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Saturday, April 30th
Miracle on 42nd Street?
New York City can finally have a 42nd Street that welcomes pedestrians with space, greenery, and amenities, combined with speedy and efficient river-to-river travel, via a modern, at-grade, low-floor light rail line. This can be a reality within four short years with the adoption of vision42--an auto-free, light rail boulevard.
New York is unique among American cities in its size and extraordinary diversity. It remains a city scaled for pedestrians, while most other urban environments on our continent have been redesigned for cars. The vitality and intensity of New York derive in large part from this very human scale of circulation and activity. Public transportation is used in far greater numbers in New York than in any other American city; some 85 percent of daily commuters to midtown Manhattan arrive there by train, bus, or ferry, and most proceed to their ultimate destination on foot or by local transit.
And yet, very little has been done over the past half century to improve our city's environment for either walking or surface transit. Forty-second Street--where half a million pedestrians come every day, and where pedestrians outnumber motorists by at least 5 to 1--is an excellent place to start!
Or so says Vision 42, a New York City citizens group pushing one of the best ideas heard in the Big Apple in decades. Read more at www.vision42.org.
Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 04.30.05 @ 18:35PST
Thursday, April 28th
A mantle you can make
I'd like to introduce folks to my house blog. Here's part of a recent entry and a link. Enjoy... Eric
It's not uncommon to find a house that has a place where a mantle used to be. If your house is like mine, there's a missing mantle, but the iron grate in the center is still there.
Replacement mantles aren't always easy to find, especially in good condition. They often need scraped and refinished, have pieces missing or don't fit the space. If they are in good condition, the price makes them unattractive.
I recently found a hansome mantle that can be easily recreated and adapted to fit your space.
read more: House Blog
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.28.05 @ 13:39PST
Sunday, April 24th
Public Transportation Ridership Up By 2.11% In 2004
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) announced that 9.6 billion trips were taken on U.S. local public transportation systems in 2004, an increase of 2.11 percent over the previous year. This growth rate was faster than highway vehicle travel, which grew by 1.14 percent in 2004.
The largest increase of ridership in 2004 was in light rail, which showed an 8.2 percent increase from 2003. The light rail mode includes streetcars and trolleys. Several new light rail services started in 2004 in cities across the country including: Houston, Minneapolis, Little Rock, Charlotte, and Trenton. Expanded light rail services in 2004 went into effect in Pittsburgh, San Jose, Memphis, New Orleans, Portland (OR), Sacramento, and Jersey City (NJ).
Other rail modes also saw increases. Heavy rail (also called subways) increased nationally by 3 percent. Commuter rail increased by 0.3 percent, while buses saw a ridership increase of 1.7.
Demand response, also called paratransit, grew 4.1 percent, making it the second largest modal increase in 2004. This service is comprised of passenger cars, vans or small buses that serve primarily older Americans and persons with disabilities.
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.24.05 @ 14:38PST
Observation from Birmingham (UK)
When it comes to working out what people will pay for auto fuel, we should regard cars as being like real estate. I recall regular astonishment at the constantly accelerating price of houses, instead of grasping that this is what people will pay to “own” a roof (if they can afford it and its in line with whatever settlement patterns government is subsidising).
What’s interesting is what things people will give up to pay for their autodependency. The first thing that may happen is that houses/shops/schools that require a lot of fuel to get to them may alter their price in relation to energy costs.
Professor Phil Goodwin (advisor on UK government's post 1997 election White Paper on transport) referred to decisions of this kind as “the churn” about which I wrote a piece:
Watch the ChurnGoodwin reminded his audience how adaptable most people are:
Every year anything up to athird of people change their jobs, up to one in seven move house. At each of these life events there may be a reason to reconsider travel patterns and choices... As a result, broadly speaking, a process of adaptation to a new policy starts on day one, takes between five and ten years before it is near enough to completion to get lost in other and longer term processes.
They change jobs. They move house. They get married, divorced, have children who change schools, move to be with relatives and so on. They cope with a lot of change. The statistics reflect the enormous number of choices being made by thousands and thousands of people every 12 months.
Imagining such a statistic extended over 5 to 10 years and you can see how between say 2005 and 2010 there is a real prospect that robust policies to improve the present situation have a real prospect of making an impact. Of course there must be political will in Whitehall and through local government but this will be helped by the myriad individual choices of "churn."
