tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33706982.post116044895401230272..comments2023-08-14T09:18:49.114-04:00Comments on Columbia Compass: Putting People FirstB. Santoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13568466324432338324noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33706982.post-1160947114696663112006-10-15T17:18:00.000-04:002006-10-15T17:18:00.000-04:00Quoting old Jim Rouse speeches can be misleading. ...Quoting old Jim Rouse speeches can be misleading. Jim was an evolutionary visonary. He was constantly challenging his own thoughts on development. The man who pioneered the concept of the suburban shopping mall which sucked the life out of center city shopping districts later saw that those same cities needed shopping to retain their vibrancy. He then successfully turned his attention to recreating the urban shopping experience. <BR/>I had the opportunity to listen to a speech he gave years after retiring from his role of chairman of The Rouse Company. He was speaking to a group of former Rouse employees at what was then The Cross Keys Inn in Columbia. This was a time when many in Columbia were complaining that The Rouse Company had lost its way without Mr. Rouse at the helm. Instead of panning the company, Jim spent about ten minutes lauding the various acheivements the company had made since his departure. He then looked around the room and deadpanned, "They have obviously done pretty well without us."<BR/>Those who look for clues to how he would react to today's discussion about Town Center development in speeches he wrote over forty years do a disservice to the community and to the brilliance of the man.wordboneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00250201271555676642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33706982.post-1160624440322772052006-10-11T23:40:00.000-04:002006-10-11T23:40:00.000-04:00This is definitely, in my opinion, a five-star pos...This is definitely, in my opinion, a five-star post. <BR/><BR/>It was good to see citations of Rouse's pre-Columbia vision (which seemed people-centric), especially comparing it to the new urbanism (which could describe a medieval walled city just as well as any new cities planned with new urbanist specs).<BR/><BR/>I was unaware of Sharon Hudson's series of articles, but wow does she have it right relative to the kind of forward thinking principles every community needs to guarantee and incorporate into their planning.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com