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Rules are made for a reason
Published Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Downtown Chicago and downtown Natchez don’t have all that much in common.
Natchez has no Trump Tower staring down from 92 stories above. Chicago has no horse-drawn carriages.
Both cities do have a river, though ours is bigger and flows in the right direction. (Chicago reversed the flow of its highly polluted waterway to protect its drinking water supply.)
Traffic, population and even smell are as different as night and day in the two cities.
Yet, from the top of a big boat floating down (or was it up?) that polluted Chicago River for an architectural tour of the city skyline Sunday, one commonality became apparent.
At some point in history both cities made a few rules.
Chicago’s skyscrapers are fascinatingly different from one building to the next.
From the corn cob-shaped, circular towers of Marina City to the neo-Gothic Chicago Tribune building, creativity has been the name of the game in Chicago architecture.
But even creativity is guided by rules.
Chicago has no 50-story hot pink buildings.
No 80-foot signs stick out haphazardly from the sides of the structures.
Flowers, green space and landscaping are everywhere and obviously deliberate.
Like any well-planned city, building codes are in place to govern not only safety of the buildings, but use, design and landscaping.
In fact, according to Mayor Richard M. Daley’s message on the first page of the city’s building code, Chicago was among the first to make such building rules.
“In 1875, only four years after the Great Fire, the city of Chicago became a pioneer in the field of building regulations by establishing one of the nation’s first building codes,” Daley said.
The code grew from fire-safe standards to include rules and regulations on façade and design.
Ultimately the building commissioner approves construction of any kind before work ever begins.
The result — combined with some talented architects — is a skyline worthy of a $30 architectural tour for hundreds of people every day.
Hop into a horse carriage in Natchez and you won’t see any hot-pink buildings either. The signs you pass will be largely regulated and in compliance.
A building and preservation code like Chicago’s governs downtown Natchez, minus the section on skyscrapers.
But in recent years, after much poking and prodding from residents who simply don’t understand, the Natchez code has sprung a few leaks.
City government has made it OK for developers to bypass the preservation and planning commissions in order to get the “yes” they want to hear.
The sign ordinance is apparently no longer enforced at all.
And landscaping requirements can be traded in for parking lots if needed.
The Natchez City Planning Commission wants more green space around Fat Mama’s Tamales downtown, yet the asphalt remains. The commission has little means of enforcement, and most recently tried — in what came across as a petty, misdirected roadblock — to deny a totally separate Fat Mama’s request until the green space appears.
Years ago Natchez followed in the footsteps of great American cities like Chicago when it created ordinances governing building appearance. A few rules didn’t stop Chicago from growing to a city of more than 2 million people, and rules won’t kill business in Natchez either.
Natchez leaders would be wise to follow in much bigger footsteps and keep one of the few things they have in common with Chicago — rules.
Julie Cooper is the managing editor of The Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551.
or julie.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.
Comments
Posted by OldGrandDad (anonymous) on September 16, 2009 at 2:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Why do I not believe that Chicago, of all places, has never played politics with their building and preservation codes?
Julie, I get where you are coming from. But I still question the wisdom of those who continually want to compare Natchez to much bigger places such as New Orleans, Charleston or Chicago. It makes much more since to compare us to towns in our size range or even smaller. There are many small towns that have great things going on for them. And some of them are not too far from us. But like Kevin said, we need some elected officals with "vision", "planning" or "follow-through". You seen any lately?
Posted by beammeupscotty (anonymous) on September 16, 2009 at 4:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't think green space is in short supply around Natchez.
Posted by Hardcorps (anonymous) on September 16, 2009 at 11:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
One thing is the same. On a cold windy winter's day it's cold on Main St. just as it is on Michigan Ave.
I have a friend in Chitown who built a swimming pool. He kept adding and changing chemicals and still could not get the city to approve his pool to swim in.
He told me he got a test tube of tap water. He took it downtown and they said it also was not safe to swim in. lol
Posted by beammeupscotty (anonymous) on September 16, 2009 at 1:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Julie might want to research Chicago politics. I think she will find a lot in common with the Natchez politicians.
Posted by freedom42 (anonymous) on September 16, 2009 at 8:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Comparing Natchez to Chicago is an insult.
Posted by justthefactsman (anonymous) on September 16, 2009 at 11:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
2 things that all the other cities have that Natchez doesn't....MONEY and JOBS. Why do the powers that be try to run off all the good business. Leave Fat Mama's alone. I bet Natchez won't be worried about the Green Space, and all that BS during Balloon Races when Fat Mama's is doing all that business. Bringing in positive revenue for the city. Something just doesn't seem right about all this. You would figure a business that puts Money back into Natchez would be respected. Also Julie another Idea would be to rip up all the concrete streets. Go back to dirt roads. Don't allow any cars downtown. Just run horse and buggy. No cars, just horses. COME ON Natchez will never survive on tourism alone. Living in the past is not going to do it anymore. We need industry back in Natchez. JOBS....MONEY. I think a year or so ago I said that Natchez was going to be a ghost town soon. Complete with Tumble weeds. We keep this "Borrowing from Peter to Pay Paul mentality up,,It will be."
Posted by corvett40 (anonymous) on September 17, 2009 at 1:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I wonder why people don't like Natchez,I'm glad to see that Natchez is not like Chicago ,If Natchez ever gets like Chicago, I would have to go. On the rules part Some rules are not needed. We do need rules in games and sports and they should be the same. But in reality Rules are made for people who wants things their way . Is it wrong to change a rule? I don't see many commenters following the rules on ND web page . We all need to read the rules for posting comments. I have seen some comments that would be considered breaking the law online ,Nuking towns and killing people That to me is a rule the ND should tend too .Well i guess talking about the grass is more of a problem . I wonder what the FBI would think of some of your Bloggers and what they say? We do have Laws, so watch what you say online. People do read them!!!!! Laws are made for a reason also.
Posted by beammeupscotty (anonymous) on September 17, 2009 at 7:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Laws are just mans way of playing God. He gave up 10 commandments, those are all the laws mankind needs.
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