<html><div style='background-color:'><P>OSN:</P>
<P>Forwarding the movement of urban revitalization and smart economic growth, Sustainable OKC has brought together experts on land use as part of the "Smart Growth" series. Great work SOKC! Kudos on the Journal Record media coverage.<BR><BR>Sincerely,</P>
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<P style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><FONT face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif">Mr. Seneca Scott</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif" size=3>Trivestco Energy, Operator</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif">Oklahoma Sustainability Network, President</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif">3271 E. 2nd St.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif">Tulsa, OK 74104</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif">918-576-9111</FONT></P>
<P><A href="mailto:chiefseneca@hotmail.com"><FONT face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif">chiefseneca@hotmail.com</FONT></A><FONT face="Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif"> </FONT></P>
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From: <I>"Jennifer Gooden" <jgooden@homelessalliance.org></I><BR>To: <I><okc@sustainableokc.org></I><BR>Subject: <I>[OKC] Smart growth in Journal Record</I><BR>Date: <I>Fri, 12 May 2006 13:31:40 -0500</I><BR><BR>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=834202218-12052006>OKC saw some wonderful exposure for smart growth and sustainability on the cover of the Journal Record today in article about our recent smart growth speaker, Hans Butzer. It's great to see the economic side of smart growth highlighted; it hits home for everyone when we talk about an inefficient use of tax dollars. For anyone who didn't see it, the text is below. It was accompanied by a great photo of Hans.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jennifer Gooden</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Program Coordinator</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Homeless Alliance</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>312 W Commerce</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Oklahoma City, OK 73109</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>(405) 632-7431</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2><A href="http://www.homelessalliance.org/">www.homelessalliance.org</A></FONT></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>Sustaining growth: OU architecture professor stresses need for more efficient design in downtown OKC, surrounding areas </STRONG></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>by Kevan Goff-Parker </STRONG></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>The Journal Record </STRONG></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>5/12/2006</STRONG><SPAN> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>OKLAHOMA CITY - Hans Butzer, principal of design at TAParchitecture, said Thursday he's heartened by comments made by Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett during the fifth annual Mayor's Development Roundtable. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>"It sounded as if we were reading from the same script," Butzer said, who recently gave a lecture titled "Building a Great City: Now's a Good Time" at Oklahoma City University. "Mayor Cornett spoke about how Oklahoma City and its surrounding communities, like Midwest City and Bethany, can become more efficient in providing services like police, fire, utilities and trash service. I'm very excited." </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>And Butzer, an associate professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Oklahoma who teaches sustainable design, has a right to be energized. He takes such issues as urban sprawl and inefficient planning to heart. </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>In 2003, Butzer led an OU research design class focused on developing a medium-density, mixed-use vision for a 35-acre area of downtown Oklahoma City. The team tackled downtown Oklahoma City's sustainable-development issues. Today local developers use the comprehensive vision, known as the Triangle, as a basis for further exploration. Butzer said the Triangle represents development that is place-specific and resource-efficient. </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>"A part of my research at OU is an extension of my practice in Germany," he said. "It has to do with trying to encourage greater efficiency in the way we design our city and design our buildings. A city like Oklahoma City strikes me as being inefficient in how big it is as compared to its population." </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>Butzer said he doesn't enjoy paying taxes and finds it frustrating when his tax dollars are inefficiently spent or when they are used to subsidize development that harms Oklahoma City's fiscal, physical and environmental well-being. </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>"Forethought in the design of Oklahoma City's periphery seems to be lacking," he said. "Inefficient development contributes to worsening health conditions of the population, which in turn can contribute to high health care costs. It seems we continued to develop at the periphery, and it doesn't seem like we're stepping back." </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>He said one of the jobs of the architect is to measure small-scale decisions relative to the larger picture. </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>"It is inevitable that when we see sprawl, you can't stop it, but development at the periphery can be done in a more efficient manner so that the rate of inefficiency starts dropping," Butzer said. "The downtown Oklahoma City area is so fertile with redevelopment sites, which, for starters, allows for us to capitalize on MAPS and MAPS for Kids investments. You are starting to see this widely published now - the high-quality, mixed-use lifestyles that even give people the option of walking to work in the downtown area." </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>He said it is imperative when one does dense development that green spaces like parks are included and that developers follow LEED (Leadership, Energy and Environmental Design) guidelines. </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>"A lot of the sites that we are looking at developing on and planning for include brown-field and gray-field sites," Butzer said. "They are sites that have previously been built upon or that might contain some ground contamination that once they are cleaned up, can be used. We don't want to eat up farmland or destroy habitat." </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>He said challenges, of course, do remain in forging the future of downtown Oklahoma City, including higher development costs. </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>"What we try to do in our work is to look at the cost at a larger scale," he said. "The price of adding utilities when you add a house in suburbia, you end of paying more in the long run. Roads aren't maintained as well, police and fire protection diminishes and the city keeps creeping outwards." </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>He said such sprawl sometimes causes the core of a city to fail first, followed by layers of maintenance and infrastructure. </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>"Who pays for all that and maintains it?" Butzer asked. "It's a huge piece of the puzzle. What I see in downtown Oklahoma City is an opportunity to work with existing infrastructure and keep building with higher density, as opposed to proposing new neighborhoods at the city's periphery." </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>He said the rising cost of fuel and the ongoing need for wider, longer highways mean that Oklahoma City's transportation opportunities need to be expanded through options like commuter rail. </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>"Sprawl is going to continue, but we can certainly slow it down and be more efficient," Butzer said. "One way to do this is to improve transportation options, especially for people who live at Oklahoma City's periphery. Ultimately higher density and more efficient design in both downtown and at the city's edge will contribute to a healthier, more efficient Oklahoma City lifestyle." </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>Butzer's presentation was a part of the "Smart Growth" series, sponsored and organized by Sustainable OKC along with the Vivian Wimberly Center for Ethics and Servant Leadership at OCU.</FONT></FONT></P>
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