Friday, September 29, 2006
Friday, May 12, 2006
2006 List of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places
From the National Trust for Historic Preservation
Washington, D.C. (May 10, 2006) - America’s priceless heritage is under attack from all sides-from the Gulf Coast to the nation’s capital to a site associated with America’s most tragic day. In Washington, D.C., the Arts and Industries Building, the first museum of the Smithsonian Institution and the masterpiece of architect Adolf Cluss, is closed indefinitely and risks falling into obscurity. In Lower Manhattan, the “Survivors’ Staircase,” the only remaining above-ground fragment of the vanished Twin Towers, which offered a path to safety for many who fled the World Trade Center, is threatened with demolition for construction of a new office tower. In New Orleans, the heart and soul of the city - the modest, colorful shotgun houses, bungalows and Creole cottages that line the streets of the Lower 9th Ward and working-class neighborhoods such as Mid-City, Holy Cross and South Lakeview — are “red tagged” for demolition. Elsewhere on the Gulf Coast, the historic communities and landmarks of Mississippi also suffered incalculable damage and face an uncertain future nearly one year after Katrina.
These are just four of 11 sites the National Trust for Historic Preservation today named to its 2006 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.
“The sites on this year’s 11 Most Endangered list embody the diversity and complexity of America’s story, and the variety of threats that endanger it,” said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “Ranging from flood-ravaged communities to the staircase used by World Trade Center survivors, these places are enormously important to our understanding of who we are as a nation and a people.”
Sites on the 2006 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places are:
Smithsonian Arts & Industries Building, Washington, D.C.- The first building expressly built as a museum on the National Mall in the nation’s capital, the Arts & Industries Building was completed in 1881 to receive the collections of the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. With its central rotunda and polychrome exterior of red, black, tan and blue bricks, the building served as a dramatic exhibition space until it was shuttered in 2004 after years of neglect and underuse.
Blair Mountain Battlefield, Logan County, W. Va.- Blair Mountain’s 1,600-acre Spruce Fork Ridge is the site of a 1921 armed insurrection of unionized coal miners fighting for better working conditions and an end to the oppressive control of the coal industry in southern West Virginia. Today, the ridge, a remote and serene place of hardwood forests and precipitous hillsides, is threatened by strip mining that will obliterate the site of America’s largest domestic conflict since the Civil War.
Doo Wop Motels, Wildwood, N.J.- Named after a popular 1950s singing style, Wildwood’s Doo Wop motels are the colorful beach resorts that line 40 blocks of New Jersey Shoreline. Considered the largest collection of mid-20th century commercial resort architecture in the nation, the motels are famous for their neon-bright colors, funky signage and exotic architecture of saw-toothed angles, crazy overhangs and space-age “Jetson” ramps. More than 100 of these iconic reminders of the recent past have already met the wrecking ball, and more are slated for demolition.
Fort Snelling Upper Post, Hennepin County, Minn.- On a large, scenic promontory overlooking the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, Fort Snelling has been keeping watch over the citizens of the region since long before the formation of the Minnesota territory. While parts of the fort complex have been restored, the 141-acre Upper Post area, which contains 28 brick buildings constructed between the late 1870s and the early 1900s, have been vacant for more than three decades and stand in various states of disrepair, some with collapsed roofs and severely cracked brick walls.
Historic Communities and Landmarks of the Mississippi Coast - When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast last August, the historic communities and landmarks of Mississippi suffered incalculable damage. For months, historic homeowners have been entrenched in an exhausting rebuilding effort. Similarly, numerous Mississippi landmarks including Beauvoir, the Biloxi retirement home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and Pascagoula’s La Pointe-Krebs House, believed to be the oldest standing building in the state, were decimated by the storm and face uncertain futures nearly one year after Katrina.
