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Tag Archives: Zoning
Politics of the Fane override
When a pro-Fane tower councilman called in sick for Tuesday’s vote on whether to override Mayor Elorza’s brave veto of the Fane tower legislation, the council postponed the vote until tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 13. Having spouted my opposition to the … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Development
Tagged City Hall, City Politics, Fane Tower, Jason Fane, Mayor Elorza, Providence City Council, Providence RI, Zoning
4 Comments
Veto the tower, Mr. Mayor
I wrote a letter to Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza today [Monday]. I sent it by email and then hand-delivered another copy tucked inside my book Lost Providence, where I inscribed the title page in his honor. “Delivered with the sincerest … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Development
Tagged City Planning, Hope Point Tower, Jason Fane, Jorge Elorza, Lost Providence, Providence RI, Zoning
2 Comments
Committee’s Fane flip-flop
Learning nothing in its latest public hearing that it did not already know, the Ordinance Committee of Providence City Council reversed itself on Thursday to recommend that the council neuter the city’s zoning laws. It voted three to one to … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Development
Tagged City Planning, Fane Tower, Hope Point Tower, Jason Fane, Providence City Council, Providence RI, Urban Renewal, Zoning
3 Comments
Andres Duany: Downcity adios
The following is a guest column written by Andrés Duany, a founder of the New Urbanism movement whose planning and design firm, Duany Plater-Zyberk, has been deeply involved in revitalizing downtown Providence since the early 1990s. He writes in opposition … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Development
Tagged Andres Duany, DPZ, Fane Organization, Fane Tower, Friedrich St. Florian, Hope Point Tower, Jason Fane, Providence RI, Urban Planning, Zoning
8 Comments
Not over till fat lady sings
High-fives aplenty greeted last night’s vote by the City Plan Commission to urge the city council to reject the Fane tower. The commission wisely ignored its staff’s argument that a 600-foot tower in a 100-foot zone is consistent with the … Continue reading
Fane’s Copycat Point Tower
The new design for Jason Fane’s Hope Point Tower might be separated at birth from MAD Architects’ Absolute Towers, outside Toronto. But it’s not really a separated-at-birth shot but a before-and-after shot – two buildings in a heightened state of … Continue reading
Two attacks on the East Side
These two really ugly new buildings on Providence’s storied East Side reveal a thoughtlessness and lack of consideration on the part of two highly respected private schools. People walking or driving by Moses Brown or the Lincoln School must wonder … Continue reading
Brief interlude at the DNA
When I was “Dr. Downtown” – my nom de plume at the Providence Journal – I was there at the creation of the Downtown Neighborhood Alliance, which met at the Regency under the presidency of my friend Maria Ruggieri, the … Continue reading
History survives in Houston
For many people, I suppose, Houston brings to mind tall glass towers sitting cheek by jowl with small gas stations and grandfathered (if not exactly grandfatherly) shops. Its historic character was submerged long before Hurricane Harvey. Zoning is a free-for-all … Continue reading
Unwelcome Arnold House?
Is the Welcome Arnold House (circa 1785), on Planet Street in Fox Point, doomed to demolition by neglect? That’s the question posed by Catherine Zipf’s architecture column in today’s Providence Journal. She wonders whether its owner, Walter Bronhard, intends to … Continue reading
