Nicholas Foster, MICD Program Manager
August 11, 2008

Mayors’ Institute Holds First Alumni Technical Assistance Program in Santa Rosa (CA)

By Nicholas Foster, MICD Program Manager

When Santa Rosa (CA) Mayor Bob Blanchard attended a session of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) approximately one year ago, he brought a vision to rejuvenate his city’s downtown. Blanchard’s interest in urban design was evident to those participating in that Institute, and much of the professional advice he received lingered with him long after the session concluded. So much so, in fact, that when MICD announced the creation of a new program to provide technical assistance to alumni mayors of the MICD, it was no surprise that Blanchard was one of the first to reply to MICD’s call for letters of interest.

Unfortunately, Blanchard’s own health was not as strong as his vision and his determination to make Santa Rosa the best that it could be. This past June, after a long battle with cancer, the citizens of Santa Rosa lost their fearless leader.

However, even while his demise came quickly and unexpected to most, the decision on the part of MICD to provide technical assistance to Santa Rosa, passing along some of the knowledge shared with Blanchard to city staff, was an easy one. The show had to go on, with or without him. Most that knew Blanchard would have expected nothing less.

Just one month later, MICD piloted its first ever Alumni Technical Assistance Program July 16-18. Partnering with Santa Rosa, the event was far more than a sharing of knowledge and ideas. It was also a tribute to a great civic leader with an unfulfilled vision for Santa Rosa’s future.

The city’s top elected officials, including Mayor John Sawyer, Vice Mayor Susan Gorin, and Councilmember Jane Bender, in addition to the city’s Director of Advance Planning and Public Policy Wayne Goldberg, and City Manager Jeff Kolin, participated in the Institute. Three MICD alumni resource team members also participated: including Lee Bey, executive director of the Chicago Central Area Committee; David Dixon, director of planning and urban design at Goody Clancy & Associates in Boston; and Barbara Wilks, founding principal at W Architecture in New York City. Members of the local arts, business, development, and philanthropic communities were also present, exchanging information with the resource team over the course of two and one-half working days.

The program commenced with a reception and dinner, providing visiting resource team members an opportunity to interact with various stakeholders and city staff. The following day, the real groundwork began as city staff provided several technical briefings, which gave the designers pertinent information regarding the design challenges facing the city. Resource team members then toured the various sites described in the earlier working sessions, including the now-abandoned AT&T building, city hall, Courtyard Square, the Prince Greenway, and Santa Rosa Plaza. Later that day, the resource team then took the podium and presented their own works and observations of best practices in other cities. By day’s end, the designers had begun gathering their thoughts and started piecing together their ideas and observations as how to enhance the quality of life in Downtown Santa Rosa by means of design.

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On the third and final day of the Institute, the resource team had compiled their notes and sketches and headed off to city hall to present their findings to both city staff as well as members of the general public during a town hall meeting. The designers shared their observations with Santa Rosa’s constituents, and engaged in a Question & Answer session, fielding questions from among nearly seventy city residents.

Among the most notable proposals the resource team members presented during the televised event included the suggestion that the city focus its energies on the downtown core and concentrate investments there (the blocks immediately around Courthouse Square). Other suggestions included extending the connectivity of 4th Street’s pedestrian character through the Santa Rosa Plaza mall; increasing the walkability of downtown by implementing street trees, curbside parking, and retail that animates dead edges; better utilizing the arts, nature, fountains, and other activity in order to make downtown into the city’s living room; celebrating Santa Rosa’s natural amenities by increasing the richness of the Prince Greenway by adding cafes, activity, and access points to the river walk; and embracing the arts as a catalyst for downtown development.

To achieve such laudable goals, the designers suggested that Santa Rosa tackle the assorted design issues from planning, design, as well as policy platforms, at both the local and state level.

The resource team members suggested that first, and foremost, Santa Rosa needs to create a world-class planning culture and build capacity with public sector leadership. Designers articulated that by building increased trust among local stakeholders, the city would be empowered to integrate the various, diverse visions for the future of its downtown. As resource team members suggested, this can really only be accomplished when the city invites (or compels) absentee landlords to come to the table, to share their views and understand the city’s vision as well.

The designers then recommended strategies for implementation of some of their various proposals, included developing new taxing mechanisms (hotel bed tax, restaurant tax, vehicle tax, etc.) to capture and leverage the value of the downtown core, which is currently underutilized and underserving the citizenry. Several designers also suggested that the city lead the way towards dispelling the notion that parking should be free (or even cheap) by charging for parking in downtown, which would provide a substantial revenue source for the city.

Eager to share the success of the Santa Rosa Institute, MICD will run additional Institutes throughout 2008, serving Lincoln (NE) Mayor Chris Beutler; Cincinnati (OH) Mayor Mark Mallory; and Tulsa (OK) Mayor Kathy Taylor. The Alumni Technical Assistance Program is being made possible by a generous $250,000 gift of the Edward W. Rose III Family Fund of the Dallas Foundation, directed to the National Endowment for the Arts by Mrs. Deedie Potter Rose, a former member of the National Council on the Arts (NCA).

MICD is a partnership program of the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Architectural Foundation, and the United States Conference of Mayors. To date, the program has assisted over 750 mayors in transforming their communities through good urban design.

For more information on MICD, call 202-463-1930 or go to the website www.micd.org.