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Monday, May 12th
The Melbourne Paradigm
Just encountered a marvelous video from Streetfilms.org examining the stunning changes wrought in Melbourne, Australia, to convert it from a typically dreary autocentric grid to a delightful, pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly conglomeration of street villages bustling with radiant life (and profitable businesses).
Another "Home Depot Doesn't Have It" Moment
It's hard to find lumber or someone who will cut it to specification in the city, so Home Depot was the answer. So, why not pick up the adjustable shelf clips at the same time? Something so basic, yet after three salespeople and 30 or more minutes on the cell phone, it was another Home Depot doesn't have it moment. This is what as far as I can discern from the conversations Home Depot doesn't have
Whole Foods Article
I'm reading this Whole Foods article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The author seems to be lamenting that the Cleveland Heights store is better than the Pittsburgh store. Why? Well in part it's bigger.
In Cleveland, shoppers bag their habanero peppers in a produce section with room for 14 rows of bananas, choose from 24 rows of prepared meats, 22 rows of meat cuts and 11 rows of handmade sausage at the butcher's shop, after they dine on Risotto Di Giorno ($9) at a trendy restaurant counter. This goes back to the Home Depot thing. If all you're going to buy is maybe five bananas at most, why does it matter if there are 14 rows of bananas? What matters is that there are bananas. Some of the smaller stores have more individual items than these larger stores that have many of the same item. That may not be the case with Whole Foods particularly, but generally true of big box stores. Still it's clear they're trying to impress with a large supply of a single item, which just makes the store needlessly large and hard to traverse.
Listening To The City
It always gets to me when people living in urban neighborhoods want things to be quiet enough to hear a pin drop. I recently responded to a message board complaint about a loud radio with this response:
In Park Slope, Brooklyn there are signs that warn of a $300 fine for honking. I think for the most part cities are full of noise and if they meet the needs of the typical suburban resident, they cease to be cities. I wouldn't enjoy my transome rattling particularly, but I do enjoy hearing "12A Downtown," the AGH Lifeflight Helicopter and when I hear the Norfolk Southern trains lay on the horn. A few years back when the Stones played at PNC Park I could hear it in the back yard--that was awesome. I am enjoying the subway gently vibrating the floor beneath me right now. When I lived in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco-- where everyone came to party-- some idiots tried to keep things quiet. McCandless is the home of quiet, so is the grave. Sure, some noise is just purposefully obnoxious, but generally in the city noise is a sign of life and life is good. Enjoy it.
Artists Should Be Able To Hang A Shingle More examples of commercial uses in residential spaces have been added. I'm not suggesting residential buildings be demolished for commercial ones. I am advocating that artists, notaries, insurance agents, etc. should be able to hang a shingle on their residence. If a quiet business can be conducted inside the space of an existing residential home, allowing that is of great benefit to city neighborhoods. Link to Photos
A foldable bike, fits in the closet!
I haven't lived in an apartment for some fifteen years, and I'm new to the process of downsizing. I really didn't want a bicycle in the hallway or living room, so I decided to trade the regular bike for the foldable kind. If you haven't seen these, basically the frame folds in half so it can be stored in a closet. I had thought of this before as a fumbled with a bike rack. I was always afraid of having a bike fall off a car rack. This one would fit in the trunk.
Some models have small wheels, but this one has a full-size frame and wheels. It's made by Dahon and so far I am pleased with it. It's not heavy to carry and I didn't have any trouble taking it on the Long Island Railroad or subway (although the LIRR requires you have a bike permit-$5 available on the train, and requires you travel off-peak).
The Dahon is about the economy if fitting into small spaces, but its also about design. The design seems so good I am suprised I have not seen these around before, although maybe I have just not folded! The pedals fold, the frame folds, the front wheel is removable and when you remove the seat there's a built-in tire pump.
I'm not that much of a cyclist, I prefer walking, but with Prospect Park so close, a bike seemed to be a great idea. Check out Dahon bikes here
New Car-Free Group on Facebook
If you're a Facebook sort of guy or gal, there's a new group there dedicated to car-free and car-lite living...to quote:
This is a group for all those that consciously make decisions in their life, whether large or small, to reduce their use of the private automobile.
This is for all those who are sick of being trapped in sprawling suburbs with underfunded and inadequate public transportation systems.
This is for those who are tired with cars and all their associated costs including registration, insurance, gas(petrol), services, parking, tickets and the actual car, just so they can function in society.
This is for those who are sick of sitting in traffic, period!
This is for those who would like a more healthy, sustainable, and environmentally-friendly lifestyle.
This is for those who like to reverse the social, economic and environmental damage caused by a car dominated culture.
If you're reading this, you're pretty likely to be interested in this group, so click on over to Car-Free by Choice! on Facebook and join in!
