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Sunday, February 29th

Urban-esque
There is something to be said about the recognition, by civic officials, that foot traffic is good for business. After all, it has already been recognized and acted upon by commercial interests in the form of capsulated, controlled shopping terrariums like Universal City Walk (Universal City, CA), and The Grove (Los Angeles, CA). At these shopping destinations common folk of every stripe are free to stroll, shop and nosh at leisure for the price of parking. Fun for the whole family. Fountains, sidewalk cafes, quaint and witty store fronts delight the eye across a couple of linear acres. About face. Repeat. Don't look down or you may notice a fiberglass rock hiding a speaker or a patch of convincingly-fake grass.

These constructs are fascinating in their way and nearly life-like, but their falseness permeates the atmosphere like the smell of sanitizer in a public restroom. But honestly, it is no wonder, is it? They are built by businesses, and businesses like captive audiences--no pesky distractions. Unfortunately, cities have taken their cues from the business world. Urban planners singing the praises of revitalized downtowns have been heard, councils have passed measures, and Mayors have cut ribbons and tossed soil with golden shovels. The results have been a couple of dozen linear acres of quaint store fronts dominated by the big names in retail and corralled by parking lots (because shopping destinations always have to have adequate parking.) "Why, people will drive from all over to visit our new downtown," they proclaim.

What brought this all to mind was my last trip to Pasadena (CA). Perhaps a dozen years ago, the city revitalized its "Old Town Pasadena" district in the above fashion. I visit occasionally and enjoy myself every time I go. I am always pleased to see people gladly using sidewalks and I love to shop. Granted, Pasadena is much more than "a couple dozen acres". Many existing buildings were reused (no, keeping the frame alone is not reuse!). It has side streets, inhabited alleys, and a good amount of mixed-use retail/residential/office. But when there I always get this contained feeling--the same feeling I get when I walk through Central Park (New York). It's a sense of being beautifully finite. For those of you who know Pasadena, it is a suburb of classic construction replete with strip malls, huge single family homes, and lots of sprawl. Travel three blocks away from Old Town and the vibrance becomes still. It is like walking through a living museum.

On the other hand, from where I live in Los Angeles, I can walk for miles and never leave a diverse, engaging environment. And let's face it, folks, as vibrant urban living goes, Los Angeles comparatively sucks.

I do not want to take away from what cities like Pasadena are doing. I applaud them roundly. But complacency sets in easily. Enlivening a central district offers people a sense of urban living, but without a vibrant city to surround it, it merely becomes urban-esque. Mayors of these cities, don't stop now! Your revitalized downtowns are not an achievement if they stand alone. They are the first step on a long path to a great future.

GS Morey (gsm@newcolonist.com), on 02.29.04 @ 21:41PST

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Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 02.29.04 @ 17:57PST

On Chicago's Shoulders
If there is any city in the United States (which I have recently experienced) that the word "renaissance" could be used to describe appropriately, Chicago would be it. I had been here about six years ago. At that time, the city had already begun to sprout signs of an uncommon urban American rejuvenation and vitality.

Later in 2001, I spoke with a woman from France on during a cross-country train trip. She had just been to San Francisco, and, learning that, I asked her what she thought of it. "Disappointed" was her reply. I asked what city in the United States impressed her most, she responded with "Chicago."

Returning here to the city of big shoulders this weekend, I couldn't disagree. Michigan Avenue has to rank as the premier shopping street in the country. Condo high rises are sprouting like dandelion once did on vacant lots. The streets are filled with people, and Frank Gehry's Millennium Park bandstand is taking form. Bohemian neighborhoods like Pilsen were also going strong.

Of course there are drawbacks. A city undergoing this much change in a short period of time is bound to lose some treasures. Some of the new townhouses at University Village and other locales are gated. In fact, one my friend and I noticed was behind not one, but two, sets of gates. Garages are neatly hidden in the back, with attractive pedestrian ways to access the front doors. I was left wondering, however, if the front pathways would ever be used.

During a visit to Hull House, Jane Addams 19th Century Settlement House, I was finally able to go inside after years of dropping by to find locked doors. I discovered much of the house had been rebuilt. I was also happy to learn the settlement idea was alive and well in an organization called Hull House that is separate from the University of Illinois at Chicago location.

