an explanation of Solar Mosiac:
and a story on Solar Leasing:
Solar Leasing
Essays, links and visuals highlighting an alternative, resilient place at the strategic crescent of one mighty river.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Democratic Manifesto from Spain
Manifesto (English)
We are ordinary people. We are like you: people, who get up every morning to study, work or find a job, people who have family and friends. People, who work hard every day to provide a better future for those around us.
Some of us consider ourselves progressive, others conservative. Some of us are believers, some not. Some of us have clearly defined ideologies, others are apolitical, but we are all concerned and angry about the political, economic, and social outlook which we see around us: corruption among politicians, businessmen, bankers, leaving us helpless, without a voice.
This situation has become normal, a daily suffering, without hope. But if we join forces, we can change it. It’s time to change things, time to build a better society together. Therefore, we strongly argue that:
The priorities of any advanced society must be equality, progress, solidarity, freedom of culture, sustainability and development, welfare and people’s happiness.
These are inalienable truths that we should abide by in our society: the right to housing, employment, culture, health, education, political participation, free personal development, and consumer rights for a healthy and happy life.
The current status of our government and economic system does not take care of these rights, and in many ways is an obstacle to human progress.
Democracy belongs to the people (demos = people, krátos = government) which means that government is made of every one of us. However, in Spain most of the political class does not even listen to us. Politicians should be bringing our voice to the institutions, facilitating the political participation of citizens through direct channels that provide the greatest benefit to the wider society, not to get rich and prosper at our expense, attending only to the dictatorship of major economic powers and holding them in power through a bipartidism headed by the immovable acronym PP & PSOE.
Lust for power and its accumulation in only a few; create inequality, tension and injustice, which leads to violence, which we reject. The obsolete and unnatural economic model fuels the social machinery in a growing spiral that consumes itself by enriching a few and sends into poverty the rest. Until the collapse.
The will and purpose of the current system is the accumulation of money, not regarding efficiency and the welfare of society. Wasting resources, destroying the planet, creating unemployment and unhappy consumers.
Citizens are the gears of a machine designed to enrich a minority which does not regard our needs. We are anonymous, but without us none of this would exist, because we move the world.
If as a society we learn to not trust our future to an abstract economy, which never returns benefits for the most, we can eliminate the abuse that we are all suffering.
We need an ethical revolution. Instead of placing money above human beings, we shall put it back to our service. We are people, not products. I am not a product of what I buy, why I buy and who I buy from.
For all of the above, I am outraged.
I think I can change it.
I think I can help.
I know that together we can.I think I can help.
I know that together we can.
We are ordinary people. We are like you: people, who get up every morning to study, work or find a job, people who have family and friends. People, who work hard every day to provide a better future for those around us.
Some of us consider ourselves progressive, others conservative. Some of us are believers, some not. Some of us have clearly defined ideologies, others are apolitical, but we are all concerned and angry about the political, economic, and social outlook which we see around us: corruption among politicians, businessmen, bankers, leaving us helpless, without a voice.
This situation has become normal, a daily suffering, without hope. But if we join forces, we can change it. It’s time to change things, time to build a better society together. Therefore, we strongly argue that:
The priorities of any advanced society must be equality, progress, solidarity, freedom of culture, sustainability and development, welfare and people’s happiness.
These are inalienable truths that we should abide by in our society: the right to housing, employment, culture, health, education, political participation, free personal development, and consumer rights for a healthy and happy life.
The current status of our government and economic system does not take care of these rights, and in many ways is an obstacle to human progress.
Democracy belongs to the people (demos = people, krátos = government) which means that government is made of every one of us. However, in Spain most of the political class does not even listen to us. Politicians should be bringing our voice to the institutions, facilitating the political participation of citizens through direct channels that provide the greatest benefit to the wider society, not to get rich and prosper at our expense, attending only to the dictatorship of major economic powers and holding them in power through a bipartidism headed by the immovable acronym PP & PSOE.
Lust for power and its accumulation in only a few; create inequality, tension and injustice, which leads to violence, which we reject. The obsolete and unnatural economic model fuels the social machinery in a growing spiral that consumes itself by enriching a few and sends into poverty the rest. Until the collapse.
The will and purpose of the current system is the accumulation of money, not regarding efficiency and the welfare of society. Wasting resources, destroying the planet, creating unemployment and unhappy consumers.
Citizens are the gears of a machine designed to enrich a minority which does not regard our needs. We are anonymous, but without us none of this would exist, because we move the world.
