The Urban Blog

Risk Reward Routine – Redevelopment Funding Held Hostage

Update:  The bill discussed here, which would have required STAR bond developments to pay into a rainy day fund for education, was vetoed and not overridden.  Tax giveaways for developers have lived to see another legislative session.

Kudos to Downtown Makeover.  Lately, he’s been following what’s going on in the Nevada Legislature with an eye toward the implications for redevelopment – and it doesn’t look good.  Legislation has passed the session which would funnel money away from redevelopment districts statewide in increasing amounts as the years progress, to the point where redevelopment districts would merely be debt service funds, unable to start any new projects.

To a watcher of redevelopment efforts in Reno, this is a big deal indeed.  Redevelopment has actually accomplished a fair amount of things in downtown Reno:  a nice river walk, a movie theater, a bowling stadium, a baseball park, a whitewater park, covers over the train trench, the parking gallery, West Street Market, and I’m sure more that I’m not listing here.

However, it’s important to take a step back, I think, and look at the goals of redevelopment and the tools a city should already have available to itself in order to accomplish those goals.  Let’s take the perspective for the moment, that tax assist financing is not the way to go for new infill projects in the urban core.  And let’s assume for a moment that the city can legislatively bring about the accounting that it will need to perform to act in the manner prescribed herein.

The way things are done today, the redevelopment agency is banking on declining future property values in order that it may use existing property tax revenues to purchase declining value property, selling it off to developers for less than it’s technically worth – for the purpose of the developer improving the property to the point where it essentially drives comps up, and thus the tax valuation of the district, and thus the public revenue.

Over the years the redevelopment toolbox has added a few drawers containing all kinds of tax incentives for developers.  The money that those developers are making, off the books, for bringing in the investment, has just now been eyed by the state legislature, under the leadership of Barbara Buckley.  There is a strong chance Buckley could end up governor next time around.

Buckley decided that it was time for an education savings account for the state to help it weather economic calamity with an intact public education fund.  This savings account was to be funded out of the previously uncollected ad valorem tax paid by projects in redevelopment districts.  (If I’m reading this right).

Now it’s one thing to be able to celebrate the accomplishments of a redevelopment agency – in fact that is what I do here.  The accomplishments of the agency are listed above and are great.  But the history of redevelopment deserves a look.  And history will show – redevelopment agencies were not meant to be the permanent face of an evolving downtown landscape.  The original thinking on the lifespan of the agency was 25 – 30 years – a time which fast approaches.

In short, it’s time to take a look at how money can be raised for public projects in the future and how the city can be redeveloped in the future without resorting to special named districts that get special attention.

It’s called the city government doing its job.

If I think back over the years on all the great projects the redevelopment district has been engaged in, my mind inevitably wanders to a few things that the redevelopment agency hasn’t done – some things others (others in the city included) did and some things, in the absence of the city doing them, nobody did.

• Beautify Wells Ave
  • Seems the people of Wells Ave got that in motion with the help of their councilmember
• Start building community in the Oliver/Montello area
  • Again the people of the community and the city council got that one going
• Widen and modernize sidewalks and streetscaping citywide including in older districts with less private investment
  • You’d be right if you thought that was one of the things nobody did in absence of the city doing it.
• Improve park connections in old city neighborhoods and grow park space citywide
  • Some parks have gone in, like the one in South Reno which just recently opened.  Some old city neighborhoods have had parks grow, other city neighborhoods have big empty lots right in the middle of their main streets.

Thinking about the last two items, imagine hundreds of millions of dollars having flowed into public works & parks department budgets over the past 25 years.  Imagine a South Virginia Street from Plumb Ln to the University that is one way and has incredibly wide sidewalks.  The city could have built that without a redevelopment agency, it is only now being seriously considered – if it can be done as part of a BRT system.  Imagine a similar treatment on East Fourth Street.  Just wide sidewalks, street trees, nice lights, garbage cans.  Paid for as part of needed regular maintenance and upgrades of public facilities.

