Reconstructing the Vale of Paradise: A Return to the City Beautiful Movement

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Published: Jan 1, 2007

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Alan Bloom
Valparaiso University
James Paul Old
Valparaiso University

Abstract

Since the election of Jon Costas as mayor of Valparaiso, Indiana in November 2003, his administration has embarked on an urban renewal program that fits—for better and for worse—squarely in the tradition of the City Beautiful movement of the early twentieth century. Like earlier proponents of the City Beautiful movement, the Costas administration has implemented urban renewal policies that have emphasized commercial development, beautification, civic culture, efficiency, and health and fitness. The administration’s plans include some initial successes, particularly its efforts to use civic institutions to revitalize rundown sections of the city; however, the city’s policies also share some of the drawbacks of the City Beautiful movement, by emphasizing the benefits of upscale commercial development while overlooking the housing needs of lower-middle class and poor residents of the community.

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Article Details

Issue
Vol. 2 (2007)
Section
Scholarly and Creative Works
On acceptance of work, the authors agree that the exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article have been given to The South Shore Journal. Materials published in The South Shoure Journal remain the property of their authors.
Author Biographies

Alan Bloom, Valparaiso University

Alan Bloom, Department of History, Valparaiso University. The author may be reached at Valparaiso University, History Department, 1409 Chapel Drive, Valparaiso, IN 46383 or Alan.Bloom@valpo.edu This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . (219) 464-5299.

James Paul Old, Valparaiso University

James Paul Old, Department of Political Science, Valparaiso University. The author may be reached at Valparaiso University, Political Science Department, 1409 Chapel Drive, Valparaiso, IN 46383 or James.Old@valpo.edu This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . (219) 464-6948.

References

For the most important studies on the City Beautiful movement, see William H. Wilson, The City Beautiful Movement (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989); Thomas S. Hines, Burnham of Chicago: Architect and Planner (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974); Jon A. Peterson, “The City Beautiful Movement: Forgotten Origins and Lost Meanings,” Journal of Urban History 2 (August 1976): 415–434; Paul S. Boyer, Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820–1920 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978), 261–276; Bonj Szczygiel, “‘City Beautiful’ Revisited: An Analysis of Nineteenth-Century Civic Improvement Efforts,” Journal of Urban History 29 (December 2003): 107–132; Carl Smith, The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006).

For information on new urbanism, see the Congress for the New Urbanism website: http://www.cnu.org/; Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck, Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream (New York: North Point Press, 2001); and Kenneth Hall and Gerald A. Porterfield, Community By Design: New Urbanism for Suburbs and Small Communities (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001). For a critique of new urbanism and a discussion of the rationale behind new pedestrianism, see Michael Arth’s website, http://michaelearth.com/herc_IX.htm (accessed January 26, 2008).

Elmer W. Johnson, Chicago Metropolis 2020: The Chicago Plan for the Twenty-First Century (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001), 153.

Boyer, Urban Masses, 262.

Smith, Plan of Chicago, 15.

Boyer, Urban Masses, 264.

Johnson, Metropolis 2020, xiii.

Wilson, The City Beautiful Movement, 288.

Wilson, The City Beautiful Movement, 298.

Jon Costas, “State of the City Address,” (speech, Valparaiso, Indiana, January 17, 2006), 3.

Jon Costas, personal interview, July 18, 2007.

Jon Costas, “State of the City Address,” 2006.

Costas, personal interview.

Charles McGill, Director of the Economic Development Commission, personal interview, July 25, 2007. On the problems facing downtowns generally, see: Robert M. Fogelson, Downtown: Its Rise and Fall, 1880–1950 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2001); Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Random House, 1961). 37

HyettPalma Consulting, “Valparaiso Downtown Action Agenda 2002, Executive Summary,” http://www.ci.valparaiso.in.us/DAA/ExSummary/ExecutiveSummary.pdf (accessed January 26, 2008).

Stuart Summers, personal interview, July 17, 2007; McGill, personal interview; Costas, personal interview. Also see: Phil Wieland “City Gets $625,000 for Streetscape Work,” Northwest Indiana Times, June 24, 2006.

