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The
Popsicle Index In
the lobby of Sloss Real Estate Group hangs a plaque, hung low and
off-handedly on a wall in the reception area. It reads: 'When you
build a thing, you cannot merely build that thing in isolation,
but must also repair the world around it." The
quote is attributed to "A Pattern Language," a book Sloss-Crenshaw
calls her bible. Written in the 1970s by a group of architects,
planners and others, "A Pattern Language" has spawned
a website and association of the same name. The basic philosophy
is one of "unashamed idealism," to fight urban sprawl
by using available tools to "create beautiful, functional,
meaningful places in a living world." The ultimate goal? To
bring together people in the places where they live. The
"Pattern Language" philosophy encourages "patient,
piecemeal" urban growth in organic clusters, each cell building
on and strengthening the other. The book guides the reader on how
to transform and shape the spaces in their homes, blocks, neighborhoods,
cities and so on. "You
cluster things together. The whole point is to bring people together
and build communities," Sloss-Crenshaw says. As a developer
of such communities, Sloss-Crenshaw uses what she calls the "Popsicle
Index" as a guiding principal. "The
popsicle index is when any child can walk safely to a corner store
and buy a popsicle," she says with a grin. Sloss-Crenshaw
is what some call an anomaly, a tough opponent in the arena of business
- but one with a conscience and a genuine compassion for others.
"I think that's just who she is; energetic, committed and passionate,"
says Leigh Ferguson, director of urban living for Sloss Real Estate.
Revitalizing
Downtown The
site that was once home to Metropolitan Gardens, the City's biggest
public housing complex is now the future home of Birmingham's first
HOPE VI project. The more-than $100 million project combines public
and private funds to create a mixed-income residential area in the
heart of the City Center. Residents will include public housing
tenants, low- to moderate-income families and those who can afford
to pay market-rate for housing. While
some, including Sloss-Crenshaw, call plans for HOPE VI a social
step ahead for Birmingham, critics snipe that the multi-million
dollar development displaces the poor - particularly hundreds of
public housing families who were relocated or left before Metropolitan
Gardens was razed. Ferguson
counters that the project, renamed Park Place, will help uplift
many of those same economically disadvantaged families, while infusing
the downtown area with vitality and diversity. "This
isn't just a pipe dream; there's still a lot of work to do. This
will help create a downtown with a variety of amenities and a lot
of economic energies," Ferguson says. "We see Park Place
as a business opportunity and trend of where urban places are headed…a
place where people choose to live, where they can enjoy life without
the necessity of driving 30 miles a day." Once
complete, Park Place will include commercial development and more
than 600 flats, townhomes, lofts and single-family condos, some
for sale and some for rent. People-friendly details such as street-front
doorways, porches and community parks, are deliberate additions,
intended to draw people together. "For
instance, you put porches on the south side, because people naturally
go to the sun," Sloss-Crenshaw says. "Our challenge is
to get people out on the streets, get them moving around."
Park Place, she believes, will do exactly that for the downtown
- help rebuild it from the core outward and reverse the suburban
sprawl that has, over time, bled the inner city of its life-force. "When
it comes to vision, we need to be very clear about what we're trying
to accomplish," she says. "We have beautiful, historic
housing stock and buildings that are not so far gone that they can't
be brought back. The goal is not to gentrify, but to rebuild communities." |
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