Montgomery development news

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Originally Posted by ExpatBaman

Yeah, this is very bad news for the city. The outer loop is nothing but a means to establish a new sprawl corridor so that certain rich real estate interests can get even richer littering the countryside with more Wal-marts, Waffle Houses, and "subdivisions" full of characterless cookie cutter carports with attached living space.

The last thing we need is another bypass. Development money will be wasted along the loop, mostly outside the city, and the blossoming efforts toward redevelopment in real neighborhoods inside the existing bypass will be nipped in the bud. Hello little Detroit. We want to empty out the city just like our neighbors up I-65 did with their interstate loop.

What I wanna know is why they can't just use that money to start the I-85 extension from where I-85 and I-65 already meet?

[BlakFlava]

All this negativity regarding the outer loop or damn near anything about Montgomery. Man, I aint NEVER dogged my city, Montgomery, like yall clowns. I currently live in Atlanta, have been here for 5 years and I miss Montgomery big time.

[OldCloverdale]

Tulane Court Redevelopment Starting in the Summer

Written by Jamie Langley
Tuesday, 08 February 2011 05:51 pm


Redevelopment of the Montgomery Housing Authority's Tulane Court community is set to start this summer. That is according to Montgomery Deputy Mayor Jeff Downes.

Right now, a fence surrounds the area where all but a portion of one building has been demolished.

Downes says that there are several steps to take before construction can begin.

The Montgomery Housing Authority and their private partners must first apply for low income tax credits, complete the infrastructure plan and then develop a construction schedule.

"The tentative time frame that's been expressed to us is in the summer of this year to get underway with the project. That's assuming several hurdles are jumped. We sit here very ably trying to help the Montgomery Housing Authority jump those hurdles and make this project a reality," says Downes.

Tulane Court is on Hall Street just a few blocks away from downtown Montgomery. Downes says Richardson Terrace, a housing development a block away, is already being renovated

++++++++++++

The Montgomery Housing Authority’s Victor Tulane Court was supposed to be torn down by now. They put up a fence and tore down almost all of it, leaving only part of one building. Then, everything seemed to stop. What’s going on at this location? Why has demolition stopped? When will they re-develop?

http://tulanecourt.org/

lots of info here: http://tulanecourt.org/TulaneMonthlyReports.html

[neilson]

Originally Posted by ExpatBaman

Yeah, this is very bad news for the city. The outer loop is nothing but a means to establish a new sprawl corridor so that certain rich real estate interests can get even richer littering the countryside with more Wal-marts, Waffle Houses, and "subdivisions" full of characterless cookie cutter carports with attached living space.

The last thing we need is another bypass. Development money will be wasted along the loop, mostly outside the city, and the blossoming efforts toward redevelopment in real neighborhoods inside the existing bypass will be nipped in the bud. Hello little Detroit. We want to empty out the city just like our neighbors up I-65 did with their interstate loop.

Here's the problem. For the last 10 years, there's been half-built Outer Loop stuff between I-85 and Vaughn Road. That's a white elephant that needs to be completed. Maybe the answer is to only go as far as 231 to justify the work that's been done so far. Realistically, the Bypass will be great for Hyundai and the Korean corridor.

I see a lot more industrial development along the Bypass anyway. Koreans need cheap land and that's what South Central and Eastern Montgomery County has plenty of.

[ExpatBaman]

Originally Posted by OldCloverdale

The Montgomery Housing Authority’s Victor Tulane Court was supposed to be torn down by now. They put up a fence and tore down almost all of it, leaving only part of one building. Then, everything seemed to stop. What’s going on at this location? Why has demolition stopped? When will they re-develop?

http://tulanecourt.org/

lots of info here: http://tulanecourt.org/TulaneMonthlyReports.html

That's a great-looking rendering for a great project. Hopefully the housing board won't drop the ball with this.

[ExpatBaman]

Originally Posted by neilson

Realistically, the Bypass will be great for Hyundai and the Korean corridor.

I see a lot more industrial development along the Bypass anyway. Koreans need cheap land and that's what South Central and Eastern Montgomery County has plenty of.

The problem is that anything-goes zoning will turn this into a sprawl corridor, the last thing that Montgomery needs now or in the future. The number of interchanges would need to be kept to a bare minimum to lessen the damage, but likely will not. The hundreds of millions that will be spent on this project would be better used on transit projects or street improvements that would actually reduce congestion and provide more connectivity in the city.

[ExpatBaman]

Originally Posted by BlakFlava

All this negativity regarding the outer loop or damn near anything about Montgomery. Man, I aint NEVER dogged my city, Montgomery, like yall clowns. I currently live in Atlanta, have been here for 5 years and I miss Montgomery big time.

Who here is "dogging" Montgomery? Maybe you'd like to give us a specific example. There are many people here who care deeply about their city, praise worthwhile projects, and criticize projects that they see as harmful. What's wrong with that?