If as a society we learn to not trust our future to an abstract economy, which never returns benefits for the most, we can eliminate the abuse that we are all suffering.
We need an ethical revolution. Instead of placing money above human beings, we shall put it back to our service. We are people, not products. I am not a product of what I buy, why I buy and who I buy from.
For all of the above, I am outraged.
I think I can change it.
I think I can help.
I know that together we can.I think I can help.
I know that together we can.
High Speed Rail ideas
Life at the Speed of Rail
from NAC Daily News and Intelligence by Next American City
Van Alen Institute will be presenting winning entries to the Life at the Speed of Rail competition this Friday at the National Building Museum with advisers Christopher Hawthorne, Keller Easterling, Petra Todorovich and Michael Lejeune. Here, Diana Lind, High-Speed Rail Fellow along with Andrew Colopy at Van Alen Institute, gives some insight into the competition and Friday’s conversation.
What was the Life at the Speed of Rail project about?
american city
from NAC Daily News and Intelligence by Next American City
Van Alen Institute will be presenting winning entries to the Life at the Speed of Rail competition this Friday at the National Building Museum with advisers Christopher Hawthorne, Keller Easterling, Petra Todorovich and Michael Lejeune. Here, Diana Lind, High-Speed Rail Fellow along with Andrew Colopy at Van Alen Institute, gives some insight into the competition and Friday’s conversation.
What was the Life at the Speed of Rail project about?
Life at the Speed of Rail began as a project to explore how high-speed rail could transform American life in the coming decades. ...
As we started talking about the project, we began thinking about how high-speed rail is a technology that in scale and scope could be as transformative for the United States as the interstate highway system was. Thinking back to that time, we recalled the success of the WPA’s imagery in promoting infrastructure and we noted the poor level of public advocacy around high-speed rail. We wanted this competition to strike a chord that none of the political or economic debates has been able to. We wanted entries that would show us what is at stake here, in terms of our economy, our environment, our national identity. And how working together, the disciplines of design and policy could influence the fate of our country....
So we created a competition that asked for a single image or a short video that conveyed a deep vision for the way that design and high-speed rail could benefit each other....
What were you looking for in entries?
We were pretty open to whatever people submitted. We were drawn to projects that were speculative about the future, or pragmatically assessed the flaws in current HSR schemes, or just unconventional and thoughtful. The winning entries not only have some real aesthetic value, but they also have some depth to the concepts being proposed. We didn’t just want clever ideas — we got a lot of high-speed rail and agriculture entries that sounded cool but made no sense — but ideas that made you rethink what HSR could mean for the country.
Another theme is that of “multitasking” transportation. People are constantly doing more than one thing at a time — and single-purpose infrastructure is passé. We saw many entries that showed trains and stations full of amenities, so that an HSR train trip could be more than just a quick jaunt from A to B, but an opportunity to go to a concert; a train station could be more than a departure point but a civic center.
american city
Sunday, June 26, 2011
It's neither too early nor too late.
We are now coming up to 6 years after the federal levee system disintegrated in New Orleans. When we look around, do we see our old neighbors, a resurgence in small mom and pop businesses, and a generally more liveable city than before?
I'd say no.
What we have is more non-profits (so more underfunded and overworked people to handle what city hall used to care about) more parking meter enforcement, more things downtown defined as noise or trouble and cited, more "crackdowns" on public gatherings AND MORE CORPORATE PRESSURE TO REDESIGN OUR CITY TO LOOK LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.
Every year since the levees broke, we have had a never-ending cacophony of issues that stand as the year's big ones. Some, citizens win, some they lose, some are a draw. It's important to note that a draw usually ends in citizens losing later.
Post-Federal levee breaks timeline:
2005: Returned residents in Mid City erect sign in September on the side of their flooded business: "We're Still Here, Ya Bastards"
2005: The first farmers market reopens in November, months or years before stores in unflooded areas bother to reopen.
2006: Lower 9th ward residents are finally allowed to return to live, months after all other neighborhoods are opened.
2006: Green dots (of planned green spaces) dot the map of the city drawn by City Hall, covering viable neighborhoods.
2006: UNOP and its Master Plan exhaust city residents confused by its complicated "participatory systems" that are actually neither.
2006: Residents and Common Ground Collective activists break in to Martin Luther King Elementary in the Lower 9 th ward to begin cleaning it out.
2006: Half-hearted mayoral election allows lame-duck mayor back in City Hall.
