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Pilgrimage To Euclid…
By Sherman Ragland | June 9, 2007
As a graduate of the Masters in Urban Planning Program at the School of Architecture of the University of Virginia, there has always been ONE PLACE that I knew I had to visit before G_D called me home… Euclid, Ohio.
Yes! T-H-E Euclid of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Euclid, Ohio.
I know for most people this seems really, really wierd, but let me explain.
Prior to the 1920’s it was truly the “Wild, Wild, West” when it came to how cities in America developed. Seriously, several decades later if I say the word: “Pittsburgh”, most people think of the black smoke filled skies of the late 1800’s. With people crowded into tenement houses and slaughter houses right next to, or down wind of multi-million dollar Robber Baron Palaces. And this is exactly what might have happened throughout the entire country, had it not been for a landmark Supreme Court Case that was decided in 1926, which originated in Euclid Ohio.
It seems that just before 1926, the small township of Euclid enacted something called “Zoning”, by taking a cue from its big Sister City to the East, New York, NY.
Euclid enacted zoning regulations to prevent the manufacturing that was expanding out of Cleveland from taking over the small town. Originally Euclid LOST, but the City Fathers decided in a bold act of bravery to fight the lower Ohio Court ruling, all the way to the US Supreme Court.
They won, and Euclid v. Ambler Realty is to Urban Planners & Real Estate Developers what Neil Armstrong’s First Step On the Moon is to NASA, and What Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is to Civil War Historians – A Landmark Decision that changed the face of this country.
As my land development Mentor, Marc Fried, use to say to me: “A developer’s worst nightmare is not the local officials, it is another developer with the same idea as you building right across the street”. Marc was 100% correct, as usual. And often times it is zoning that makes it possible for us “Land guys” to do what we do, and it all started in Euclid, Ohio.
p.s. it was pretty cool to find a steal of a deal across the street from City Hall Too!
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Tags: ambler, euclid, euclid city hall, fried, marc, ohio, pittsburgh, planning, realty, university, urban, UVA, virginia, zoning
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