Thoughts, Theories, & Possibilities

Where You Lives Says a Lot About You, Intentionally or Not

2011-08-10T09:20:00.001-07:00

Like Something Out of a Springsteen Song

2011-08-10T09:19:00.001-07:00

Doing research on rural school districts, the only entertainment is sports or band, neither of which I participated in

social structure was set up that way

The Future Belongs to Those Who Can Afford It

2011-08-09T16:28:00.001-07:00

new urbanism may, not will (!) may, only happen for those willing to put their money where their mouths are- and for developers, whose personal credit is often at stake, versus tried and true shopping malls (tho that model is becomign outdated)

do people crave it?

Only What the Market Will Bear- the Emeryville marketplace and Bay STreetr

Confessions of a Car-o-holic

2011-08-06T11:46:00.000-07:00

I'm a Stranger Here Myself

2011-08-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Last week I went back to LA after being away for a month and a half away to move out of my old apartment and see my friends.

Having lived in LA for two years I thought that I'd slip right back where I left off. It wasn't that long, right?

While all the sites looked relatively the same (they fiiiinally filled in the potholes on my streeet that were deep enough to throw a toddler in), it is true that you can't go home again. I no longer worked in the City of Angels. I don't buy all of my groceries at the local Smart and Final. I don't sleep in the 90007 zip code.

Having moved around so much I'm highly attuned to my "place" in a city. Am I a tourist? Am I a resident? A student? Just passing through? Do I slot into the middle? Or am I on the periphery?

I used to be a student/resident, but now I'm just passing through. Not here to stay.

I'll admit it's a weird sensation having gone from being the one that everyone would go to when they wanted to know what was going on to having no idea.

And it was great going to places that I love- like the Public Library in Santa Monica (and snagging a Christopher Buckley book!) and Senor Fish (potato tacos!) and trying out new places like Masa, where one can snag New Zealand green lip mussels for under $15! Less than $20 seafood!? I'm listening!

LA, I will always love you. But I have to strike out for new adventures. I will always love you.

Steal My Sunshine, Or Safety and Welfare are Overrated

2011-03-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

Usually, I'm really excited about the work that I do for the Planning Department. But this time I have hit a wall.

Back in 2002 the fair city of LA banned murals courtesy of Ordinance 174517.

I had no idea until literally yesterday as there are murals all over LA, which I love! And there are often new ones. For a kid from the Midwest where the only murals were of the boring, history, civic variety to see murals of comical chickens, goddesses, and words so vibrant, it looks alive was mind-blowing. It

The thing that makes me the most angry is that it's even illegal on private property! This is why people think planning infringes on personal rights and is fascist. For once, I have to agree with them.

Apparently, murals endanger the safety and welfare of people, be they drivers or pedestrians. I sort of concede, as they are visually distracting.

Which is what is mandated against in Article 4.4 Regulations Section 14.4.1 Purpose A." That the design, construction, installation, repair and maintenance of signs will not interfere with traffic safety or otherwise endanger public safety." (if you're going to survive in planning, you have to be able to speak legalese fluently)

I'm trying to blow the system up from the inside out. But it's hard to circumvent the system when legal has you tied down. I'm trying to find ways for people to be able to put up murals on the side of their buildings, in the back, etc., But it's always a viewshed for someone.

It seems unfair that we have to squelch artistic expression just because people can't remember the basic tenant of driver's ed "eyes on the road!" But being so reliant on our cars is another symptom of what's wrong with society. Tho that's another post for another day :/

In the meantime, I am listening to my favorite 90s one hit wonders. This one seemed particularly appropriate, Len's "Steal My Sunshine"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1fzJ_AYajA

Flight from -the Suburbs?

2011-03-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

As I've mentioned numerous times in this blog, post-World War II those that could moved out of the dirty, crowded, and sometimes dangerous cities into the clean, spacious, new, and crime-free suburbs. And a lot of people have stayed there, raised their children (my parents) there, who in turn raised their children there (ie my generation)

But part of the reason that people don't move to the cities is due to outdated paradigms as is pointed out in Aaron Renn for Urbanophile, cited in Streetsblog's March 7th, 2011 article, "Is Generational Turnover Necessary for the Return of Cities?"

http://streetsblog.net/2011/03/07/is-generational-turnover-necessary-for-the-return-of-cities/

"Gen-X and the Millennials have a much more optimistic and positive views of urban areas than baby boomers and previous generations. I think this results from the rupture that those earlier generations experienced when our urban cores declined. If you read a newspaper interview of someone in that age bracket, you always hear the stories about the wonderful things they did in the city when they were younger. It was the land of good factory jobs, the downtown department store where their mothers took them in white gloves for tea, of the tidy neighborhoods, the long standing institutions and rituals – now all lost, virtually all of it. Unsurprisingly, this has turned a lot of people bitter. Many people saw everything they held dear in their communities destroyed, and they were powerless to stop it.

For people about my age or younger, it’s a very different story. None of us knew any of those things. Our experience is totally different. We’ve basically never known a city that wasn’t lost. Gen-X, which Jim Russell views as the heartland of Rust Belt Chic, is a generation defined by alienation, so the alienated urban core suits our temperament perfectly. The Millennials of course have a very different attitude towards cities." -Aaron Renn,

http://www.urbanophile.com/2011/03/06/the-rupture/

Not all of my peers, even and especially in planning, want to settle down and/or raise their kids in the cities. And I don't blame them. The cities aren't for everyone. I always grew up with a backyard and if I have (don't get your hopes up Mom, this is merely a hypothetical exercise) kids, I'd like them to have one too. Meanwhile, my friend C was born and raised in Chicago and barely had a small plot of grass for her backyard. But she would rather (to paraphrase Arrested Development) be dead in the city, than alive in the suburbs (for trivia nuts, Lucille Bluth said that she'd "rather be dead in California than alive in Arizona" But the perceptions of "the city" need to be reexamined.

A prime example can be found in Newark, New Jersey. Scott Raab wrote an article for Esquire about Newark and its mayor, Cory Booker, for whom I have nothing but respect. Mayor Booker's picture is in the cited Streetsblog article

http://www.esquire.com/features/cory-booker-0708?click=main_sr

However, Mayor Booker wasn't entirely enthralled with the piece. See below for his rebuttal}

http://www.esquire.com/the-side/feature/booker-letter

It brings to mind the demand to stop the fetishizing of places like Detroit with the so-called "ruin porn" as I'd mentioned my January 31st, 2011 post, "All We Are Saying is Give Detroit a Chance."

Yes, cities can be dirty, gritty, and loud. But they also have amazing food that you'll never encounter at the mall food court, venues that bring cultural events that only come to cities not suburbs, and a heart that is constantly pulsating with life unlike the static suburbs. And to be a bridge and tunnel person isn't the same when you can experience this rush every day. It may not be for everyone and it can be frustrating dealing with neighbors who play their music at all hours, getting bumped by people who don't apologize, and wondering if one could take a decontainment shower worthy of post-radiation exposure before stepping inside one's apartment at the end of a day. But I can all but guarantee you that if you come to the city you won't get shot, raped, or mugged- if you act like you know what you're doing. Come on in! the water's fine, and you'll miss out on a lot if you just stand on the sideline.

You Know More Than You Know

2011-03-13T23:51:00.001-07:00

My friend is out of the country for spring break and I am taking care of his car for him. He let me use his car and I have been taking full advantage of that fact.

At first I was really nervous that I was going to get horribly lost- or worse- crash his car. So far, so good on both counts. I started out with a really easy route- taking the 10 (we refer to our highways, or freeways as they're known here, simply by their number) to Santa Monica for an informational interview.

But I used to hang out in Santa Monica a lot. And I was able to navigate based on prior experience.

This technique is using what Kevin Lynch, one of THE urban planners in our pantheon, would call a "mental map." A mental map is exactly what it sounds like- a visual map based on what you see, which often includes landmarks more than streets.

I've also been able to find my way to a friend's house that I've never been to, but was located on a main street. He also mentioned that he lived right next to a taxi stand, which was helpful.

And I was able to rely on past experience to find my way up to Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale and downtown Pasadena (plus a heavy reliance on Google Maps).

Some people say that the only way to find your way around LA is to just get lost. I am not that confident in my abilities to find my way back. But it's good to know that I was able to draw on my past experience and be able to marry it with my current needs. If only I could know if I will be needing this experience in the future or if it will just be a useful tidbit.

Talkin Bout My Generation

2011-03-08T13:54:00.001-08:00

I've been mulling over this whole state of affairs for a while. Not in the sub-prime mortgage meltdown sense of the world as I have in the past. But in the how the heck am I going to get a job!? ("call the recruiters" Yes Dad, thank you.), where am I going to live? What will my life be like post-graduation????

It used to be that you'd get an internship, if you did a good job and they liked you, they'd hire you when you graduate. You'd advance, save up for a down payment on a house, get a nicer car, etc., But now no one is in a position to hire, irregardless of how much they like you and we are stalled in terms of advancing up the prosperity ladder at a steady clip.

While this makes me rather upset, I'm more upset about all of the squandered potential that is occurring. I was at a birthday party for a fellow planner last week and another planner friend was talking about how he was applying for a job at Chase. The bank.

In the meantime, time continues on and we all get a little older and have to make our own concessions.

To cite one of my all-time favorite poems, the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,

And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—

I am ever-curious about the lifestyle habits of my peers and what does it say about our values?

