New Urbanism makes sense. El Paso continues to sprawl. Some builders insist that the market is for homes with backyards in communities on the edge of nowhere that were created for the V-8 engine and the petroleum industry. One builder even told me once that people want a backyard for their kids to play in. Play what? Video games while texting? Our children (and too many of our El Paso population) suffers from the epidemics of obesity and diabetes. We sit inside. We drive everywhere. We get fat. We become diabetic. Yet our current City Council may be rolling back impact fees thereby encouraging more sprawl and they have shown not just a reluctance to follow Plan El Paso but a desire to promote unhealthy urban designs. What's ironic is that the real estate market is changing and people are beginning to prefer to live in settings more consistent with New Urbanism.
Few builders attended the symposium. However Eco El Paso President, Fred Dalbin, reported that there were some developers and members of the building association and they were talking to the speakers. There is hope and that is exciting.
Enough preaching for now. Time for the video but first much thanks to Fred Dalbin of Eco El Paso and Laura Kissack of City Planning and many others who did influence the mindset of El Paso with an excellent symposium.
The video:
Check the right hand blue column for two books - one edited by Jackson and one by him. Order them to learn more.
I highly recommend this outstanding video which closely follows Dr Richard Jackson's presentation at the Eco El Paso event last week.
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