Urban Land Institute advising New Orleans on development

[dprives at gmail.com]

The Times-Picayune in New Orleans is reporting on a proposal to create
Manhattan-style development agencies to manage the rebuilding process.
Apparently the Urban Land Institute is a proponent of this approach,
and is advising the Mayor of NO for free. [Link below]

Regardless of the merits of this approach in a city with a very
different history and culture than Manhattan, what exactly is the
Urban Land Institute and how did they get in this advisory role? I
though they just put on training seminars and conferences. Do they
have a policy research arm as well?

Regards,
Dan Prives
Charity Industry Observer
www.wheremostneeded.org
http://underalms.typepad.com/wheremostneeded


Plan gives agency broad powers
It could buy land, sell bonds for work
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
By Gordon Russell and Frank Donze
Staff writers
http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1136963489109650.xml?nola

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[Dodson Mae]

Ed Dodson responding...
Dan Prives wrote:

The Times-Picayune in New Orleans is reporting on a proposal to create
Manhattan-style development agencies to manage the rebuilding process.
Apparently the Urban Land Institute is a proponent of this approach,
and is advising the Mayor of NO for free. [Link below]

Regardless of the merits of this approach in a city with a very
different history and culture than Manhattan, what exactly is the
Urban Land Institute and how did they get in this advisory role? I
though they just put on training seminars and conferences. Do they
have a policy research arm as well?

[Edward Dodson responding...] Yes. The Urban Land Institute does publish
research and engage in policy work. Visit the Institute's website for a good
feel for what the Institute supports as sound policy.

I think that for many people involved in urban revitalization and the
community development field, generally, the circumstances in New Orleans
presents an enormous challenge but also an irresistible opportunity to
remake an urban environment using the most up-to-date thinking.

New Orleans proves in a very direct way that public investment is the source
of land value. The breaking of the levees allowed nature to take its course
and flood large areas, which makes development of those areas effectively
impossible. By rebuilding -- and improving -- the system protection from
floods, the general public is creating "land," and the value associated with
this infrastructure development ought to be fully collected by government to
pay for these expenditures (and other public goods and services). One could
think of this type of charge almost as a user fee (i.e., the property owners
are paying for the public protection of their property against the prospects
of loss due to flooding.

It may be that scientific analysts looking at the overall New Orleans
environment will argue against rebuilding in the lowest-lying areas,
reducing the area of New Orleans considerably. Even then, the best thing the
City of New Orleans could do is to adopt a system of raising revenue that is
tied to land values, exempting property improvements (i.e., buildings) from
the tax base. This would stimulate new construction and renovation of
existing buildings and, at the same time, put financial pressure on owners
of land to develop their land to its highest and best use. Good planning
could then effectively make New Orleans a good "new urbanist" model of a
city that makes the best use of the land it has available.


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