Historic Neighborhoods of New Orleans, New Orleans, La.- They are the heart and soul of the city - the modest, colorful shotgun houses, Craftsman bungalows and Creole cottages that line the streets of New Orleans’s Lower 9th Ward and working-class neighborhoods such as Mid-City, Holy Cross and South Lakeview. Now, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s winds and floodwaters, hundreds of family homes are “red-tagged” for demolition, and the future of America’s most distinctive city is at stake.
Kenilworth, Ill.- Fifteen miles north of Chicago, Kenilworth, Ill., was founded in 1889 as an ideal suburban village. The village is a rich historical fabric that showcases world-class architecture and gracious landscape in a remarkably intact context. The town attracted some of the Midwest’s most accomplished architects, who lined Kenilworth’s broad leafy streets with a diverse collection of stately and unique homes. While today most of the 830 homes in Kenilworth dating to the 1920s or earlier, the town is under siege. A spate of teardowns has leveled many historic homes and replaced them with hulking McMansions, some nearly twice the size of the architectural treasures that have been lost.
Kootenai Lodge, Bigfork, Mont.- One of the most significant historic sites in northwest Montana, the Kootenai Lodge was developed from 1905 through 1925 as a summer retreat for executives of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. But now, the 40-acre property, which consists of the rustic wooden lodge and 20 other buildings fronting scenic Swan Lake, could be forever changed if a developer goes ahead with plans to demolish several historic buildings and significantly alter others for of a new condominium development.
Mission San Miguel Arcangel, San Miguel, Calif.- A superb example of Franciscan Mission architecture, Mission San Miguel, known for its exquisite original murals, was completed in 1821 as the 16th of California’s 21 famed mission churches. Today, Mission San Miguel is closed following a December 2003 earthquake that caused severe structural damage. Without an influx of funds for restoration, the mission could collapse.
Over-the-Rhine Neighborhood, Cincinnati, Ohio - Little changed in more than 100 years, Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood has been home to generations of immigrant families and is known for its large, outstanding and intact collection of 19th century Italianate, Federal, Greek Revival and Queen Anne buildings. Now, however, the neighborhood is plagued by crime and disinvestment. Some 500 of its 1,200 historic buildings are vacant, and emergency demolition is being used as a tool to combat deteriorating conditions.
World Trade Center Vesey Street Staircase, New York, N.Y. - Because it offered a path to safety that allowed many people to escape the blazing World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, this haunting remnant is often called the Survivors’ Staircase. Although it is the only remaining above-ground fragment of the vanished Twin Towers, the staircase is threatened with demolition for construction of a new office tower on the WTC site.
Thursday, February 2, 2006
Le Weekend, Conference Edition
Ben - if you’re just going to snore, don’t read the rest of this
We were in sessions Sunday afternoon and all day Monday. Tuesday was Planners Day on the Hill - who knew? There were how-to sessions for advocacy in the morning and a crash course in the legislation that APA is lobbying for this year, and then all afternoon, we had meetings scheduled with representatives and their staffers. I’m much more accustomed to being on the knowledge end of things, so it was sort of exciting to see a little more of how the system does or doesn’t work.
Of course, when the budget came out, all the CDBG funds had been slashed already, but I wasn’t exactly hoping for a rosy future with the current climate. We were asking for $1.5 million in funds to be restored, Bush is asking for $70 billion for the war.
Good gossip at the tables about other planning programs, jobs and the general state of the planning world in places other than southern CA. Nice weekend.
Topics
Rebuilding the Gulf Region after Katrina
The rebuilding of the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita will be the largest and most complex planning effort in generations. How will federal, state, and local governments shape this effort? What can the planning community do to ensure the quality, equity, and efficiency of the effort?
New Directions in Federal Disaster Mitigation and Community Safety Policy
Recent events — from the September 11 terrorist attacks to the 2005 hurricane season — have communities across the country evaluating their safety. How can you protect your community from natural and manmade disasters? What do the Safe Communities Act of 2005 and the Disaster Mitigation Act mean to your community?
