Matt Johnson, Savage City Council
Donation protected
I am asking for your support to help fund my effort to increase the awareness of my re-election run for City Council within the city of Savage.
A little about me:
I grew up south of the Minnesota River and started a family with my wife by building a house within the City of Savage back in 1991. This community has been a great place to grow a family and raise four children within the City and the 191 School District, with real positive success! I have been involved as a volunteer commission member with the City of Savage since the early 2000's; first on the Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources Commission, then as a Planning Commission member and currently will be completing my first term on the City Council this Fall and am seeking our support for my re-election.
I am an Architect and have had the great opportunity to lead three great Architecture firms within the metro area over my career. and most recently have returned as a Principal and Architect for the Minneapolis office of DLR Group, www.DLRgroup.com. I am also the past regional representative for the national American Institute of Architects, AIA, Strategic Council representing our North Central region, as well as a past Director of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce. This organizational involvement has allowed me develop a strong understanding of the impact that Design can have on a community as well as on a business climate. I will continue to bring this balance of perspective to help grow the City of Savage as a livable community that is not only a great place to live and raise a family but also a great place to start and grow a business.
My Fundamental Skill set and Beliefs:
Due to my training as an Architect, as well as my practice of architecture in both the public and commercial world, I have the strong ability to listen to a community's needs and help translate those needs into visible and viable options. A few of my fundamental beliefs are:
* Good design makes economic sense: an attractive community will draw new residents, jobs, and investment.
* Working together, community members can create a vision of what they want their community to be and then implement it.
* When the residents of a community create their own plan for the future, they are more likely to trust it and feel a sense of stewardship that will keep the plan relevant, useful, and adaptable to change over many years.
What makes a Livable Community?
Through my involvement in the AIA and my practice of architecture, I believe in the following 10 Principles of a Livable Community.
AIA's 10 Principles for Livable Communities
1. Design on a Human Scale
Compact, pedestrian-friendly communities allow residents to walk to shops, services, cultural resources, and jobs and can reduce traffic congestion and benefit people's health.
2. Provide Choices
People want variety in housing, shopping, recreation, transportation, and employment. Variety creates lively neighborhoods and accommodates residents in different stages of their lives.
3. Encourage Mixed-Use Development
Integrating different land uses and varied building types creates vibrant, pedestrian-friendly and diverse communities.
4. Preserve Urban Centers
Restoring, revitalizing, and infilling urban centers takes advantage of existing streets, services and buildings and avoids the need for new infrastructure. This helps to curb sprawl and promote stability for city neighborhoods.
5. Vary Transportation Options
Giving people the option of walking, biking and using public transit, in addition to driving, reduces traffic congestion, protects the environment and encourages physical activity.
6. Build Vibrant Public Spaces
Citizens need welcoming, well-defined public places to stimulate face-to-face interaction, collectively celebrate and mourn, encourage civic participation, admire public art, and gather for public events.
7. Create a Neighborhood Identity
A "sense of place" gives neighborhoods a unique character, enhances the walking environment, and creates pride in the community.
8. Protect Environmental Resources
A well-designed balance of nature and development preserves natural systems, protects waterways from pollution, reduces air pollution, and protects property values.
9. Conserve Landscapes
Open space, farms, and wildlife habitat are essential for environmental, recreational, and cultural reasons.
10. Design Matters
Design excellence is the foundation of successful and healthy communities.
My belief on Development:
The AIA’s Communities by Design has summarized the importance of understating the real values behind the term “density” as it relates to development and community planning within a growing and vibrant city.
In the general debate about development, people tend to fear density. Many people believe that "density" means more traffic, crowded schools, and new buildings shoehorned together. Yet, opposition often evaporates when people are presented with examples of dense communities that feature beautiful architecture and protected open space, where people can walk along shady sidewalks and feel safe letting their kids play in the front yard.
Compact development preserves natural resources, encourages independence from automobiles, reuses existing infrastructure, and feels more like fondly remembered, traditional neighborhoods.
Density Observations:
* Good design can create dense developments that are appealing, functional and feel less crowded.
* Well-designed, dense housing sells as well as, and sometimes better than, widely spaced homes. Dense, 24-hour neighborhoods are consistently among the top recommended real-estate investments.
* The top consumers of compact, auto-independent housing - empty nesters, childless couples, and singles - will make up the majority of American households for the foreseeable future.
* Dense developments with a clear identity, nearby shops and recreational facilities, and a sense of community feel more like the traditional neighborhoods many people admire.
* Children and the elderly can be more independent in a community where they can walk to visit friends or to a community center, rather than having to wait for a ride.
* Using land as efficiently as possible preserves open space for recreation within easy reach of city dwellers, while protecting the environment and natural systems.
* Compact developments offer higher tax revenues with lower per-unit infrastructure costs.
* Compact, attractively designed neighborhoods that offer a variety of amenities encourage people to walk, bike, or take public transit rather than drive. High density is necessary to maintain effective public transit.
* In a 2003 public-opinion poll, nearly half of the respondents favored designing communities to be more walkable, even if it means they are denser.
* People often believe that spread-out, suburban areas are safer than urban neighborhoods, but, in fact, compact communities generally have fewer traffic fatalities and faster police, fire, and ambulance response times.
I hope a few of these thoughts and ideas have resonated with you and you are willing to donate to my re-election campaign for City Council member for the City of Savage, MN. Every little bit will help and will be put to good use!