Late 2006/early2007: The murders of Helen Hill and Dinerral Shavers jointly show the utter lack of ability of law enforcement to handle crime. This leads to the Silence is Violence movement in 2007.
2007: State of Louisiana's refusal to reopen Charity Hospital leads to the emergence of the diverse "Save Charity Hospital" movement.
2007: Mid-City neighbors fight to stop Lindy Boggs Hospital from becoming a retail big-box graveyard.
2007: Locally owned Rouses opens its first New Orleans store in MidCity, welcomed by all.
2008: Federal judge rules residents cannot sue Army Corps of Engineers for the August 2005 destruction of the city.
2008: Snow comes in December, along with hurricane fears for following year. (December of 2004 was the last time snow hit New Orleans).
2008: City bullies low-income homeowners by putting their lived-in homes on blighted list.
2008: Feds win plan to demolish most of the low-income housing with public housing "rework."
2008: City delays reopening the city after Gustav storm, enraging residents spending their money unnecessarily in overpriced hotels and restaurants in neighboring cities. As a result, many residents vow to never leave again.
2009: Severe drought officially grips New Orleans.
2009: Mayoral election elects Mitch Landrieu. Slight hope returns.
2009: Saints win SuperBowl. Too much hope returns to city based on this news.
2010: Landrieu appoints police chief Serpas to great disappointment in New Orleans but jubilation in Nashville (where Serpas had been).
2011: Police cite and shut down creative economy entrepreneurs operating markets, second-line food sales, street music, artistic parades, DIY bicycle shops.
2011: The last hurdles for the destruction of MidCity neighborhood (in order to build a retail development with hospitals as anchor tenants) are pushed aside by city, state and feds. Homes are torn down, neighborhoods obliterated.
2011: Lafitte Greenway design began with neighborhood meetings and wide participation by residents. Sterling Properties uses the feel-good moment in 2011 to propose more concrete and a few extra chain stores anchoring the greenway designed to compete directly with already existing honored local businesses on Carrollton. Neighbors are told it's a "concept".
Many of these (and, oh we could have continued) are lost or won as of 2011. Some are not. The fight against corporate piracy can often be won if we remember our history and believe in our future.
I'd say no.
What we have is more non-profits (so more underfunded and overworked people to handle what city hall used to care about) more parking meter enforcement, more things downtown defined as noise or trouble and cited, more "crackdowns" on public gatherings AND MORE CORPORATE PRESSURE TO REDESIGN OUR CITY TO LOOK LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.
Every year since the levees broke, we have had a never-ending cacophony of issues that stand as the year's big ones. Some, citizens win, some they lose, some are a draw. It's important to note that a draw usually ends in citizens losing later.
Post-Federal levee breaks timeline:
2005: Returned residents in Mid City erect sign in September on the side of their flooded business: "We're Still Here, Ya Bastards"
2005: The first farmers market reopens in November, months or years before stores in unflooded areas bother to reopen.
2006: Lower 9th ward residents are finally allowed to return to live, months after all other neighborhoods are opened.
2006: Green dots (of planned green spaces) dot the map of the city drawn by City Hall, covering viable neighborhoods.
2006: UNOP and its Master Plan exhaust city residents confused by its complicated "participatory systems" that are actually neither.
2006: Residents and Common Ground Collective activists break in to Martin Luther King Elementary in the Lower 9 th ward to begin cleaning it out.
2006: Half-hearted mayoral election allows lame-duck mayor back in City Hall.
Late 2006/early2007: The murders of Helen Hill and Dinerral Shavers jointly show the utter lack of ability of law enforcement to handle crime. This leads to the Silence is Violence movement in 2007.
2007: State of Louisiana's refusal to reopen Charity Hospital leads to the emergence of the diverse "Save Charity Hospital" movement.
2007: Mid-City neighbors fight to stop Lindy Boggs Hospital from becoming a retail big-box graveyard.
2007: Locally owned Rouses opens its first New Orleans store in MidCity, welcomed by all.
2008: Federal judge rules residents cannot sue Army Corps of Engineers for the August 2005 destruction of the city.
2008: Snow comes in December, along with hurricane fears for following year. (December of 2004 was the last time snow hit New Orleans).
2008: City bullies low-income homeowners by putting their lived-in homes on blighted list.
2008: Feds win plan to demolish most of the low-income housing with public housing "rework."
2008: City delays reopening the city after Gustav storm, enraging residents spending their money unnecessarily in overpriced hotels and restaurants in neighboring cities. As a result, many residents vow to never leave again.
2009: Severe drought officially grips New Orleans.