As Scott Doyon noted in his post, "Settle Down Now, Is Community the New Frontier for Generation X?" March 4, 2011 "the youngest members [of Generation X] are now turning 30"

http://placeshakers.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/settle-down-now-is-community-the-new-frontier-for-generation-x/

Ten years ago, "settling down" would mean getting married, having kids, and often moving out to the burbs where the schools are "better." But recent studies have shown that people are getting married later than (some of) their parents. And the more education you pursue the longer it takes you to walk down the aisle. Not that they make the actual aisle longer, statistically those who pursue advanced degrees tend to marry later than their peers. Add that to the fact that having kids is an expensive undertaking and frankly rather "conventional" and an act that can be put off without too much repercussions in this age of fertility drugs, surrogates, and adoption.

But in non familial ways I have batting around the concept of Doyon calls, "the desire to sidestep authority in pursuit of a more appealing alternate system of their own creation. . . our instinct still tell us to sidestep power, to make things work on our own terms instead, . . ."

Doyon goes off on a different path of thought than the one that I am thinking. I am considering the potential for collectively pooling our resources, living with less, freecycling, and admitting our dependence on one another.

The last part of the above quote ends in "and nowhere is this [sidestepping the current system] more evident than in the rise of localism"

I'd talked earlier about the rise in "collaborative consumption" on my post "Sharing is Caring" on February 22nd, 2011. But I've been thinking about how would it work to live in a post-millennial commune, if you will. There is a ton of cheap real estate in underserved areas, such as Oakland, California, Detroit, or Hartford, Connecticut. How awesome would it be to hang out with my friends from planning school and form a loosely bound consulting agency while striving to fix the world's problems?

This would work, if it were say, 1970, and we weren't bound by our student loans (thanks inflation!) Ruth Reichel is one of my favorite authors/memoirists. And in her first memoir, Tender at the Bone she recounted her life in late 1960s/early 1970s Berkeley, CA where she lived in a huge house with a bunch of people in her early adulthood. It'd also be nice to be guaranteed a little private/personal time from my housemates so that if one wanted to bring a beau over, have family spend the night, just have a little peace and quiet one could get it and also give to others.

It's a lovely dream, but I'm not entirely sure that it can take root in reality.

As I try to make sense of an ever-changing world I leave you with a link to the recording of King George VI's , which was featured in the Oscar-winning (!) the King's Speech. Even though the quality is a little scratchy, the message still has the power to reverberate in the soul. Especially when you know the context in which this man spoke out against the darkness that threatened to engulf his nation (ie Hitler's march across Europe)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAhFW_auT20

An Open Love Letter to My Peers

2011-03-05T16:03:00.000-08:00

Last night I held a belated birthday party for myself, which was well-attended by some of my closest and dearest friends that I have made here in grad school.

Graduation looms ahead for us, about 6 weeks (!!!) and only one of us have a solid, confirmed job offer, and it's a fellowship. The rest of us stare grimly at the calendar and clock as the minutes tick by.

But despite the incredibly poor prospects that await us, we have kept our senses of humor. I mean, what can one do except laugh? If not, we cry. We have kept our heads held high, our chins determined, and our upper lips stiff. Everything below the neck remains resolute as well, but there aren't any cliches for them except maybe a "determined stance?"

We have, somewhat wryly, somewhat seriously, considered all moving in together in some "cheap" place like Oakland or Detroit to wait out this crappy recession. Perhaps the post-millennial version of a commune?

We also observed with a heft dose of irony that only a few years ago the people that were in our schools, graduating with their masters, "fell" into planning jobs because, why not? This, ironically, includes my immediate boss, at the city, who did a dual degree with his masters in international relations because he liked how planning complemented his studies. He is an excellent planner, but in a perfect world I imagine he may have envisioned his life differently. How things have changed in such a short time.

It has been a privilege to learn and work alongside an incredibly gifted and talented group of people. It is a shame that much of our potential is not going to be exploited to its fullest potential in the next few months. But I know that there is a place for all of us. It is just a matter of keeping our noses to the grindstone, our eyes on the prize, and enough hope in our hearts to remain buoyant.

SPPD Class of 2011 I love you. I leave you with this oft-quoted but sincere Irish blessing, May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

It May Be That the Gulfs Will Wash Us Down

2011-02-27T20:38:00.000-08:00

Standing on a precipice I am preparing for graduation and looking for a job. But the effects of the Great Suck, or the Not-So-Great Recession continue their effect.

Some of my classmates, including myself, have already "paid our dues" working at a less than glamorous job before we went to grad school. But now we are graduating and coming out again at the bottom.

On one hand it is good not to act like the world owes you anything as if you do think that you will quickly corrected. But at the same time it'd be nice to catch a break.

Irregardless,

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Tho’ much is taken, much abides; -Tennyson

Sharing is Caring

2011-02-22T14:47:00.000-08:00

Although Malcolm McDowell is probably already writing about this as I type, I have been really interested in the concept of "sharing" lately. Not the way that children are taught how to share, but how we as human beings, old and young, can share our resources from our homes to our no-longer-needed resources (like extra bricks, discarded toys, etc.,) via sites such as Freecycle.com

When I was younger, and an aspiring hippie, I thought that it would be so cool to live in a commune with other people. As a child of a two-parent, one sibling family to live with a bunch of strangers from all walks of life seemed so exotic and cool.

Then I grew up and realized that I enjoy a little privacy, peace and quiet, and not staring at unrecognizable faces over the breakfast table, who had not been in the house when I went to bed. I did live in a semi-commune-like setting during my first year of grad school. It was an old 1920s-?, two story house that I shared with a revolving door of roommates- it was between two and five other girls on a given day. Plus two dogs and two cats, none of which were mine. It wasn't based on peace, love, and understanding- far from it and resource-sharing was a rare occasion. But it was "interesting."

A really cool example that didn't invoke personal frustration I found in an Amazon.com review of a book that does talk about this subject entitled What's Mine is Yours: the Rise of Collaborative Consumption by: Rachel Botsman by Kare Anderson from Sausalito, CA-

"One Saturday a friend who lives on Nob Hill in S.F. drove a zipcar over to visit me in Sausalito. He was eager to tell me about his trip to Istanbul, paid for by renting out his spare bedroom. Earlier that morning, via a freecycle posting, a stranger picked up some clay pots I'd set out by my garage so he could make a deck garden. Our apparently different actions are, in fact, part of a trend that Roos Rogers and Rachel Botsman dub collaborative consumption in their book, What's Mine is Yours."

And no Amazon (still!) doesn't give me a kickback every time I mention them. :(

The topic of sharing was also the focal point of an interview Planetizen (again, no kickbacks) conducted with a one Mr. Jay Walljasper

http://www.planetizen.com/node/48122

And for my pop culture reference of the day, house-swapping is one of the key plot devices in the Kate Winslet/Cameron Diaz/Jack Black/Jude Law movie, OK, chick-flick, the Holiday. Of course, as only Hollywood can, Kate Winslet lives in a charming English cottage and Cameron Diaz has a gorgeous home in the Hollywood Hills. But both are desperate for a chance of scenery and are more than happy to exchange one picturesque vista for another. And of course, find love in the process. But even Hollywood is clued in to resource sharing!

As the planet gets hotter and the economy continues to make a very slow recovery it will be interesting to see if we shift from "our greed is good" and "he who dies with the most toys wins" mentality to one based more on sharing and exchange. The days of borrowing a cup of sugar from a neighbor seem quaint at best, but who's to say that swapping houses could be the post-modern version? The future is unwritten.

How to Make Friends in a Strange Land

2011-02-21T19:26:00.000-08:00

One of the most bizarre social occurrences that I have observed as I have become an adult is that unless one has a specific social group to which one belongs it's really hard to make friends.

Obviously, there are adults of similar levels of intelligence that one interacts with at one's workplace, if applicable.

But what about those who are unemployed? And especially those who are unemployed and not not religious? Nor civically inclined?

I have a friend who had a job and was laid off. She isn't religious and has limited interest in civic engagement. She lived in LA for a whole year before I came to school and she volunteered with two groups. But both of these groups are rather insular in nature and she didn't feel like she could really fit in.

Another friend is highly accomplished and independently wealthy, but has to take care of her mother who has health issues. She lives up in wine country, ie northern California, and has to drive into the city to get social interaction.

On the other hand, I feel very fortunate to have made great friends while attending grad school. I've also made some good friends at my internship.

Making friends is something that we do naturally as children. But as we become adults the social opportunities become more limited. And finding ways to make new ones sometimes feels like building a working spaceship only from parts purchasable at Home Depot.

Helping my point is a clip from the Big Bang Theory.

The brilliant, but socially inept, Dr. Sheldon Cooper, on CBS's the Big Bang Theory wants to endear himself to a colleague who has access to a super cool microscope or particle collider or something physicists lust after. But his colleague rebuffs his advances. Undeterred, Sheldon is determined to turn a colleague into a friend. Seeking advice, he sought out advice at the local children's bookstore. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtyEbAgNJsQ

I wrote a paper for my History of Urban Planning about the loss of thirdspace. My thesis stated that as people were able to afford single family homes their social lives became more and more focused within the home instead of exterior. One need only look at the ever-expanding home entertainment section of Best Buy to see this is true.