I also should mention that the train ride was on time and relaxing. More, the price was more than affordable thanks to Amtrak's "Rail Sale." If you aren't aware of these special fares, visit Amtrak.com and click on "Rail Sale."

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 02.29.04 @ 17:45PST

Fascinating encounters (of the culinary type) on the light rail
Portland, Oregon, has a well-known culinary institute. At the light rail stop next to it, there are always students boarding. Some of them live near us, so we often ride the light rail home together. They are easy to spot in their uniforms, and they're always easy to approach.

Over the past year or so, I've had the pleasure of engaging several in conversations. They tell me about their classes, the school, their plans.

From the most recent encounter, I learned about a new "hole-in-the-wall" restaurant in Portland's North Park Blocks. It's all about food, no frills, affordable. My kind of place. The student also told my 14 year old daughter about the types of food and preparation methods at chain restaurants--the disturbing absence of culinary skill, and the automated nature of it all. Yuck!

We ate up his insights.

After finishing classes in Portland, he's off to Europe to complete his training. Eventually he wants to own and operate his own restaurant.

I love these encounters with culinary students. I love their perspectives. I love to hear about their dreams.

And to think these light rail rides only last around 15 minutes!

John Andersen (editor@unconventionalideas.com), on 02.29.04 @ 07:35PST

Saturday, February 28th

California Election Musing
A couple of quotes for Californians to think about while deciding how to vote on Arnold's $15 billion bond measure:

The conventional wisdom is that only increased taxes harm our economy. The truth of the matter is: cutting back on strategic investments in our people and our infrastructure will also harm the economy.

California Assembly Member Darryl Steinberg

No man can by natural right oblige the lands he occupied, or the persons who succeeded him in that occupation, to the payment of debts contracted by him. For if he could, he might, during his own life, eat up the usufruct of the lands for several generations to come, and then the lands would belong to the dead, and not to the living.

Thomas Jefferson

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 02.28.04 @ 17:13PST

Thursday, February 26th

Pittsburgh Commutes and San Francisco Weddings
Morning Hour Madness

This morning I had a rare opportunity to experience the morning rush hour commute. I didn’t really experience it firsthand, as I was headed outbound on Pittsburgh’s Parkway East. The one thing I like about driving is being able to blast my cds. John Fogerty singing about rattlesnakes, hurricanes and Buicks made me miss my exit onto “Business 22” in Monroeville. I continued to the “Plum” exit. I was right beside the Holiday Inn that was my destination, but the tiny sign I missed sent me driving around, ending up back at the exit I missed. The ugliness, confusion and sterility of suburban strip malls was all too apparent. Monroeville is like a punch in the midribs. Living in that mess would be bad enough without the commute, backed up for a mile or so East of the Squirrel Hill tunnel, that has to be endured each day by eastern suburban residents. They encounter the commute later the same day before they arrive back in rock-bottom Monroeville again. Why? I asked myself. Why after 100 plus years of “new Pittsburghs” progress promotions and no fewer than three periods referred to as a renaissance, doesn’t this city have a light-rail east? Why do people find it better to live where they must encounter all this traffic than in a walkable urban neighborhood? I don’t leave my neighborhood daily, and sometimes I don’t drive enough to fill up my small tank once each month. I’d like to keep it that way, and invite Monroeville residents to discover Pittsburgh.

San Francisco Follies

What a world away the high-tech corporate San Francisco of a few years ago seems today. The simple issuing of marriage licenses to gay couples has reinvigorated the name San Francisco with offbeat energy. Thank you Mayor Newsome for finding a way to do what you think is right and keeping San Francisco as a place where everyone can hope to be who they are and live as they please. Let this be a call for other cities to realize they are the cradle of civilization and the vehicle for societal change and evolution.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 02.26.04 @ 12:34PST

Tuesday, February 24th

Up on the Roof
I was looking out the window of the bus on Wilshire boulevard the other day and noticed how many hotels in the area had roofotop amenities such as pools and pavilions. That got me to thinking how Manhattanites are famous for sunbathing on their roofs, or turning them into outdoor dining rooms for summer parties. That in turn led my mind to the rooftop scenes in On the Waterfront, which in turn reminded me of the classic early rock song, "Up on the Roof." Now the obvious question is, Why do we waste all that acreage, especially in cities where flat roofs are the norm?