And how predictable therefore that Birmingham City Council planners have just circulated a consultation document by way of developing Interim Supplementary Planning Advice on "Mature suburbs residential guidelines - Feb 2005." "Mature suburbs" are what used until yesterday to be called "inner-city" with all the notoriety that attached to that term, and refer to a belt of housing within a mile and half to two miles of Birmingham's centre.
"It is anticipated that pressure for new residential development at high densities in these suburbs will continue and this could, if inappropriate, erode the character that makes these places so special."
This is an astonishing (tho' predictable in view of the above reflections on energy costs) change of tone. Guess what? As a resident here for 30 years, I am even noticing "white folk" starting to move in (
"er... It's not so bad .,.really .. Is it?"). There goes the neighbourhood.
We came to live here because we liked it and not because the estate agents advised us. Rather the contrary: it emerges that when we moved in, being able to buy a large house for very little, large swathes of this part of the inner city (now a "mature suburb") turned out to have been ring fenced by the mortgage companies as not eligible for house purchase loans.
Where I'm going with this as I'm sure you've guessed is that a decade after I became enlightened on the subject people living close to the city centre may begin to ponder whether they really need their cars...however I anticipate a great deal of
skeuomorphic car use before that notion sinks home.
Simon Baddeley (sjb@newcolonist.com), on 04.24.05 @ 14:20PST
Saturday, April 23rd
So There We Were
I'd promised the college kid at the office I'd help him with his English assignment, so we met at the internet café on the corner after work.
After we'd been working awhile, I looked around at the polyglot hubbub of the coffeehouse and started to laugh. The kid looked puzzled, so I explained:
"So here we are--a young Iraqi-Armenian and a middle-aged Argentine Jew, sitting in a Mexican coffeehouse in Los Angeles, discussing Shakespeare!"
And he laughed too. Because we hadn't given it a second thought till then.
And isn't this, in our heart of hearts, after the bills have been paid and the shows have been seen, really what cities are about, isn't it? Moments like this one, or the one earlier that morning at the same coffeehouse, where I butted into a conversation another customer was having about New York, and all three of us ended up sitting together outside to finish our lattes, and a biker from the next table joined in the talk, and we all had good laughs and fine fellowship till it was finally time to head our separate ways to work.
This is where not just ideas and information but our very feelings hybridize and grow to fit the universe. For social animals like us, the city is the true home of the soul.
Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 04.23.05 @ 09:35PST
Thursday, April 21st
The Death Nail
"A third option is emerging to link Downtown and Oakland, the two largest economic centers in Western Pennsylvania."
You guessed it, a bus lane. That's the way it happens here. Proposal after proposal suggests creating vital links connecting the city by rail and then we study it, decide buses are cheaper but fail to consider that they are not popular.
"Squelchers."
After-all, mass transit is for people who can't afford cars, therefore the least-expensive option is chosen and the rest of us who would like a real option choose instead to stay in our cars.
We have the airport busway that doesn't go to the airport. We have the East Busway that follows a rail line and in a town where new ideas are as few as sunny days and as welcomed as cold sores, we'll likely soon be able to ride a bus to Oakland.
While two of these options did involve rail, the most obvious and beneficial idea has not been suggested. We've got maglev, self-propelled diesel trains and now the ever-exciting busway. Yet no one has suggested extending the EXISTING LIGHT RAIL SYSTEM to Oakland.
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.21.05 @ 18:45PST
Wednesday, April 20th
UPDATE: The Flight of the Creative Class
I sat outside a coffee shop on Craig Street near the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie-Mellon delving further into The Flight of the Creative Class by Richard Florida. Around me were students representing most continents, and likely a decent percentage of the nations on earth. I heard more than a handful of different languages, Mandarin, Russian, Japanese and Hebrew among them.
This is Pittsburgh. The streetscape here wasn't so diverse even a decade ago. A decade prior to that and you'd have to go to New York or San Francisco to find such a fabric. The United States has long had as its advantage the ability to attract the best and brightest, or if not that then, the most motivated. As Florida's book chronicles, that is changing.
While not entirely convinced, I suspect 9-11-01 changed a lot more than the New York skyline. Not the event itself so much as the political and social reaction to it, and a president who has lead us into a retreat from social, scientific and economic progress.
