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Saturday, December 31st

Soggy New Year!
Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen, as to whether--or should we say weather?--a longstanding Southern California tradition will end this weekend with the prediction of rain on New Year's day, and hence, on the Rose Parade. It has not rained on that parade since 1955, but the weather geeks forecast not only rain but floods and mudslides in the foothills, and Pasadena is a foothill town.

This won't affect the game--football games elsewhere are played in much worse weather--but it may dent civic pride in a land that has long sold itself as sunny and dry.

We in the Los Angeles area often forget our old tradition of flooding, with rainwaters now swept under the conceptual rug of concrete-lined ex-rivers and shadowy drainage tunnels that could fit a train. But sooner or later the real world that lies under the asphalt asserts itself, and that time may have come.

It may have been hastened by the multiple insults of global warming and obsessive paving--the former giving us drier summers that led to fires in the hills--hence steep bare slopes to slide downhill at the first good soaking--as well as more extreme winter weather, with rain coming in exaggerated cycles; the latter leaving no place for the rain and mud to go, once the drains fill up, but down the road--there being no place for the falling water to soak back into the earth.

There will not likely be any major disasters, but there will be--as always--plenty of small ones. Even the smallest can be a tragedy for the participants--traffic accidents, houses flooded, lives and histories damaged or lost. Perhaps this democratization of disaster, affecting more of us an inescapable little bit--perhaps this will lead us to vote with our habits against some of the practices that have made us here in Southern California so vulnerable to anything less than postcard-perfect weather. Maybe we'll drive less, and so demand less paving; maybe we'll choose smaller homes or apartments, leading eventually to a more compact development that can leave room for the rest of the world to operate in; maybe we'll just think about the relations of things a little more and come up with new ways none of us has even thought about much yet.

There's much to worry about, but much more to look forward to. Courage breeds hope; habit breeds disaster. The choice is ours to make.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 12.31.05 @ 17:09PST

Monday, December 19th

No Way San Jose
The Associated Press story appeared in newspapers from Philadelphia to Phoenix: "Google to open new research facility in Pittsburgh."

The headline has enough weight to make some heads turn. The name of the high-tech giant might even mean more than all the stories about undervalued real estate, quality of life, breathtaking views from Mount Washington, low crime and easy commutes. It all doesn't mean much if the economy isn't there to back it up.

What's even more impressive about the news is the reported reason why Google chose Pittsburgh. The low cost of living? The great architecture? The cultural and sports attractions? The location? The weather? Well, the answer to all of these is both yes and no. That's because the reason Google chose Pittsburgh is because the talent they wanted to hire didn't want to leave. Can you say "No way San Jose?"

I was working on my masters in Urban Studies at the University of Akron as "Silicon Valley" was blossoming into what is to this point it's full manifestation. The generally accepted impetus for the economic boom was the great talent and technology that was fed into the economy and market by Stanford University.

Of course Stanford isn't the only great University. What about Carnegie Mellon? Why didn't that happen in Pittsburgh (or Rochester, or Boston...). It did in Boston to a degree, but the other factor may be having the entrepreneurial talent which takes the technology and brings it to market.

Which brought me to another recent headline "Pitt Sixth Nationally In University Start-up Company Creation."

According to the Association of University Technology Managers, the Pitt was tied with Duke University and trailed only the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, Georgia Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, and University of Michigan in this measure of technology commercialization productivity in 2004.

No one can say for sure what this will add up to. It does convey something I've known for a long time. Comparatively, Pittsburgh is a pretty darn good city, especially for the price. It's also shown the outside world has started to take notice of my first conclusion. Things are starting to happen here.

MORE

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 12.19.05 @ 13:17PST

Friday, December 16th

NLIHC Releases 2005 Housing Affordability Report
As evacuees search for housing ahead of FEMA deadlines, study shows families must earn $15.78/hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment

TheNational Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) recently released "Out of Reach 2005," its annual report calculating the hourly wage that someone must earn--working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year--to be able to afford rent and utilities in the private local housing market in every state, metropolitan area and county in the country.

This year's National Housing Wage is $15.78 an hour, up from $15.37 an hour in 2004. This is more than three times the federal minimum wage, further highlighting the difference between what people earn and what people are expected to pay for housing in the United States.

With FEMA's hotel/motel subsidy program for hurricane evacuees scheduled to end sometime within the next several weeks, the report highlights the difficulties displaced families, along with millions of other low income families, face in their search for safe housing that they can afford.

With a housing-related fuel and utilities increase of more than 13% in the last year responsible for much of the increase in renter housing costs, the situation is grim. For the first time, NLIHC's data shows that a full-time worker at minimum wage cannot afford a one-bedroom apartment anywhere in country, further illustrating the dire situation that denies many a right to adequate housing.

Out of Reach 2005 calculates the number of full-time wage earners a household needs in order to afford the Fair Market Rent in any area of the country. Nationally, a family with two full-time workers earning federal minimum wage would make just $21,424, significantly less than the $32,822 annually they would need to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.

The full, interactive report can be found at web site.

Additional facts and findings from Out of Reach 2005:

The vast majority of American renter families (81%) live in counties where a two-bedroom apartment at the Fair Market Rent is unaffordable to a family with two full-time minimum wage earners.

Nine in ten renter households live in counties where the average renter wage (what renters actually earn)--$12.22 nationally--is insufficient to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment at the Fair Market Rent.