HyettPalma Consulting.

Phil Wieland, “City Talks about Dressing up Downtown,” Northwest Indiana Times, February 16, 2007.

Ibid.

James D. Wolf, Jr. “Police Move Musicians Along.” Post-Tribune, September 17, 2007; “Valpo Officials Say the Beat Can Go On.” Post-Tribune, September 30, 2007.

Summers, personal interview.

Phil Wieland, “New Downtown Park in Valpo’s Plans,” Northwest Indiana Times, January 18, 2008.

Phil Wieland, “Valpo Wants to Preserve, Promote Historic Look,” Northwest Indiana Times, April 6, 2006; Phil Wieland, “Valpo Adopts Downtown Design Standards,” Northwest Indiana Times, October 10, 2006.

Charles McGill, at the time of our personal interview, held both the positions of Valparaiso City Economic Development Director and Vice President of the Valparaiso Economic Development Corporation.

McGill, personal interview; Phil Wieland, “Valpo Launches Downtown Petition Drive,” Northwest Indiana Times, June 24, 2007.

James D. Wolf Jr., “Economic District on Hold Not Enough Businesses Approve of Improvement Plan for Downtown Valpo,” Post-Tribune, December 20, 2007.

Phil Wieland, “New RDA Law Gives Valpo License to Chill,” Northwest Indiana Times, May 6, 2005.

Phil Wieland, “Valpo Gets First Two Downtown Liquor Applicants.” Northwest Indiana Times, July 8, 2005.

Phil Wieland, “City Ready to Adopt Criteria for New Liquor Licenses,” Northwest Indiana Times, June 30, 2005.

McGill, personal interview.

Phil Wieland, “Bon Femme Earns Liquor License Nod.” Northwest Indiana Times, October 23, 2005.

Phil Wieland, “Valpo Aims for Upscale But Not Snobbish Dining,” Northwest Indiana Times, November 10, 2005.

Costas, personal interview; Summers, personal interview.

East of downtown, the district stretches from Roosevelt Avenue down East Lincolnway to the old Triangle intersection and south on Sturdy Road to Highway 130.

Schellie Associates, Inc., “Downtown Development Plan: Valparaiso, Indiana, May 1969,” Report prepared for the Valparaiso City Plan Commission, 25.

Nancy Pekarek, personal interview, July 23, 2007.

City of Valparaiso, Indiana, City of Valparaiso Strategic Plan, (Valparaiso, Indiana, 2005).

Costas, personal interview; Summers, personal interview.

Phil Wieland, “Designing a Gateway to the East” Northwest Indiana Times, January 14, 2007; “Rotary Grant Aids Roundabout Landscaping,” Northwest Indiana Times, January 13, 2008.

After deciding that it was impractical to bury the utility lines, the city has decided to move them to easements behind the buildings on East Lincolnway. Summers, personal interview.

Phil Wieland, “Heinold & Feller the Latest to Seek Valpo Façade Loan,” Northwest Indiana Times, July, 13, 2007.

Phil Wieland, “Eastgate Grants in Big Demand.” Northwest Indiana Times, January 20, 2008.

Summers, personal interview.

Phil Wieland, “Eastgate Apartment Project Now Set for 2009 Opening,” Northwest Indiana Times, June 14, 2007.

Costas, personal interview.

Costas, “State of the City Address,” (2006), 4.

Summers, personal interview; Phil Wieland, “Valpo Mayor Addresses Plaza Issue,” Northwest Indiana Times, January 9, 2003. 38

Summers, personal interview; also see: Phil Wieland, “County Seat Face-lift Expected to Begin in Fall,”Northwest Indiana Times, August 14, 2004; Phil Wieland, “County Seat Owners Ask for Time,” Northwest Indiana Times, December 9, 2004.