This argument fits well within the paradigm of suburbia. But what about in a big city? While the burden ultimately lies within each one of us to find and make friends it helps if there are public spaces for us to bump into people and to make connections.

A Few Takes on the Bible, Through a Planner's Eyes

2011-02-19T21:33:00.001-08:00

I pulled the first joke from- http://homepage.tinet.ie/~nobyrne/planning_implications_of_earth.htm

Planning Implications of the Creation of Earth

In the beginning God Created heaven and the earth. Quickly he was faced with a enforcement action for failure to obtain planning permission or submit an environmental impact statement. He was granted a temporary permit for the heavenly project, but was stymied with the Warning Notice for the earthly part.

Appearing at the subsequent court hearing for failing to accept the Warning Notice, God was asked why he began his earthly project in the first place. He replied that he just liked to be creative.

Then God said, "Let there be light." Officials immediately demanded to know how the light would be made. Would there be noise? What about thermal pollution? God explained that the light would come from a huge ball of fire.

God then sought outline permission to make light, assuring officials that no smoke would result from the ball of fire, that he would obtain all necessary licences, and (to conserve energy) would have the light out half the time. God suggested a number of conditions for permission and said he would call the light "Day" and the darkness "Night." Officials replied that they were not interested in semantics.

God said, "Let the earth bring forth green herb and such as many seed." The Parks Department agreed so long as native seed was used. Then God said, "Let waters bring forth creeping creatures having life; and the fowl that may fly over the earth." Planning officials pointed out this would require approval from the Wildlife Service coordinated with the Heavenly Wildlife Federation.

Everything was OK until God said he wanted to complete the project in six days. The Planners informed him it would take at least 200 days to review the application and the environmental impact statement. After that there would be a Council meeting, a series of public consultation hearings. Then there would be 10-12 months before...

At this point God created Hell!

The other one hangs on the wall at my internship at the councilman's office-

Enjoy!

In the year 2006, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now

living in the United States, and said. "Once again,
the earth has become wicked and overpopulated and I
see the end of all flesh before me. Build another Ark
and save two of everything living along with a few
good humans."

He gave Noah the blueprints, saying, "You have six
months to build the Ark before I will start the
unending rain for forty days and forty nights."

Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah
weeping in his yard... but no Ark.

"Noah!," He roared, "I'm about to start the rain!
Where is the Ark?"

"Forgive me, Lord" begged Noah "but things have
changed. I need a building permit. I've been arguing
with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler
system. My neighbors claim that I've violated the
neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my
yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to
go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision.
Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond
be posted for future costs of moving power lines for
the Ark's move to the sea. I argued that the sea would
be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it.

Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban on
cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl.
I tried to convince the environmentalists that I
needed the wood to save the owls. But no go!

When I started gathering the animals, I got sued by an
animal rights group. They insisted that I was
confining wild animals against their will. As well,
they argued the accommodation was too restrictive and
it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a
confined space.

Then the EPA ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until
they conducted an environmental impact study on your
proposed flood.

I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the
Humane Rights Commission on how many minorities I'm
supposed to hire for my building crew.

Also, the trade union say I can't use my sons. They
insist I have to hire union workers with Ark building
experience.

To make things worse, the IRS seized all my assets,
claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally
with endangered species.

So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least ten
years for me to finish this Ark."

Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine,
and a rainbow stretched across the sky.

Noah looked up in wonder and asked, "You mean, you're
not going to destroy the world?"

"No," said the Lord. "The government beat me to it."

A Few Planning Jokes

2011-02-19T21:15:00.001-08:00

Yesterday at my internship at the Planning Department at the City of Los Angeles I overheard two planning jokes. I thought that I'd pass them on~

A bishop, a judge, and a planner were arguing amongst themselves who was the greatest.

"I am the greatest," said the judge. "When I enter a room the bailiff announces 'all rise!' people stand up and address me as 'Your Honor'."

"That's pretty good," replied the bishop. "But when I have an audience people kneel and kiss my ring and address me as 'Your Eminence!'"

"You guys are fooling yourselves." snorted the planner. "When I enter a room people cover their eyes and shout 'oh my god!' "

This other joke was also cited in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a movie tho incredibly funny and touching, also definitely earned its "R" rating. It goes a little something like this-

How do you know that God is an engineer and not a planner? Because a planner wouldn't put a sewage plant next to an amusement park.

Jason Segel, if you knew this joke before you wrote the movie, call me. I love you. Actually, I love you anyway.

Mixed Income Communities and Reality

2011-02-19T20:52:00.000-08:00

I live in what new urbanists would call a mixed income community. Some people own their homes, others, like myself, rent. There are working professionals, students, and families.

New urbanists like mixed income communities because there can be a mix of housing styles to cater to different needs. There can be townhouses, single family homes, apartment complexes, duplexes, etc., Instead of just building a suburban subdivision of just single family homes a developer can diversify his or her portfolio and spread out his or her risk. People can find a home that fits their particular lifestyle and budgets. And unlike what is currently happening around the US, if some homes are foreclosed, it won't turn into a ghost town. If there is a diverse set of options, some one else can move in to the (God forbid) foreclosed townhome or house while the apartment complexes and other multi-family housing continue to operate. Instead of there being whole subdivisions of abandoned single family homes straight out of a zombie flick.

This is a fantastic proposition and one that would be great to be seen in more places.

Unfortunately, this works well only when everyone plays by the rules. The rules being that no one blasts their music, that no one can accidentally overhear anyone else getting intimate, or any other activities that include keeping one's clothes on that would count as noise violations.

Portlandia, Heaven on Earth? Maybe. . .

2011-02-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

There is a new show in IFC which I have yet to watch entitled, "Portlandia." Starring SNL's Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, formerly of Sleater-Kinney and now of Wild Flag it takes an absurdist view of life in Portland, Oregon.

http://www.ifc.com/portlandia/

I must admit, if given unlimited resources and more of a predisposition to favor consistent rain over consistent sun, I too might live in Portland.

At first glance it's darn near Utopia. Especially from a planning perspective. It seems like everyone is in harmony, working towards the greater good while consuming only local organic food. There are no NIMBYs. (Not In My Back Yards) only peace and good will. (this is all, of course, on the surface and prone to great hyperbole for dramatic effect).

Oh yeah, and no one seems to mind that the "green belt" that was mandated in the 70s has artificially inflated real estate to levels that rival San Francisco. A green belt, in a nutshell, is a no-build barrier formed around a city, established at a certain geographic point to ensure that development does not infringe on nature. Unfortunately, this means that supply is limited while demand is ever-increasing. Therefore, since supply is constrained price increases. The same thing happens in New York City. Landlords can charge an arm and a leg because if you reallllly want to live in Manhattan proper, well, you have finite options where to lay your head.

One of the biggest causes of my despair was the announcement that Portland is actually dedicating revenues to bicycling! Bicycling the ultimate in utopian form of transportation. Citations of the leisurely activity conjure up images of beach cruisers, Amelie, and safe and happy children.

http://www.planetizen.com/node/47086

And here is the Portlandia version-

http://www.planetizen.com/node/47880

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, my friends at the LA DOT (that's D-O-T, not DOT) work tirelessly on raising bike awareness and bike safety.

http://ladotbikeblog.wordpress.com

While our good Mayor of LA, out on a bike ride, breaks his elbow when a taxi pulls out in front of him!

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-mayor-villaraigosa-breaks-arm,0,318953.story

Trying to find bad stuff about Portland is like trying to find bad stuff written about Betty White. OK, both are a little overexposed (as of late), but to badmouth either of them is like saying you hate kittens and puppies and rainbows.

Joel Kotkin, of whom I possess little favor, bravely campaigns for the position of anti-Portland. He is also one of the most prolific members of the unofficial anti-anti-sprawl movement. (These are not necessarily pro-sprawl, but they don't bemoan it as the smart growth people do either). But here's his pot shot.

http://www.planetizen.com/node/18244

No one ever said that life in Portland is cheap. San Francisco is the farthest thing from cheap, but I'd still give my left arm to live there if guaranteed a well-paying job. Unfortunately, herein lies the problem- how to create nice, livable places people want to live in and interact with, but entry level isn't set at upper-yuppie levels?

Still, in a world of frustrations and backlashes at the smallest imagined slights, it's nice to know that somewhere (over the rainbow?) some one is experiencing a modicum of success.

http://www.planetizen.com/node/92

Snow = Nature's Street Calming Measure?

2011-02-10T12:23:00.000-08:00

I grew up mainly in the Midwest and have had my fill of snow to last for two lifetimes.

However, in some misguided form of wanderlust I booked myself a ticket from sunny (warm!) Los Angeles where I live now to Chicago for my birthday. In February. Where the Blizzard of 2011 hit. A day before I flew in. Yes, I am that kind of smart.

My travel plans made complete and total sense back when I booked my ticket in October. I'd completely forgotten about that fluffy white stuff that rains down from the heavens. And sticks together and collects. And collects. And collects. Until there are piles of snow as high as the top of a car's tires.

However, one thing that snow does provide is traffic calming. Traffic calming is exactly what it sounds like- design features built into the built environment to slow down traffic. There is a range of ideas from speed bumps to narrowed streets to changes in texture in paving. But sometimes Nature lends a helping hand and create what traffic engineers call "bulb-outs" or extensions of the curb. These rounded and extended curb corners force drivers to slow down as they round a curve as the street extends into the road.