Florida's book touches on all of these areas, but deals in great depth on the closing of America. We're now dealing with a "reverse brain drain." Far fewer international students are applying to study in the United States. Far fewer who do apply are being admitted. Far fewer technology workers and scientists are given visas. The United States is shutting its doors at the same time other nations, New Zealand, Australia, Canada along with other European nations and even China are opening them.
So, you might say, we should be training our own scientists anyway. You'd be right, but may have failed to consider that our engineering and scientific degree earners are leaving for other shores in increasing numbers.
You can find the facts in Florida's book. It's my fear you'll find them on the street before the bulk of us realize what has happened.
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.20.05 @ 05:54PST
Tuesday, April 19th
Pollution Costs Not Just Lives, But Money
Conservatives in the US argue that reducing pollution or otherwise protecting or improving the environment is "wrong" because it adresses "only" emotional or "lifestyle" values while depressing the economy. But it's becoming increasingly obvious that even the moral Neanderthals of the right should support environmental correctness, even if they don't give a damn about their neighbors or the future--because it actually improves the economy and business returns.
Here's a quote from the World Health Organizationon the financial effects of just one class of pollutants, PM10:
Evidence indicates that PM increases deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Even a short-term rise in PM concentrations increases the risk of emergency hospital admissions for cardiovascular and respiratory causes. ...
Council Directive 99/30/EC sets down limit values for PM10: 50 µg/m3 for the 24-hour average and 40 µg/m3 for the annual average. Current policies to reduce emissions of air pollutants by 2010 are expected to save 2.3 months of life for the EU population and 2.7 months of life for the population of Germany. This is the equivalent of preventing 80 000 premature deaths and saving over 1 million years of life in the EU; the corresponding figures for Germany are about 17 000 premature deaths and over 240 000 years of life (see Fact sheet EURO/04/05 of 14 April 2005).
Since long-term exposure to PM is particularly damaging to human health and reduces life expectancy, reducing long-term PM concentrations and exposure is a priority. This would also bring important financial savings. In the EU, the estimated annual monetary benefit from decreased population mortality attributed to PM is €58-161 billion, and savings on the costs of diseases attributed to PM account for €29 billion. The corresponding figures for Germany are €13-34 billion and €6 billion per year, respectively.
The complete article is available at:
www.who.dk
Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 04.19.05 @ 13:47PST
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Leading Affordable Housing Advocate Passes Away at 78
The National Low Income Housing Coalition recently announced the death of Cushing N. Dolbeare, its Founder and Chair Emeritus. Cushing died of cancer on March 17, 2005 at her home in Mitchellville, MD. She was 78.
Cushing began the National Low Income Housing Coalition in 1974 when she organized the Ad Hoc Low Income Housing Coalition in response to the Nixon Administration's moratorium on federal housing programs. She served as NLIHC's Executive Director from 1977 to 1984 and again from 1993 to 1994. She remained active with NLIHC as a researcher, policy analyst, and board member until her death.
Cushing was one of the nation's leading experts on federal housing policy and the housing circumstances of low income people. She designed the methodology for and was the original author of Out of Reach, NLIHC's widely cited annual report on the gap between housing costs and wages of low income people. She was also well-known for her work on analyzing federal housing subsidies, documenting the disparity between the cost of tax-based subsidies that benefit homeowners and direct spending on housing assistance for low income households.
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.19.05 @ 03:27PST
Saturday, April 16th
Bush Addresses Energy Issues
Well, I suppose it's a marked improvement over not talking about it. The following was contained in Bush's radio address yesterday. Here are the Presidents remarks and some comments from me (in parentheses). Feel free to add your own.
"America's prosperity depends on reliable, affordable and secure sources of energy. And today our energy needs are growing faster than our domestic sources are able to provide. Demand for electricity has grown more than 17 percent in the past decade, while our transmission ability lags behind. And we continue to import more than one-half of our domestic oil supply.
In the coming days and weeks I'll talk more about what we need to do in Washington to make sure America has an energy policy that reflects the demands of a new century. The first order of business is for Congress to pass an energy bill. Next week Congress begins debate on energy legislation and they need to send me a bill that meets four important objectives:
First, the energy bill must encourage the use of technology to improve conservation. We must find smarter ways to meet our energy needs, and we must encourage Americans to make better choices about energy consumption.
(like moving to a city, walking or using public transit)
We must also continue to invest in research, so we will develop the technologies that would allow us to conserve more and be better stewards of the environment.