Mayor Costas contends that the use of eminent domain powers in this case differs from the use of such powers as reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the highly controversial case Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005). He notes that in the County Seat Plaza case eminent domain was used not only to foster economic development, but also “to cure a blighted condition.” See: Jon Costas, “Governments Must Use Eminent Domain Wisely,” Northwest Indiana Times, July 17, 2005. Indiana statute (Ind. Code Ann. 36-7-14-15(a)) leaves the determination about what constitutes “blight” to local bodies such as redevelopment commissions. Before a municipality can condemn property to advance economic development, a commission must declare the area in which the property is located to be blighted. When making this determination, the commission must consider the following factors: (1) Whether the area is in need of redevelopment; (2) Whether such need can be corrected by the regulatory process or the ordinary operations of private enterprise; and (3) Whether the public health and welfare is better served by the redevelopment of the parcel. This determination is considered a legislative decision and is not reviewable by the courts; however, it does not void property owners’ rights to due process and just compensation in the actual condemnation process that follows. In 2006, the State of Indiana severely restricted local governments’ power to use eminent domain to transfer private property to another private owner (P.L. 163-2006). Redevelopment Commission Executive Director Stuart Summers expressed doubt that under current law the city could have achieved its objectives for County Seat Plaza (Summers, personal interview).

Robyn Monaghan, “Valpo Plans $15.5 Million YMCA,” Northwest Indiana Times, September 21, 2006.

Quoting Todd Etzler, attorney for the Urschels’ development company, Vale Park Development LLC., in Phil Wieland, “Cumberland Crossing ‘To Look Like a Downtown.’” Northwest Indiana Times, February 9, 2007.

Robyn Monaghan, “Valpo Plans $15.5 Million YMCA,” Northwest Indiana Times, September 21, 2006.

Johnson, Metropolis 2020, xiii.

Phil Wieland, “Valpo Studies Moratorium on Apartment Construction,” Northwest Indiana Times, January 12, 2005; “Valpo seeks to increase single-family homes,” February 6, 2005; “Valpo mulls building limits,” February 14, 2005.

For a further examination of this census data and the availability of affordable housing for low-income households in Valparaiso, see: Larry Baas and James Paul Old, “Affordable Housing in Valparaiso,” Report prepared for the Greater Valparaiso Community Development Corporation, (Community Research and Service Center, Valparaiso University, Summer 2004), 19–25 and 36–39.

City of Valparaiso, Strategic Plan.

Ibid.

Caroline Shook, telephone interview, July 19, 2007.

Baas and Old, “Affordable Housing in Valparaiso,” 48.

James D. Wolf, Jr., “Valpo’s Block Parties Getting City’s Support,” Post-Tribune, July 28, 2007; “City Launches ‘Home Team’ Help,” City of Valparaiso, Indiana, City Talk (Summer 2007).

Pekarek, personal interview; Baas and Old, “Affordable Housing in Valparaiso,” 43–44. Valparaiso still has a very small number of minority residents, although there is a perception among city residents that the minority population is growing. This perception is confirmed by recent census data. Between 1990 and 2000, the African American population of the city grew from 0.6% to 1.6%, and the Hispanic population grew from 1.4% to 3.3%.

Michael Essany, telephone interview, July 27, 2007; Carol Nordstrom, telephone interview, July 19, 2007; Shook, telephone interview.

Ibid.

Carol Nordstrom, telephone interview, July 19, 2007; Shook, telephone interview.

Tom Isakson, telephone interview, July 18, 2007.

Nordstrom, telephone interview.

Ibid.

Shook, telephone interview.

Essany, telephone interview. For a similar conclusion, see Baas and Old, “Affordable Housing in Valparaiso,” 26. According to a Northwest Indiana Times article, the Costas administration did apply for at 39 least one grant to fund affordable housing (see: Phil Wieland, “Dramatic Changes Expected in Valpo in 2006,” Northwest Indiana Times, December 26, 2007).

Wieland, “Valpo Groups Create New Form of Affordable Housing,” Northwest Indiana Times, August 7, 2005; Costas, personal interview; Eric Garrard, telephone interview, July 26, 2007.

Pekarek, personal interview.

Wieland, “Valpo Groups Create New Form of Affordable Housing,” Northwest Indiana Times, August 7, 2005; Costas, personal interview; Eric Garrard, telephone interview, July 26, 2007.

Johnson, Chicago Metropolis, 7.

Costas, personal interview.

Costas, personal interview.