The author in the video calls them neck-downs. Neck-down, bulb-out, whatever. It works. If only we could drive this safely all year long.

http://www.streetfilms.org/snowy-neckdowns-redux-winter-traffic-calming/

All We Are Saying Is Give Detroit a Chance

2011-01-31T14:33:00.000-08:00

First, let me start out by apologizing to anyone who is immediately incensed by the word "porn."

This posting is not about, the, uh, "traditional"-? use of the word porn. At least not in the Judge Potter "I-know-it-when-I-see-it" Stewart sense of the word. (fun fact: Judge Stewart was quoted in the 1964 case of Jacobellis v. Ohio 378 U.S. 184 commenting on the Louis Malle film, the Lovers) Thanks Wikipedia! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_it_when_I_see_it

Second of all, while I'm not outraged, I'm certainly fatigued by less-than-creative bloggers, journalists, and anyone with access to a keyboard and a reliable Internet connection, to use the word porn in conjunction with another noun, such as food or real estate to generate shock or at least attention to what they're saying. What they really mean are glossy, superficial images, which yes, are meant to generate a reaction, though not necessarily erotic. Examples-

source: http://ayeshahaq.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/choc_cake2.gif

source: http://www.archithings.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/The-Finest-Finishes-Penthouse-Apartment-7.jpg

OK, now that that is out of the way- on to the point of this posting. As always, Planetizen surprises and delights me with a plethora of topics. The latest is "ruin porn." We all know that Detroit's in trouble. While it may be a phoenix, it has yet to rise from its own ashes.

People are befuddled as to what to do, but one of the most popular, and frankly, well-received, ideas is the you-can't-ignore-what's-in-front-of-you tactic, ie graphic images of the fall that has become Detroit.

http://www.tnr.com/article/metro-policy/81954/Detroit-economic-disaster-porn

And while I am against the exploitation of anything (except the cuteness of cupcakes. Seriously, if you Google Image "cupcake" you may in fact die from the cuteness!) I doubt that the people of Detroit want to be treated as the Little Nell of the North, the charity case that we should all pity. Yes, they are in dire straits, some without the economic means to improve their station, others enjoy the Mrs. Havisham air while keenly aware that things are not as they could be. But this doesn't mean that they need our pity. They need our assistance, be it financial, be it through prayers, be it through actual manual labor if you have the time and resources.

Noreen Malone says, "Pictures are naturally more memorable than a well written, evenhanded magazine storyabout the scope and tragedy of Detroit’s economic woes could ever be. But that’s precisely the problem. These indelible pictures present an un-nuanced and static vision of Detroit. They might serve to “raise awareness” of the Rust Belt’s blight, but raising awareness is only useful if it provokes a next step, a move toward trying to fix a problem. By presenting Detroit, and other hurting cities like it, as places beyond repair, they in fact quash any such instinct. Looked at as a piece of art, they're arresting, compelling, haunting ... but not galvanizing. Our brains mentally file these scenes next to Pompeii rather than a thriving metropolis like Chicago, say, or even Columbus." -the Case Against Economic Disaster Porn by Noreen Malone, http://www.tnr.com/article/metro-policy/81954/Detroit-economic-disaster-porn

I agree with Ms. Malone that we already have the awareness, we need action. But to cull a line from an old church camp song "it only takes a spark to get a fire going" and we are an ever-increasingly visual culture (case in point- this blog. You're reading my words on a computer screen, not on the pages of a book). And people associate objects within imagery with specific events- the oil slicked pelican of this past summer's Gulf oil spill, the firemen standing on the rubble of Ground Zero, the soldiers erecting the flag at Iwo Jima. The more people that are made aware, they more potential to gain collective action we will receive.

It's a cheap trick, but we are galvanized to action seeing defenseless little otters covered in oil, abused puppies and kitties, or starving children with ribs poking through as they sit in the dirt in developing countries.

Ms. Malone makes an interesting point that so many of the pictures of Detroit are devoid of people.

"The human brain responds very differently to a picture of a person in ruin than to a building in ruin—you'd never see a magazine represent famine in Africa with a picture of arid soil. Without people in them, these pictures don’t demand as much of the viewer, exacting from her engagement only on a purely aesthetic level. You can revel in the sublimity of destruction, of abandonment, of the march of change—all without uncomfortably connecting them with their human consequences." -the Case Against Economic Disaster Porn

However, it could be asked, if you were in that situation, would you really want to be the poster child of Detroit? Especially if you are a fully-grown adult? Even with your consent, it would be embarrassing and frankly more than a little degrading to have the documentarian turn the camera on you and say, "And here we come to Frank. Frank has lived in Detroit for his entire life. Frank's father worked the line building gleaming Chevys and Fords. But now Frank sits on this abandoned porch and dreams of the past." "Here is Marie. Marie remembers the X House when it was the pride of the neighborhood. "They used to decorate it for all of the holidays, she recalls wistfully. "Now the lights have gone out." Maybe forever? intones the narrator That sounds equally exploitive.

But maybe one solution could be that it takes people, who would appear to be far-removed from such a situation, to spur us to do something?

So help me, I love Jackass, especially Johnny Knoxville. No matter how stupid you may think you are for doing X, there are people out there who are happy to show that they are light years ahead of you in terms of bad decisions. Or maybe they're just overgrown kids with underdeveloped rationalizing areas in their cerebral cortexes. But my heartfelt and sincere thanks to Johnny Knoxville for lending his celebrity, no matter how dubious in nature it is, to a worthy cause.

http://www.grist.org/article/2010-09-23-going-beyond-ruin-porn-in-detroit

I'd also like to direct your attentions to one of my all-time favorite magazines, Juxtapoz, who asked some of their favorite artists (6 of 'em) to work in Detroit in conjunction with Powerhouse Productions for Juxtapoz's 15th Anniversary Benefit and Auction Project. If the name Juxtapoz rings a bell, I did a posting on JR, an amazing artist, who was featured in their publication.

For more info please check out their links-

http://origin.juxtapoz.com/Features/featuremitch-and-gina-of-powerhouse-productions-and-the-story-behind-juxtapoz-in-detroit

http://origin.juxtapoz.com/Current/the-detroit-photos-of-yves-marchand-and-romain-meffre

Detroit, I know that you have yet to regain your former splendor. But we have not forgotten about you. Motor City keep on truckin. Through awareness and ultimately action, we will help you rise again.

365 Cities?

2011-01-31T12:47:00.002-08:00

I was thinking as I have been getting ready to go to Chicago in the dead of winter for a poorly-thought out birthday present to self how can we make 365 Cities?

What I mean is that we in the planning world talk about "24 Hour Streets." 24 Hour Streets are streets where there are few lags in activity throughout a 24 hour period. Think New York City streets- many of them have delivery trucks coming at the crack of dawn or in the middle of the night to make their drop-offs, then the commuters hustle along the same streets to get to work. After the morning rush hour tourists or senior citizens or work-at-home people may take a walk on the same strips of cement that a mere hour before expensive wingtips and stilettos traipsed upon. Then comes the lunch crowd and the afternoon tourists, students, and free lancers. 4 o'clock - 7 o'clock the corporate workers pour out of their office buildings and make the trek home. They mingle with the dinner crowd and after that comes the wave of pub crawls and nightlife seekers. Although last call may come at 2 or 3 AM the delivery trucks are starting up. And the cycle continues.

This is of course an idealistic concept and not every street in NYC is busy at every hour of the day. But the point is that there is usually always something going on.

Therefore, I wondered, if there are 24 Hour Streets, could we make 365 Cities?

In THE biggest cities in the world like New York and Tokyo yes we can have 365 cities. These two places, and maybe London? (I wouldn't know, haven't been) or Rome-? are such hubs of activity that like the Post Office neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor hail will deter the public from using the city be it for work or pleasure. If it's raining in Tokyo and it's your first time there are you seriously going to just stay in your hotel room and watch it come down? Unlikely!

But what about places where there may not be as many attractions to pull you out of your hotel room or there are attractions, but the weather can be mercurial? For example, Chicago.

It's easy to create walkable communities in places where it is sunny and warm at least 8 months out of the year (though it can also be potentially humid or muggy during those sunny warm times). But what if 8 of those months, or it feels like 8, are either snowing, raining, or hailing?

Although I have great respect for the New Urbanists, but they tend to gloss over the effect regional weather can have on people's desire to go for a walkabout. The New Urbanists are also are savvy enough to build their most well known developments below the Mason-Dixon line. Two of the most well-known members, Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk made their names with Seaside, FL and Celebration, FL, www.dpz.com

In a related argument there are several critics who scoff at the "skywalks" of Minneapolis and other cities, saying that it takes away from the character of the street. But what if the "character" is only out for 6 months of the year? Yes, I know, 6 is more than zero. But 4 of those months you are all but guaranteed snow, wind, and/or freezing temperatures. People think I'm joking. Ha! Come to Minnesota in April or October and we'll see who the joke's on now! PS- bring a scarf. As Dean Martin said, "baby, it's cold outside!"

And I would argue that skywalks will not provide the final nail in the proverbial coffin. I first encountered the skywalks of Minneapolis in the third grade, from the street level thank you very much. Contrary to whatever futurist nightmares the critics think skywalks will produce I can assure you that Minneapolis does not look like some Bladerunner-like city out of the Matrix with tubes coming out of buildings. There are a few. They are incredibly useful in the winter. But the downtown skyline doesn't look like a cyber-punk octopus is trying to strangle all of the buildings.