(I'm afraid much of the technology we need has existed for 100 years, what we need are fewer government incentives for automobiles and an end to subsidized highways)
Second, the energy bill must encourage more production at home in environmentally sensitive ways. Over the past three years, America's energy consumption has increased by about 4 percent, while our domestic energy production has decreased by about 1 percent. That means more of our energy is coming from abroad. To meet our energy needs and strengthen our national security we must make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
Third, the energy bill must diversify our energy supply by developing alternative sources of energy like ethanol or biodiesel. We need to promote safe, clean nuclear power. And to create more energy choices, Congress should provide tax credits for renewable power sources such as wind, solar, and landfill gas. We must also continue our clean coal technology projects so that we can use the plentiful source of coal in an environmentally friendly way. The bill must also support pollution-free cars and trucks, powered by hydrogen fuel cells instead of gasoline.
(It seems just living in a more efficient manner would do the trick. A fellow I know insists Mrs. Henry Ford owned one car and it was electric. I've not tried to verify this. Anyone have insight?)
Finally, the energy bill must help us find better, more reliable ways to deliver energy to consumers. In some parts of the country, our transmission lines and pipelines are decades older than the homes and businesses they supply. Many of them are increasingly vulnerable to events that can interrupt and shut down power in entire regions of the country. We must modernize our infrastructure to make America's energy more secure and reliable.
(I agree)
Every source of power that we use today started with the power of human invention, and those sources have served us well for decades. Now it's time to apply our knowledge and technology to keep the American Dream alive in this new century. There is nothing America cannot achieve when we put our mind to it. And I urge Congress to work out its differences and pass an energy bill that will help make America safer and more prosperous for the years to come."
(Do we need a bill for this or do we need to take politics out of it?)
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.16.05 @ 10:55PST
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The Future of the Human Race
Usually I take the bus or train in to the office, but I am not a creature of habit--in fact I take a different route almost every day, regardless of what transit mode I am using. Each bus route, each train station, has a different crowd, often a different language, usually distinctive neighborhoods (though not all neighborhoods in LA, afflicted by a surfeit of '60s stucco, are distinctive!). Sometimes I walk the six miles, but often enough I roll out the Bridgestone and pedal. I miss the company of strangers I get on the MTA, but I enjoy the exercise, and I explore the back streets between home and desk.
A couple of days ago, on a brilliant spring morning brisk with birdsong and desert-scented breezes, I snapped the pants clip around my right cuff and headed off into the day.
I was pleased to see, on both the way in and the way home, other bicyclists of every class and capacity likewise pedaling to work. Some were in heavy work clothes and wobbling down the sidewalks on shabby thriftshop bikes with seats too low and tires half flat--the LA paradigm of laborers paid too little to afford a car--but many others were clearly voluntary riders, dressed in everything from mechanic's coveralls to office casual to, in one case, white shirt and tie, riding in the traffic lane on quality bicycles. Not spandex-clad gearheads (OK, I saw those too--and am one myself sometimes), but folks who choose to travel on their own steam.
It inevitably brought to mind H. G. Wells's famous dictum: "Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race."
That counts double in LA!
Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 04.16.05 @ 08:07PST
Friday, April 15th
Americans Spend More Than 100 Hours Commuting to Work Each Year, Census Bureau Reports
Americans spend more than 100 hours commuting to work each year, according to American Community Survey (ACS) data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. This exceeds the two weeks of vacation time (80 hours) frequently taken by workers over the course of a year. For the nation as a whole, the average daily commute to work lasted about 24.3 minutes in 2003.
Based on a ranking of states with the longest average commute-to-work times, the ACS showed that New York (30.4 minutes) and Maryland (30.2 minutes) residents spent the most time traveling to their jobs. New Jersey (28.5 minutes), Illinois (27.0 minutes) and California (26.5 minutes) were also among states with some of the longest one-way commute times. States with some of the lowest average commute times included South Dakota (15.2 minutes), North Dakota (15.4 minutes), Nebraska (16.5 minutes) and Montana (16.9 minutes).
Of the 231 counties with populations of 250,000 or more covered by the ACS, Queens (41.7 minutes), Richmond (41.3 minutes), Bronx (40.8 minutes) and Kings (39.7 minutes) – four of the five counties that comprise New York City – experienced the longest average commute-to-work times. Additionally, workers living in Prince William County, Va. (36.4 minutes); and Prince George’s County, Md. (35.5 minutes); – suburban counties located within the Washington, D.C. metro area – also faced some of the longest commutes.