Tomorrow’s Cities, Tomorrow’s Suburbs
New analysis of the 2000 census finds signs of resurgence in cities and omens of decline in many suburbs. How are income disparities, housing age and size, racial segregation, immigration, and poverty affecting population trends? How will this new information affect federal policies and local plans?
Takings and Redevelopment Legislation in the Aftermath of Kelo
The Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London is prompting legislation that could restrict your ability to implement good plans. What are the latest eminent domain and takings bills in Congress? What can you expect from state and local governments?
Implementing SAFETEA-LU
After three years of debate, the TEA-21 reauthorization is finally law. How are federal programs changing? What’s in store for planning, the environment, and air quality?
Inside the Federal Budget
Understanding the federal budget can help you do your job more effectively. What are experts saying about the new federal budget? What trends are affecting federal programs of interest to planners?
Responding to BRAC
Military base closures can be devastating to communities. Will the latest round of realignments and closures affect your community? How can you respond to the economic, human, and environmental effects of base closings?
The Future of CDBG and Community Development Programs
The Bush administration has proposed a dramatic reorganization of the nation’s community development programs. What do policymakers and experts think about this? What is the outlook for HOPE VI, HUD, and CDBG?
Planning at the Ballot Box
Initiatives and referenda increasingly decide planning issues. What does the use of these tools mean to the planning profession? What can planners learn from Oregon’s Measure 37 and transit, tax, and eminent domain initiatives?
Monday, January 9, 2006
Buried treasure, found treasure (inset cute headline here)
This winter, after more than a decade of effort, San Francisco officials are unveiling proposals to create what amounts to a self-supporting miniature city on the former Naval Station Treasure Island, a 400-acre island dredged from the bottom of San Francisco Bay.
Planners See Treasure in Bay’s Island
- Developers want to turn an abandoned military base near San Francisco into a model of new urban living. But many hurdles loom.
By Maria L. La Ganga, Times Staff Writer
But if all goes as planned, a 20-acre organic farm could be planted within the city’s bursting boundaries — part of a new open-space preserve a third the size of Golden Gate Park — alongside up to 5,500 housing units that would make neighbors of formerly homeless people and wealthy condo owners.
The proposed enclave would have spectacular views and rules so stringent that Manhattan would look car-friendly by comparison; local officials are already gushing about “the most environmentally sustainable large development project in U.S. history.”
Large, of course, is in the eye of the beholder.
This winter, after more than a decade of effort, San Francisco officials are unveiling proposals to create what amounts to a self-supporting miniature city on the former Naval Station Treasure Island, a 400-acre island dredged from the bottom of San Francisco Bay.
Although decommissioned military bases often give cities enviable opportunities for development, Treasure Island is a case apart. On the plus side, it is a “flat pancake in the middle of the bay,” said Michael Cohen, the city’s director of base reuse, which makes it “a perfect palette to play out some of these cutting-edge concepts” with no neighbors to offend. On the minus side, well, it’s an island in the middle of the bay. Until a $35-million to $40-million ferry terminal is built, the only way off is the traffic-choked San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. It’s so windy that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers couldn’t get a single private dredger to bid on a contract to build the island even though work was scarce during the Depression. And it’s really, really small.
On less than two-thirds of a water-ringed square mile, a development team headed by Lennar Corp. is figuring out what amounts to the basic building blocks of smart growth:
How many people are needed to support a grocery store? How many commuters make a ferry line possible? How many rich owners of market-rate housing are required to enable a city to provide affordable homes? Can the bay’s ample sun and whipping winds be harnessed to power homes and businesses? Can food be grown in the middle of a housing development to help feed thousands of new residents?