No reason public works can’t be enlisted to do these things at broader scale – no reason why the city can’t put to the ballot during a legislative year whether it should raise money for the widening of sidewalks citywide.  No reason more parks levies could not pass.

I’m not here to argue against public subsidy for the upkeep of a city – including using public funds to build attractions or kick start development in underdeveloped areas.  I just see that there are several ways to do that without huge public subsidies directed toward enterprises which ought to be able to profit in their absence – at the expense of basic upkeep on existing public infrastructure.

The redevelopment agency in Reno has a few projects to complete and a few years to get them completed.  But if redevelopment budgets are going to be taxed out of existence, the city will need to find a way to continue to make improvements and public investments.  It’s time to start thinking about what that looks like now.

Good Show, Route 19

I’ve noticed recently that RTC RIDE’s Route 19 in Reno has been modified and is no longer a completely pointless bus.  The old 19 ran from downtown to The Wells and looped back at the traffic circle at the south end of Wells and ran only every hour.  In short, it was a waste of time and money – as a more frequent bus that actually went places was just a couple blocks away on Virginia Street.

The new 19 still only comes every hour – and something needs to be done about that – but it also goes all the way to the airport.  Thinking about that route it had always seemed like some service on Plumb Ln was warranted, and the way the 19 runs to the airport today makes it a good choice for a Wells Ave-area resident needing to get to the airport assuming it’s ok to leave home around :45 past the hour to arrive at the airport at about :11 past.  This is actually pretty good time to the airport, especially considering it’s 2 bucks (total travel time, about 20 minutes)

If ridership on that route can be pushed up one wonders if more frequent service is justified.

About “The Wells”.  Well, it’s mighty presumptuous, but I’ve been looking for a shorthand name for this area for a while.  Notice how it’s often described as “The Wells Ave Neighborhood”?  I recently decided to shorten it to “The Wells,” and I’ve been enjoying saying it ever since.  I wonder if it’ll catch on.

Some Musings on Reno Regional Transit

It was great seeing Aisha @ EcoStreets talk a little bit about the BRT / Light Rail plans that have been getting a little discussion in the media sphere lately.  Whenever this topic comes up I feel compelled to noodle on what shape and form an ideal Reno regional transit system would look like.

The Urban Blog’s 2009 Concept for Regional Transit in the Reno area
Note:  This drawing is not a detailed plan for every street the route would run down or what technology it would use.  It is intended to paint broadly the important regional destinations that would need to be served by public transit.  Liberty has been taken with cardinal directions in particular.

Fundamental to this concept is the idea that a majority of the important regional destinations be considered and served and they fall into the following categories:

Transportation Hubs, Residential Hubs, Jobs Hubs, Destinations, Mixed Use Areas

It’s been encouraging to see that RTC Washoe’s plans for the BRT / potential Eventual LRT system they’re planning include feeder routes called RTC LOCAL to feed the RTC RAPID system they want to build.  That’s encouraging because whenever I think about this problem, I end up coming back to the need to tie this 40 x 40 mile metro area together with transit that gets people where they actually need to go, from not far from where they’re starting.  This means they’ll need vehicles that will take them the long haul, but it needs not to be a hassle to get to that vehicle.

However, if you get to the luxury of considering what I just mentioned, it means you have a workable system.  And I think a workable system means a system with a design that appears to the educated observer as something that would work in real life.

With that, I propose the above transit corridors- their destinations to be the ones that are most important to cover in the three county area that is represented above.

Now might be the best time yet to imagine such a thing, so if you’ve had notions of a regional transportation system that would serve the tri-county area ideally, please let me know what you think.  If I were in charge, this is the system I’d build.  How about you?  Comment here, link to your blog, etc.  Enjoy!

SNCAT’s Updated Website

For a long time this blog has harped on the City of Reno to do a better job getting its City Council meeting footage online after the event.  This used to be handled pretty easily by the SNCAT Archive, but then first Reno and then Washoe County’s content began not to appear in the archive.  That looks like a textbook example of when they paychecks stop coming in, and it’s rather unfortunate that the content is no longer available.