Old Ways, New Ways....
Just received this note from Nancy Schneider of Florida, going over the things she's been able to do to lessen her footprint on the Earth, and how well some of them have been working:
Just like a Catholic giving something up for Lent that's painful, I decided to give up one of my most painful self-indulgent non-green habits --- driving between 75 and 90 on I-95. Yes, you read that right, 75-90 mph. I live in South Florida, remember?
The test would be one tank of gas where I would torturously (is that a word) drive 60-65 mph. That is the best I could do on my first try. A "lead foot", which is what my mother calls it , is something I have always had.
In 1977 I received my driver's license. It was shortly thereafter that the speed limit was lowered to 55 mph and you had to wait in line for gas and only could do so on certain days. There were even times when you just couldn't even get any gas. Well that was short lived, but we all did what we had to do.
So now back to 2008 with only faint memories of that time, I read in the newspaper that it takes 20% more fuel to travel at 65 mph than at 55 mph and 25% more when driving at 75 mph vs. 65 mph. So that means saving 20-25% by slowing down.
On my first tank I drove 60 to 65 and would treat myself to 70 if I could draft a truck. One trucker actually slowed down to 25 mph on I-95 when I continued to stay behind him. I changed lanes.
For that tankful, I managed to drive 57 more miles which changed my average from about 21-22 mpg to just over 26. I saved about two gallons or about $7. That seemed worth it, especially since I hate stopping for gas.
Now I am actually the one in the slow lane doing 55. I watch everyone whiz by. Then I think to myself, "Am I the only one trying to maximize my mileage?" Apparently. I am trying 55 mph for my second tank.
Yesterday I was discussing with a friend this experiment and what it would take in this country to make real changes. During World War II Americans saved resources, turned out lights, reused, cooperated, shared and anything else that was needed. One campaign encouraged ride sharing. The ad said, "Ride alone, ride with Hitler." Made me think, "Ride over 55, ride with Bin Laden." Not quite as catchy.
So I changed my lightbulbs, xeriscaped my yard, put in a low-flow showerhead, compost, eat organic, use canvas bags when going to the grocery store, put my thermostat up to 78 in the Summer, ride my bike to short errands and now I drive 55.
Amazingly I don't feel inconvenienced or any other negative feeling. As a matter of fact, I feel really good and positive about all of this--and I am saving money.
Nancy will soon be releasing the Auto-Free Vacations website, though it's still under construction. Keep your eye on this space, where we will announce its debut!
Entreprenuerial Activity by Immigrants in US Surges
The Kaufman Foundation reports:
The rate of entrepreneurial activity among women dropped sharply in 2007 while the activity rate among men and immigrants surged, according to a national assessment of entrepreneurial activity by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
According to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, the only annual study to measure business startup activity for the entire United States adult population at the individual owner level, 495,000 new businesses per month were started in 2007 with 0.30 percent of the adult population (or 300 out of 100,000 adults) involved in the startup process. This entrepreneurial activity rate is a slight increase over the 2006 rate of 0.29 percent.
Several surprising findings from the Kauffman Index are:
Immigrants far outpaced native-born Americans in entrepreneurial activity, increasing from 0.37 percent in 2006 to 0.46 percent in 2007. Immigrants are now substantially more likely to start businesses than are native-born Americans, which remained constant at 0.27 percent.
Men are now twice as likely as women to start a business each month, a larger differential than in any previous year of the KIEA study. For men, the entrepreneurial activity rate increased from 0.35 percent in 2006 to 0.41 percent in 2007. The rate decreased from 0.23 percent to 0.20 percent for women.
The entrepreneurial activity rate among Latinos increased from 0.33 percent in 2006 to 0.40 percent in 2007, the largest increase for any major ethnic or racial group."
Urban Hardware On my first few days in Brooklyn I've had the opportunity to visit a variety of Hardware stores ranging from the small independent to ACE to Home Depot. Since I gave Home Depot, particularly the Manhattan store some exposure recently, I thought it might be a good idea to point out that countless (well you may be able to count them if you try hard) small hardware stores. The small hardware store I use in Pittsburgh, Mueller's on East Ohio Street is the kind where most everything is behind the counter and you ask for it. Mueller's has most of what can be found at Home Depot at competitive prices. When in San Francisco I found Cliff's, a small hardware store on Castro Street, to have everything and more Home Depot did in a smaller space, and while sometimes the prices were a little higher, sometimes they were better.
The hardware stores I visited in Brooklyn aren't exactly decorated as well as Cliff's, but they do seem to have most of what you can find at Home Depot and more. I don't want to single out Home Depot here to complain about, when the weakest link here was the Atlantic Avenue Target store. Many of the items I purchased were out of stock, including curtain rods which I finally purchased at a small hardware store on Flatbush Avenue.
