I’m proud of my record of investing in Denton’s neighborhoods. I initiated the Neighborhood Empowerment Grant Program which earmarks $50,000 a year in grants to neighborhoods with great ideas. I helped bring Better Block to Denton to get us thinking of innovative ways to create our neighborhoods. I’m working to update our historic preservation policies in order to protect our city’s historic assets. I’ve gathered citizens to help make pedestrian safety a priority so that we can more safely walk in and between our neighborhoods. I’m pushing for a plan that puts 20,000 trees into our neighborhoods by giving them directly to homeowners in order to better our streetscape, improve home values, and increase our city’s tree canopy.
But there’s more to be done. Here are some ideas to keep Denton’s neighborhoods moving forward:
REVITALIZE THE CORE
The days of thinking of Denton’s core neighborhoods merely as investment opportunities for landlords is over. There is now a house on Austin Street that is listed for $395,000. As in any city with a vibrant urban core, the first couple rings of single family home neighborhoods become the hottest real estate in town. The Downtown Implementation Plan failed to consider a role for these neighborhoods in the revitalization of downtown. We should move quickly to develop a plan to stabilize, promote, connect, and foster a renaissance in our core neighborhoods.
NEIGHBORHOOD/DISTRICT IDENTITY INITIATIVE
Naming, branding, and identity is a crucial step toward creating a sense of pride, place, and belonging in a neighborhood. We should develop a year-long initiative to encourage and incentivize neighbors to come together to define, name, and brand their neighborhoods, utilizing grant money to develop signage.
THINK BEYOND THE SQUARE
As we work on revitalizing our core, let’s begin the process of identifying and fostering the next generation of potential centers of culture in Denton. I’ve already written about this at length here.
UNLEASH CITIZENS TO CREATE THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS
Want to create a mini library for the neighborhood kids on your front lawn? Want to turn that vacant lot into a startup pocket park? Want to turn the dumpsters in your neighborhood into a public art project? Our citizens want to create and are too often coming to the city to ask for permission with such ideas. Let’s develop a plan that actually encourages, empowers, and resources such whimsical placemaking in our city’s neighborhoods.
EQUIP OUR NEIGHBORHOODS WITH THE FASTEST INTERNET IN THE NATION
High speed internet is to the 21st century what electricity was to the 20th century. In order to make sure their is no digital divide in Denton and to position our city for educational and economic leadership in the coming decades, we should immediately commission a study to assess the state of fiber connectivity among our neighborhoods. That should be followed with an aggressive plan to connect our neighborhoods with the fastest internet in the nation.
ONE REGULATION PRESERVATION
While we work to update our Historic Preservation Plan and corresponding ordinances, let’s discover an easy path toward historic preservation of threatened homes and neighborhoods. I like to call this “one regulation preservation” – or, “just don’t tear your house down.” The current paradigm assumes a significant amount of regulations, including things like paint colors and window materials, in order to enter into the historic designation realm. That paradigm works for willing neighbors, but when we are trying to convince landlords and others who have reservations, let’s create a program that makes it easy for them to preserve our city’s historic assets.
CONNECTIVITY INITIATIVE
A significant part of our downtown parking problems could be solved if we just made it easier for people living within a mile of downtown to walk there. But there remain huge obstacles in the form of Carroll Blvd, University Drive, McKinney St., and Bell Ave. Let’s prioritize a plan to make crossing these streets safe and comfortable for 8 and 80 year olds alike.
RETHINK DENSITY AND MIXED USE
As interest in our core neighborhoods continues to grow and generational housing preferences shift, we must begin to rethink our traditional assumptions about the value and place for increased density and mixed use within our neighborhoods. We should begin to have serious conversations about the true costs of sprawl and tread cautiously when large housing development projects are proposed far away from our city center and our corresponding essential infrastructure and services.
WHAT ARE YOU IDEAS FOR BETTERING DENTON’S NEIGHBORHOODS? Let me know in the comments below.