Meanwhile, SNCAT took some initiative and updated their website to better resemble the modern era of streaming video sites.  They’ve made some smart changes.  Episodes appear with thumbnails, metadata, links back to individual items, and they appear alongside related items.  Clearly some thought went into the system (no embed code… yet)

It’s interesting to see new episodes of Around the Arch and Reno Metro Pulse posted, but no Council meetings.  In these economic times, we’re not likely to see the City of Reno get its municipal programming live anytime soon, which is unfortunate, with things like tomorrow’s hearing on the Tesera project, a massive revamp of the northeast part of downtown proposed by a single developer.  The City’s website does stream the Council meetings live but that streaming capability is often overburdened, rendering huge portions of the proceedings unwatchable – which can even impact the proceedings, in cases where a Councilmember is attending the meeting remotely.

For a time, Reno was a leader when it came to making its programming available online.  With Charter Communications’ shenanigans regarding on which tier the service is available, and the demise of public access studios in California, the writing might be on the wall for cable accessed government and community TV.  It is in the public interest to make all video from all government proceedings available on-demand as soon as possible.

My Last Reno Ballpark Webcam Post

It’s been fun watching this construction.  The park looks great in action.  Good work, Reno!

Reno Aces First Homestand via Oxblue Reno AAA Ballpark Webcam

Seattle: State Legislature Transit Mess

Just when Puget Sound area residents thought they had spoken once and for all about how highly they prioritize getting a regional light rail network built, along comes the state Legislature in a year of down revenues to use procedural tricks to potentially delay a recently-approved expansion for up to 4 years over a fraction of its funding.

This is going to be an exciting year for Seattle, when Link Light Rail opens up from downtown to the airport by the end of the year.  The initial segment, from downtown to just near the airport, will open up in July.  Light rail service is a welcome addition to the Seattle area.

Link Light Rail Initial Segment Map.  University Link to open 2016

In November, voters approved a second and third line – one linking the University of Washington with Northgate Mall to the north, and one linking downtown to Bellevue and Redmond across Lake Washington on the I-90 bridge.

The I-90 bridge crosses affluent Mercer Island, which has always been a point of contention for transportation projects linking Seattle and the Eastside.  I-90 includes “Express Lanes” – dedicated lanes in the middle of the freeway which are reversed to assist with the heaviest traffic direction in the morning and evening commutes by handling buses and carpools.  Or, at least the morning and evening commutes ca. so long ago nobody remembers.  One perk Islanders get, however, is that they get to use the express lanes even if they’re not a carpool.  It’s the price the rest of us paid I guess, for being able to cross the northern tip of their fair hamlet.

The Express Lanes are the key to the light rail project.  Remove the cars from those lanes, and run trains on them instead and all of a sudden you have just cost effectively done a large chunk of the work required to get light rail linking the two halves of the region’s economic engine.

The clincher here is that in order to turn the Express Lanes over to trains, the HOV capacity has to be moved to the main roadway.  Most of that project is done.  All that’s missing is $24 million in funding the state agreed to dedicate to the project, which Sound Transit is also contributing to.  Several key lawmakers in the state Leg are currently working to thwart that $24 million in funding – and calling for new studies – and bending over backward to find any tortured logic they can that will justify stalling this project.

The money, of course, is being diverted to more highway projects around the state.

It seems like decades following Robert Moses’ exit from road building and transit starving for the purposes of expanding the road network, transit is still quite vulnerable to being held hostage by its opponents – even in the face of overwhelming voter support.

