Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York. Photo by Trevor Owens.

What the 15 Minute City Gets Wrong

Creating walkable communities need not be a contest between conflicting interests. Here’s how everyone gets what they want.

This story originally appeared in Randy by Name, our new Substack.

Recipe for an American Renaissance: Eat in diners. Ride trains. Shop on Main Street. Put a porch on your house. Live in a walkable community.


Those of us who keep abreast of the sustainable development movement, as I have since about 1991, have lately heard of a new buzz phrase: the 15 minute city. The concept embraces many of ingredients in our Recipe, namely the walkable community, the shopping on Main Street, and the ride trains part. I knew this without even reading about it, and this video I watched confirmed my assumptions. 

What is the 15 minute city? Depending on which video you watch, it’s either a common sense plan to improve the environment, our health, and our happiness, or it’s a dystopian scheme designed by elites to corral us all into designated districts to keep closer tabs on our every movement. In my experience, the truth lies somewhere in the middle, and as proposed, it promises to make no one happy.

Some parts of this make perfect sense: Live and work closer to what we need. Design and build for people and not cars. Keep your car, but don’t rely upon it so much. Personally, I love to drive, and I never saw a conflict between car ownership and walkable neighborhoods, but I must stress that the Recipe urges people to make the choice to live in such a community. It was never a blueprint for policy.

Both sides tend to ignore the origins of urban decline and the sprawl encircling it. Urbanists will blame auto companies. They blame the railroads for mismanagement and greed. And they blame developers for swallowing up pastoral landscapes to build homes that drain our cities of productive residents.

Suburbanites point the finger at poor civic management for the decay, crime and poor school performance. Meanwhile they defend their desire for more space and highways without acknowledging the tax benefits of home ownership and the hidden costs of building and maintaining so much low-density infrastructure.

Neither side seems to acknowledge how both their political traditions played in creating a national transportation policy in response to the demand for more and better roads. 

From City Beautiful to Urban Renewal

The twentieth century began with the “City Beautiful” movement, a concerted effort to bring more grandeur to cities previously defined more by industrial expedience than artful planning. Philadelphia, for instance, built its Benjamin Franklin Parkway, a veritable Champs Elysées connecting its Beaux Arts City Hall with a brand new classically inspired Museum of Fine Arts. Railroads constructed palatial passenger stations by the scores that proudly asserted the 20th century as the American century. 

Then comes the Depression, another World War, and in between, a World’s Fair that sold the American public on a bright future of free highways. People could soar, if not in the sky, then smoothly along impediment-free roads in their new automobiles. 

Up until this period, private companies provided most of our mass transportation and charged for access which reflected the actual costs of the service, and that mechanism guided the design of our cities and towns. In most of the western world, the important stuff stood at the center, like city hall, the general store, the post office, and the depot. Business and housing radiated out from those things. Further development was incremental but adhered to the pattern.

The advent of the automobile disrupted this tradition — not because of market forces — but because tax-funded highways removed the profit motive from passenger transportation. While this helped to create the most mobile society in history, it decimated a passenger rail system that was the envy of the world. It also created a nasty pollution problem.

By the 1920s, our rail network stretched across nearly 280,000 miles of track, most carrying passengers and going everywhere of consequence. Fifty years later, the passenger rail business nearly disappeared, and today we have less than half the total rail network. This was a political decision.

Pride of Place

Thomas Sowell wrote that “there are no solutions, only trade-offs.” If true, then how does each side accept the inevitable trade-offs without creating resentment? We want people to take pride in their homes, but when someone imposes rules that conflict with their values, it threatens their happiness and makes that pride elusive.

I still consider myself an urbanist, but not one that sees the need for top-down solutions. Under this video on this topic, a commenter succinctly summarized that the 15 minute city requires “…bureaucracy to deal with the foreseeable unintended consequences of past central planning. Free market urban development tends to produce very efficient land use patterns without government planners, however this has been severely constrained by ‘good intentions’ for at least a century.” 

The pro-15 video I watched acknowledges but glosses over claims of opponents who predict less freedom of movement for those living within these cities. Will the 15 minute city assign fine-enforced quotas for automobile usage, especially if one still drives a gasoline fueled car? Inquiring minds want to know.  

I live now in a sort of 15-minute borough, so I say with some experience that having neighbors who do not value the features of urban living diminishes the experience for all residents. I don’t want to live next to someone who hates where they live. As a woodworker, I can assure you that when I turn on my surface planer, you’ll wish I lived an hour away.