“On islands, experiments can happen; they’re controllable because they have defined boundaries,” said Eric Antebi, national press secretary for the Sierra Club, who describes Treasure Island as a case study with effects that will go beyond San Francisco’s borders. “It’s rare that a city gets the chance to say ‘If we do it right, what does right look like?’ “
First envisioned as the site for an airport, Treasure Island was originally built by the Army Corps of Engineers, who dredged 30 million cubic yards of mud, sand and gravel to create the small, flat land mass. Local dredgers stayed away from the project, in part because of “their fear of the weather conditions prevailing on the waters in which the work was to be done,” according to “Engineers at the Golden Gate,” an Army Corps history of the region.
“Their concern was justified,” the history continued, because the area “is indeed subject to severe winter storms as well as heavy wind and wave action during the summer months. As a matter of fact, there are very few months of the year which might be termed favorable for dredging.”
Which raises the question: What is the weather favorable for?
Although the airport never materialized, in 1939 and 1940 the island was the site of the Golden Gate International Exposition, which celebrated the completion of two monumental bridges that span the scenic San Francisco Bay.
When World War II broke out and American military forces began to mobilize, Treasure Island was turned over to the Navy. Although the base was selected for closure in 1993, the military has yet to give San Francisco permanent title to the property, which is a necessary step before development begins. Negotiations between the city and the Navy continue over the terms of the transfer and the routine environmental cleanup.
Today, the island is a motley mix of shuttered military buildings, a just-closed public school and a federal vocational training program. Around 850 units of refurbished Navy housing are rented out, some through a supportive program for the formerly homeless.
There are a few city offices, and some historic buildings. Some film production takes place on the island. A small cafe is open a few hours each day, and disposable cameras are sold from a hut so that bundled-up tourists can capture the panoramic views.
But the weather that kept dredgers at bay does raise questions about whether the winds can be tamed enough to make Treasure Island suitable for condos and crops.
Those involved in the project say the answer is yes. In unveiling its first land-use plans in November and December, the development team described streets mapped to deflect 30-mph gusts, rows of turbines to harness the wind’s energy and help power the island and high-rise residential towers built to shelter street-level activity.
“We used to joke that when we were looking at potential developers, we’d bring them out in the morning, not in the afternoon,” said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, so they wouldn’t be frightened off by the strong gusts. Newsom said he views weather as a major challenge to developing “one of the great pieces of land in the world…. The exciting thing about the design is how it takes advantage of the wind patterns.”
The developers also have researched what grows well in the rural enclaves that ring the Bay Area, and they acknowledge that weather and soil conditions will definitely affect what can be cultivated on any Treasure Island farm. Early proposals call for crops that include strawberries and lettuces, zucchini and artichokes and a large greenhouse operation for tomatoes and peppers.
“We have some challenges; we don’t have the answer yet to grow edible plants,” said landscape architect Kevin Conger of CMG, whose firm is creating the open-space plan. “Even if we couldn’t do that, we’d still pursue the idea of the farm as horticulture, cut flowers, a nursery site for habitat restoration.”
The biggest question facing Treasure Island is likely to be transportation, and the first concrete plans for addressing cars and congestion will be unveiled this week. But, prodded by local environmentalists, developers have already begun to lay out themes for a community where cars are more annoyance than convenience.
Treasure Island is connected to even tinier Yerba Buena Island, a natural isle once known for the goats that clambered around its rocky peaks. The Bay Bridge links the two small islands to San Francisco and Oakland. At peak commute times, bridge traffic is often at a standstill.
It costs $3 to cross the bridge heading west, but the toll plaza is in Oakland, so Treasure Island’s current residents can drive from their homes to San Francisco and back without paying.
That will probably end after the new development commences. Residents probably will be charged to leave the island during peak commute times through a practice called “congestion management pricing.”
In addition, parking will not be included in the price of a town house, condominium or apartment, and half of the island’s residential parking spaces will be in communal garages a shuttle ride away from homes.
However, the public bus that connects the island to downtown San Francisco will run more frequently, and 80% of Treasure Island housing will be within a 10-minute walk of the ferry terminal.
