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America's First Eco-City: Doomed From the Start
An anonymous reader writes "Despite backing from the Clinton Climate Initiative, and a $111 million investment from Subway Restaurant mogul Fred DeLuca, a planned city for Central Florida called 'Destiny' was doomed from the start, according to memos retrieved from Florida's Department of Community Affairs. According to state officials, despite a great deal of hype about Destiny, Florida, becoming the first fully sustainable city in the U.S., plans to build the city were rejected almost immediately due to concerns over 'possible urban sprawl, energy inefficient land use patterns, the endangerment of natural resources, and the undermining of agriculture.'"
A lot of things get killed when they get in the way of this industry. Wasn't long ago Florida officials would show up at your house and cut down your citrus trees because of "undermining of agriculture".
You had me at Florida.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
The city should have been domed, then it might not have been doomed. With a domed city nobody can get away, then they have to stay and make it work, and the city isn't doomed.
It is the logic of SciFi, it is the logic of the future.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
The batshit insane goverment there killed it because it involved environmentalism.
Magical libertarian thinking knows no bounds.
Based on TFA, it sounds like there were some valid concerns about the project:
Although the data and analysis state that the New City will support multi-modal transportation alternatives, and the scenario analysis assumes the New City will have transit, the policies do not actually require it. Urban sprawl may not be discouraged without clearer and more specific standards.
As written, this policy is vague regarding the actual size of the New City... the policy fails to provide adequate guidelines and standards for the location, suitability, contiguity, and compactness of the developable area, which could result in a scattered, energy inefficient, and sprawling pattern of development in areas which are environmentally unsuitable.
These sound like valid concerns, If it's not in writing, it's not going to happen - any city that's worked with a developer knows that the developer will promise the world "Oh yes, we'll build a park on every street corner and a paved jogging/biking trail around the perimeter of the development, trust us", but when funds run short, the development ends up with a patch of dirt called a "park", and fifty feet of paved trail that goes nowhere.
Plus there was the little financial sideshow:
While Destiny's Pugliese could have gone elsewhere with his plans, it seems a legal plot twist was the final nail in Destiny's coffin: A series of finger-pointing lawsuits between Pugliese and investor Fred DeLuca concluded last October when Pugliese and his business manager Joseph Reamer were charged with money laundering and fraud for using a portion of DeLuca's investment to pay for personal and business projects unrelated to Destiny.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/crime-law/delray-beach-developer-anthony-pugliese-charged-wi/nSpp7/
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
Valid concerns in Florida are Tea Party oriented; and the president knew it. So why would a government type burn $100M+?
It's like walking by a post and observing a turtle on top of it.
The problem with trying any renewable/conservation experiment in a "real-world" scenario is that almost every angle is now covered by regulation. Green Groups/EPA/Agriculture/Neighborhood Groups/etc, etc. It's getting to the point that the only real way to test theories in a real world scenario is to buy a big Island, build your infrastructure and pay a bunch of people to move there. I think Blofeld may be able to help fund this though.
EPCOT stands for "Experimental Planned Community of Tomorrow." It was supposed to be a town, not a theme park. Funny how these things go.
If Walt hadn't died, that may have happened. He needed the money from the Magic Kingdom to finance his EPCOT plans, and he died before the MK even opened. After his death, the Walt Disney Company decided that they didn't want to be in the business of building cities. Celebration, FL has some elements of Walt Disney's EPCOT ideas.
"Destiny," that's up there with Why, Arizona, or Idiotville, Oregon. I mean, a fully sustainable community blazing a path to the glorious Green future shouldn't have a name that makes you think about putting dollar bills in G strings, mkay?
Anything you build in Florida turns into a theme park. Universal Studios? That was supposed to be a strip mall. Sea World? It was originally a Red Lobster.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
It's interesting that this is the second story about a failed master planned eco-city in Florida this month.
Full disclosure: I work for Nextera Energy. Parent Company of Florida Power & Light which this story references.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
Okay Destiny Florida was to be built not too far from where I live and pretty close to where I grew up. The nearest town is Yeehaw Junction, Florida. It has two gas stations/convenience stores and an old brothel that is now a bar/restaurant. It is in the middle of nowhere. You have route 60 which, 441, and the Turnpike their but no rail, no commercial airport and no real jobs. It is hot and humid in the summer and is nothing but cattle ranches and citrus groves. It is not a good location at all to build a community except that the land is cheap. It is a at least an hours drive to Kissimmee and people shop for groceries in Okeechobee, FL.
It was a boondoggle from the start. Honestly the ideal way to build something like that would be to get some companies form a team with companies like Google, Apple, Intel, Bank of America, Publix "in florida", and so on to build facilities their for jobs as well as things like banks and grocery stores.
Might I suggest here https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!q=St+Marie%2C+Mt&data=!1m4!1m3!1d35531!2d-106.5221343!3d48.4125271!4m11!1m10!4m8!1m3!1d56752!2d-80.3896905!3d27.250567!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!17b1
It is an old USAF base that has been shutdown. Most of the buildings are empty so you could start with a lot of existing infrastructure and build from there. You already have an airport that could handle jets and lots of potential for wind power and about average for solar. It is the great plains so it is not the ecologically sensitive as the central florida wetlands and has already been developed as a community than left.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
In this case boy would they have been right. When I first saw the website I just shook my head. What a freaking boondoggle. It would have been in the middle of nowhere Florida. And yes I grew up in Vero Beach, Florida. The current town at that location is called Yeehaw Junction and no I am not kidding. It is the Turnpike exit that you use to get to Vero. No jobs, no infrastructure, no people. A community there would be a classic Florida land scheme. AKA it is "swampland", not really it is central florida grassland. Good for raising cattle but not much else.
Anybody from the area that heard about it would say, wow that is crazy.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
It looks like the primary problem was they had all kinds of big ideas, and utterly failed to hire anybody with any land-use planning or large-scale development experience to put them on paper in a language likely to be approved.
Just like computer people have their own language and lingo when dealing with technology, so do government land-use officials when reviewing development plans. If your plans don't cover what they expect them to cover, fail to counter objections the planner is likely to have, etc., your proposed development is probably not going to be approved, no matter how meritorious.
The documentary in question may have given them an unfair shake, but I doubt there would be a thriving Brasilia, if it weren't for the substantial resources of Brazil propping it up. I think that's a caveat that attaches itself to a lot of these projects - they work, but only if they have a large economy to leech off of.
Oh, wait, you're serious.
Ooh, moderator points! Five more idjits go to Minus One Hell!
Delendae sunt RIAA, MPAA et Windoze
Here's one :)
http://libertarianlonghorns.com/2010/12/17/my-little-pony-and-the-perspective-of-the-upper-class/
Although it's a serious libertarian of some type looking at plot flaws in a magical pony show. Meanwhile I'm sure other types quite like the idea of Royalty so long as they get their money from their own serfs and not the libertarian or the libertarian's serfs.
I don't know the details on this Catholic town trying to ban porn and condoms but honestly I can see arguments either way for whether or not that sort of law/ordinance should be legal to make. On the one hand, this is a planned community with a specific purpose so it only makes sense that that should (within reason) be able to set up any sort of laws they want. If you don't like it, don't move there. On the other hand, letting towns make these sorts of rules could set a bad precedent. What happens if that sort of law gets passed in a much larger town that grew up organically (and thus is full of people who are already established there and didn't sign up to live according to the rules of some group they have no affiliation with?).
Honestly, I don't much care for these sorts of special interest communities anyway. Isolating yourself from society so you can live in your own little echo chamber and never have to hear someone who disagrees with you rarely ends well.