Fort Wayne framework for development: proposed policies

              of ,the urban core 'must be examined and
understood in the context of local
change. The phenomenon which has been
commonly called suburbanization has
brought about changes to which the
urban core has not adapted with much
success. Noted below are some of the
more significant trends affecting this
area:
1. It is losing its permanent residents.
About 4,800 have departed since 1950
which is a decline of about 50 percent.
2. The number of major hotel rooms in the
urban core is declining sharply. About
500 have been lost since 1960 and only
285 remain.
3. Since 1958 there are one-third fewer
retail stores in the core area.
Although there is some increase in
dollar value in retail sales, the
area is getting a smaller share of
total county sales. The share, for
example, slipped 11 percent between
1958 and 1967.
4. There is a steady decline in the
amount of land in the core devoted
to buildings and an increase'in the
area devoted to the automobile~
5. Since 1950 there has been a decline in
total assessed value for land and
buildings in the core. At the same
time, the value for the city as a whole
has increased.
6. Vacant building space ,has been increas­ing.
This is true not only for the­upper
floors but also at the street
level.
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B. DEVELOPMENT TSSUES I There are'sevetal major development issues
facing the urban core:
1. By· far the mos t important of these issues I
i·~ the question of what the future of the
urban core should be'. The trends indicat1
that for some time now the core has been
undergoing a change from its former role
in'th.e, city and regional scheme. The loss,
of·resident population, the relative ..
decline in retail sales, the shift in
employment composi tion.. , the relative decl~
of new capital investments, and the increaL
ing age and obsolescence of structures
are manifestations of this changing role.
Loss of former functions of the urban corel
may not be totally negative for the com­munity
at large. The trends, however,
further indicate that the core has been in a general state of decline for about I
two decades and this is clearly not good
for the Fort Wayne area.
The urban core has been the victim of
suburbanization and'the massive growth
in the use of the private automobile.
Major governmental efforts in the core
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in the recent past have largely taken the
form of new public and quasi-public bUild-(
ings. The Fort Wayne Redevelopment Com­mission
has had two successful redevelop­ment'projec~
s, but renewal of the urban I
core has suffered for economic, social Ii
physicl.ll reasons and from the lack of a
comprehensive and long-term government
program ~ith'little response from the I
provate sector to support 'such 'a program.
In its-simplest sense the issue before thel
commuijl~y is concentration vis-'a-vis
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