And once my family and I move out to a more rural area, I simply ask that proselytizing but well-meaning urbanists don’t follow us. I want us all to have the opportunity to live in a place that makes us happy at a cost we can afford. 


If you’d like to read about the origin story of our country’s transportation policy, I strongly recommend the book Getting There: The Epic Struggle between Road and Rail in the American Century by Stephen Goddard.

For more information about the 15 Minute City, watch these videos and decide for yourself. Then come back here and comment!

Pro:

Con:

PHotos shows damage to a sidewalk apron in Jenkintown.

Walking the walk: government reporter explores the reasons for Fort Worth’s crumbling sidewalks

This article is republished by permission. 

During the holiday season, Fort Worth Report journalists are remembering their favorite stories of 2022. Click here to read more essays.

Fort Worth residents have been responsible for shouldering the full cost of sidewalk repairs in front of their homes and businesses, or face misdemeanor citations, for more than 60 years. Now, the city is considering a 50-50 cost share program with a particular emphasis on low-income homes, seniors and disabled residents.

I first learned about the plight of Cowtown’s cracked sidewalks when I moved into a home in 76104 and started taking daily walks. In some parts of my neighborhood, the path was smooth and fresh; in others, the concrete had cracked and disintegrated so much I hardly recognized it as a sidewalk.

Sidewalks in front of rentals, in particular, were often littered with large fractures and divots, the rentals’ owners far away from the realities of the area. A renter myself, I couldn’t help but notice the sidewalk beside my home didn’t look as polished as my home-owning neighbors.

So I hit the stacks like any good government reporter would. What I found surprised me: Fort Worth has required private homeowners to maintain sidewalks since the 1960s, but stopped enforcing the penalties included in that ordinance several decades ago. What’s resulted is a patchwork of sidewalks in various states of disrepair across the city, with little recourse for owners with lower incomes or disabilities.

I spoke to a disabled activist about the problem in June, who told me it shocked her how much worse Fort Worth’s sidewalks were compared to where she went to college in Austin. Our conversation prompted me to research what other Texas cities do and present their policies in a June article on the subject.

It came as a pleasant surprise when, four months after publication, city staff presented a proposal to city council to establish a cost-sharing program similar to Dallas. Under the proposal, the city would use a portion of the fiscal year 2023 PayGo funding, totaling $2.6 million, to develop the program.

The best part of being a local journalist is seeing the impact your reporting has in your own community. I can imagine a future where, 10 years from now, my walks through my neighborhood will be on new, secure concrete, without a crack in sight. Until then, I’ll keep walking on these uneven paths and reporting on the issues that matter most to the city I love.

Emily Wolf is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at [email protected] or via Twitter. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

hear no evil, see no evil, say no evil

What the audit tells us

As expected, Jenkintown residents have taken to the Jenkintown Community Page to voice reactions to the audit we released on Monday. And like clockwork, the apologists and the “Jenkintown is a Special Place” crowd heaped on their rebuttals. What (so far) none of them has remarked about is how hard the Borough worked to keep this a secret. Are you people okay with that?

It should also be noted that the court handed down its decision on July 31 of this year. It took a resident more than two months to get a hold of a copy after filing the Right-to-Know request, filing it a second time only after hearing rumors of its existence. Conveniently, the Borough managed to keep it under wraps until after the last election. 

We always come back to this transparency thing because it reminds us of Deborra Sines-Pancoe’s assertions that she’s working hard to make sure that your borough government is as transparent as possible. She’s said so on several occasions, usually as an attempt to defend herself right after she worked to keep something under wraps. 

Since the founding of this website in 2015, the list of the Borough’s attempts to ramrod projects, proposals, and policies under our noses just grows longer. The park, the lack of sidewalk data, the refusal to turn over of email records, the Kilkenny invoice redactions, the Taco Bell and Summit Hill fiascos, the Church of Our Savior property development, and now a police audit commissioned by Council that cost an unknown amount of money to get and then more to block. 

When you have to go to court to force your own government to get the truth, you do indeed live in a “special” place. 

Regarding the audit itself, I just want to say that since I moved here in 2002, I’ve had exactly four direct interactions with Jenkintown Police, including the Chief. I can say that in every case, they’ve treated me professionally and with respect. However, I know lifelong residents who tell less complimentary tales. Some are heart-breaking.