2009: Mayoral election elects Mitch Landrieu. Slight hope returns.
2009: Saints win SuperBowl. Too much hope returns to city based on this news.
2010: Landrieu appoints police chief Serpas to great disappointment in New Orleans but jubilation in Nashville (where Serpas had been).
2011: Police cite and shut down creative economy entrepreneurs operating markets, second-line food sales, street music, artistic parades, DIY bicycle shops.
2011: The last hurdles for the destruction of MidCity neighborhood (in order to build a retail development with hospitals as anchor tenants) are pushed aside by city, state and feds. Homes are torn down, neighborhoods obliterated.
2011: Lafitte Greenway design began with neighborhood meetings and wide participation by residents. Sterling Properties uses the feel-good moment in 2011 to propose more concrete and a few extra chain stores anchoring the greenway designed to compete directly with already existing honored local businesses on Carrollton. Neighbors are told it's a "concept".
Many of these (and, oh we could have continued) are lost or won as of 2011. Some are not. The fight against corporate piracy can often be won if we remember our history and believe in our future.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Happy St. John's Eve from Bayou St. John
The feast day of Saint John the Baptist was a very popular event in the ancien régime of France, and it is still celebrated as a religious feast day in several countries, like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The tradition landed in Canada with the first French colonists. According to the Jesuit Relations, the first celebrations occurred on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River on the evening of June 23, 1636 with a bonfire and five cannon shots.
Historically, this date has been venerated in the practice of Voodoo. The famous Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau was said to have held ceremonies involving Voodoo ritual on the Bayou St John in New Orleans, commemorating St John's Eve. Modern day practitioners of Voodoo have kept the tradition alive.
Here is New Orleans VooDoo Priestess Sallie Ann Glassman's recounting of her first ceremony on Bayou St. John:
Bayou St. John ceremony
and more on herself:
Sallie Ann Glassman
The tradition landed in Canada with the first French colonists. According to the Jesuit Relations, the first celebrations occurred on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River on the evening of June 23, 1636 with a bonfire and five cannon shots.
Historically, this date has been venerated in the practice of Voodoo. The famous Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau was said to have held ceremonies involving Voodoo ritual on the Bayou St John in New Orleans, commemorating St John's Eve. Modern day practitioners of Voodoo have kept the tradition alive.
Here is New Orleans VooDoo Priestess Sallie Ann Glassman's recounting of her first ceremony on Bayou St. John:
Bayou St. John ceremony
and more on herself:
Sallie Ann Glassman
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Six Things You Can Do to Accelerate Community Capital
from Living Economies Blog by Shannon
Tue, 06/14/2011 - 20:57
Recommendations from Don Shaffer of RSF Social Finance at BALLE's Accelerating Community Capital workshop on June 14 about what we can each do right now to make a difference.
1. Change your bank--from a big one to a locally based bank investing in your community.
2. Put your short and medium term savings in CDs that are working for your communities—such as a RSF Social Finance or Calvert social fund.
3. If you stay with your big bank, engage them and inquire what part of their deposits from the region gets reinvested regionally. Write the CEO about community capital—they will actually write back.
4. Spend less, save more, and then invest it locally.
5. Make your investment in community capital the center of your savings, not the fringe.
6. Engage the community institutions where you live (universities, foundations, religious institutions and others) and ask them where they are investing their funds.
Tue, 06/14/2011 - 20:57
Recommendations from Don Shaffer of RSF Social Finance at BALLE's Accelerating Community Capital workshop on June 14 about what we can each do right now to make a difference.
1. Change your bank--from a big one to a locally based bank investing in your community.
2. Put your short and medium term savings in CDs that are working for your communities—such as a RSF Social Finance or Calvert social fund.
3. If you stay with your big bank, engage them and inquire what part of their deposits from the region gets reinvested regionally. Write the CEO about community capital—they will actually write back.
4. Spend less, save more, and then invest it locally.
5. Make your investment in community capital the center of your savings, not the fringe.
6. Engage the community institutions where you live (universities, foundations, religious institutions and others) and ask them where they are investing their funds.
The Next Industrial Revolution
Well, if you have to work in a factory, I guess this is a good one....
In any case, business owners need to be more conscious about their products like Herman Miller. I don't really like the way the interviewee speaks at me, but the idea that regulations are a design failure is interesting. I also like the comments that all products must be from the biological system where waste equals food.
In any case, business owners need to be more conscious about their products like Herman Miller. I don't really like the way the interviewee speaks at me, but the idea that regulations are a design failure is interesting. I also like the comments that all products must be from the biological system where waste equals food.
