Why is Woodbury a bad sequel to Northpark?

It seems to me that all of these are the points that apply to Woodbury/Portola Springs as "bad design":





1. 4 high volume vehicular arterials


2. Large size


3. No armed guards


4. Major road alignment


5. Community without a back


6. Toll road 241 above the back of the community





I'm not sure what makes these bad design...most can be applied to all non-gated Irvine Valley communities...





Woodbridge backs a freeway, has no hills to "protect" it, and there is a large central area (North and South Lake) in which kidnappers can take a child and speed off on either Barranca or Alton. Except for a few small enclaves, it's not guard gated, and most can access Woodbridge via the large power-line bike path park that fronts the 405.





Northwood is also surrounded by four very large streets (Trabuco, Culver, Jeffrey, Irvine), has no "back". For the most part, not gated, aligns with Yale and Bryan, and it very large.





I'm not sure that Northpark is an applicable comparison to Woodbury, given that the look and feel of Northpark seem closer to the smaller villages like Oak Creek (largely gated).





Besides, unless I'm missing something, does Woodbury have an unusually large number of molesters or kidnappers?





Every day I see people in the smaller parks in Woodbury, people playing basketball in the commons, etc. In fact, the parks seem to be more used than Woodbridge's or Oak Creek's...





I'll grant you the large number of apartments, but I suppose growing up in a large community with no back and a large central park in the center in Huntington Beach never really gave me the feeling that I was unsafe. Oh well. To each their own, I suppose.





-OCR
 
I have to say, I think I'm starting to "get" bk more now - at least on neighborhood planning. I got my copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bourgeois-Nightmares-1870-1930-Robert-Fogelson/dp/0300124171/">Bourgeois Nightmares</a> on Saturday and am trying to get through it as fast as home responsibilities and work (and IHB commenting!) allow. Just in the introduction alone, I had so many epiphanies as to why TIC does some of what it does (both in planning and marketing). Should I even admit that I'm itching to get over to the Recorder's Office to try and find a copy of Floral Park's CC&Rs (if any)?





Seriously, this would be a great "virtual bookclub" book.
 
<p>Defensible or not. I do notice this about the Irvine communities. Unless, you live in it. There is no way in heck will you be able to figure your way out. Hahaha. </p>

<p>I remember when I dated my girlfriend now my wife. I don't know how many times I got lost trying to get out of the her neighborhood. </p>

<p>Currently, my in-laws still has a hard time finding my resident. Hahaha.</p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>
 
Hey, could that be a form of defense? To confuse the heck out of the intruders on how to find his way out? In essence, to delay his get away while the authorities are notified.
 
<p>Not only looks the same. But if u're in these communities. You tend to go in circles and could never find the main arteries. =)</p>

<p>For that reason, I dare not go into another neighborhood b/c I would get lost. I remember driving through another neighborhood near Deerfield. Thinking it's a short cut. I ended up driving in circles for over an hour. </p>
 
hi bkshopr - my wife and i are really addicted to quail hill. can you please do a neighborhood profile of it? thanks a million!
 
Reason - That's what I was told. The non-linear streets make it more difficult for criminals.





Admins - Do you think we should have a separate "Architecture, Planning, and Design" category?
 
I'm still perplexed at what makes the Jeffrey Open Space Trail a "bad" non-vehicular area, but the San Diego Creek a "good" one. Has anyone biked along Coyote Creek in Long Beach or the San Gabriel River trail lately? What's the difference between molesters that travel along the San Diego river creek into Oak Creek, and molesters that travel along Jeffrey, into the open space, and into Woodbury? Or molesters that walk along the Lake Woodbridge trail?





I think all communities have their compromises...Northpark residents are farther away from the Spectrum business center and send their kids to a school with a worse reputation (rightly or wrongly) than IUSD schools. Woodbridge had too many "0 lot line" homes with side entries, Shady Canyon/Turtle Rock too expensive, Portola Springs too isolated, etc, etc, etc. Buying a home is all about compromise, right? We can't all afford $1+ million homes...





I suppose what you value comes from where you grew up. I grew up in a non-gated suburban Huntington Beach (away from Main Street) tract, where crime wasn't a problem, and the gated Seacliff folks were awfully snobbish to those of us living on the bottom of the hill. My impression of gated communities, therefore, is somewhat negative...





All personal taste. Different Strokes for different folks.









 
<p>There are some very dumb criminals I saw on TV who wrote the ransom note on the back of his gas bill. I guess there are some who do not stake out the neighborhood first or do a trial run on the get away course before robbing a bank. I also saw a dumb robber who got trapped in a bank vestibule because he did not know the exit door opens in.</p>
 
<p>Here here. No need for fears. If you haven't already notice the whole city of Irvine is a fortress. Look at what separate Irvine from the other bad city. The 5 freeway. Hahaha.</p>

<p>Then there's the commercial and retail areas that buffer Irvine from the crazy people. And should you cross those commercial areas late at night. Trust me. You'll stick out like a sore thumbs to the Irvine police officer(s). Hahaha.</p>
 
Forget about a trial run. The looney tunes will have to do about 10 trial runs. And by then my nosy neighbors would have called the cops by then. Hahahha
 
And when I left my garage door open. You would think some burglar had cleaned out the content. But instead, it's the Irvine PD that showed up. That's how safe this city is.
 
Bk - thank you for another great post. Since the day I moved to Irvine the gated Northpark has always been my favorite neighborhood....Your post does a great job of articulating why that tract "feels" the way it does --- great planning. In the same way, each time I have visited Portola and Woodbury, they just have not "felt" as nice as Northpark. I just wish that Northpark went to IUSD. Like OCR said, there are compromises in every neighborhood. But until TUSD can figure out how to get another Elem and middle school built for the huge Northpark/NP Square/Mericourt/Orhcard Hills area, moving there is one compormise this family won't be making.
 
<p>bk,</p>

<p>"A good example is deliberately stage a fall on the newly paved travertine tiles at SCP." Can you elaborate, Bk. Thanks.</p>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top