Expert predicts Hillyard revival

HILLYARD – A nationally renowned expert in neighborhood planning and redevelopment said Monday that Hillyard is the kind of urban environment that will likely see a revival in coming years.

He said the key to renewal is involving members of the community, including schoolchildren, in planning and executing redevelopment initiatives.

Kenneth Reardon, an associate professor in city and regional planning at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., met with a group of neighborhood leaders and educators who have been trying to bring new life to Hillyard and Morgan Acres.

Hillyard fits the description of many older urban areas in the U.S. that have lost jobs as their industrial job bases were lost. In the case of Hillyard, the departure of railroad operations is part of the neighborhood’s economic loss.

Reardon said he was involved with community leaders in East St. Louis, Ill., while on the faculty at the University of Illinois and witnessed that area virtually reborn with new housing, jobs, retail outlets, transportation links, park facilities, preschool classes, an arts facility and a farmers’ market.

He told the group gathered for lunch at Ma Barker’s Cafe, 5012 N. Market St., that the importance of urban renewal is being recognized by the academic community to the point that as many as 1,600 universities across the country have faculty devoted to community redevelopment.

Hillyard and Morgan Acres are being helped by faculty from Washington State University Spokane and Eastern Washington University. Students from WSU’s Interdisciplinary Design Institute have been working with Hillyard and Morgan Acres for the past three years on redevelopment plans, including ways to maintain livability in the neighborhoods with construction of a new North Spokane freeway along the former rail yards in Hillyard.

Involving students through service learning projects is a significant asset neighborhoods should employ, Reardon said.

In fact, students from Rogers High School have been involved in neighborhood issues in recent years.

Reardon said higher fuel prices and the trend toward environmentally sensitive economies work to the advantage of older neighborhoods, which are more sustainable from the standpoint of energy and natural resources consumption.

The key to redevelopment, he said, is to build the kinds of economic, cultural, academic and physical amenities that can draw new urban dwellers. For example, East St. Louis opened a Montessori preschool that became a draw for new residents with children.

“You can kind of have a different way of being on a planet in a neighborhood like this,” he said.