@Lyle@cville.online Profile picture
Cities, history, technology, conservation. @cvillecityhall Planning Commission member, all opinions are my own fault. Bi. #cdda contributor. He/him
Emily Hays Profile picture 1 subscribed
Apr 27, 2022 30 tweets 8 min read
Just started, excited to hear from Dr. Mondschein of @UVaSARC on this issue. It's been a major point of tension in the @CvillePlans process. Already appreciate the focus on equity when weighing options. Great point that local government has a lot of say on vehicle storage compared to most other issues we worry about
Feb 23, 2021 24 tweets 8 min read
The agenda for tomorrow's @CvilleCityHall Planning Commision worksession with @CvillePlans is posted here charlottesvilleva.civicclerk.com/Web/Player.asp… And this time it's all about the FLUM, the Future Land Use Map, something we have not worked on since early 2019
Aug 13, 2020 36 tweets 12 min read
1922: Atlanta releases it defiantly explicit racial zoning plan five years after the Supreme Court bans candor. Robert Whitten, consultant, leads the charge babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.… Image Racial zoning is being sold by fears of “destruction” by less clearly racial threats like grocery stores and medical care Image
Apr 23, 2020 83 tweets 28 min read
There was some interest in my tweeting out the proceedings of the 1918 US City Planning conference after racial zoning was struck down. Was 1917 in Kansas City as exciting? Let's find out! babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.…
Image The sands are shifting. Eminent domain is staying the same (this is before Kelo) but the police power (as in police) appears to be growing without limit. Maybe anything goes? Let's find out! Image
Dec 21, 2019 7 tweets 3 min read
I've been wondering for a while why Charlottesville's Landmark hotel (Dewberry?) is still sitting vacant for all these years. My hunch is holding costs have something to do with it. Let's do some math! According to city tax records gisweb.charlottesville.org/GisViewer/# , the property is assessed at a cool $6,899,500 so the .95% property tax means an annual $65,545.25 tax bill, much more than the median household income.
Dec 3, 2019 69 tweets 56 min read
1918: The city planners gather in St. Louis for the first time after the landmark Supreme Court Buchanan decision ending explicit enforcement of racial segregation of housing and public areas. babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.8… Image The greats are all here. Harland Bartholomew didn't have to travel far. I didn't know famous segregationist Robert H. Whitten wrote up Cleveland's zoning. That's a big red flag Cleveland. Frederick Law Olmsted, father of landscape architecture is here, plus Herbert Swan from NYC. Image
Mar 31, 2019 18 tweets 4 min read
By request, here is what I know of Charlottesville’s white flight and decline and recovery. This time is largely missing in the public @DailyProgress archive so I’m working mainly off of hearsay from former Planning Commissioners and City Councilors The two largest periods of growth for the City were the 20s (streetcars) and 50s (cars), both expanding the city limits, both fraught with white supremacist organizing, cross burnings, and segregation battles and major zoning overhauls.
Dec 13, 2018 27 tweets 10 min read
1918: St. Louis's Planning Commission and engineer Harland Bartholomew beg you to consider zoning "A Fundamental Part of the City Plan" archive.org/details/Zoning… They're coming out swinging right away against the horror of new tall buildings. "Canyons" like this "do not permit the sun's rays to reach the lower floors of these buildings as they should."
Jun 23, 2018 7 tweets 3 min read
1924: @CityRichmondVA 's Jim Crow Zoning Commission begs you to consider "The Necessity of Zoning", part of a series of articles, I'm guessing printed in the @RTDNEWS to win public support for the new policy search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/u29590… This is an Allen Saville project, architect of Richmond and @CvilleCityHall ‘s zoning after segregation was struck down. Zoning is needed because of “widespread destruction...of values” by business and “the invasion of apartment houses into residential districts”.
Apr 8, 2018 23 tweets 13 min read
1929: @CvilleCityHall Council accepts resident demands to amend the new zoning ordinance to allow two families per parcel citywide, and to reduce minimum lot sizes intended to raise housing costs recommended by Allen Saville of Richmond. search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/uva-li… I go into the details of the final map and ordinance here.