In a ranking of large cities (with populations of 250,000 or more), New York (38.3 minutes); Chicago (33.2 minutes); Newark, N.J. (31.5 minutes); Riverside, Calif. (31.2 minutes); Philadelphia (29.4 minutes); and Los Angeles (29.0 minutes) had among the nation’s highest average commute times. Among the 10 cities with the highest average commuting times, New York and Baltimore lay claim to having the highest percentage of people with “extreme” commutes; 5.6 percent of their commuters spent 90 or more minutes getting to work. People with extreme commutes were also heavily concentrated in Newark, N.J. (5.2 percent); Riverside, Calif. (5.0 percent); Los Angeles (3.0 percent); Philadelphia (2.9 percent); and Chicago (2.5 percent). Nationally, just 2.0 percent of workers faced extreme commutes to their jobs.
In contrast, workers in several cities are fortunate enough to experience relatively short commute times, including Corpus Christi, Texas (16.1 minutes); Wichita, Kan. (16.3 minutes); Tulsa, Okla. (17.1 minutes); and Omaha, Neb. (17.3 minutes).
Other highlights:
* Chicago; Riverside, Calif.; and Los Angeles were the only cities among those with the highest average travel times to work that are not located on the East Coast.
* Among the 10 counties with the highest average commuting times, the highest percentages of extreme commuters were found in the New York City metro area: Richmond, N.Y. (11.8 percent); Orange, N.Y. (10.0 percent); Queens, N.Y. (7.1 percent); Bronx, N.Y. (6.9 percent); Nassau, N.Y., (6.6 percent); and Kings, N.Y. (5.0).
* Among the 10 states with the highest average commuting times, the highest percentages of their workers commuting 90 or more minutes to their job were found in New York (4.3 percent), New Jersey (4.0 percent) and Maryland (3.2 percent).
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.15.05 @ 12:09PST
Thursday, April 14th
The Flight of the Creative Class
My new copy of The Flight of the Creative Class by Richard Florida arrived in the mail today. I really think this guy is to the 2000's what Jane Jacobs was to the 60s and 70s.
If you thought of the "creative class" as an elitist term, a central premise in the new book is that every human being has creative potential and wants to explore that creativity, and allowing that creative energy to be utilized will be an economic boon.
I'm only 50 pages or so into the book, and I'll provide more notes on it here and later in the form of a formal review. I would like to share one other idea at this point.
My friend Nick, a Libertarian, likes to say jobs come first. Lower taxes mean more jobs. I disagree on some levels. I know my own preference is to be where I want to be and then look for a job. Everyone out there who has moved to where they want to be or simply stayed where they are would seem to support my notion, as does Florida. For people, places matter.
"Real places provide the thick labor markets that match people to jobs, the mating markets that enable people to find life partners, the social markets that beget friendships, the amenities that allow people to pursue the lifestyles they wish, and the smorgasbord of daily choices that encourage people to construct and validate their identities holistically."
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.14.05 @ 14:47PST
Wednesday, April 13th
House Tour
If you have a neighborhood organization, a great way to raise money is by having a house tour or home and garden tour. Many of these tours coincide with holidays, and some coincide with good weather. Our neighborhood informally known as Deutschtown, located in the Deutschtown National Historic District and in the city neighborhood of East Allegheny, will hold its first tour this fall. I believe it coincides with german heritage Day or something of the like. Anyway, if you come, don't park facing south on East North Avenue or North on West North Avenue, as you will be blocking traffic. DETAILS
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.13.05 @ 05:59PST
Monday, April 11th
Urban Gardening
You in the suburbs may have the persisting idea that the cities are void of trees, greenery and gardening opportunities. Nonesense. Year after year, and 2005 is no exception, the green life in the city is thriving this spring. From Central Park to community gardens, all things green are growing. After a walk along West Park Commons I stopped by and found my friend Joe cleaning up his backyard garden. It pains me to stay out of my small garden, now alive with some new plants. My cat Gustoff is enjoying it right now. So, whether you have a window box or an entire garden, get out there and plant something. Vegetables are especially tasty (although be sure you plant food in new soil as it's not uncommon for city soil to be contaminated with lead, oil or other pollutants--yinz don't wanna eat that.