The Next Industrial Revolution from Christopher B. Bedford on Vimeo.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Creative economy filibuster
Stacking large events in only one neighborhood of a city ends up detracting from the quality of life and success of businesses.
Date: Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 11:03 AM
Subject: Re: races along Esplanade
To: afielkow@nola.gov, sgguidry@nola.gov, jbclarkson@nola.gov, kgpalmer@nola.gov
To Councilpersons Guidry, Clarkson, Fielkow and Palmer:
I am writing about the proposed use of the Fairgrounds to stage large events in the future. I found out about the idea of allowing the well-respected Susan B. Komen race to start, end and celebrate at the Fairgrounds from a local business owner. Let me say first that I would hope that in the future, your offices would send someone out to actually poll the most severely impacted neighbors, rather than rely completely on input from talking with neighborhood groups that represent a small portion of the active citizenry. I appreciate these are early days, but even better to knock on some doors before things heat up!
Second, I would like to throw my support behind races using City Park as much as possible, as the park needs the revenue badly. As it is a public amenity, it is our responsibility as neighbors to use it, care for it and assist it whenever possible. Although I am in favor of City Park being used for events such as VooDoo Fest, races et al, I also ask the city council to realize that the wear and tear on one set of streets being used for every race is short-sighted and most likely, sooner or later to actually mean a significant business loss for those along the route.
As for the Fairgrounds, the support that it needs was given to it by allowing it gaming (far beyond what the neighborhood wanted) and to be allowed to continue to stage JazzFest and have extended night racing.
I know that I am restricted from going to the French Quarter (where my parents live and so whom I save time on non-tourist packed weekends to see) or to the businesses on Carrollton or anywhere downtown for that matter on all of these weekend days. You may say that the inconvenience is slight, but it would be even more fair if it was shared with Uptown routes or maybe sending some needed life to parts of New Orleans East. Since we have the cache of JazzFest, the Fair Grounds (both racing and gaming) 9 months a year, the Crescent City Classic, the Mardi Gras race, Endymion, I'd be happy to offer other events to the lovely St. Charles route- or maybe using the levee as a race route.
The race track has no barrier between it and neighborhoods like the parks have. I live on its very edge and the lights from night racing and early morning trainings alone shine strongly directly on my porch and noise can be a factor. Certainly traffic (including parking in neighborhoods rather than in lot) and trash are often a factor. However, I have only mildly protested that, because I have felt the race track has been a good neighbor, using its purpose fairly and with some restraint. This of course, is my biggest protest-that the racetrack is thinking of adding more events that have no relation to its purpose and would be out of scale as well.
I ask that your offices take my input and share it with those who are making these decisions. I understand that the race will not happen at the Fairgrounds this year, but I ask you to refrain from changing any language that will allow future decisions to be made without significant public input.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fortin Avenue
Date: Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 11:03 AM
Subject: Re: races along Esplanade
To: afielkow@nola.gov, sgguidry@nola.gov, jbclarkson@nola.gov, kgpalmer@nola.gov
To Councilpersons Guidry, Clarkson, Fielkow and Palmer:
I am writing about the proposed use of the Fairgrounds to stage large events in the future. I found out about the idea of allowing the well-respected Susan B. Komen race to start, end and celebrate at the Fairgrounds from a local business owner. Let me say first that I would hope that in the future, your offices would send someone out to actually poll the most severely impacted neighbors, rather than rely completely on input from talking with neighborhood groups that represent a small portion of the active citizenry. I appreciate these are early days, but even better to knock on some doors before things heat up!
Second, I would like to throw my support behind races using City Park as much as possible, as the park needs the revenue badly. As it is a public amenity, it is our responsibility as neighbors to use it, care for it and assist it whenever possible. Although I am in favor of City Park being used for events such as VooDoo Fest, races et al, I also ask the city council to realize that the wear and tear on one set of streets being used for every race is short-sighted and most likely, sooner or later to actually mean a significant business loss for those along the route.
As for the Fairgrounds, the support that it needs was given to it by allowing it gaming (far beyond what the neighborhood wanted) and to be allowed to continue to stage JazzFest and have extended night racing.
