the revitalization
of the Lake Street commercial strip.
The Partnership then began work to obtain funding for and control
of the project. Eager to "reinvent" their roles, Mn/DOT
and Hennepin County agreed to cede the project to the Partnership
if it could obtain funds for design. The Partnership lobbied
for funds and succeeded. In early 1998 Congress approved a $2 million
grant for planning and design of transportation improvements for
the area centered on 35W and Lake Street. As lead agency, the Partnership
was placed in direct charge of project management and guidance.
Hennepin County, Mn/DOT and the city had approval power over Partnership
recommendations but would not otherwise be involved in the management
of the project. The Partnership hired Smith
Parker LLP, a well-connected local law firm, for project management,
and hired OSM Consultants (designers of the original plans) for
the engineering.
Design work began in late 1998. Throughout the process, the design
team's insensitivity to the project area was frequently apparent:
one of the proposals involved tearing down four blocks of housing
in order to accommodate a highway ramp and a proposed Home Depot.
Another would have permanently closed the access ramp to 35W and
94 at 5th Avenue and Franklin, leaving Phillips, Whittier, and Steven
square residents without access to the freeway system.
When the matter of the ramps to 28th Street was approached, neighborhood
concerns were similarly excluded from consideration. Long-standing
complaints about high traffic levels and poor pedestrian safety
were ignored. When residents and neighborhood representatives made
clear their opposition to the ramps on 28th, Partnership consultants
produced traffic projections showing dire consequences for the city
if the ramps were not built. Additionally, veiled threats about
the possible relocation of Abbot Hospital and the decreased attractiveness
of the Honeywell site were made by Partnership representatives.
When results of the design process were presented to the public
at open house meetings in September of 1999 many expressed dissatisfaction
with ramp configurations. Comments
gathered at the meetings were presented in a Partnership brochure
in a way that pretended to show public support for ramp construction
(critical for securing construction funding). Only after neighborhood
representatives complained to public officials did the Partnership
redesign the project brochure. It was then not released.
In the end, the project is moving forward mostly unaffected by
citizen participation. Although construction of the ramp at 26th
Street and the closure of the 5th Avenue ramp were averted it was
mostly due to technical considerations that would have required
significant expense to overcome. At this point, it looks like 28th
Street will be directly connected to 35W. Its construction will
require the demolition of 10 houses. Total costs for the 35W Access
Project are expected to exceed $150 million.
City change has never been a pretty process; all parties involved
compete against each other to gain the most advantage for their
interests and positions - very little of the process is about fairness.
Government agencies are the only mediating forces that have, at
least on paper, the obligation to treat citizens fairly. Removing
these safeguards in the name of efficiency does nothing to make
our cities better places to live.
... and a little Marx:
"The separation of public works from the state, and their
migration into the domain of the works undertaken by capital itself,
indicates the degree to which the real community has constituted
itself in the form of capital."
[Marx, 1857]
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