It would make buildings a little more expensive, but not much, to increase the live load rating so that you could install rooftop gardens on every flat roof, making the structures more profitable to rent and cheaper to keep cool or warm throughout the year. This would give everyone in the building a pleasant commons--especially useful to folks on the upper floors who are far from the ground. Security and technical issue are obviously not hard to solve, since hotels, as I noted, pretty commonly make rooftops available to their guests. But why stop there?

On blocks where buildings abut, such as in many European and Eastern US cities, and where buildings don't differ greatly in height, why not conjoin all the roofs to make an aerial street? Include parks and paths, tables and shade, maybe some of the common utility areas such as laundry rooms, even places for kids to play in. Tall glass fences would keep residents at least as safe from falling as they are in their own apartments and still allow all to enjoy the view. Ramps or stairs would join roofs of different heights.

There could even be kiosk-type commerce here and there. People from different buildings would be more likely to get to know each other, there would be extra escape routes in case of fire, and you wouldn't need a permit to have a block party. One building could house the block's community garden, another the play area, another a quiet pavilion for old folks, another a kitchen and tables for dinners, and so forth.

The pooling of resources, and the presence of people from a whole block's worth of buildings, would make for a sweet community, I think, especially in areas where there is no mid-block garden or court.

It's worth considering.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 02.24.04 @ 23:31PST

Monday, February 23rd

Just Plain Ugly
My girlfriend and I had strolled out for groceries and were heading home when she pointed out the dismaying scene in the photo. I think I hadn't noticed it, though I generally pay attention to such things, because it was such a part of my daily life here in LA.

This bit of almost rigorous ugliness is not a back alley somewhere, nor is it is a poor or shabby part of town. It is a utility area beside a Ross Dress for Less, across a side street from a standard US shopping center on one side, and, on another side, across Third St. from the Grove, probably the most upscale mall in Los Angeles, and the Farmers Market, a long-established and truly wonderful collection of shops and cafés that I can describe only as a true American souk. I have written about the latter two recently; you may click here to read the article.

This is also an upscale part of town, sandwiched between Hancock Park and Beverly Hills. Yet even here the mindless architectural protocols of our time foist such insults upon us.... This is something to fight against in every neighborhood.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 02.23.04 @ 08:05PST

Sunday, February 22nd

SimCity4. Imagine That.
When SimCity(tm) 4 (Deluxe Edition (With SimCity(tm) 4 Rush Hour)) came into our household in the form of a holiday gift, I was skeptical as to its ability to aid in improving urban developmental design. Imagine that. It came as no surprise, then, when my skepticism was borne out. The flaw in my initial assumption, however, was that the good people at Maxis and EA Games were trying to create a tool! They were, I am sure, not. They were trying to create a game.

Its status as a game does not preclude its usefulness as a tool. (In fact, at this point I am going to abandon both terms in favor of "software", which is descriptive without being a label, per se.) In fact, I found SimCity 4 to be very useful to those interested in having livable cities.

In may last log I mentioned how difficult it was to balance traffic, density, business, residential, services (water & power, health & safety) pollution and a budget. Now, a week later, it is still difficult to successfully manage them. And why not? City management was never said to be easy. In fact, the larger the game city, the harder it was to maintain a balance. Imagine that.

One of the things that bothered me the most was that subway, bus and train stations must be touching a street. And when you make streets, cars automatically come. That means no car-free cities! Another problem is that building roads does not cost as much as it should compared to rail. Inherent flaw? Let's take another view of it: Given present theories, designing a utopian city is doable. Students of urban design do it all the time. Just run off "what if" assumptions like "what if there were not cars." This software is based on assumptions like roads, cars and gasoline are subsidized on the federal level. And, auto makers have successfully pushed driving as sexy and glamorous (and have bribed every government official they lay eyes on.) Cars are a fact of life as long as petroleum is. So, you, the Mayor of your little city, have to deal with it. Imagine that. But success can be had, I think.