I see the audit as an assessment of the organization and how it is run, and not necessarily and indictment of specific officers or their character — although it’s clear that even within such a diminutive force, bad apples can and do exist. The audit points to some major problems that demand remediation, including the department’s oversight by the mayor and Council. To deny, as some have, that there’s “nothing to see here” and that we should all just move along is patently naïve. 

Yes, some of what Smeal recommended (implicitly) will cost money, but in today’s world, thorough record keeping, accountability, and communication are vital tools for keeping our community safe. One only has to look at what’s being spent on the park and handed over to Sean Kilkenny to know that the money is (or was) there. 

Yet to dismiss this report as “obvious” or no big deal is head-in-sand thinking at its worst. If Jenkintown is to be truly special in a good way, then it must demand better from its public servants or find better.

Jenkintown Police

Court forces release of Jenkintown PD audit

Consultant report reveals long-running department dysfunction and mismanagement

Walkable Jenkintown has obtained via a Right-to-Know request a copy of the audit conducted on the Jenkintown Police Department. This heavily redacted report reveals a police department afflicted with ongoing morale, organizational, and financial problems going back at least five years. 

The Borough was ordered to release the report to the public by Montgomery County Judge Jeffrey Saltz after he denied its attempt to block a Right-to-Know request by Jenkintown Police Officer Edward Titterton.

Download the report from W.R. Smeal here.

The audit was conducted by W.R. Smeal Consulting at the request of Borough Council in early 2020 to assist George Locke and the mayor in their search for a new police chief in anticipation of Chief Albert DiValentino’s retirement, which was announced just last week. 

The 75-page report examined the ongoing police operations between 2014 and 2019. Unfortunately, the Borough redacted almost all of Smeal’s findings and recommendations, but the audit clearly paints a picture of long-running departmental dysfunction and lax financial accountability.

Budget 

  • In the five-year span of the report, the budget for the general budget has increased by only 0.02% while the police budget has increased by 23%. However, the report determined that some police costs were inappropriately folded into the general budget, otherwise the general budget would have actually decreased. 
  • In 2019, the department went over budget by $460,000, or 26.72%.  
  • The department budget does not have a line-item for “event overtime”. 

What the audit tells us

Record Keeping and Policy

Smeal gives low marks for the department’s record keeping, this despite its accreditation by the Pennsylvania Chief of Police Association. 

According to the report: 

There are many areas of policing that require policy. [Redaction] For example, when asked about Job Descriptions, many members were unaware whether or not they existed. However, the Chief advised they did and provided copies. [Redaction] Other areas would include, but not be limited to: Duty Schedule, Vacations, Other excusals, Overtime, Other Compensation and Court Appearances, Headquarters Security, Uniforms, Records Destruction, Automated Data Based Information Systems, Performance Evaluation, Report Writing, etc. are among the needed topics.

Further:

  • The report also mentions that the department has been resisting the implementation of a more modern, computerized record keeping system. 
  • The Department does not have a policy manual for record keeping and no support staff to handle duties associated with this task. 

K-9 Unit

Jenkintown’s K-9 unit has recently generated controversy over control and care of the dogs and a since-dismissed civil rights lawsuit brought against the Department and Borough by Officer Titterton. The audit addresses some of this in great detail. Among other concerns, it states: 

On January 19, 2020, a K-9 officer while on vacation received a call from Upper Southampton Police department requesting canine assistance for a narcotics sniff of a vehicle. The officer responded and completed the work. The next day, an overtime slip for two hours was submitted and an incident was completed. However, policy also dictates the completion of an “overtime green card” that had not been completed as of February 18, 2020” 

The report calls into question the need for a K-9 in general. 

“In a department the size of Jenkintown, it appears problematic to justify one K-9 unit, let alone two units. …In addition, Jenkintown is providing services at Borough expense for outside jurisdictions.” 

Crime Rate

In terms of the crime rate, either Jenkintown is either doing something right or it’s been very lucky or it’s not reporting its crimes accurately. During the five years covered by the audit, Jenkintown’s crime rate has decreased by 36%. However, Jenkintown’s clearance rate, or the crimes reported it has solved, “has dropped significantly the last two years, especially during 2019 when it was a very low 4.23%”. 

Smeal discovered that the department “does not track conviction rate information” nor does it include information on the number of crimes occurring but not being investigated, arrested, prosecuted or convicted.” 