However, all is not lost. Ray Oldenburg, in his work, the Great Good Place, talks about "third spaces," which I also cite a lot, especially in this blog. And I would like to propose that perhaps, although we planners advocate for increased walkability and people mingling on the streets, perhaps "third spaces" are more realistic for places with less than ideal weather and an auto-centric world.

Oldenburg's examples of third spaces include: cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, bars, hair salons and other hangouts (to crib from his subtitle). For my pop culture reference of the day, the movie Barbershop (starring Ice Cube and Eve) predominately takes place in a "third space," a barbershop, from which the movie takes its title. The movie is also set some time in winter on the South Side of Chicago and as it is too cold to mingle on the streets for long many of the characters in the film come into the barbershop for their social contact. See if that happens at your local Supercuts be it in Chicago or San Diego.

I'm all for walkability, but I think that critics need to be realistic about what people are willing to do under normal circumstances. And if there are not ideal meteorological conditions, people will be apt to stay inside. This doesn't mean that there can't be indoor third spaces. Will this lead to 365 Cities? Probably not. What makes Tokyo and New York so special is that they're always on, they have an electric pulse that thrums with the life of their city. Should Cleveland or Rochester be strive to be like that? No, but finding ways to create third spaces within their cities would serve them well, especially when "baby it's cold outside!"

Just Because You Could, Does It Mean You Should?

2011-01-31T12:47:00.001-08:00

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a recovering impulse-buyer. I used to go into Target with a list of five essential items- toothpaste, toilet paper, shampoo, dish soap, and Q-tips. I would come out with maybe three of those items, plus a new pack of pens, a t-shirt, something Hello Kitty and at least three gotta-have-its from the dollar bin. But I'm getting better. One day at a time.

Therefore, it is with no intentional disrespect to Mr. Irvin Dawid who summarized a real estate report from the San Francisco Examiner, that I take issue with his usage of the word "practical"-

"The foreclosure crisis has made it more practical to buy rather than rent in 72% of America's 50 largest cities." http://www.planetizen.com/node/47903

Dictionary.com defines practical as- definition #7- mindful of the results, usefulness, advantages ordisadvantages, etc., of action or procedure.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/practical

However, I would say, is it any more practical to buy a house (or condo or townhome) than to rent just because it is currently "on-sale"!? A six pack of toothpaste may be on sale at significant savings (let's say $4 instead of $10 for the same net weight had I purchased the same six pack not on sale, or even more so, say $12 if I bought the net weight in individual tubes) and is therefore "practical." I will need toothpaste in the foreseeable future. In fact, I will technically need toothpaste until the day of my demise be it tomorrow or be it in 2052. But do I need 6 tubes of it all at once??? Probable not, and while I doubt one must play hard and fast with toothpaste's expiration date, it is likely that they will reach their best-by date before you are done with half of them.

Now take this example and blow it up into house-sized proportions! A house, also known, as the biggest financial investment of your life. Unless you're a sheik who buys islands and small countries to put in your investment portfolio. A house that requires maintenance, invokes property taxes, and is hard to liquidize on a whim in a tough market such as the one that we are currently experiencing.

I've been following the current mortgage crisis with the morbid curiosity of a rubber-necker at a crash site. And there have been multiple books written on the subject. A cursory Amazon search shows that several people have done their homework and are now eager to have you buy their research: from the benignly-titled I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and Why No One Can Pay by: John Lancaster (I read this and highly recommend it), False Profits: Recovering From the Bubble Economy by: Dean Baker, to the damning- the Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America- and Spawned a Global Crisis by: Michael W. Hudson to the poetic- Crash of the Titans: Greed, Hubris, the Fall of Merrill Lynch, and the Near Collapse of Bank of America by: Greg Farrell and the Christopher Buckley-esque- All the Devils Are Here: the Hidden History of the Financial Crisis by: Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera. I imagine that B&N and Borders will have to dedicate a new section in their stores entitled What the F Happened!? Though I imagine that the Financial Section will just be expanded.

Therefore, this isn't any different than having people who didn't understand the intricacies, nor the interest schedule, for a sub-prime mortgage sign up anyway. Let's not get land-happy just because it's at a discount. Get it because your lifestyle needs are changing- your family is growing, your knee isn't getting any better with age and a one story (heck on a lakefront!) is more appropriate for your needs, etc., but not just because the open house had shiny granite countertops and you're regretting your Corian. When the water heater breaks in the house that has the shiny granite countertops because an unscrupulous developer tossed in the bargain-basement water heaters because s/he wanted to shave off a few pennies on their side and you're out $1,500 while the water heater in your Corian house quietly hums away, you'll have no one to blame but yourself.

On a related plug, one of my prior Amazon popped up this book- Our Lot: How Real Estate Came to Own Us by: Alyssa Katz. I think I borrowed it from the library, but have yet to read it. If you finish it before me, let me know what you think! And to all- caveat emptor.

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, But Don't Forget to Stop and Smell the Roses

2011-01-29T15:30:00.000-08:00

My boss at the Planning Department at the City of Los Angeles recently asked when I graduate. "In May." I replied. "Wow, that's what, three months away?" he observed. Well, technically, four, but yeh, soon.

Besides the heart-pounding palpitations that the thought of graduation invokes, I have also been thinking what have I learned in grad school and what is still missing.

My brilliant friend E, who can pilot a helicopter, drive a race car, make a ten course French meal with one hand tied behind her back, tie speaks or can read 5+ languages, and sew wedding dresses while writing computer code or snapping beautiful photography once said that she is often tormented with all of the areas of knowledge of which she is ignorant. I laughed at her pointing out all of her accomplishments, many of which a vast majority of people will not never come close to mastering. She was unconvinced, but Socrates said that "the beginning of wisdom is the admission of one's ignorance."

As I review my resume I wish that my hair were long enough to chew on. There are so many things that I wish I knew. This, that, gah! x, y, and z! It's enough to render a person catatonic.

But if I am honest with myself, even the director of planning of the City of Los Angeles doesn't know evvvverything about planning. If he did, we would live in Utopia, not Los Angeles. We are always learning, always ever evolving, all of us.

I know more than I did when I first started grad school, some valuable lessons and others are hard-won truths. But I will know more two years from now than I do now. And even more two years from that time.

One of my favorite poems in high school was Robert Herrick's "To the Virgins Make Much of Time." This was due in no small part to Robert Sean Leonard's tortured role in the movie Dead Poets' Society, perfect for an angst-ridden teenager in the Midwest, in which this poem played a key part. Being a perfectionist I am often consumed with thoughts of what am I missing?! What don't I know!? Time nips at my heels! I must round out my wheelhouse! Instead, I need to sit back, take a breath, and now that while my drive for perfection will serve me well in my work mode, not to let perfection be the enemy of good. Focus on what I know how and know well and be sure that future employers are made aware of these attributes.

As another favorite poet, T.S. Eliot soothed in "the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

"There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;

There will be time to murder and create,

And time for all the works and days of hands

That lift and drop a question on your plate;

Time for you and time for me,

And time yet for a hundred indecisions

And for a hundred visions and revisions

Before the taking of a toast and tea. "

{stanzas 23-34}

OK, it's doubtful that Eliot would be highly sympathetic to my plight. He came off as rather stingy emotionally and more than a little pretentious. But it is gratifying to know that there is "time yet for a hundred indecisions/ And for a hundred visions and revisions/ Before the taking of a toast and tea"

And although it is unrelated to anything in this post, it is another poem about time and one of my favorites by Henry van Dyke,

"Time is too slow for those who wait,

too swift for those who fear,

too long for those who grieve,

too short for those who rejoice,

but for those who love, time is eternity."

Here is Herrick's poem in its entirety-

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles today
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer,
But being spent, the worse, and worst,
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.

Better The Devil You Know

2011-01-28T15:39:00.000-08:00

Planetizen cited an interesting article that was originally published in my local paper, the LA Times.

http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-commre-retail-20110123,0,1033716.story

The article focused on the mall in Culver City, which is now owned by the Westfield Corporation.

The reason that I bring this up is because so often in my school readings the authors feel like any sort of corporate involvement in a project is on par with flag burning and/or human sacrifices.

But sometimes, I would argue, we cannot bring about major economic redevelopment without a major infusion of cash, ideally from a source who has a lot of it and doesn't mind throwing it around ie one who won't always be nervously eyeing the books.

I'm not advocating for the Disneyification of the entire developed and developing world. But sometimes corporate sponsorship is justified. They have the resources to dedicate to security, upkeep, and even that luxury, design. A bunch of small investors may not have the portfolio or priorities to invest in such things and a project may suffer from more of a piecemeal approach and disjointed final project. Westfield et al., may be a little on the "slick" side (see another example, Ed Roski's (who is also an USC alum) project, LA Live/Staples Center, but who can argue with revenue generation? And developers shouldn't be required to taste to everyone's whim and design aesthetic.

Las Vegas fills me with loathing and disgust, but I acknowledge that it employs a lot of people. The Staples Center invokes seizures on sight, but I like having the LA Kings play near where I live.

So it really 'better the devil you know than the devil you don't'? Or should we live free (of corporate intervention) or die trying while trying to cobble together enough resources in order to execute a project on our own terms? With the closing question being if not thee, then who? It can be very lonely and more than a little, waiting alone on one's moral high ground.