So, the software does not assume urban enlightenment at the federal level. Neither should we. I laid a lot of road, but I found that it was inefficient. It takes a lot of road to get everyone around. With a good infusion of mass transit the ratio of pedestrian/mass transit users to cars was 5:1. So, Sims (game name for residents) like to walk despite the feds. A valuable reminder.

What about density? High density is our short-hand mantra for happy city living and I applied it with zeal here. Bad move. The high rises that grew made detailed management (selecting a bit of road or small building) nearly impossible. And the sheer number of persons crammed into a single plot overwhelmed my central subway stations. Usage was upwards of 150%, and my Sims were getting grumpy. Plus, to physically support such a large building, the footprint often took up an entire city block. Then I was reminded that density has a point of diminishing return. More is not always better: A valuable lesson.

I am running long at the keyboard over this software, so I better get to the bottom line. Does the game allow someone to make a car-fee city? No. An urban utopia? No. So what good is it?

• The software forces one to continuously address the issues of urban living from inception to culmination -- for hours.
• You are invited to challenge and test your assumptions.
• It demonstrates how insanely difficult it is to manage a city.
• It is not entirely unenjoyable.

I very much recommend it as an valuable tool for teaching the basics of urban development to someone who knows nothing about it, because the software fosters dialog, thinking and curiosity. It asks the user to try new things and look beyond the status quo; it asks you to try your hand at building a better tomorrow. Imagine it.

GS Morey (gsm@newcolonist.com), on 02.22.04 @ 18:30PST

Saturday, February 21st

Pittsburgh: Seventh Biggest
It already has its advantages... Merging Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh
Merging Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh (basically disolving the city) would create the seventh biggest city in the United States... Pittsburgh (It's currently 52nd biggest). That's bigger than San Francisco or Dallas. There are numerous financial benefits to making the move, but what a great psychological benefit to making a move already taken by Louisville and being pushed for in Buffalo. It will also provide some of the streamlining needed to grow from there.

While we're at it... perhaps a new name might help...

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 02.21.04 @ 11:22PST

Friday, February 20th

Love & Legislation
The news the last few days has been full of stories about gay marriage in San Francisco, and of course about the reaction of conservatives nationwide. It leads me to wonder whatever happened to the Republican party.

What does it mean when you say you stand for individual liberty, but you want the government to regulate behavior of consenting adults in their own homes?

What does it mean when you say you support family values, but you enact statutes preventing persons from marrying and forming families?

What does it mean when you say you believe in unobtrusive government, but you want to establish regulations that promote sectarian religious principles?

Being homosexual is no more a "personal choice" than being black or being female are. Permitting gays to marry, to live as full and legally responsible, as well as legally privileged, members of society, can only strengthen our neighborhoods, our cities, and our nation.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 02.20.04 @ 21:56PST

Thursday, February 19th

Condo Sales: Good News For Cities
A recent article in USA Today which reports findings from the National Association of Realtors says condominium sales are soaring. This is good news for both cities and pedestrian-oriented life. Long the staple of the "American Dream," condos are even outselling single family homes. The midpoint price for condos is now above that of single family homes. Top reasons sited are locations in hip, urban areas and walkability. NAR says sales volume is growing faster than that of single-family homes and is closing in on 1 million units per year, NAR says.

My friend recently referred to an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review calling into question whether this city actually needs to have a goal of more downtown housing. He asked me, "Do we really need people living downtown? Why can't it be just a place for business?"

NAR gives us the answer. People, the "creative class" in particular, want hip, urban locations where they can walk to stores and entertainment. Unless a city has that, it's going to lose out economically. Companies need to attract workers. If a city doesn't have what it takes to attract workers, then companies will locate where the skilled workers they need want to live. Why does Pittsburgh need housing downtown? Because that will make downtown lively. It will bring coffee shops, grocers and night life. The workers in the businesses want that. In today's market, without a lively downtown district there will not be a choice of business or residents--the businesses won't be there either.