[thoraudio]

Dogging the city and being concerned about the direction are different things.

altogether.

[bystander1]

Originally Posted by BlakFlava

All this negativity regarding the outer loop or damn near anything about Montgomery. Man, I aint NEVER dogged my city, Montgomery, like yall clowns. I currently live in Atlanta, have been here for 5 years and I miss Montgomery big time.

Dude, no one's dogging the city, just questioning the way certain projects are or will be carried out. There are things the city desperately needs, like the bypass...but it really needed it 20 years ago when it was cool to have an interstate loop. Now, 20 years later, migration trends show more people are moving closer to the city center, and we think more funding should be dedicated to urban-core transportation issues.

Personally, I think we need both.

[OldCloverdale]

Originally Posted by ExpatBaman

The problem is that anything-goes zoning will turn this into a sprawl corridor, the last thing that Montgomery needs now or in the future. The number of interchanges would need to be kept to a bare minimum to lessen the damage, but likely will not. The hundreds of millions that will be spent on this project would be better used on transit projects or street improvements that would actually reduce congestion and provide more connectivity in the city.

Why do you think that?

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Originally Posted by OldCloverdale

Why do you think that?

Numerous interchanges encourage awful traffic. Having fewer forces you to plan better and reduces reliance on the freeway to what they were intended for, long distance/inter-city travel.

[OldCloverdale]

Originally Posted by tredici

Numerous interchanges encourage awful traffic. Having fewer forces you to plan better and reduces reliance on the freeway to what they were intended for, long distance/inter-city travel.

Why does he state but likely will not?

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Originally Posted by OldCloverdale

Why does he state but likely will not?

I think he means that they need to be kept to a minimum, but he's pessimistic that officials will do so. That they'll instead try and slap as many random-ass interchanges on the thing as they can.

[ExpatBaman]

Originally Posted by tredici

I think he means that they need to be kept to a minimum, but he's pessimistic that officials will do so. That they'll instead try and slap as many random-ass interchanges on the thing as they can.

That's pretty much what I was referring to. Just a guess that ALDOT and local officials will do the bidding of suburban development interests.

[ExpatBaman]

Originally Posted by bystander1

There are things the city desperately needs, like the bypass...but it really needed it 20 years ago when it was cool to have an interstate loop. Now, 20 years later, migration trends show more people are moving closer to the city center, and we think more funding should be dedicated to urban-core transportation issues.

Personally, I think we need both.

Such a shame that I-85 wasn't built on a more southern route to begin with. The objective of the bypass proponents would have been achieved already and the city could have avoided a whole bunch of neighborhood destruction.

[bystander1]

Originally Posted by ExpatBaman

Such a shame that I-85 wasn't built on a more southern route to begin with. The objective of the bypass proponents would have been achieved already and the city could have avoided a whole bunch of neighborhood destruction.

Yes, but I think with today's trends, the development of neighborhoods and towns so far away from the urban core, like what was going on back in the 70's and 80's, is not only highly unfeasible with the cost of building new infrastructure (water, sewer, power, roads) but also highly foolish with the cost of fuel rising more rapidly than it does coming down. Montgomery was fortunate to get this far and not have so many parasitic towns surrounding it like kudzu.

[ExpatBaman]

Originally Posted by bystander1

Yes, but I think with today's trends, the development of neighborhoods and towns so far away from the urban core, like what was going on back in the 70's and 80's, is not only highly unfeasible with the cost of building new infrastructure (water, sewer, power, roads) but also highly foolish with the cost of fuel rising more rapidly than it does coming down.

Agree 100%. If only we could get our elected officials and the engineers at ALDOT to think like that.

This YouTube video illustrates what we've been getting for decades: Conversation with an Engineer.

[philopdx]

Well OF COURSE the outer loop is going to make traffic better! Just like the Eastern Bypass did.

[neilson]

Originally Posted by philopdx

Well OF COURSE the outer loop is going to make traffic better! Just like the Eastern Bypass did.

But again, do you really want trucks on the Korean Corridor going through Downtown MTG on 85 and 65?

I agree wholeheartedly that 85 should've been built from the get-go to the south of the city, but that's not the reality we live in now. Right now, those trucks need an easier way to reach Hyundai then the Bypass or 85/65.

[ExpatBaman]

Originally Posted by neilson

But again, do you really want trucks on the Korean Corridor going through Downtown MTG on 85 and 65?

I agree wholeheartedly that 85 should've been built from the get-go to the south of the city, but that's not the reality we live in now. Right now, those trucks need an easier way to reach Hyundai then the Bypass or 85/65.

Those trucks can get to and from Hyundai just fine right now. There is no need for a new bypass. A rail connection would be a more efficient and less costly way to move goods back and forth along the Korean corridor.