I know that I am restricted from going to the French Quarter (where my parents live and so whom I save time on non-tourist packed weekends to see) or to the businesses on Carrollton or anywhere downtown for that matter on all of these weekend days. You may say that the inconvenience is slight, but it would be even more fair if it was shared with Uptown routes or maybe sending some needed life to parts of New Orleans East. Since we have the cache of JazzFest, the Fair Grounds (both racing and gaming) 9 months a year, the Crescent City Classic, the Mardi Gras race, Endymion, I'd be happy to offer other events to the lovely St. Charles route- or maybe using the levee as a race route.
The race track has no barrier between it and neighborhoods like the parks have. I live on its very edge and the lights from night racing and early morning trainings alone shine strongly directly on my porch and noise can be a factor. Certainly traffic (including parking in neighborhoods rather than in lot) and trash are often a factor. However, I have only mildly protested that, because I have felt the race track has been a good neighbor, using its purpose fairly and with some restraint. This of course, is my biggest protest-that the racetrack is thinking of adding more events that have no relation to its purpose and would be out of scale as well.
I ask that your offices take my input and share it with those who are making these decisions. I understand that the race will not happen at the Fairgrounds this year, but I ask you to refrain from changing any language that will allow future decisions to be made without significant public input.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fortin Avenue
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Concept is full of holes...
From a native New Orleanian planner friend who is living away right now:
What do you think about this:
WinnDixie CONCEPT
Seems like it could be cool. But I don’t like the urban design. Apparently Covington is the new model?? Oy vey.
MY response:
let's see what do I think of it..
1. City Hall should leverage the national chain's interest in reviving corridors by getting added amenities, such as useable green space, native plantings and or a second location in an area actually needing a store, like Gentilly Blvd.
2. Why are they not going on Gentilly Blvd?
3. The name, "Mid City Market" is a slap in the face of the American Can farmers market.
4. The Pinkberry idea is a slap in the face of Angelo Brocato's.
4. Winn-Dixie is grasping at straws to regain its foothold and it will succeed as well as Borders opening on Louisiana Ave did (closed after 3 years.)
5. The neighbors have no idea at what point too much commercial will take over their nearby residential areas because no one has studied it for New Orleans. I believe this will give Carrollton gridlock such as we have never seen and nuisances like added trash that will finally encourage people to sell and move to a more green area.
6. After the gridlock scares everyone away, the retail stores that are national chains will melt away in 2-3 years and move to a new location where they can again capitalize on new store sales.
So. Not much. No imagination, no guts, no real answers except more fly-by-night retail with more concrete in a sinking city.
What do you think about this:
WinnDixie CONCEPT
Seems like it could be cool. But I don’t like the urban design. Apparently Covington is the new model?? Oy vey.
MY response:
let's see what do I think of it..
1. City Hall should leverage the national chain's interest in reviving corridors by getting added amenities, such as useable green space, native plantings and or a second location in an area actually needing a store, like Gentilly Blvd.
2. Why are they not going on Gentilly Blvd?
3. The name, "Mid City Market" is a slap in the face of the American Can farmers market.
4. The Pinkberry idea is a slap in the face of Angelo Brocato's.
4. Winn-Dixie is grasping at straws to regain its foothold and it will succeed as well as Borders opening on Louisiana Ave did (closed after 3 years.)
5. The neighbors have no idea at what point too much commercial will take over their nearby residential areas because no one has studied it for New Orleans. I believe this will give Carrollton gridlock such as we have never seen and nuisances like added trash that will finally encourage people to sell and move to a more green area.
6. After the gridlock scares everyone away, the retail stores that are national chains will melt away in 2-3 years and move to a new location where they can again capitalize on new store sales.
So. Not much. No imagination, no guts, no real answers except more fly-by-night retail with more concrete in a sinking city.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Visiting 10 of the Most Interesting Abandoned Places on Earth - AOL Travel News
All of these places except one had to be abandoned because of human's destructive, evil or wasteful nature.
Visiting 10 of the Most Interesting Abandoned Places on Earth - AOL Travel News
Visiting 10 of the Most Interesting Abandoned Places on Earth - AOL Travel News
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Another streetcar line is returned
Possible headlines for this story:
City Hall remembers Canal Street
Union Station passengers can share the riding longer
Super Bowl first, now Super Streetcar City (this with picture of packed Canal Street streetcar or commuters in line for St. Charles Streetcar)
and of course:
Streetcars Are Desired
Loyola Avenue
City Hall remembers Canal Street
Union Station passengers can share the riding longer
Super Bowl first, now Super Streetcar City (this with picture of packed Canal Street streetcar or commuters in line for St. Charles Streetcar)
and of course:
Streetcars Are Desired
Loyola Avenue
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Greenway beginnings
1830s:The Old Basin, or Old Carondelet Canal was excavated for drainage and navigation (row boats), between the city and Lake Ponchartrain. It ended at Basin Street, and was infilled in the 1920s, when it became railroad tracks and Lafitte Avenue.
