For information about The New Colonist policies, plans, and themes, contact editor Eric Miller at 412-499-3482 or editor@newcolonist.com.
For information about the website, upcoming features, technical matters related to cross-linking, partnering, and so forth, contact Richard Risemberg at webmaster@newcolonist.com.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 25, 2009
CONTACT: ERIC MILLER 412-499-3482
Last Call Issued to Save Eagles Building
ALTOONA, PA-- Downtown Altoona may soon lose another historic building. A five-story brownstone and brick structure known as the Eagles Building has been marked for demolition. A last ditch effort by the online web magazine The New Colonist has been launched to try to save it.
"I've heard about more than one building thought to be unsalvageable come back and become a tax-income producing structure and a valuable historic asset to the community," says Newcolonist.com publisher Eric Miller. "It's even more important to save the remaining historic structures in towns like Altoona that have lost so much."
Despite its being heavily used well into the 1980s, the Eagles Building was lost to the County of Blair over nonpayment of taxes and sat in the tax repository for several years. This past winter, the roof collapsed in its entirety during a snowstorm.
"The weight of the relatively heavy concrete roof falling took each of the five floors with it as it fell into the basement, leaving four five-story-tall exterior walls leaning only on each other for support ," Altoona City Deputy Planning Director Lee Slusser told The New Colonist. "Literally, you can open the front door, look down into the basement to see the roof, and look up to see the sky."
Dan Holland, CEO of the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh says buildings thought to be beyond repair are saved all the time. He used the example of a building in Homestead, Pa in a similar state as the Eagles building. It was privately restored and with retail, offices and a green roof, it serves as success story for the municipality.
"Restored old buildings provide the authenticity in communities young people are looking for," Holland says. "Saving our historic infrastructure can be expensive, but the benefits are often realized when the buildings are restored."
The popular preservation web site HistoricProperties.com has agreed to publicize the buildings availability in hopes of finding a new owner willing to stabilize and restore the building.
Downtown Altoona has seen some positive activity recently Penn State University has undertaken a number of projects in the area including the purchase and renovation of several buildings downtown. Six hundred students (of the campus's current total of 4,100) will begin attending class downtown this fall. PSU Altoona has shown interest in expanding its footprint Downtown, and is currently looking at several other buildings. The Eagles building is two blocks from Penn State Altoona's Downtown Campus.
Penn State Altoona's move into Downtown has instigated renovation of several Downtown buildings and homes for use as student rental housing.
This could be a potentially profitable use of the Eagles building," Slusser says. "It's proximity to the main campus of the Altoona Regional Health System could make it usable as medical or other offices as well."
Altoona is located midway between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg to the West and East and State College and Cumberland, Maryland to the North and South. It has a population of approximately 50,000 in the city and 125,000 in the MSA.
Young Preservationists of Pittsburgh is a regional provider of value-added preservation services that encourage the participation of young people in historic preservation. YPA provides events, tours, research, training, technical assistance, and special projects that encourage the next generation to take a leadership role in preserving their communities. Incorporated in 2002 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, YPA is the only organization of its kind in the United States.
Founded in 1999, The New Colonist covers sustainable city life in the United States, and around the globe. The site receives some 40,000 visits each month viewing 165,000 pages. It can be found on the web at www.newcolonist.com The New Colonist has a Google rank of 5.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 13, 2009
CONTACT ERIC MILLER
412-499-3482
The New Colonist Releases Ten Tips for Sustainable Summer Travel
NEW YORK, NY, May 13, 2009--Thousands of Americans will head for cities, resorts and beach destinations this summer for a little stimulation, rest and relaxation. With more and more aware of their "carbon footprint" impact on the environment, ten tips from The New Colonist, a web magazine about sustainable city life, will help provide a guide for a small "summer trip footprint," and make it sustainable and fun.
"More and more of us are consciously adopting sustainable practices at home," says Eric Miller, Publisher. "It's important to keep those habits when we travel. Some of them can even make the trip that much more rewarding."
Here are the ten tips for sustainable summer travel:
1. Choose a local over an exotic destination. Thinking of heading to the Caribbean? Consider a local beach, or at least one that doesn't involve flying over water, instead. There are many enticing destinations waiting to be discovered right near home. As an alternative to a cruise or a road trip, try a rail-trails bicycle trip. Rail-trails have no hills to speak of and go through generally undeveloped country.Founded in 1999, The New Colonist covers sustainable city life in the United States, and around the globe. The site receives some 40,000 visits each month viewing 165,000 pages. It can be found on the web at www.newcolonist.com The New Colonist has a Google rank of 5.2. Travel to your destination by train or bus. Traveling by air and driving are both major contributors to carbon emissions. Train travel is convenient in many parts of the country and Amtrak serves dozens of fun destinations including San Diego and San Francisco, Ca., Chicago, Il., Portland, Or., Miami, Fl., and much of the rest of the nation. In addition, new bus lines are making bus travel more comfortable and affordable than ever. Try Megabus or Bolt Bus and see how low your fare can go.