Personnel and Morale

The report cites the fact that Jenkintown has 14 full-time officers and one part time serving a community of 4430 people. It compares that with other communities, such as Hatboro that also has 14 full-time officers, but for a community of 7500. Douglas Township has a population of 10,258 protected by 12 full time officers. Ambler with 6,400 people also has a force of 12. 

Unfortunately, the force of 14 doesn’t spend much time or effort comparing notes about its activities, at least not officially. According to Smeal: 

There is very little communication other than via the computer or when unavoidable. Indications are that there has not been a staff meeting or awards ceremony for more than a year. [Redaction] There appears to be no standing committees… to work together on any issue regardless of its importance.

The report describes the department’s personnel that has divided itself into either an “A-team” or a “B-team”, with the latter having to involve Borough staff and Council members to address complaints and grievances. Further, “the well being and morale of the Police Department has become stressful for everyone.”

The department does not subscribe to any trade journals or related publications. 

Miscellaneous

Overall, the report doesn’t have a lot of good news for Jenkintown residents. 

  • Smeal describes an unkempt police building that “Generally speaking …is in need of attention.” 
  • The office has no personnel mailbox. When the Chief conveyed “Letters of Commendation” from citizens, he taped them to the officer’s locker. 
  • The department states that officers must have at least a high school diploma but does not put that requirement in writing. 
  • “Formal Line and Staff inspections are nonexistent.” 
  • The department could not provide evidence of job descriptions and “many members were unaware whether or not they existed.”
  • The Department does not have an inventory of Borough-owned property and/or equipment.
  • The Borough hopes to create a new computerized system for tracking time of all its employees, including the police, but “the police department wants no part of the time-keeping change.” 

Borough Stonewalling

As it has in the past, Jenkintown Borough sought to keep this report under wraps, employing the services of Sean Kilkenny’s law firm costing an as-yet undetermined amount in legal fees.

A Right-to-Know request filed by Officer Edward Titterton was initially denied by the borough, which then filed a Petition for Review by the court. The Borough argued that the report is exempt from disclosure based on the RTK law that allows it to withhold “certain records relating to an agency employee” including performance reviews. 

The court denied the exemption, stating that the report reflects a “one-time inquiry” and is not a detailed examination nor an official probe. The report is, according to the court, an assessment of overall departmental performance which should be a part of the public record. 

Jenkintown Police

Did Jenkintown Council rightly target police budget for cuts?

Blaming budget woes on COVID, Council spotlights the size of the borough’s police force

Last year, the Borough and the Jenkintown Police Benevolent Association agreed to a new four-year contract that determines compensation and benefits for our police force. This agreement was the subject of much discussion and not a little controversy that involved the fate of Jenkintown’s K-9 unit. 

Most residents wouldn’t otherwise read this contract nor did they hear much about its details, because Council rarely shares information that doesn’t advance its happy-talking agenda. We found this document attached to the lawsuit filed against the borough that we reported on yesterday.

I’m happy to let others debate the need for a K-9 unit in a town of 4400. I’ve lived in Jenkintown for 18 years, and outside of a Borough Council ceremony, I don’t remember ever seeing the dog on patrol. (I’ve never seen a cop walk the beat either, but that’s another matter).

It pains me to agree with anything asserted by Borough Council, but in the newsletter they sent out two days ago, they made a valid argument for targeting the budget of Jenkintown’s unusually large police force for a town this size.

Unfortunately, the Borough’s chart doesn’t break out the part-timers in the mix. Jenkintown’s entire force employs 13 full-time officers and a police chief, which according to the contract, either draw or will soon draw six-figure salaries — or more than $1.4 million — plus benefits and expected overtime.

A new hire starts at about $75,000 per year, but after two years, they receive a 30% raise then about 4% per year after that. Police in Abington and Upper Dublin receive similar compensation. In fact, a cop serving in Upper Dublin for five years or more receives more than $182,000 per year in total compensation not including overtime. Jenkintown is right on their heels. State-wide, the median police salary is $57,500.

I acknowledge the challenges and dangers of police work, but this is Jenkintown, not Fort Apache, The Bronx. According to the Attorney General, crime for the county is trending down, not up.

Reasonable people can and should question whether a community of 4400 really needs 14 full-time police officers. For instance, Hatboro also has a 14-person force, but it serves a population of 10,000. Springfield Township has 20,000 people protected by a police force of 30, but some of those are likely part-timers. Their budget documents don’t say. 

Download the Agreement here.