Read the USA Today Article

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 02.19.04 @ 07:48PST

Love on the Bus
Yesterday I was on the Vermont Rapid bus when I saw the stolid expression of the chubby little Salvadoran lady standing in front of me suddenly blossom into joy. She reached over and touched the hand of another woman sitting in the first row, who woke from her musings with her own small cry of happiness...just two friends meeting unexpectedly and breaking into animated Spanish chatter. It filled the bus with warmth on that wet gray morning....

Then when I stepped off to go to my favorite Armenian bakery--I was making a detour on my way to the office--I passed by a small group waiting for the Santa Monica bus, where two more chubby little Salvadoran ladies were conversing joyously. The bus was coming, and they finished their parley with an extravagant hug...maybe it was the wetness of the day that drove people towards each other for emotional warmth, I don't know.

What I do know is that I see such scenes pretty much every day on the buses, trains, and sidewalks of a city known more for road rage than conviviality. And I know I won't see them among motorists....

What's the best you can expect when you're driving and somehow recognize a friend in their car? A nervous beep of the horn, a quick wave as two ghosts scrutinize each other across the gulfs of distance, speed, and darkened glass? More often you see the drivers, each in his cage, waving fists, bulging their neck veins, and cursing and screaming as they compete with their fellows for the right to arrive first at the next stoplight.

Here at New Colonist, as at other similar publications, we usually tout public transit for its energy, financial, and land use efficiency, but there is a profounder level of efficiency that is more important. That is the efficiency of exercising our soul's pleasure, which public transit affords in ways that private driving never can. Let's not forget the real bottom line in our urban calculations: we live, we die, we probably don't come back. How much of that time do we want to spend alone, with only the radio and the steering wheel for company? Give me love on the bus instead, any day of the week.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 02.19.04 @ 07:37PST

Tuesday, February 17th

Forethought & Hindsight

All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse.

Benjamin Franklin


In 1907, with trolleys and traffic lanes, the Brooklyn Bridge carried 426,000 people a day; now, with space only for cars, it carries far less than half that number and is often jammed.

Statistic from a NY Times article

Something to think about next time you're stuck in traffic.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 02.17.04 @ 19:48PST

Monday, February 16th

An Intown Transit Village
Transit Villages are sprouting up around the Bay Area and in other locals. They offer a convenient option for those who would choose not to drive, but can't afford the high rents in places like San Francisco. From the Fruitvale Transit Village near Oakland, residents can take BART to work and have enough convenience retail nearby to get most items they need without a car. Still, transit villages may not live up to expectation because of political and community pressures for lower densities, less retail and more office space.

With all the hubbub about transit villages, let's not forget to fully realize the original transit villages--downtown. There's no need for this realization in places like San Francisco, but in other cities with cores empty of residents, a little work and some marketing can help residents rediscover the convenience of urban living being found in new transit villages.

Bay Area Transit Village Article in Contra Costa Times

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 02.16.04 @ 07:58PST

"Green" SUVs?
The New York Times today ran an article on hybrid SUVs and the hope manufacturers have of using them to rehabilitate the SUV's image...proving once again their cluelessness (or perhaps venality).

Hybrid SUVs provide merely a dab of makeup on the face of a very ugly problem: the distortion of our world that cars, especially very large cars, create. More cars require more roads, spreading our homes and businesses farther apart, which in turn requires more driving, more cars, and more roads. We end up trapped in a blandscape of bleak gray, ever alone in the steel boxes we now call home....

The alienation car culture causes; the arrogance and aggression that often result and which these stylized tanks are meant to emblemize; and the more subtle but more devastating effects resulting from the obliteration of watershed and habitat, may surpass the damage cars do to the atmosphere through pollution.

A world populated with giant cars is a world with no place for our humanity...or for the rest of life, upon which we still, and always will, depend.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 02.16.04 @ 07:33PST

Sunday, February 15th

Some Competition From Buffalo
The first one to reform wins. At least that's the attitude being taken by one of the "industrial rust belt" cities. Articles have begun appearing in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Cleveland Plain Dealer that Buffalo is out for blood.