3. Visit compact cities where you don't need a car to get around. Many cities offer a mix of city life and still provide access to a beach. New York may not be the first place you think of for a summer vacation, but a day trip to the beach is only a short train ride away.
4. Use Public Transit once you arrive. This saves the headaches of renting, insuring and returning a car in addition to making your trip footprint smaller. Check out the International Public Transport Timetable Directory at www.timetable.ch before you go.
5. Rent a bike to get around. If you're used to riding a bike at home, there's no need to go without one during your trip. If don't normally use a bike, discover how riding one can make exploring a new local fun. Check out http://tinyurl.com/worldbikeshare for a list of world bike-sharing programs.
6. Stay at a locally-owned hotel. Though it can be easier to find a room at a chain hotel, staying local in a hotel or bed and breakfast will bring additional charm to your vacation?and the owners will be more willing and able to recommend local sites that you can reach without the bother of driving. Many smaller hotels can be found on by clicking on the Travel tab at newcolonist.com. Check out www.bedandbreakfast.com to find those accommodations.
7. Seek out restaurants that use locally-grown ingredients. It may not seem like the easiest task, but even if every restaurant you choose doesn't support local food production, just asking could put the bug in their ear.
8. Ask the hotel not to change your linens daily. Few of us change our linens daily at home and yet we expect this in a hotel. Help the hotel save some water by asking them not to change the linens. Oh, and when in the restaurant, ask them not to bring water if you're not going to drink it.
9. Carry a cloth shopping bag or two when you go shopping. Sure, for some it can be fun to carry a bag with a brand name on it. It conveys a little about who we are. Carrying a cloth bag for the things we pick up in stores also sends a message. If you don't want to bring a supermarket bag, re-use a brand-name bag you have at home, or pick up a cloth New Colonist bag in the marketplace at newcolonist.com.
10. Turn off lights, television, heat and air conditioning when you leave your hotel room. It's easy not to care as much when you're not picking up the tab. Turning out the lights, heat, air conditioning and television can go a long way to making your vacation sustainable. Also, close the curtains to keep the sun out and make it easier to cool when you return.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2009
CONTACT: Eric Miller
412-499-3482
New Census Figures Should Give Boost to Urban Lifestyle
NEW YORK--New figures released last month by the U.S. Census should help increase the numbers living an urban lifestyle.
"As we see in the census figures, we are living longer and spending that extra time without children," says Eric Miller, Editor of the New Colonist, a web magazine about urban life. "While many still choose a lifestyle removed from the complexities of urban life, when the kids are gone, many see those complexities as attractive."
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of families with their own child living at home decreased to 46 percent in 2008, from 52 percent in 1950.
In addition, increases in longevity--the average numbers of years of life remaining at age 30--increased about three years.
"This is time that's well spent in a city," Miller says.
According to the Census, as adults live longer, a larger proportion of married couple households will be those who are older and either childless, or whose adult children live elsewhere. The percentage of women age 40 to 44 who were childless also increased, from 10 percent in 1976 to 20 percent in 2006.
"That's not to suggest the suburbs are a better place to raise children than the city," Miller says, pointing to the Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn known for its stroller-pushing moms. "Likewise since 2000, the number of children under age 5 living in Manhattan has grown by more than 32% and it may be that the number living with children in cities may continue to increase."
Founded in 1999, The New Colonist covers sustainable city life in the United States, and around the globe. The site receives some 40,000 visits each month viewing 165,000 pages. It can be found on the web at www.newcolonist.com The New Colonist has a Google rank of 5.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 14, 2009
CONTACT: Eric Miller
412-399-3482
Blog at Newcolonist.com Celebrates Five Years
NEW YORK--The blog at www.newcolonist.com is celebrating its fifth year of existence February 14, 2009. This coincidentally falls in the same calendar year as the 10th anniversary of the web magazine. The first blog entry appeared February 14, 2004 and concerned the closing of a Starbucks location in Pittsburgh's Strip District. Previous to the blog format, The New Colonist was in an online magazine format.
"The blog format has been well-received and allows us to provide frequent and timely posts in addition to continuously adding articles to our archives," says New Colonist Editor and Publisher Eric Miller.
When an article by a contributing writer is added, a note and link to it is posted on the blog. "We look forward to continuing to use appropriate technology to improve the delivery of information and increase the effectiveness of our message," Miller says.
Founded in 1999, The New Colonist covers sustainable city life in the United States, and around the globe. The site receives some 40,000 visits each month viewing 165,000 pages. It can be found on the web at www.newcolonist.com The New Colonist has a Google rank of 5.
