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One of the many interesting items on the city council’s Economic Development Committee agenda for Monday is an update on the Downtown Dallas 360 plan, about which we’ve written a few times in advance of its June due date. The 48-page briefing doc is more or less a collection of pretty pictures with some info cut-and-pasted from the official Web site, but it should give you some idea of what Daniel Iacofano and his MIG planners are thinking as they attempt to turn “a city of districts” into a “seamless” city.
The briefing doc is fulled with familiar catchphrases and promises: transit-oriented development, streetcars, “animating the public realm,” creating “complete streets” and ground-level retail that will “activate public spaces” (including Main Street Garden), and building “catalytic projects.” (Why oh why am I reminded of Liz’s presentation to Jack in 30 Rock episode “Winter Madness“?) If I read my briefing docs correctly, the latter imagines turning the Pearl Street DART station into something along the lines of the Denver Union Station project due to commence construction this year. Only, you can’t do that without doing something about Crozier Tech … which we’ll get back to later today, fingers crossed.
As for streetcars, they’re but one of several “Emerging Transformational Strategies” you’ll find mentioned in the doc, which include:
- Downtown Streetcar: Establishing a downtown-centric streetcar system plan and an
- implementation plan for a starter line
- Parking Management: Taking a creative look at coordinated management of private and public parking to enhance utility, increase efficiency, and reduce barriers to transit-oriented
- redevelopment
- Urban Design Guidelines: Raising the bar for transit-oriented and pedestrian friendly development
- Street and Open Space Animation: Bringing life back to streets, parks and plazas through
- physical improvements, activity programming and adjacent building activation
- Housing Diversification: Strategies for building the residential base and broadening the target market
- Business and Retail Recruitment for the 21st Century: Redefining downtown Dallas’ market niche by focusing on strategic advantages
So, read up, and if you have questions, post ’em. Because I now have Monday-morning plans … ooooh, the South Dallas/Fair Park Trust fund’s on the agenda too. Excellent, Smithers. Excellent.