The Invisible Hand Gets a Slap on the Wrist

2011-01-26T13:54:00.001-08:00

As one may have noticed from the nature of my blog I possess a variety of planning interests. But two of my key interests, nay obsessions, are zoning and the market, ie how do planning decisions play out in the real world? (I am also a closet theory fanatic too and economics enthusiast, even if I don't always understand what's being said)

So, imagine my surprise and delight when Planetizen showed this story-

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-01-20/story/jacksonville-planners-eye-new-rules-discourage-urban-sprawl

Apparently, Los Angeles isn't the only one who is taking a good long look at what their zoning says and what they want it to say, and more importantly, do.

http://cityplanning.lacity.org/PressRelease/MythsNFacts.pdf

If you don't have time to read the article, I've pulled out the most salient points. Jacksonville is abolishing what they refer to as concurrency, in which "developers are assessed a fee based on transportation improvements their project may require, whether or not those improvements are ever made. . .

Under the current system, developers pay when their new houses, strip malls or other projects are expected to lead to more people using local roads than those roads are designed to support. Using a complicated formula, the city figures out how much of the cost of improving that road is the fair share that the developer should pay.

Once the congested road is widened, though, another developer that comes would end up paying much less than the first developer because that project doesn’t require more work to be done.

“Some property owners end up being asked to pay more than their property is worth while a guy a mile away is paying almost nothing,” said T.R. Hainline, a land-use attorney who chaired the committee that worked on the mobility plan."

- from " Jacksonville Planners Eye New Rules to Discourage Urban Sprawl" by Timothy J. Gibbons. The fee doesn't having any "teeth" as we call it. Developer A has to shoulder the brunt of the fees while Developers B, C, and D trot behind on the already paved path. Think older sibling isn't allowed to see PG-13 movies until they are 13 while kid brother (or sister) is taken to R rated movies at age 10 without any lobbying, just a smug grin as they walk into the darkened theater knowing what they're getting away with.

From now on Jacksonville will utilize their "new system [which] divides the city into five areas, from downtown to rural, and then into zones. Developers pay a fee based on which zone their project is in and can get credits for doing things that reduce trips, such as locating offices by stores or on a bus route. . . Instead of having to wait until a project is completed and asking the city to figure out its fair-share payment, Killingsworth said, developers can figure out the fee up front by looking at the project’s zone and how many trips it will create." (Gibbons)

I'm all about the "invisible hand" letting things go their way as socialism has a far from truly successful track record of implementation. But to let things go any which way in the built environment, according to the whims of the latest financially solvent developer, is a recipe for disaster.

Granted, we didn't have the foresight to predict how big of an impact auto-dependency and building in greenfields instead of working what we already have. Manifest destiny man! *best spoken as the Big Lebowski's "the Dude"*

An interesting theory, but horrible ramifications, especially for several generations down the line. My parents always told me that actions have consequences, often after I decked my younger brother. And while my relationship with my sibling is much healthier, our relationship with our cars is slowly becoming toxic.

But until there is policy written to mitigate or even transform our behavior we'll keep shouting Manifest Destiny! While the cost of food and gas steadily and stealthily increase around us. (supply and demand at its down and dirtiest- the less there is of a resource, the higher the cost. This is fine when it comes to things few of us can afford, like a $100K+ Ferrari. Not so great when your loaf of bread costs $5 and your gas is $7.50/gal)

While it isn't ideal, we have to hit developers where it hurts- in the pocketbook. Until they all become altruistic and want to build infill, for now it's easier to build out and that system can't self sustain itself forever. Therefore, sometimes that invisible hand needs a slap on the wrist so that it can steer in the right direction.

East vs. West, or I Always Wondered About This

2011-01-20T15:59:00.000-08:00

I was always curious about why it can sometimes seem like the "west side" of an area is nicer than the east side. The author postulates that it was due to the direction of the wind, which would blow pollution eastward, prompting the rich to move westward.

http://www.planetizen.com/node/47486

The "west is best" argument is obviously not true in Wausau, as clllllearly the academically gifted reside on the superior east side of town. The fact that I used to live on the east side (go Lumberjacks!) has nothing to do with my statement of "fact" ;) The east side also has the gorgeous historic homes of Franklin Street and the Leigh Yawkey Art Museum.

The west side of LA is definitely "nicer" than the east side of LA. My beloved gelato shop is there, there is more shopping, and all kinds of vibrant businesses and creative venues. In fact, when many people speak of "East LA" it's in a tone reserved for the "poor Little Nells" of the world.

East LA may not have the reputation for violence that South LA has, but it does have blight and as East LA proper is unincorporated it suffers from being economically disadvantaged. But people make it their home. There are street cart vendors and small businesses. Family ties are probably stronger and stretch further than one's immediate family. And there are some lovely affordable housing sites whose models resemble market-rate homes elsewhere.

However, no matter how you frame it, it's significantly hotter, especially in the summer, than the west side which is cooled by delicious ocean breezes, even a few miles inland. And when the temperature reaches the triple digits I'd rather be at the beach than espousing the benefits of having your extended family under your roof.

The author's theory, on closer inspection, could be a sweeping generalization. In New York it's not a clean cut haves and have-nots. The Upper East Side is the swankier side, the west is more liberal. Though in some areas some boho babies are also trust fund kids who are slummin it with their beatnik and hipster buddies. And in Chicago it's kind of hard to say as it's built almost on the lake. There is the Gold Coast that is on the east side, but Lawndale, which is a really rough section of Chicago is on the west. Though if you drive for a few more minutes you are in the very nice suburb of Oak Park. And the swank city of Pasadena is on the east side of the general area of greater Los Angeles.

But in smaller cities the west side can be nicer, more cosmopolitan, etc., For example, in MSP- Minneapolis is the more cosmopolitan, while St. Paul, though lovely, is more reserved and less glam.

At least, when it comes to LA the answer is literally blowing in the wind! (And a lot of history that I am blatantly glossing over as this is a blog post not a book) For more info on the history of LA there are a ton of books, but the Reluctant Metropolis, by my former prof, William "Bill" Fulton is great and City of Quartz or the Ecology of Fear are "interesting" reads by Mike Davis. They're on my bookshelf. But Amazon.com will be more than happy to supply you with hundreds of other titles. :)

You Can't Go Home Again, and Yet You Can

2011-01-05T08:05:00.000-08:00

Having spent almost an entire month under my parents' roof, despite being a full-fledged adult- with my health (thank you God) intact, has been surreal at best.

With the exception of a short-term return to the nest after I graduated from undergrad with an oh-so-useful (not) but passionately prized degree in art history I have been living entirely on my own.

But with graduation from graduate school looming on the horizon I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to spend some "quality time," a phrase I've never really understood, with my parents before I plunge back into the work world.

It's been fantastic doing free laundry, not having to scrounge for meals or gas money, and all of the other cliche (but very much appreciated) perks one has staying at Mom and Dad's.

It's also been a time of reflection. Regardless of how famous or how smart or how anything you are today, your past makes up a part of who you are. Even the hypothetical self-made millionaire who went from rags to riches is keenly aware of where s/he is- or isn't- from time to time. The uber-hipster from Missouri who's living the bo-ho glam life in Silverlake may still feel a tug at the holidays as s/he isn't having a white Christmas. And the hard-bitten but non-native New Yorker from Kentucky, who fled the rural countryside, may wish, in fleeting moments, that one didn't have to visit Central Park to see green space.

I'm a self-confessed city snob. But I also love the countryside, especially down South. And every once in a while I feel the tug of the suburbs and its single family houses- the bane of planners' desire for utopia. It's a symbol of my childhood and of my concept of home. As I never lived in an apartment as a child, the Playskool/Fisher-Price house is a part of my memory make-up.

One of my primary interests in planning is seeing where my generation winds up living- even on a semi-permanent basis.

We all know that the cities have been usurped by the safe appeal of the suburbs yadda yadda- territory I've tread many times in my blog and won't rehash for you.

And there have been many attempts to try to "reinvent," "rebrand" the city- to highlight its cultural sophistication, to glamorize the bohemian appeal of it, even to try to turn it into a hipper version of the suburbs. Some attempts have worked in some parts of the country. Others are embarrassing attempts.

Joel Kotkin has an interesting take on this in his article for "the New Geography"-

http://www.newgeography.com/content/001657-the-myth-back-city-migration

And Christopher Leinberger has an equally provocative rebuttal-

http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/0709_walkable_spaces_leinberger.aspx?rssid=transportation&utm_source=feedburner&utm_mediu

Here are the Vimeo links-

http://vimeo.com/16431631

http://vimeo.com/16431824

http://vimeo.com/16432364

FYI- if you walk around the halls of my school, USC's School of Policy, Planning, and Development- you'll see the same thing physically. For the most part the urban planning people are the equivalent of the Steve Jobs computer geeks- not unattractive, but a little scruffy around the edges. While the real estate folks look so youthfully preserved you wonder if they bathe in the blood of virgin unicorns. Though if anyone asks, my school has the best looking faculty, period. :) (Except for UPenn's Witold Rybczynski, who I wish taught at my school. But I have Bill Fulton so ehhhhh)

One of the most interesting things about twenty-somethings that I've observed, especially those desperate to throw off the shackles of their bourgeois suburban upbringing, is that they move to a city either during or after college. But once they have kids, they move back to the suburbs. Understandably a child's education is much better in the suburbs where the tax base is higher so the quality of education is proportionate to taxpayer income, an unfortunate but nevertheless true real-life ratio. But it doesn't make it any less amusing for those of us who don't have to get in our SUVs to "return" to the city on the weekend. Cuz we're already there. Observing the hordes of yuppies drive in through our hipper-than-thou oversized sunglasses from the 80s with a barely concealed look of derision and scorn.