“We have to be practical as developers, and it’s hard to divorce people from their cars,” acknowledged Kofi Bonner, Lennar Corp. executive vice president. “But we want to make it more difficult to use your car, more inconvenient, more expensive to park … more expensive to leave the island.”
Environmental advocate Ruth Gravanis has spent nearly a decade prodding planners and city officials to increase open space, density and ferry accessibility and decrease parking. Her mantra: “People need to get it into their head that it’s an island. You leave your car on the mainland.”
But she also worries about fairness on an island that will have 30% affordable housing and accommodations for formerly homeless people alongside pricey town houses and penthouse condominiums.
“One concern is that the bus will be the poor person’s transportation and the ferry will be for the rich people,” Gravanis said. “It is a design challenge, creating community … the mixing and mingling.”
No one here is underestimating the hurdles that lie ahead, and the project is expected to take 10 to 15 years to complete.
The plans are still in their early stages. Treasure Island could be home to between 10,000 and 15,000 people, although it is unknown how much the planned housing would cost. But Emily Rapaport, a community organizer and co-chairwoman of the island residents’ association, said she worries that the price tag for making the island seismically safe for high-rises could push people like her out.
Although she said she is impressed by many of the proposals, she also wishes that there were more jobs for island dwellers built into the development. “I understand we’re surrounded by water and that they want to use this to have a lot of sport and recreational stuff and businesses that cater to that,” Rapaport said. ” But it seems to me that at some level, this is going to be Disneyland…. I’m not sure that San Francisco needs more of that.”
There are other hurdles. The Navy has to transfer the land. The plans must conform to a complex state law that restricts how public waterfront properties can be used.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors must give its blessing. And seismic and environmental cleanup issues must be addressed.
Still, “this is an unparalleled opportunity for San Francisco to do something that is really bold,” said Jack Sylvan, Treasure Island project manager for the city. “There are huge challenges. We’re confident we’ll get there. We’ll see what it looks like when we do.”
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Um, yea, sorry about that
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said yesterday that it made a “terrible” mistake in approving a recent newspaper advertisement that equated a proposed Arizona zoning ordinance with Nazi book-burning.
Wal-Mart To Apologize For Ad in Newspaper
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 14, 2005; Page E01
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said yesterday that it made a “terrible” mistake in approving a recent newspaper advertisement that equated a proposed Arizona zoning ordinance with Nazi book-burning.
The full-page advertisement included a 1933 photo of people throwing books on a pyre at Berlin’s Opernplatz. It was run as part of a campaign against a Flagstaff ballot proposal that would restrict Wal-Mart from expanding a local store to include a grocery.
The accompanying text read “Should we let government tell us what we can read? Of course not . . . So why should we allow local government to limit where we shop?” The bottom of the advertisement announced that the ad was “Paid for by Protect Flagstaff’s Future-Major Funding by Wal-Mart (Bentonville, AR).”
The ad, which ran May 8 in the Arizona Daily Sun, was “reviewed and approved by Wal-Mart, but we did not know what the photo was from. We obviously should have asked more questions,” said Daphne Moore, Wal-Mart’s director of community affairs. She said the company will also issue a letter of apology to the Arizona Anti-Defamation League.
The ADL, members of Congress and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union criticized the company for the advertisement.
“It’s not the imagery itself. It trivializes the Nazis and what they did. And to try to attach that imagery to a municipal election goes beyond distasteful,” said Bill Straus, Arizona regional director for the ADL.
Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, has given about $300,000 to Protect Flagstaff’s Future to help defeat Proposition 100, a local ordinance that would restrict stores of more than 75,000 square feet that devote more than 8 percent of their floor area to groceries. The proposal is one of a number around the country to regulate the size and design of big-box stores, particularly Wal-Marts. The vote on Proposition 100 is scheduled for Tuesday.
After a decade of near silence in the face of criticism and lawsuits, Wal-Mart is mounting a public relations counteroffensive to regain control of its image. In keeping with the public relations push, Wal-Mart will run a full-page apology in this weekend’s Arizona Daily Sun to respond to the negative reaction to the book-burning ad.
