"Are we turning our cities into theme parks for the very rich?" That’s the question posed in an article by Beth Dunlop in the Miami Herald (you may have to register to view the article, but it is painless and well worth it).
In talking about the transformation of Miami to a city of luxury hi-rise condos, she notes that we are pricing out the people that make the city a vibrant lively place where people want to go. A topic we have talked about here on several occasions. The authors, artists, teachers, shopkeepers, social workers, public servants are all being priced out. And it is not just Miami; Sarasota is going down this same road.
Dunlop notes "A real city is filled with people of all incomes and interests, who spend their money in local stores and restaurants run by other local people, and their time out walking on the streets and playing in public parks, sitting in cafes, browsing and window-shopping, strolling and stopping -- after work, after school, after church or temple, before a movie, a play, a concert. That, more than mere commerce, is the time-tested engine that drives urbanism."
She suggests we may be building a "skybox" city - the urban equivalent of the pricey hangouts at stadiums around the country. Are the condos we are building just sky boxes for the wealthy when they want to see the Sarasota Show (the season)?
Sarasota’s downtown master plan is supposed to give us a lively, walkable downtown that meets the needs of the residents without requiring car trips. Is the current building frenzy with its targeted luxury market going to lead us to this vision? When I read articles like this one by Dunlop, I see Sarasota’s likeness embedded in the words. We are heading towards Miami, "skybox" city, built for the wealthy part time visitors, lured here by the adult theme park vision of upscale shopping, fair weather and a very busy social scene.
What happens when we lose the diversity, the shopkeepers go to Bradenton where they can afford to have a small business and live close by? Or when professors, public servants and teachers go to other towns where they can afford to live?
These are troubling questions. Our city leaders need to take a step back and look at what is happening to Sarasota. We need to find a new road to travel on, moving us toward a different vision.
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2 comments:
An interresting fact:
if you buy a "skybox"on the 30th floor of a condo,and your local weather station tells you that your town is experiencing a catagory 2 hurricane,you my friend on the 30th floor are actually experienceing a cat.3 on the Safford Simson scale.
It sucks for all of us, but the people with the cash are the people that run the show. Look at how Sarasota has treated Newtown like a pimple on its back. Being squeezed on one side by Ringling School's mindless expansion and Downtown's expansion on the other. I think a slimy motel has more character than an empty condo. It's no mystery or surprise that rich, white people have been engineering Sarasota's future, and a play ground for the rich is what they want dammit! I love this city, but I have witnessed its charm fading for almost a decade. I dunno.
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