JULY 16, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: ERIC MILLER
412-322-2842
The New Colonist Encourages Cities To Turn on The Tap
PITTSBURGH--America's Mayors are being asked to encourage citizens to forego bottled water in favor of tap water. In the coming weeks, the editors of The New Colonist, a web magazine about sustainable city living, will be sending letters to several big city mayors asking them to stop purchasing bottled water for municipal uses and inform citizens of the value of drinking from the tap.
"When cities purchase bottled water for use in municipal offices, it raises the question of what's wrong with city water," said New Colonist editor Eric Miller. "In most cases bottled water is not discernibly better or worse than from the tap."
Miller pointed out that several cities including New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Boston and Portland have municipal water supplies so good it needs little or no filtration. More, some studies have shown that some bottled water actually contains higher bacteria levels than tap water and that federal bottled water standards are actually based on tap water standards.
"The reality is New York City water is more reliable and even cleaner than some of the bottled water out there," Miller said. "Yet you won't see Boston on a bottle of water, that doesn't sell."
It's the environment rather than economy that's the primary concern, however. The majority of the plastic bottles containing water end up in land fills. More, shipping water from France requires the burning of oil. That oil burning contributes to global warming, which leads to the melting of the ice caps pictured on so many bottles of water. These are among the reasons that have lead San Francisco and Los Angeles to stop purchasing bottled water for municipal use, and lead others, Salt Lake City, New York and Minneapolis, on a campaign to get consumers to open their faucets.
JUNE 19, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: ERIC MILLER
412-322-2842
The New Colonist Releases Ten Commandments for Commuters
PITTSBURGH--In response to the Vatican's ten commandments for drivers, The New Colonist issued Ten Commandments for Commuters. "We applaud the Vatican for encouraging drivers to be polite and sober," said editor Eric Miller, "We just think they should be pointing out that driving isn?t really that good for us or society and isn?t the best way to get around."
Here are the Ten Commandments for Commuters:
1. Thou Shall Not Pollute. Cars pollute. Automobiles are a major source of C02, which causes global warming. The EPA now has the authority to regulate the pollutant C02.
2. Thou Shall Not Kill. More than 40,000 people die in the United States each year from auto-related causes. Almost five thousand pedestrians are killed in collisions with autos.
3. Love Thy Neighbor. This includes communing with thy neighbor on public transportation, sidewalks, parks, etc. Avoiding thy neighbor by staying in a car with the radio blasting is cheating.
4. Thou shall learn of others means of travel. Driving is not the only means of transit.
5. Love Thyself. This includes exercising which comes quite naturally when you leave your car at home or sell it.
6. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's car. Automobiles have become a status symbol and too many see buying them as a way to define personality. Automobiles don't define us, and they all do the same thing with varying degrees of efficiency. If you need a car, define yourself as conscientious and choose an efficient model.
7. Thou shall consider not only how far and how we travel, but how far products travel to get to us. Choose locally-grown products and locally manufactured products when possible.
8. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's shoes. More thou shouldst choose shoes manufactured by paying a fair wage.
9. Thou shall be considerate of pedestrians and bicyclists when necessity requires that thou drivest.
10. Thou shall consider where thou hast to travel before thou choosest a place to live. Where we live primarily determines if we need to drive and how much we need to drive.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 31, 2004
Contact: Eric Miller newcolonist@newcolonist.com
Statement by New Colonist Editor Eric Miller on Closing of Downtown Pittsburgh Department Store
PITTSBURGH--Federated Department Stores announced this morning that the downtown Pittsburgh Lazarus-Macy’s store will close. The announcement follows a closing announcement of the downtown Lord and Taylor store. Both stores were subsidized and part of a larger plan to reinvigorate downtown with additional redevelopment.
Had the additional redevelopment referred to as the Fifth-Forbes plan, materialized, perhaps the stores would have met with more success. Still, the aim to make downtown a mid-high end shopping destination with department stores as anchors can never match a downtown filled with residents who buy the things they need for daily life on an ongoing basis.
These are the facts:
- Downtown retailers drawing customers from the suburbs need parking. An oncoming rise in the parking tax to fifty percent not withstanding, retailers downtown can not compete with their suburban counterparts for shopping convenience.
- Downtown residents may require parking, but can utilize stores on foot. They require more parking if the only shopping options are in the suburbs.
- Downtown residents need grocery and household convenience items provided more by a discount retailer than a department store. A store like Target or K-Mart would much better serve downtown and city residents than a store like Lord and Taylor or Lazarus-Macy’s.
Today’s announcement would make it easy to want to throw in the towel and forget about the idea that Pittsburgh’s downtown activity can be on-par with that of New York or San Francisco. What both of those cities have downtown that Pittsburgh doesn’t is department stores, but it is also great numbers of residents.