Erie County Executive Joel Giambra believes that the first rust belt city to establish a streamlined metropolitan government will have an advantage in the region for attracting new business investment, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "We have to beat Ohio, beat Pennsylvania," Giambra told the paper. "We have to send a message to the country that we're open for business."

It may indeed be do or die for cities like Buffalo, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. All three have been bleeding for years. Population numbers have been cut in half and continue to dwindle. Private investment is severely lacking. Population centers have moved west. There's an a general inability to attract international immigrants. As the tax base erodes, it has been the norm to squeeze more and more out of what's left. Pittsburgh has been squeezed so hard its bankrupt. Cleveland's finances aren't much better. More tax's can only be an option for so long.

While Pittsburgh looks at slowly applying band aids that combine some county and city services like information technology, Giambra wants to dissolve both Erie County and the City of Buffalo and form a new regional government. Hats off to him. It has to happen. I know from being in Pittsburgh that even the people who love the city most are wondering at what point will they be squeezed so hard they have to leave. Of course suburbanites don't want the higher taxes that might come with a regional government, yet without them commuter tax and parking tax will be the only way to bring in extra funds.

The suburbs need the city more than the city needs them. A decaying, cash-starved city won't be good for anyone. With the right attitude and mind for reform the changes necessary can be made to bring about reform and make the region the economic powerhouse and desirable location for business it once was. Right now it isn't happening though. Maybe a little competitive spirit from Buffalo will get things going.

Read The Plain Dealer Story

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 02.15.04 @ 16:22PST

This Is Not A Game(?)
Back in December, my brother gifted to our household a copy of SimCity 4 (Deluxe Edition -- with "Rush Hour" module). For those of you unfamiliar with the game, introduced perhaps a decade ago, the concept is that you, the player, get to build a city. Build a mecca of commerce, an urban powerhouse or a suburban blanket. You're the Mayor; you make the call. The kicker is that you also have to manage things like trash, crime, traffic, your budget, etc. Fail to do these, or let your budget fall into the red and it's game over.

My brother (himself a recent, and mild, advocate of urban sustainability) inserted the game cum gift into our household to test a premise: Can the game support the theories of urban sustainability as put forward by the likes of New Colonist and others, or will the two forever collide? An interesting test. After all, the two come from opposite sides of a spectrum. Okay, so I'm game. Hypothesis-free, let's play.

I'm no sustainability expert, understand, but I have a reasonable idea of what's what. After all, I read New Colonist, right? So, I launched the game and proudly took my post as Mayor Defacto. My first impression is that it is a heck of a lot harder to be Mayor than I thought!

Why bother giving valuable column space to a game? Awareness: Subways or elevated? Where and when to use busses? How big should a lot be? Encourage high tech businesses? Commercial services or commercial offices? Is low density or very-high density worse... How many of you have actively addressed these questions in the last week? Good. Who else thinks about these things as they board a train or freeway headed for work?

So the question remains, does the game test the theories of urban sustainability? Let's see, shall we?

GS Morey (gsm@newcolonist.com), on 02.15.04 @ 09:01PST

Saving White Tower
When I first learned that the old White Tower building near my house would be demolished, I felt the move was short sighted and I wanted to see it saved. The reasoning was that the lot could serve to enhance the property adjacent that was for sale. The lot where White Tower stands could be used for an outdoor seating area.

Today there is no tenant for the adjacent building and White Tower is a long-standing fixture on the corner of Cedar Avenue and East Ohio Street in Pittsburgh. It has been used pretty much consistently throughout its existence, the most recent incarnation being "WT's." So I started to do my research and look for a way the building could be saved--both for its historical value and for the benefit of having a working business on the location instead of an empty space. In San Francisco, they save plastic dog heads from "Doggie Diner," so why can't this White Tower be saved?

It appears there is a publication called "Greasy Spoon" that may feature the building. With any luck I can drum up some press once things get started. Keep watching and I'll let you know what transpires. Will White Tower bite the dust or become a part of a new neighborhood vitality?