Even Arcade Fire wrote their latest (as of this writing) album about the suburbs. They even called it "the Suburbs." You can take a kid out of the suburbs, but you can't take the suburbs out of the kid?

I've noticed that a lot of people in my generation, who I personally count from 1983-1988, have gotten married young and some have even started families young. Many more so than our predecessors, Gen X, who bore more of the brunt of their parents' freedom from the stigma of divorce, but didn't escape the effects divorce has on the children. Some Gen X'ers have gotten married, but others have opted for live-in situations, sometimes proceeding with legal formalities later on.

If pressed, the general consensus between myself and my peers my age (27-28 years old, again, as of this writing) is that there is a new generation every year. iPods and cell phones have a different frame of reference for myself compared to my brother who is four years younger than me and bought both items well before me. Another, more historic example- I vaguely remember the Persian Gulf War, I don't think my brother does at all.

Beloit College puts out its yearly "mindset" list citing pop culture touchstones that the incoming class has always known or has no idea what you are talking about.

In the spirit of democracy, I am also including this link from the WSJ critiquing said list. Though points are subtracted for journalists showing off their smarts and citing "Hecuba" for no good reason at all.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704868604575433783887009678.html

I also thought that this was an interesting complement to the concept-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/17/beloit-college-mindset-li_0_n_684308.html

I officially feel old now, but my closing point is that people will go where they want to go. And I'm curious as to who goes where and for how long. Time will tell. Until then, wristwatch? What's that? ;)

How Hazardous Driving Conditions Are Good for You, or Reflections on a Des Moines* Driving Experience

2011-01-04T07:29:00.000-08:00

*actually, it should be Windsor Heights/Clive, Iowa driving experience to be geographically correct, but Des Moines Driving sounds better :)

I like to think of myself as a "seasoned" driver. I was taught how to drive in late fall in central Wisconsin. This included several stints of white-knuckled driving (and white-knuckled front passenger seat riding) in winter complete with snow, ice, freezing rain, hail, the works.

Receiving my driver's license (on my second attempt) in early February I was still in Wisconsin. The first time, in true Wisconsin fashion, snow had blurred the painted lane dividers and during my road test I was instructed to make a left hand turn. I did as instructed, feeling confident, until a truck pulled up on my left hand side, alerting me to the fact that I was not in the left hand turn lane as anticipated. After that I honed my driving skills in Connecticut, land of windy roads carved into mountain sides. And I rounded it out driving in downtown Chicago.

Though I have yet to drive the lawless roads of LA I am confident that I could handle whoever decides to cut me off having born witness to my friends' driving.

But driving in Des Moines can spoil a person. Although the strictly enforced speed limits, which rarely exceed 35 mph have reduced me to squeaky indignation, one gets used to it. I am a self-confessed speed demon, but I am also a creature of habit. And having been warned of law enforcement's hard-nosed approach to speed limits I have caught myself mildly panicking when I exceed 45 mph. This is from a person, who under any other driving conditions usually takes the posted speed limit and adds 15.

Also, in LA, where every third person is trying to make a left-hand turn on a two lane street, left hand turn lanes are rare and left hand turn signals a luxury. Therefore, one must often inch one's way oh so cautiously into the intersection and pray that oncoming traffic will at least be courteous not to swipe your bumper as you wait for the light to turn red. At that divinely appointed, or at least culturally accepted moment, you can crank the wheel, stomp on the accelerator, and make the turn that you've been waiting five minutes to make. Here in Des Moines, where I am spending my last full 24 hours, there are left hand turn lanes everywhere!

There are even those sections of road that are sectioned off in the middle of the road, reserved for traffic that is coming from either direction to make a left hand or a right hand turn into a shopping center. As I am not a traffic engineer I don't know the technical term for them. I do know that they are rare in LA.

And don't get me started on the number of left hand turn lights Des Moines has en masse. Oh that LA could install a few of those! Maybe Angelinos could DRV HPY.

There are even green *right hand* turn lights. I almost weep with pleasure when I see those as I know I won't be sideswiped by some jerk trying to run the light. The law is on my side! Nevertheless, the paranoid city driver in me still checks before inching into the intersection.

As much as I love these traffic conveniences and the fact that they are spoiling the heck out of me, that is also the downfall. I have opted to use the children's storybook characters the Country Mouse and the City Mouse in lieu of and to not directly offend any homo sapiens. I would argue that the City Mouse is a "better" driver due to conditioning. S/he is used to the perils of driving as s/he is faced with them every time they get behind the wheel. (This is assuming that there are cars correctly proportioned for mice. As Stuart Little had a car I would argue that there are. There's your random pop culture reference for today's post.)

The City Mouse doesn't have an illusions about his or her fellow driver. S/he knows getting on the 5, the 110, the 101, or any road for that matter, there's going to be some one who's driving distracted- be it texting on their phone, yelling at their kids, fumbling with the radio dial, etc., *Chances are the City Mouse is doing the same things too* Though not this City Mouse. Speed is my only vice. Unless of course I am employed by a city or state agency. Then, I will be the paradigm of law-abiding citizen!

Roads are also more crowded in the city making space more limited. Therefore, one has to be more aware lest one scratch that $100,000 Maserati that is ahead of you. Beautiful as they are, it is better to look not touch lest one wishes for one's auto insurance rates to skyrocket to the stratosphere.

The Country Mouse, bless those that still exist, often still harbors the notion that people, or in this case, "mice," are inherently good. That everyone else is driving just as carefully as s/he. And while one should always drive defensively, other drivers are not going to cut you off arbitrarily because everyone drives nice, right?

Two minutes on any big city road will vaporize any belief in other drivers being inherently "good." Someone's going to merge into your lane without looking, someone else will be riding your bumper like you're playing Bumper Cars, a third driver is merging onto the on-ramp without regard for the other cars that are already there. And if you're lucky all three conditions will converge at the same time like a traffic Bermuda Triangle.

Therefore, the Country Mouse is snapped out of his or her revelry that s/he was able to indulge puttering around in his or her small town accelerating or slowing at a whim, not bothering to signal lane changes This does occur in big cities too. But such actions do not go unnoticed. Many a driver anoints him or herself a traffic cop and is more than happy to tell you what you did wrong complete with hand gestures, colorful language, and commentary on your ancestry.

While I'm not advocating that we should all drive like the self-centered jerk that wants to be unleashed from our id, I do hypothesize that a little hazardous driving conditions isn't always a bad thing. Just like Midwestern winter weather driving conditions as sucky as it is to have to deal with it, given enough exposure it could save our lives. (think how vaccines work, same concept). Drive into that big city Country Mouse, you'll thank me later.

New Year's Resolutions status: unlikely

2011-01-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

And so a new year is upon us. Happy 2011 y'all! Perusing other people's blogs, Facebook postings, etc., it appears that the spirit of this year's resolutions are one of determined optimism, something I wholly support.

If 2009 was the year that came up and whacked us from behind like a mobster, then 2010 was the year to learn with the permanent ringing in our ears. But 2011- like the 5th stage of grief per Elisabeth Kubler-Ross from her seminal work, On Death and Dying- is one of acceptance. And through that acceptance comes freedom and maybe even optimism. Hey, one could be more random. In my last post I cited Joan Crawford. Never be boring! Though rarely be academic either ;)

While I, like many people, vow many resolutions for the coming year including actually starting my exercise regime in earnest- this time it's the Bar Method http://www.barmethod.com, remembering to floss more than once a month, volunteering more, breathing deeper, and actually blogging I imagine that the only resolution I will be able to keep through December 31, 2011 is brushing my teeth for the required two minutes. Drinking 64 ounces of water a day -!? seems unthinkable for those of us who are not independently wealthy and don't have to schedule our lives around more personal and pressing biological obligations.

I do vow to view planning through a broader lens and not just the "magic bullet" paradigms of mixed-use developments, transit-oriented developments, and urban villages that I love so much. They are still great and have their place. But to diversify- say for a small town in Virginia or northern Wisconsin- I need to think of what other problems befall planning and how can it be addressed.

As always, I aim to be lively here while viewing the world through my semi-permanent irreverent perspective. May your 2011 be filled with love, laughter, and job security!

The Call of the Mall, Reply at Your Own Peril

2010-12-28T15:47:00.000-08:00

I have set my sights on several planning jobs in towns that are in very modest-size.

The temptation is to say gee, if they just put in a few more up-scale chain stores they could generate a lot of business. A Gap over here, an Abercrombie over there and people would flock from miles around!

Afterall, that is what I am thinking whenever I drive around Des Moines- gahh if they just had an H&M or a Barnes and Noble!

This is not entirely fair to say. The "upscale" mall, and the newest mall in town, Jordan Creek contains many national brands, including J. Crew, Pac-Sun, Ann Taylor Loft, etc., But H&M is among the missing. Barnes and Noble is in town and scattered throughout, though their bargain section is lacking in terms of quality.*sigh* I'm still looking for a Crate & Barrel or a Whole Foods. Yes, I am a horrible yuppie snob. I swear it's latent!!!