~ Matt
A little about me:
I grew up south of the Minnesota River and started a family with my wife by building a house within the City of Savage back in 1991. This community has been a great place to grow a family and raise four children within the City and the 191 School District, with real positive success! I have been involved as a volunteer commission member with the City of Savage since the early 2000's; first on the Parks, Recreation & Natural Resources Commission, then as a Planning Commission member and currently will be completing my first term on the City Council this Fall and am seeking our support for my re-election.
I am an Architect and have had the great opportunity to lead three great Architecture firms within the metro area over my career. and most recently have returned as a Principal and Architect for the Minneapolis office of DLR Group, www.DLRgroup.com. I am also the past regional representative for the national American Institute of Architects, AIA, Strategic Council representing our North Central region, as well as a past Director of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce. This organizational involvement has allowed me develop a strong understanding of the impact that Design can have on a community as well as on a business climate. I will continue to bring this balance of perspective to help grow the City of Savage as a livable community that is not only a great place to live and raise a family but also a great place to start and grow a business.
My Fundamental Skill set and Beliefs:
Due to my training as an Architect, as well as my practice of architecture in both the public and commercial world, I have the strong ability to listen to a community's needs and help translate those needs into visible and viable options. A few of my fundamental beliefs are:
* Good design makes economic sense: an attractive community will draw new residents, jobs, and investment.
* Working together, community members can create a vision of what they want their community to be and then implement it.
* When the residents of a community create their own plan for the future, they are more likely to trust it and feel a sense of stewardship that will keep the plan relevant, useful, and adaptable to change over many years.
What makes a Livable Community?
Through my involvement in the AIA and my practice of architecture, I believe in the following 10 Principles of a Livable Community.
AIA's 10 Principles for Livable Communities
1. Design on a Human Scale
Compact, pedestrian-friendly communities allow residents to walk to shops, services, cultural resources, and jobs and can reduce traffic congestion and benefit people's health.
2. Provide Choices
People want variety in housing, shopping, recreation, transportation, and employment. Variety creates lively neighborhoods and accommodates residents in different stages of their lives.
3. Encourage Mixed-Use Development
Integrating different land uses and varied building types creates vibrant, pedestrian-friendly and diverse communities.
4. Preserve Urban Centers
Restoring, revitalizing, and infilling urban centers takes advantage of existing streets, services and buildings and avoids the need for new infrastructure. This helps to curb sprawl and promote stability for city neighborhoods.
5. Vary Transportation Options
Giving people the option of walking, biking and using public transit, in addition to driving, reduces traffic congestion, protects the environment and encourages physical activity.
6. Build Vibrant Public Spaces
Citizens need welcoming, well-defined public places to stimulate face-to-face interaction, collectively celebrate and mourn, encourage civic participation, admire public art, and gather for public events.
7. Create a Neighborhood Identity
A "sense of place" gives neighborhoods a unique character, enhances the walking environment, and creates pride in the community.
8. Protect Environmental Resources
A well-designed balance of nature and development preserves natural systems, protects waterways from pollution, reduces air pollution, and protects property values.
9. Conserve Landscapes
Open space, farms, and wildlife habitat are essential for environmental, recreational, and cultural reasons.
10. Design Matters
Design excellence is the foundation of successful and healthy communities.
My belief on Development:
The AIA’s Communities by Design has summarized the importance of understating the real values behind the term “density” as it relates to development and community planning within a growing and vibrant city.
In the general debate about development, people tend to fear density. Many people believe that "density" means more traffic, crowded schools, and new buildings shoehorned together. Yet, opposition often evaporates when people are presented with examples of dense communities that feature beautiful architecture and protected open space, where people can walk along shady sidewalks and feel safe letting their kids play in the front yard.
Compact development preserves natural resources, encourages independence from automobiles, reuses existing infrastructure, and feels more like fondly remembered, traditional neighborhoods.
Density Observations:
* Good design can create dense developments that are appealing, functional and feel less crowded.
* Well-designed, dense housing sells as well as, and sometimes better than, widely spaced homes. Dense, 24-hour neighborhoods are consistently among the top recommended real-estate investments.
* The top consumers of compact, auto-independent housing - empty nesters, childless couples, and singles - will make up the majority of American households for the foreseeable future.
* Dense developments with a clear identity, nearby shops and recreational facilities, and a sense of community feel more like the traditional neighborhoods many people admire.
* Children and the elderly can be more independent in a community where they can walk to visit friends or to a community center, rather than having to wait for a ride.
* Using land as efficiently as possible preserves open space for recreation within easy reach of city dwellers, while protecting the environment and natural systems.
* Compact developments offer higher tax revenues with lower per-unit infrastructure costs.
* Compact, attractively designed neighborhoods that offer a variety of amenities encourage people to walk, bike, or take public transit rather than drive. High density is necessary to maintain effective public transit.
* In a 2003 public-opinion poll, nearly half of the respondents favored designing communities to be more walkable, even if it means they are denser.
* People often believe that spread-out, suburban areas are safer than urban neighborhoods, but, in fact, compact communities generally have fewer traffic fatalities and faster police, fire, and ambulance response times.
I hope a few of these thoughts and ideas have resonated with you and you are willing to donate to my re-election campaign for City Council member for the City of Savage, MN. Every little bit will help and will be put to good use!
~ Matt
Organizer
Matt Johnson
Organizer
Savage, MN
