Truett Craft is a longtime home builder who is once again about redevelop a patch of land along with Ron Reeves. In this case it is land upon which a public school previously operated (Miller Elementary) which will become new garden homes. The new houses will return the land to tax rolls and reinvigorate and add much life to a mature Lubbock neighborhood.
Sadly, the words urban renewal, and to a lesser extent redevelopment, have taken a negative connotation with many because of failed government boondoggling with such. But, there are strong reasons why conservatives should demand city government aggressively encourage and facilitate redevelopment and renewal through zoning and infrastructure rebuilding and realignment to facilitate and encourage redevelopment by private sector investors. I’m not suggesting the support of government funded, partnered, or owned renewal.
Why should taxpayers support such? Because doing so protects not only their property values but keeps taxes lower in the short and long terms.
Most expenses for running a city are spatially-based which means it costs almost the same amount of taxpayer money to maintain infrastructure for near empty and depressed areas that have streets, water and sewage installed as it does areas which are full of taxpaying residents. First responder staffing and station location are based on distance and time to target too.
…the cost for all other taxpayers goes up to provide services to those areas as people move out and neighborhood taxpayer density plummets.
So in addition to how letting older neighborhoods fall into disrepair and crime which lowers property values in all directions and feeds a cancer-like spread gobbling up more and more neighborhoods, the cost for all other taxpayers goes up to provide services to those areas as people move out and neighborhood taxpayer density plummets.
Good policy is to encourage efforts to rebuild, reinvigorate and maintain values in existing areas equally to efforts at developing new space.
Neighborhood redevelopment is good policy
Ron Reeves & Truett Craft
Truett Craft is a longtime home builder who is once again about redevelop a patch of land along with Ron Reeves. In this case it is land upon which a public school previously operated (Miller Elementary) which will become new garden homes. The new houses will return the land to tax rolls and reinvigorate and add much life to a mature Lubbock neighborhood.
Sadly, the words urban renewal, and to a lesser extent redevelopment, have taken a negative connotation with many because of failed government boondoggling with such. But, there are strong reasons why conservatives should demand city government aggressively encourage and facilitate redevelopment and renewal through zoning and infrastructure rebuilding and realignment to facilitate and encourage redevelopment by private sector investors. I’m not suggesting the support of government funded, partnered, or owned renewal.
Why should taxpayers support such? Because doing so protects not only their property values but keeps taxes lower in the short and long terms.
Most expenses for running a city are spatially-based which means it costs almost the same amount of taxpayer money to maintain infrastructure for near empty and depressed areas that have streets, water and sewage installed as it does areas which are full of taxpaying residents. First responder staffing and station location are based on distance and time to target too.
…the cost for all other taxpayers goes up to provide services to those areas as people move out and neighborhood taxpayer density plummets.
So in addition to how letting older neighborhoods fall into disrepair and crime which lowers property values in all directions and feeds a cancer-like spread gobbling up more and more neighborhoods, the cost for all other taxpayers goes up to provide services to those areas as people move out and neighborhood taxpayer density plummets.
Good policy is to encourage efforts to rebuild, reinvigorate and maintain values in existing areas equally to efforts at developing new space.