To the credit of Home Depot, I had already been to ACE, a few small hardware stores and Target before heading to Home Depot for appropriately sized shelving boards for layering CDs. Unlike Target, I had to transfer and then walk under a highway in a not so pedestrian-friendly area to reach Home Depot. While no one in the store could seem to tell me where the small Aspen boards I wanted were, they did have them in stock. (I also asked where I could find home security devices and a well-meaning employee directed me to the tools section).
Of all the hardware stores in New York, San Francisco and Pittsburgh I was aware of, I still find Cliff's to be the best. The small hardware stores here seemed to have most everything you could need, but they are not as well arranged or as attractive as Cliff's (or even Mueller's). The employees there were generally more helpful, however and the number of hardware stores still lining the streets of Brooklyn is remarkable in itself.
Home Depot needs to improve their specialty items and cater items to localities. Two things I know Home Depot does not have but should are plaster washers (these are little disks that you put on the end of a drywall screw to pull in sagging plaster). The Building Mill in Pittsburgh used to have them, most recently I ordered them from Charles Street Supply in Boston. Next are two wood products--picture railing and the simple molding for holding in casement windows. On numerous occasions I have gone to Home Depot assuming they would have basic things that they didn't carry. I think Lowe's is slightly better at this.
The smaller hardware stores like Cliff's specialize in having these and other items you can't find at Home Depot, like lamp parts and ceiling medallions. None of the small stores I went into today would cut plexi-glass (Cliff's and Mueller's do). I did see ceiling Medallions in the window at a store on Fifth. For the record, the small hardware stores around me seem to have most of what I will need and it's basically on the rare occasion I'll need a lumber item that I'd head to Home Depot. The lumber item I did need is one that could easily be carried by these smaller stores, and it's something that could help them compete with the big chains like Home Depot and Lowes that are moving into urban markets like New York.
I didn't believe they would do it, but the city closed Wilshire Boulevard for several blocks by the Wilshire/Western Metro Station today--all day--for an Earth Day street party. Wilshire is the busiest street in Los Angeles, hence in the nation, and today was a Tuesday, a work day--and Earth Day.
The people loved it! I had forgotten my camera, so the snaps are from a crappy cellphone cam, but take a look:
A good crowd showed up, even midweek.
Kids replanting the median.
Guarded bicycle parking.
Info booth, new residential development, and LA's premier synagogue.
A great Latin band, and everybody dancing!
Things are changing when this can happen in LA. Happy Earth Day!
The Value of the Spontaneous Sidewalk Sale When you think you need more space, it may be that you need to get rid of stuff. There are four common ways to do this. The first is ebay, the second craigslist, the third a yard sale and finally, take it to Goodwill. In my recent experience ebay was the first to come to mind. This seems to work great for items like CDs and DVDs and some other smalls, but often things go unsold or the shipping exceeds your estimates and you end up paying to get rid of some stuff. I am sure some more frequent ebay users have worked thru these kinks. The second way is craigslist, which I like many others have had a good experience with. There's usually a buyer for most anything, the problem is connecting by phone and actually scheduling a time to meet. Then there's the issue of people you don't know coming in your house to look at stuff. Another way is to take it to Goodwill. You don't receive money, but you can request a receipt for a tax write-off.
There's another way that doesn't always enter the modern psyche used to computer methods of disposing of unwanted items. That is the sidewalk sale. First, I should say that our neighborhood also has a flea market that anyone can use to sell their stuff. It hadn't opened for the year yet, however so the idea of just taking stuff outside and putting it on the sidewalk came to mind. This is a pretty high-traffic street, so just the stuff itself brought in some customers, a few signs helped as did some craigslist posts and emails to neighborhood email groups. By the end of our second day, most of the stuff was gone and we'd met some new people.
When it was over, some things were then listed on craigslist, some went to Goodwill and others were discarded in what I call the San Francisco way, put them on the sidewalk with a "free" sign. Oh, and anything metal was gathered up and taken to the Warhola scrap yard (yes, this Warhola is related to Andy). That may be the easiest and most profitable way--you can immediately dispose of stuff and get paid, except they won't take anything that's not metal.
One observation is there is so much stuff in the world now that much of it doesn't have much value. Most of what we buy depreciates dramatically when we take it out of the store. Perhaps this will change when we run out of cheap labor or oil prices necessitate manufacturing closer to home, but for now stuff is everywhere and abundant. So think next time before you make an impulse buy. Consider buying second-hand furniture or other goods at yard sales. Think about buying items like antiques that might actually be worth more in a few years when its time to get rid of them. You'll also be saving a tree or two. Think about how much stuff you actually need. If you aren't able to kick the impulse purchase habit, consider having a sidewalk sale now and then. You'll make some new friends and liven up the street, if only for a few hours.
