CBS Evening News 8/24/2005: redevelopment of former Naval Air Station

[SGB]

A nice piece from last evening's newscast featuring the city planner:

After being shut down in 1992, the Glenview Naval Air Station is now a billion dollar downtown. Cynthia Bowers reports that the base may offer hope for other cities currently facing closure.

Video Link: Second Life for a Navy Base

[mendelman]

I've been to the "Glen" as it is called now, and it's pretty good, but not really great.

The central commercial area of the development is urban, but rather one-dimensional. It is only about 3 blocks long and pretty disconnected from the preexisting regional traffic roads. Since a sizeable portion of the commercial is big/mid-boxes without immediate view of the major roadways, the streets entering the development act more like driveways with big signs directing drivers to the commercial area. This kinda degrades the purpose this development not being an extension of the existing neighborhoods, but becomes more of a fancy mixed use shopping center. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

[Cardinal]

I grew up in Glenview and my parents lived there for thirty-some years. The last time I spoke to my mother she made a comment about what an awful place The Glen turned out to be. I think many of the older residents feel this way, as The Glen is a very different character than the remainder of the village. In fact, it is almost as if it were a separate village, duplicating many of the resources of the older community. As for myself, I have mixed feelings about the place.