Retail stores like K-Mart or Lord and Taylor naturally, economically and without subsidies locate where there is a residential population to draw from.
Moving forward, downtown Pittsburgh should move immediately to increase the number of condominiums and apartments downtown. New residential construction in the city has been met with more success in recent years than any commercial attempts. Lofts in the Strip, the Lincoln at North Shore complex and developments on the South Side are examples.
To facilitate downtown housing, the city should pursue groceries and discount retailers large and small (from Dollar General to Target), perhaps filling the Lazarus building with such a retailer in order to make daily life in downtown Pittsburgh practical and convenient.
These stores will also be a draw from other neighborhoods including those within walking distance and those connected by the East Busway or South Hills light-rail lines. Those customers will also support in some degree the remaining two department stores downtown--Sax Fifth Avenue and Kaufmann’s as well as smaller stores like Barnes and Noble and Burlington Coat factory.
For a lively downtown, housing is the answer and stores to make daily life convenient are a close second.
-30- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 6, 2003CONTACT: ERIC MILLER
415-613-4451 or newcolonist@newcolonist.comWhite Paper: The New Colonist Outlines Urban Issues for Aspiring Governors
SAN FRANCISCO--California is headed toward terminal gridlock in all major metropolitan areas and their suburbs, and the proposed recall of Governor Gray Davis, regardless of outcome, presents Californians with an opportunity to correct the problems of today and direct development in a way that will ensure a sustainable future for California.
"Now is the time for us to begin the long task of reconfiguring our cities in ways that are independent of the automobile for mobility and access," said Eric Miller, editor of the online urban magazine The New Colonist. "It's also an opportunity to nurture community and personal tranquility and creativity without condemning residents to long hours of driving just for getting to work, buying the necessities of life, or finding company and entertainment. "
High Speed Rail from San Diego and Los Angeles to San Francisco and Sacramento will reduce our dependence on fuel-wasting, ozone-wrecking, highly-subsidized air service and reduce the need to dedicate yet vaster tracts of land to airports and their associated feeder roads and parking lots; property tax reform and enlightened zoning guidelines can go a long way to improving California's business and urban environment; and watershed management can forestall water shortages while bettering the quality of life in our cities and suburbs. These are the most important issues facing California and her cities, as outlined by the magazine's editors.
"California has historically been at the forefront of urban environmental issues," Miller said. "But now we are falling behind. It is important now to build for the future, not the past. Good development policy makes good cities, and good cities benefit the countryside by making sprawl less attractive, thus preserving the attractiveness, health, and effectiveness of the state as a whole."
Miller went on to lay out the building blocks the magazine sees as essential components of an agenda for the next governor. He added that the magazine would be willing to publish statements from candidates addressing these issues, and that any candidate making these issues part of his or her campaign would be endorsed by the site.
The issues are as follows:
Effective Public Transit
The new BART extension to the San Francisco International Airport is a long overdue necessity other California communities should emulate, and the addition of the stunning new Gold Line to the rail matrix in Los Angeles shows that even in the world capital of car culture, rail is popular, convenient, and effective. Further investment in mass transit should be a priority for a new administration.High-Speed Rail
For too many years California has looked to highways and airlines for transportation solutions. This has not worked. High-speed rail has shown itself to be able to compete against airlines and win--even Lufthansa, the German airline, now invests in rail. With China and Pennsylvania preparing high-speed rail projects, California has been behind the wave for too long. There have been enough studies. We know it works. It's time to build.Watershed Management
Aquifers are vanishing throughout the state--in fact, throughout the west. Meanwhile, global warming is preparing us for years of droughts that may make the Great Seven Years' Drought of two decades ago seem like a lark. We have paved our way to disaster. We must begin a judicious depaving of our cities--a process that that transit-oriented development (such as is already taking place around Los Angeles's Metro stations) . We must establish water control parks everywhere in our cities, even far upstream from the Los Angeles River and other flow collectors.Zoning for Mixed-Use and Higher Density
Encouraging mixed-use--apartments over retail, corner stores, and so forth--makes a city more convenient as well as more exhilarating, and since small businesses provide over half the jobs in our country, allowing neighborhood businesses will increase employment, competition, and economic activity in general. Higher-density development is the opposite of sprawl, and much cheaper for the state to maintain, as not only is there less public infrastructure--roads, sewers, schools, libraries, etc.--and less need for policing and maintenance, but a development that needs less pavement, and has in its place homes and businesses, pays more taxes per square mile, while requiring less output in cash and labor from the state.Property Tax Reform
The state should tax properties according to the value of the land, not according the value of what is built on it. A land value tax will result in better housing, richer retail development, more density, less paving, and more commitment to community values.For more on these issues, please see our White Paper at:
www.newcolonist.com/caldev03.html -30-