Though the ad includes no apparent Nazi insignia or imagery, Straus said it’s a well-known image among people “with any kind of knowledge of the Holocaust.” It was bought to his attention by a Flagstaff college professor who Straus said was “extremely upset” at its use in a campaign about shopping.
Straus contacted Wal-Mart on Friday, and Moore told him an apology would be issued.
The advertisement also spurred action by Wake Up Wal-Mart, a campaign funded by the UFCW. The group contacted the Anti-Defamation League on Thursday, and wrote a letter to Wal-Mart chief executive H. Lee Scott Jr. urging the company to “immediately end the company’s support for this group and its media campaign. You must publicly condemn this group and you should offer a public apology on behalf of Wal-Mart making clear you would never support — directly or indirectly — a media campaign that uses Nazi imagery.” Wake Up Wal-Mart also contacted members of Congress.
The group that created the advertisement said the ad was one of a series opposing Proposition 100. Other ads included a picture of a child praying and a person with duct tape over her mouth. “We wanted people to think about the freedoms we enjoy in America. The intent was wholly honorable and good,” said Chuck Coughlin, president of Highground Inc., a Phoenix consulting company that created the advertisement. “We will not back away from substance of the ads . . . We will apologize for the use of imagery.”
“People make mistakes. They move on,” he said.
Staff writer Michael Barbaro contributed to this report.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Don’t even think about eating here
More of a concern are the other “enhancements” being threatened, um, added, including on-train TV’s with commercials.
But, the bottom line is that I’m pro-transit and if this is what the system needs to raise revenue, so be it. Every paper I read today (Boston, NY, LA, OC, Sacramento) mentioned the new TTI report, stating that the (insert name here) region has some of the nation’s worst traffic.
It is pretty funny to be advertising food on a train where you could be fined for eating.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Laptops are Fun
Is methane an issue only at the Belmont site?
No. Even though a portion of the Belmont site overlaps the L.A. City Oil Field, so do a lot of other properties, including some currently operating schools. The eastern portion of the oil field begins just south of Dodger Stadium along both sides of the 110 freeway, including Chinatown. The field then cuts across the northern edge of downtown (crossing a portion of the Belmont Complex site), then heads west, ending just past Vermont Avenue.
If the presence of methane were a disqualification for construction, much of Los Angeles would have to be abandoned. Methane emanates from abandoned wells, active oil fields and natural seeps across the basin from Beverly Hills to Newport Beach to the Puente Hills.
Los Angeles’ Fairfax District, in particular, built atop the Salt Lake Oil Field and home of La Brea Tar Pits, is chock-a-block with methane. L.A. City Code designates a 3-square-mile area roughly bounded by Olympic Boulevard on the south, Rossmore Avenue on the east, Oakwood Avenue on the north and San Vicente Boulevard on the west as a “Potential Methane Zone.” Part of that area, including the apartment buildings of Park Labrea, Farmers Market and Museum Row, is classified as a “High Potential Methane Zone.”
A methane explosion in a Ross Dress For Less store near Third Street and Fairfax Avenue in 1985 injured two dozen, including a woman who received burns over 50 percent of her body. The incident led to city regulations governing how methane should be dealt with at existing buildings and at new construction. Hancock Park Elementary School is inside the High Potential Methane Zone. Ironically, the Belmont Learning Complex is not in any methane zone whatsoever, which merely proves that the city’s official view of where methane exists needs updating.
Construction for the celebrated new wing of the Central Library, well outside the official methane zone, had to be temporarily halted due to the discovery of methane. And the presence of methane led to the installation of plastic methane barriers along the entire 17.4-mile Red Line subway system that begins downtown, travels through Hollywood and ends in the San Fernando Valley.
Outside L.A., Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach is also built on methane-saturated ground. A state-of-the-art system there utilizes the methane as energy for the heating and cooling system, while also scrubbing the gas free of toxic hydrogen sulfide.