1871: Bonnet Carre river crevasse. A giant break in the levee upriver pushed so much water into the lake that the Hagan Avenue levee broke
Drawing of 1871 flood
By the mid-1950s, Bayou St. John again needed sprucing up. This unusual shot of a waterless waterway shows the bayou in July of 1955. That summer the Sewerage and Water Board drained the bayou to clean out trash and aquatic growth that were causing, literally, a big stink. [Louisiana Photograph Collection. Municipal Government Collection; Sewerage and Water Board Series]
Source: http://nutrias.org/~nopl/exhibits/ccmem/10.htm
1871: Bonnet Carre river crevasse. A giant break in the levee upriver pushed so much water into the lake that the Hagan Avenue levee broke
Drawing of 1871 flood
By the mid-1950s, Bayou St. John again needed sprucing up. This unusual shot of a waterless waterway shows the bayou in July of 1955. That summer the Sewerage and Water Board drained the bayou to clean out trash and aquatic growth that were causing, literally, a big stink. [Louisiana Photograph Collection. Municipal Government Collection; Sewerage and Water Board Series]
Source: http://nutrias.org/~nopl/exhibits/ccmem/10.htm
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Community Broadband
Around the United States, hundreds of communities have made substantial investments into telecommunications networks. These investments range from the nation's largest FTTH network in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to the hundreds of local governments that built networks to connect schools and community anchors.
This is the first map to comprehensively show the broadband networks that are structurally designed to meet community needs first. Most of the networks are owned by local governments, but nonprofit networks will also be incorporated over time.
Currently, the map shows publicly owned broadband networks that are offering FTTH on a citywide (or close to it) basis to residents and businesses (red markers). Additionally, it shows the citywide cable networks owned by local governments across the nation (blue markers). The markers half-filled with orange designate publicly owned networks serving some residents and/or businesses (some of these have plans to eventually offer universal coverage in the community).
In due course, the map will show broadband stimulus projects with a community focus, publicly owned institutional networks, and community wireless networks.
If you want more information about a specific networks, check if we have tagged it in a previous post, search our site for it, or check another source of information such as the excellent database maintained by Broadband Properties Magazine. You may also be interested in our Community Broadband Preemption Map focusing on state laws.
For general information about community networks, read our comprehensive report, Breaking the Broadband Monopoly: How Communities Are Building the Networks They Need.
Please do let us know if we missed any community networks or if you want to report an error. Stay up to date with information about these networks by following us on Twitter, fanning us on Facebook, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.
Credit for this map should be given to Eric James for designing it while interning with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. The data comes from a combination of sources, notably Broadband Properties Magazine, FTTH Council, Jim Baller, and information collected for years by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
Map
This is the first map to comprehensively show the broadband networks that are structurally designed to meet community needs first. Most of the networks are owned by local governments, but nonprofit networks will also be incorporated over time.
Currently, the map shows publicly owned broadband networks that are offering FTTH on a citywide (or close to it) basis to residents and businesses (red markers). Additionally, it shows the citywide cable networks owned by local governments across the nation (blue markers). The markers half-filled with orange designate publicly owned networks serving some residents and/or businesses (some of these have plans to eventually offer universal coverage in the community).
In due course, the map will show broadband stimulus projects with a community focus, publicly owned institutional networks, and community wireless networks.
If you want more information about a specific networks, check if we have tagged it in a previous post, search our site for it, or check another source of information such as the excellent database maintained by Broadband Properties Magazine. You may also be interested in our Community Broadband Preemption Map focusing on state laws.
For general information about community networks, read our comprehensive report, Breaking the Broadband Monopoly: How Communities Are Building the Networks They Need.
Please do let us know if we missed any community networks or if you want to report an error. Stay up to date with information about these networks by following us on Twitter, fanning us on Facebook, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.
Credit for this map should be given to Eric James for designing it while interning with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. The data comes from a combination of sources, notably Broadband Properties Magazine, FTTH Council, Jim Baller, and information collected for years by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
Map
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Sunday, June 05, 2011
The new enlightenment
"...A more self-aware, socially embedded model of autonomy that recognizes our frailties and limitations."
"To resist our tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar and wrong or false that which is only strange."
"To resist our tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar and wrong or false that which is only strange."