This must stop.  Seattle Transit Blog has called for citizens to write their legislators and I for one am joining the chorus.  Here are some key email addresses (lifted right from STB’s pages):

Rep. Judy Clibborn - Chair of House Transportation Committee: clibborn.judy@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Marko Liias - Vice Chair of House Transportation Committee: liias.marko@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Frank Chopp - Speaker of the House: chopp.frank@leg.wa.gov

Senator Mary Haugen - Chair of Senate Transportation Committee: haugen.marymargaret@leg.wa.gov

Senator Chris Marr - Vice Chair of Senate Transportation Committee: marr.chris@leg.wa.gov

Senator Fred Jarrett - Member of Senate Transportation Committee: jarrett.fred@leg.wa.gov

More great info on this, of course, can be found at Seattle Transit Blog, and once in a while SLOG even writes about it. 

Reno Ballpark: Lights On!

OxBlue Reno Ballpark Cam, 03/26/2009 7:54 PM

I promise I still have actual things to say, sorry I’ve been phoning it in via someone else’s darn webcam, but it is terribly exciting to see this park go up downtown.

I’ve been waiting for the lights on the grass for a while!

Ballpark Construction Gallery

OxBlue Construction Camera, Reno AAA Ballpark

The lights will be on soon enough.

Until then, enjoy this gem from sunrise on 3/16/09.

Scaffolding Down @ Reno Ballpark

Reno AAA Ballpark Construction Camera – OxBlue

Always nice to see some good progress.

Stimulus Funding and Transit Budgets

In my recent spate of transit related yammering, I’ve been talking a lot about some of what I consider “basic” elements in the operation of a transit system, things like:  Revenue Per Customer (and measuring customers as customers), deferring new facilities in lieu of operations funding, and of course over time it’s been more efficient routing and more frequent service.

The bottom line is transit systems cost money.  The funding source for transit operations in a lot of places is drying up as so many places are dependent on sales tax revenue to fund the necessary public subsidy for transit.

Despite everything I’ve said about transit fares covering more of the costs of a system’s operation, I have not argued nor will I for the elimination of subsidies for the ongoing operation of a public transit system.  Far from being money down the drain, when public money goes into operating a decent public transit service, the tertiary benefits make it worthwhile.

I’ve been not using my car lately.  I live 10 blocks from an express bus that takes me straight from the middle of the city to suburbs 12 miles away in 35 minutes.  This bus runs from early in the morning until late at night, every 30 minutes except for one run, except on weekend days where several evening departures run hourly as well. 

This bus is reliable, clean, comfortable, and quiet except when the accordion section hasn’t been oiled, and has wi-fi.  Thanks to the network of local feeder buses, which don’t have terrible schedules, it is possible to go to and from work virtually any time of day or night on any day.

If you think about the potential lack of productivity which might be suffered by the economy as a whole when people’s cars don’t work, to me that sort of outweighs how annoying it is to be stuck in traffic trying to just do basic necessities of life.  A regularly scheduled vehicle that moves along it would seem to me to be a basic component of any arterial route.

The new administration in Washington seems to get this to a certain point:  there is money in the recently passed stimulus legislation for public transit service improvements.  Sadly, according to Derek Morse, interim director of the Washoe County RTC, none of the money can be used to fund operations.  In a recent Reno-Gazette Journal article, he said “"The biggest misfortune in my mind is the lack of flexibility to use those funds for operations.“  [Only a few state transportation priorities to get stimulus money, ANJEANETTE DAMON 2/18/2009]

I’ve argued here before:  Spend the $37 million that would be spent on the wrong location, wrong facility new transit center on service improvements and a smaller-scale transit hub located on the couple of blocks of covered train trench in downtown Reno. 

One thing stands in the middle of that plan, however, which is a similar thing to what the RTC chairman alluded to in the RGJ:  the transit center project I don’t like is 80/20 FTA Grant/local money.  $30mil of the funding isn’t local, it’s from a federal transit grant and that grant is probably all about facilities and not at all about vehicle service operation.

So, while it’s admirable that the administration’s plan includes funding for new transit service facilities, it’s unfortunate indeed that it does not offer a band-aid for local transit operations budgets which are suffering as a result of down economic trends.

To that I would add that it is also the unfortunate that the voters in this instance decided not to raise the sales tax a fraction of a percent to offset the loss in funding.