Other LAUSD schools with methane problems include Towne Avenue Elementary, Park Avenue Elementary, and Francis Polytechnic High, schools that were built close to landfills, which also generate methane. Park Avenue School actually sits on top of a landfill that contains toxins. Potential safety hazards at these schools go beyond methane to include landfill-related toxins, some of which are carcinogenic.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
What does the CDC have to say about this?
Personally, I’m convinced that the President commanded all of those people in Texas to be happy … or else. I am very grumpy, due to an excess of things going very WRONG, but was cheered by countless emails with my culturally brilliant Atlanta buddy and pizza&beer with the Monday Night gang. Beer good. I’m even (sort of) glad that I went to class.
Men’s Health compiled this list based on antidepressant sales, courtesy of NDC Health; suicide rates, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); and the number of days inhabitants reported being depressed, based on the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, accessed through bestplaces.net.
1. Laredo, TX: A+
2. El Paso, TX: A+
3. Jersey City, NJ: A+
4. Corpus Christi, TX: A+
5. Baton Rouge, LA: A
6. Honolulu, HI: A-
7. Fresno, CA: A-
8. San Jose, CA: A-
9. Lincoln, NE: B+
10. Bakersfield, CA: B+
11. Buffalo, NY: B+
12. Anchorage, AK: B+
13. Stockton, CA: B+
14. Shreveport, LA: B+
15. (3-way tie) Madison, WI: B, Montgomery, AL: B, and Des Moines, IA: B
18. Wichita, KS: B
19. (tie) Sacramento, CA: B and Omaha, NE: B
The 20 Most Depressed Cities
1. Philadelphia, PA: F
2. Detroit, MI: F
3. St. Petersburg, FL: F
4. St. Louis, MO: F
5. Tampa, FL: F
6. Indianapolis, IN: F
7. (3-way tie) Mesa, AZ: F, Phoenix, AZ: F, and Scottsdale, AZ: F
10. Cleveland, OH: F
11. New York, NY: D-
12. Salt Lake City, UT: D-
13. Atlanta, GA: D
14. (3-way tie) Yonkers, NY: D, Pittsburgh, PA: D, and Kansas City, MO: D
17. (3-way tie) Long Beach, CA: D, Los Angeles, CA: D, Nashville, TN” D
20. Portland, OR: D
Thursday, April 14, 2005
the Polycentric City
- three cheers for her!!!
ventured out with La Entropista last night, achieving new levels of MURPness at a cocktail party full of celebrity planners - did you know there was such a thing? Got to chat with some of the founders of the New Urbanist movement. Career advice from Peter Katz something that I couldn’t have imagined two years ago while pouring over the New Urbanism as I wrote my thesis.
Heehee. My favorite moment, however, was when the CNU Executive Officer or Head Cheese or whatever was extolling the virtures of streets with a visual boundary at the end, showing Main Streets ending in churches and City Halls & beautiful images of New York and Berlin and talking about how the market was driving developers to recreate this sort of street design …
La Entropista laughed out loud. It was awesome. He admitted to her afterwards that the picture was “banal” but illustrated a point. She graciously agreed. That girl rocks.
in other excellent news, mom found one of my favorite childhood books at a bookstore in Woodland. Neither of us had remembered the name, but I personally credit it with turning my interests to urban planning.
The protagonist, Mr. Plumbean, lives on “a neat street”. Everyone’s house looks the same and everyone likes it that way (does this sound in any way familiar?) A seagull happens to fly by carrying a can of orange paint (no one knows why) and drops it on Mr. Plumbean’s house. Rather than paint over it, he incorporates the orange splot into a wild new exterior. At first, his neighbors freak out (imagine that!) but by the end of the story, they have realized that living in a neighborhood where everything is a little different is pretty cool and they have all decorate their own homes to celebrate their own personalities. Truly a story for our times.