...and there are photos at this yahoo group WHITE TOWER

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 02.15.04 @ 08:52PST

Houses In Pittsburgh
I had the opportunity to tour one of theamazing buys available in Pittsburgh yesterday. It is an adorable house with lots of details and a panoramic view of the Pittsburgh skyline. Yinz should be coming here in droves to snatch up these deals. Part of me doesn't want to post this because I want this house to be available when I am ready to purchase another. I had looked at this house several years ago, but a developer had bought it. Now the developer has their hands full and wants to unload this one at the amazing price of $15,000.

Of course it needs work. My best guess is $5,000-$8,000 for a bathroom, $4,000 for a furnace and your good to go. The rest can be done as you live there... like wiring, etc. It's a wood frame house so insulating is easy. Of course, to make it great, there's at least a $50,000 investment on top of the $15,000 purchase price, but where else can you get a house with details and a view like this for even $65,000. (The developer planned to market it for $250,000 if they did the redevelopment.) Each of the two main floors has three rooms. The back side of the basement is exposed and allows for one or two useable rooms down there. One is paneled floor to ceiling. Three of the rooms have panoramic city views. The house comes with a side lot that would allow for a deck with a city view and parking.

Anyway, I've posted pictures at EastAllegheny Yahoo Group You will need to join the group and click on PHOTOS and then Dunloe Street. You can set it so you won't receive emails if you like. You can also call (412) 321-1204 if you have questions or want a tour.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 02.15.04 @ 07:59PST

Saturday, February 14th

Taking Care of Business
A shopkeeper sweeping up in front of her store in the morning does more to better our world than a hundred corporate executives giving greenwash money to environmental charities.

After all, far too many NGOs exist nowadays more for the purpose of processing donations than to support projects on the ground. The median income for CEOs of environmental organizations was nearly $125,000 in 2003, and while this is a pittance compared to what corporate CEOs receive, it is, as in the corporate world, only a portion of compensation costs. Many NGOs seem to produce more press releases, brochures, and vice-presidents than concrete results. (Many, of course, do great things with few resources.)

But the little Latina shopkeeper whom I saw on my walk from the bus stop to the Metro entrance was taking care of our world directly, right there on the hard concrete, at no financial cost to anybody, anywhere, any time--and she does it every day except Sunday. And maybe Sunday too, for all I know.

Later that same day, I was waiting at a different bus stop, in East Hollywood this time, a gray and often shabby part of town. While I peered into the eastern gloom for sign of the 217, I saw a hugely fat black man, dressed in sloppier than usual hiphop clothing, ambling up the street while eating out of a cardboard fastfood tray held up to his mouth. He finished his dinner a few doors up from where I stood, and then--on a street nearly carpeted by garbage--carried the cardboard tray with its food leavings an extra hundred feet or so to the trashbin by the bus stop.

This is the way we'll save the world. Not with grand programs imposed by the fast talkers in their boxy suits, but by the simple, casual, even unconscious caring of the people on the street. From the bottom up, for free, by folks who care because they care, and not because it reads well in brochures.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 02.14.04 @ 16:14PST

African-American Cultural Center in Pittsburgh
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (which may not exist for much longer depending on the outcome of financial restructuring) is moving ahead with the purchase of more buildings and lots on Liberty Avenue downtown in order to build an African-American Cultural Center. This is needed and welcomed, if only some of the building slated for demolition could be saved. See article.

At the same time, Liberty Avenue is known the world over for gay culture--perhaps some discussion should start on adding a Gay and Lesbian Center on Liberty Avenue or moving the Gay and Lesbian Community Center to the area. More should be done.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 02.14.04 @ 10:10PST

Sheboygan, WI and rich, single men
Sheboygan, known best for its bratwursts, also is among the top spots in the nation to find young, wealthy bachelors, a new rating says. San Francisco, New York and DC also rank high. Before you head to SheBOYgan, read more because a lot of ladies there say they haven't met many single, rich men.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 02.14.04 @ 10:04PST

Starbucks in the Strip District
It appears Starbuck's Strip District location has closed. Jerry Brown has used Starbuck's hours of operation as a measure of the vitality of downtown Oakland, CA. The longer it stays open, the more vital the neighborhood is. If the Strip District Starbuck's has closed, what does that say for Pittsburgh's Strip?

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 02.14.04 @ 09:56PST