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.11.05 @ 10:49PST
Sunday, April 10th
Richard Florida Launches New Book at U.S. Conference of Mayors
Author Richard Florida will launch his new book "FLIGHT OF THE CREATIVE CLASS: The Global Competition for Talent" (HarperBusiness) at a "Forum on The New American City" during a LIVE webcast at the United States Conference of Mayors on Tuesday, April 12 from 11 a.m. to 12 noon (EDT). To view the webcast LIVE, log on to www.usmayors.org/interactive.
Hosted by the Conference's Council on the New American City, the forum will feature Richard Florida, mayors, and Conference Executive Director Tom Cochran in an interactive discussion on Florida's latest book, which highlights the stiff competition that U.S. cities face from foreign cities that could significantly affect the U.S. economy both at a national and local level. Florida posits that to meet the economic challenges of the new century, America, through its cities, must be open to foreign talent, while at the same time develop educational, cultural, scientific, and entrepreneurial opportunities that tap the creativity of a greater segment of the U.S. population. Unless U.S. cities can attract, retain, and grow top-notch creative talent, the increasingly intense competition will continue to weaken the national economy.
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.10.05 @ 18:38PST
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Spring Ride
Yesterday dawned brilliant and clear as happens in Los Angeles only after a rainstorm or a night of wind--in this case wind. Having mostly recovered from a stubborn cold, I checked the tire pressure on my old Bridgestone--an odd sort of go-anywhere bicycle with fat tires and ram's-horn handlebars--and headed out for my chores and lunch meetings and so forth. I promised myself I would ride slowly--a promise easy to keep after the depradations of the recent virus. Though the streets were still noisy from the damn cars, the wind was brisk enough to keep the air sweet--and it was blowing uphill, much to my advantage!
It was Saturday, but the streets were crowded. I met Gina for lunch at my favorite coffeehouse--in a neighborhood where people of all ages and incomes actually walk and most folks know each other!--then headed east on Franklin Avenue for the next meeting.
Franklin is a two-lane street for its eastern segment, but is close enough to Hollywood Boulevard that it becomes an overflow for relentless congestion generated by the obsessive-compulsive driving characteristic of US denizens generally, and Angelenos in particular. At one point I encountered a line of cars backed up for fully a mile along an otherwise quaint and pretty little street! There they sat, nose to tail, somehow thanking themselves for being smart enough to take the less-crowded detour...I shifted the bike over two feet to the right and slipped past them in the doorspace (ever watchful for doors, of course). In four minutes I was at Vermont. The line of cars had inched ahead something less than half a block.
Let them have the prestige of their chrome strips and their stereos. It was a beautiful day where I was!
Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 04.10.05 @ 08:47PST
Tuesday, April 5th
New Urbanism Walking Tour in Portland, Oregon
I'm soon to be giving "The Best of Portland" walking tour starting in Pioneer Courthouse Square. While the tour covers a lot of Portland history, quirks, facts and trivia, the central theme of the walk is New Urbanism. We introduce visitors to Tri-Met (Portland's award-winning public transportation system), the Downtown Plan, "Clear Vistas," public art, downtown living, Flex-Car, an electric car charging station, green building concepts, and more.
The tour lasts 2 1/2 hours and covers 1 1/2 miles.
For more information, see www.portlandwalkingtours.com, or contact me via email
John Andersen (editor@unconventionalideas.com), on 04.05.05 @ 21:09PST
Monday, April 4th
Building Pittsburgh Outside Pittsburgh
The Las Vegas effect is coming to a town near you. While I can't say for sure if that statement is accurate, I can be pretty damn sure it's coming to a town near me, or if you would, a general area with no there there near me.
I glanced through the news headlines this morning and discovered a new mall was underway. This isn't just any mall--it takes more than just stores nowadays to attract shoppers. Today's shoppers want ambiance. Like the mall built a few years back on the site of the Homestead steel plant. It's a mall decorated with red brick with some old smoke stacks left standing in the corner of the parking lot. "Wow, cool!" and the shoppers rush in.
I can see you rolling your eyes. If you didn't roll your eyes, log off now and go back to reading your people magazine.
If that wasn't enough, this new mall is going to be divided into districts based on Pittsburgh. Like a "bridge district" and a "skyline" district. "Wow, eh hem, cool!" So, the suburbanites who gave up on the city years ago can now ease their separation anxiety and feel closer to Pittsburgh without actually going into Pittsburgh.
Why can't we just all live (and shop) in the city we love?
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.04.05 @ 10:04PST