Crisis of capitalism
"capitalism never solves its crises problems; it moves them around geographically."
Saturday, June 04, 2011
Driving away from interstates
I drove to Natchitoches, Louisiana on Thursday and then drove back on Friday. For the unitiated: Nack-i- dish.( In Texas, their cityis called, Natch-i-toach-es.)
Nice little Louisiana city, has old Creole population and Native American too. Oldest settlement in the Purchase, officially a few years older than New Orleans itself. Home of meat pies (crawfish pie is wonderful) and Steel Magnolias, the Hollywood movie. City itself? Charming, has some smart people. Seriously divided between rich and poor (which means between black and white in Louisiana) and full of festivals.
Oh yes, they got buggies too
crawfish pies
Half Shell Seafood catfish
Both days using state routes, I got to leisurely view the water levels, the small towns and peek at the culture of my state as I drove at speeds ranging from 35 to 60.
I always take 190 from Baton Rouge to Opelousas then catch one of the most boring and brutally sunlit highways sections, 1-49 between Opelousas and Natchitoches.
This time, on the way back home, traffic was forced off 1-49 over to state route 71 South, so I just stayed on that until 190 this time. I might just switch over to 71 to Alexandria from now on. It was much more pleasant.
71 was much less populated but I was able to ride through Bunkie LA and a few other small towns that were clearly built as railroad crossing towns. A water tower and one church (usually Baptist) identifies some life back there.
I'm a fan of traveling on state routes;maybe it comes from reading Blue Highways, William Least Heat-Moon's classic book from the early 1980s about traveling the blue routes (state routes were blue on the old highway maps) and the people he meets along the way in a van he names Ghost Dancing.
In any case, traveling along those means you drive slowly through little towns (sooo many speed traps back there) and can stop for boudin, or cracklins or some chicken at places with first names only (Miss Jean' or Charlie's) and see buildings up against these old roads advertising for car repairs, boat repairs or just hanging out places (lodges and bars).
190 is heavily traveled always and now with the Spillway open even more so. (At certain points, the police were flashing blue lights and had signs to warn about wildlife crossing (due to the floods). Still the drive was mostly peaceful and calm. Maybe someday (peak oil days) the state routes will be full of bicycles, tramps and mule-driven carriages rather than cars and trucks and then all of their glory will be revealed again.
Nice little Louisiana city, has old Creole population and Native American too. Oldest settlement in the Purchase, officially a few years older than New Orleans itself. Home of meat pies (crawfish pie is wonderful) and Steel Magnolias, the Hollywood movie. City itself? Charming, has some smart people. Seriously divided between rich and poor (which means between black and white in Louisiana) and full of festivals.
Oh yes, they got buggies too
crawfish pies
Half Shell Seafood catfish
Both days using state routes, I got to leisurely view the water levels, the small towns and peek at the culture of my state as I drove at speeds ranging from 35 to 60.
I always take 190 from Baton Rouge to Opelousas then catch one of the most boring and brutally sunlit highways sections, 1-49 between Opelousas and Natchitoches.
This time, on the way back home, traffic was forced off 1-49 over to state route 71 South, so I just stayed on that until 190 this time. I might just switch over to 71 to Alexandria from now on. It was much more pleasant.
71 was much less populated but I was able to ride through Bunkie LA and a few other small towns that were clearly built as railroad crossing towns. A water tower and one church (usually Baptist) identifies some life back there.
I'm a fan of traveling on state routes;maybe it comes from reading Blue Highways, William Least Heat-Moon's classic book from the early 1980s about traveling the blue routes (state routes were blue on the old highway maps) and the people he meets along the way in a van he names Ghost Dancing.
In any case, traveling along those means you drive slowly through little towns (sooo many speed traps back there) and can stop for boudin, or cracklins or some chicken at places with first names only (Miss Jean' or Charlie's) and see buildings up against these old roads advertising for car repairs, boat repairs or just hanging out places (lodges and bars).
190 is heavily traveled always and now with the Spillway open even more so. (At certain points, the police were flashing blue lights and had signs to warn about wildlife crossing (due to the floods). Still the drive was mostly peaceful and calm. Maybe someday (peak oil days) the state routes will be full of bicycles, tramps and mule-driven carriages rather than cars and trucks and then all of their glory will be revealed again.
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
City neighborhoods: a matter of evolving perception
Maybe my favorite defender of the city Rich Campanella, defends neighborhoods defying definition:
City neighborhoods: a matter of evolving perception
City neighborhoods: a matter of evolving perception
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