Comprehensive Waste Management Program for Los Angeles
The City of Los Angeles has been conducting "stakeholder meetings" for several months now to help develop its Solid Waste Integrated Resources Plan (SWIRP) in an effort to approach its zero-waste goal as outlined in its Zero Waste Plan website:
The goal of SWIRP is to develop a master plan that will detail the policies, programs, infrastructure, regulations, incentives, new green jobs, technological innovation, and financial strategies necessary to:
Lead the way for Los Angeles to become a zero waste city
Prevent the generation of waste at the source
Work with manufacturers to be responsible for their products at the end of the useful life of the product.
Reduce the generation of waste at the source
Increase recycling and resource recovery
Design and implement programs to meet the greenhouse gas reduction targets outlined in the Mayor’s Climate Action Plan
Convert the entire Bureau of Sanitation fleet of collection trucks to clean renewable alternative fuel vehicles
Meet the goals set for Los Angeles to become a zero waste city by the Mayor and Council’s adopted Recovering Energy, Natural Resources and Economic Benefit from Waste for Los Angeles (RENEW LA) Plan
Develop environmentally responsible treatment and disposal methods for residual (post-processing) waste
Reduce reliance on landfills and end urban landfilling
Evaluate alternative technologies to convert waste to renewable energy, electricity, fuels and products
Evaluate rail-haul options
Evaluate long-term disposal options for residual waste.
It looks like an intelligent, sensitive plan that will probably have genuinely-beneficial real-world results, and goes far beyond the greenwash one gets from the corporate sector.
Pope Touches on Environmental Topics
In this week's address to the U.N. the Pope touched on environmental issues. I link to the full text follows.
"Indeed, questions of security, development goals, reduction of local and global inequalities, protection of the environment, of resources and of the climate, require all international leaders to act jointly and to show a readiness to work in good faith, respecting the law, and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the planet. I am thinking especially of those countries in Africa and other parts of the world which remain on the margins of authentic integral development, and are therefore at risk of experiencing only the negative effects of globalization. In the context of international relations, it is necessary to recognize the higher role played by rules and structures that are intrinsically ordered to promote the common good, and therefore to safeguard human freedom. These regulations do not limit freedom. On the contrary, they promote it when they prohibit behavior and actions which work against the common good, curb its effective exercise and hence compromise the dignity of every human person. In the name of freedom, there has to be a correlation between rights and duties, by which every person is called to assume responsibility for his or her choices, made as a consequence of entering into relations with others. Here our thoughts turn also to the way the results of scientific research and technological advances have sometimes been applied. Notwithstanding the enormous benefits that humanity can gain, some instances of this represent a clear violation of the order of creation, to the point where not only is the sacred character of life contradicted, but the human person and the family are robbed of their natural identity. Likewise, international action to preserve the environment and to protect various forms of life on earth must not only guarantee a rational use of technology and science, but must also rediscover the authentic image of creation. This never requires a choice to be made between science and ethics: rather it is a question of adopting a scientific method that is truly respectful of ethical imperatives."
More examples of commercial uses in residential spaces have been added. I'm not suggesting residential buildings be demolished for commercial ones. I am advocating that artists, notaries, insurance agents, etc. should be able to hang a shingle on their residence. If a quiet business can be conducted inside the space of an existing residential home, allowing that is of great benefit to city neighborhoods.
On my first few days in Brooklyn I've had the opportunity to visit a variety of Hardware stores ranging from the small independent to ACE to Home Depot. Since I gave Home Depot, particularly the Manhattan store some exposure recently, I thought it might be a good idea to point out that countless (well you may be able to count them if you try hard) small hardware stores. The small hardware store I use in Pittsburgh, Mueller's on East Ohio Street is the kind where most everything is behind the counter and you ask for it. Mueller's has most of what can be found at Home Depot at competitive prices. When in San Francisco I found Cliff's, a small hardware store on Castro Street, to have everything and more Home Depot did in a smaller space, and while sometimes the prices were a little higher, sometimes they were better. 
When you think you need more space, it may be that you need to get rid of stuff. There are four common ways to do this. The first is ebay, the second craigslist, the third a yard sale and finally, take it to Goodwill. In my recent experience ebay was the first to come to mind. This seems to work great for items like CDs and DVDs and some other smalls, but often things go unsold or the shipping exceeds your estimates and you end up paying to get rid of some stuff. I am sure some more frequent ebay users have worked thru these kinks. The second way is craigslist, which I like many others have had a good experience with. There's usually a buyer for most anything, the problem is connecting by phone and actually scheduling a time to meet. Then there's the issue of people you don't know coming in your house to look at stuff. Another way is to take it to Goodwill. You don't receive money, but you can request a receipt for a tax write-off.