The ten most expensive states for renters (with their Housing Wages) are:

Hawaii $22.30
California $22.09
Massachusetts $21.88
New Jersey $20.87
New York $19.73
Maryland $19.62
Connecticut $19.30
Rhode Island $18.42
New Hampshire $17.58
Alaska $17.40

San Francisco is the nation's most expensive city for renters

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 12.16.05 @ 05:49PST

Monday, December 12th

Marketplace Items
Don't forget to shop our Marketplace for gifts this season. Also just posted, the 2005 Images of Pittsburgh calendar. Click on Marketplace for more!

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 12.12.05 @ 08:59PST

Pittsburgh's New Mills
Yesterday I paid a visit to the area's newest shopping destination, the mall at Pittsburgh Mills. Days before I drove up a hillside along Camp Horne Road to see the shell of a new Target store being decorated with red balls and circles--preparation for one more store for the suburbs and one more missed opportunity for the city.

Things seem to be starting to happen in the downtown retail district now, and we did have the more entertainment than retail complex come to Southside works, but in the past decade or more, we have failed as a community to build our city.

Meanwhile in my neighborhood, blocks from downtown, there's little interest in building anything besides single-family housing.

The benefit to living in a city is to have retail, housing, office and entertainment all in one place.

The print pages are filled recently with stories on a downtown housing boom. Why? You can live where you work. You can have countless restaurants at your feet and walk to any number of cultural or sporting events. But so far you can't buy a pound of ground beef.

For any number of reasons, retail inside the city has not developed. I anticipate that will change with the accelerated interest in housing in the city. Federal Street, the North Shore, Fifth-Forbes, it's easy to count the would-be retail projects.

Today East Liberty is home to some new retail and those neighborhoods that already have retail, Shadyside and East Liberty, will become that much more desirable.

It's time to recognize city neighborhoods for what they have that is distinguishable from the suburbs: convenience, walk-ability, energy, efficiency. You can get more done here. You can have more time for your life. You can enjoy the mundane tasks of life. You can know your neighbors. None of that is true if there aren't any real third places and you have to drive to the suburbs to shop.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 12.12.05 @ 06:59PST

Friday, December 9th

Cities Announce Immigration Task Force
The National League of Cities (NLC) today announced the formation of a task force on immigration issues. The task force is expected to assess enforcement policies, educational opportunities, labor issues, health care, and resources for children of immigrant families, and provide policy recommendations next year.

"One of the most challenging issues facing cities today are the policies surrounding the 11 million undocumented people currently residing in our cities and towns," said NLC President and Washington, DC Mayor Anthony Williams. "Through this task force, we are bringing together officials who have the expertise and experience needed to develop a sound strategy for effectively dealing with the influx of undocumented immigrants in our communities."

The task force will be headed by Los Angeles Councilman Dennis Zine. "This will be a challenging task that brings representatives from 15 states together to find a realistic solution to the growing problem of illegal immigrants in America," Zine said.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 12.09.05 @ 07:22PST

Wednesday, December 7th

Worse than Fossil Fuels?

In 2003, the biologist Jeffrey Dukes calculated that the fossil fuels we burn in one year were made from organic matter “containing 44×10¹⁸ grams of carbon, which is more than 400 times the net primary productivity of the planet’s current biota.” In plain English, this means that every year we use four centuries’ worth of plants and animals.

So what have we done about it? Devoted ourselves to developing, among other things, a plantation fuel crop whose cultivation releases more carbon into the atmosphere than does petroleum extraction and refining, and that devastates equatorial ecologies....

Read more in George Monbiot's article, Worse Than Fossil Fuel.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 12.07.05 @ 22:24PST

Saturday, December 3rd

Downtown Living
It is clear that downtown living is on the increase, and the housing products being created--primarily downtown condos--are in demand. Some of the presumptions about downtown living will sure to be challenged in the coming years, however. It is my contention that while more people are seeking out an urban lifestyle today, the conventional wisdom that says people simply want to be close to wirk will not hold true. I think that downtown living is becoming attractive for other reasons.

First, the condo lifestyle in general is again attractive. Small households, one or two people, want an investment with a standardized value. They want minimal upkeep and a customizable space. An increasingly mobile population wants a home that will not require a lot time out of their busy lives and yet provide enough latitude that they can make the space their own.

Second, downtown office buildings are being converted into condominiums.

This is not only true of Pittsburgh, but of other downtowns. New condo buildings (of considerable height) are also being built in downtown areas. Economically this is likely because the price per square foot of living space has surpassed the price per square foot of office space (at least in these tall, slender buildings). It's also because of changes in the type of office space in demand. New offices are being built in outlying areas (including on the North and South shores and in like places in other cities). The new office buildings have much larger floorplans than the old downtown buildings.

Time will tell, but what we are probably seeing now is a change in downtown from an office center to a mixed-use center, and eventually to a residential center. It's too early to see how far into the future, and thus how close to a complete residential center, this trend will take us.

The infrastructure needed for a residential center is much different from that needed for an office center. In an office center, the workers commute, primarily by driving, from the suburbs. In a residential center, a larger portion of those living downtown won't have cars. They must be within walking distance of amenities and have an efficient transportation system in order to get to work and shopping.

While it is important, as suggested, for existing amenities to have extended hours, the existing amenities often aren't built to cater to residents. As an example, compare the Starbucks on McKnight and Siebert with the one on Penn and Sixth. The suburban location is large enough to accommodate small meetings and allow residents who may spend the day alone at home to linger. The downtown location is more of a "get your coffee and go" spot than a "third place."

Read more on Eric Miller's City Home News blog

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 12.03.05 @ 16:35PST