But as past experience has taught us, relying on a mall is a dangerous proposition. Other cities have tried building a mall as their Hail-Mary economic development strategy. And at first they appeared to be a resounding success. Afterall, who doesn't love a shiny, new building filled with all of your favorite stores?

The question is posed, what happens when the cruel hand of Time leaves its grubby fingerprints on an establishment? What happens when thirty years have passed and the age of a structure begins to show? It's hard to pass off an era-specific 1960s mall as hip and happening when a sleek new mall is built. Insert analogies culled from Sunset Boulevard, All About Eve, or any Joan Crawford movie centering around an aging (badly) starlet here.

And what is one left with besides a monstrosity of a building that is hard to convert into other uses. Imagine how hard it is to retrofit a former McDonalds or Taco Bell building into something else. Yes, they can be turned into a hair salon, pet boutique, or office. But these archetypal buildings are firmly ingrained in our psyches. And when we drive by the new Tammy's Toys for Pets, we still think why is the Taco Bell now a pet shop!? Imagine trying to do that with an old mall!*

Therefore, my proposals are minimal in terms of expense and often rely on social gathering, such as spaghetti suppers and pancake breakfasts. I figure, people have to eat, why not do it together? I also suggest other community-building activities, such as organized sports teams and talent shows. I'd share the list, but one must save some ideas for the interview!

People may tire of American Eagle or Macy's, but our need to be social creatures is not as fickle as the next season's hemlines. And in some communities the need to keep with the latest trends is not as important as keeping up with one's family.

Though I love big city life, I'd be willing to trade it in for a government job in a small town that allows me to think creatively and not have to worry about breathing in deeply. LA's air quality leaves much to be desired. But fresh, country air? Can't get enough!

In the end, it is community, not commerce that triumphs.

*= this is not to say that the old malls must go the way of ill-conceived housing projects. Sometimes the spaces are leased out to grocery stores-

http://retailtrafficmag.com/news/mall_owners_experiment_supermarkets_09292010/

Here are some other interesting ideas from Retail Traffic magazine

http://retailtrafficmag.com/news/developers_rethink_mall_06272010/

But it does require money, on some one's part. And no one knows that better than Cloverfield, Virginia

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/aug/21/clov21-ar-464846/

And if one does raze a building and build a new "destination center", one must remember to build it for tourists and locals.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20101226_For_tourists_and_city__not_re-created_equal.html

With thanks to Planetizen.com's search engine for these results.

The "Architect"

2010-12-25T14:35:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I just received a copy of Makeshift Metropolis: Ideas About Cities by: Witold Rybczynski, his new work and my all-time favorite author. Yayyy!!! So super psyched.

Reading the dust jacket my dad was asking who was the (main) architect who designed the "White City," i.e. the Chicago's World Fair of 1893. Answer: Frederick Law Olmsted.

His question got me thinking. I haven't had a chance to read Rybczynski's work. But the dust jacket says ". . . the movements that defined the twentieth century, such as City Beautiful, the Garden City, and the seminal ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright and Jane Jacobs. If the twentieth century was the age of planning, we now find ourselves in the age of the market. . ."

Going back even farther in time, (which Rybczynski may do), I would argue that if the 21st century is the age of the market (or the developer) and the 20th century was the age of the planner, then the 19th century (going as far back as the Renaissance, and technically even farther) was the age of the architect.

I haven't taken any history of architecture classes so my timeframe is definitely up for revision or modification. It could have been shorter, or could it have been from the beginning. Afterall, some cave person or Druid had to conceptualize what Stonehenge would look like.

Watching Inception the concept of the power of the "architect"- in the literal sense of the word, not in Nolan's sense of the word, weighs heavily in my mind. Especially as in the movie the "architect" is given ultimate control over the design and execution of not only a building, but an entire world. (Maybe architect isn't the right word. Maybe urban planner is a better term ;) We are the ultimate latent control-freaks. But "architect" sounds sexier- images of schmancy eyewear, all-black clothes, and spiky, artsy, hyper-stylized hair. Or maybe I'm the only one who hears the word architect and thinks of Daniel Liebskind).

source: http://www.wilde-spieth.de/english/bilder/daniel_libeskind.jpg

Planning school has broken down many of my pre-conceived notions, including the sovereign power of an architect.

I used to think that the architect had the same role as he (or now she) had centuries ago. He possessed a vision and the client paid. This was true well through Olmsted's time. But not anymore. Now I know it's no longer true. Architects are hemmed in by their clients' budgets, legal and construction restrictions, the laws of physics, developers, lawyers, and bureaucracy in 31 other flavors.

I don't know what the role was of different parties in, say, the Renaissance, other than the architect and the patron. There were obviously sub-contractors, such as the carpenters, the masons, the other craftsmen. In their time they would have been called gilds.

But who said how big one's mansion/villa could be? Obviously, property lines were determined by law. But setbacks? Roof lines? That may not have been legally mandated except by whoever was richest. Or if your second story impinged on your richer-than-tho neighbor. Maybe a cute architectural historian knows and would like to enlighten me. ;)

I'll let you know if I do determine an answer. Until then, power to the people! Er, the market.

Confessions of a Design Snob

2010-12-23T22:14:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking a lot about my planning interests.

Before I went to planning school and learned about ordinances and politics, setbacks and NIMBYs, my driving desire in planning was to create, or at least cultivate, places for people to "hang out," to "just be."

I've come to learn that if I really want to "create" hangouts I'll literally have to put my money where my mouth is and become a developer. And as I rarely balance my checkbook I doubt that taking out a construction loan in my name is a wise idea either.

But the dream lives on.

I know that humanity needs spaces for social interaction, where we can connect- cite Bowling Alone, sociology, some anthropology for good measure, yadda yadda.

The question remains, how to bring it about?

I hate to be all Parisian, 1920's, was-it-ever-really-that-good-or-is-everyone-who'd-offer-up-a- differential-is-dead-so-let's-say-yes-with-abandon, salons, and cafes, but I do think that cafes and coffee houses, despite their inevitable romanticizing and looking at the past with round, hippy rose-colored glasses, remains one of the best places for people of different incomes, races, and creeds to come together without too much inherent strife.

Look at Starbucks. Except for the dude who is monopolizing a table for four, with his laptop and no beverage nor food item in view during a crowded hour, there is rarely any strife. I admit that some times it's a chick who commandeers an entire table without a status-cup in view, nor a baked good to-go bag in sight. Either way, it's uncool when I'm meeting my group for a project get-together in a Starbucks that is well-known as a student studying spot, as it is right next to my campus and you're pecking away on Facebook taking over an entire table not buying anything. You are on warning, sir/ma'am. Starbucks corporate would back up my logic, as much as I'd hate to be in agreement with Starbucks corporate on many issues.

I was thinking about this specifically as I met my friend and fellow planner at USC, Caitlin, at the Mars Cafe, by Drake University, here in Des Moines. Caitlin grew up in Des Moines and said that the Mars Cafe was "the cool place to hang out for the cool kids," which she self-deprecatingly declared that she wouldn't know from personal experience.

I laughed, remembering the cool coffee shop in the town that I spent the majority of my childhood called, Something's Brewing. I vowed, as a child, that when I went to high school that I would hang out there after school and be so cool. Unfortunately, I only frequented that establishment on weekends, and often accompanied by my dad, which is the polar opposite of cool to a high schooler.

But the Mars Cafe was cool. It was the longest wait I've ever had for a hot cup of cider (my poison of choice in the winter). Yet it had the requisite locally-produced, winking-at-pop-culture art, the kid-friendly toys, and the slightly funky vibe that a local college coffeehouse has.

However, it felt a little too "new," too static-y, I don't know if because it's wedged in a nondescript strip center, if the roof felt too high, if the glass was gasp! too commercial (as opposed to I don't know too bohemian? I know it can't all be Art Nouveau. But it should be!) If the paint wasn't peeling in the right places, if the tables weren't "distressed" enough to warrant approval. Thanks to David Brooks, my "bobo" aesthetic is now highly attuned to bruise tones and the right level of distressed finishes, ie does it look like someone took a hammer to it or sanded the heck out of it even though it's brand-new? (see Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks, a slightly culturally dated reference as it was pre dotcom bust. Still socially scathing in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way. You'll never look at Anthropologie the same way again post-read)

This summer I went to the Bourgeois Pig, great name, mais non? in Hollywood to see a friend off before he left town for osteopathy school. The BP, as it is not called, is also directly across the street from the Celebrity Scientology Center. I wish I could say that I made that up. The BP, besides its hilarious location, is what I think of when I think coffeehouse. It's wedged in a strip too. The pig does not stand alone. There's a cute, quirky gift shop next door, and a slightly more formal restaurant to the right. But it definitely has that lived-in vibe that I crave.

"Tell me what you think of the inside," my friend said with a grin after we'd exchanged pleasantries and I was about to go inside to place my order. "Why?" I asked, expecting some Hollywood freak show of half-assembled mannequins peeking out of dark corners, or a porcelain unicorn collection on display whose sheer quantity would render one speechless. This is Hollywood, not the star machine of yore. More like the sideshow carny with that lecherous look in the eye. It's surreal fun, but you'll want too bring your Purel just in case. "You'll see." he grinned and took a nonchalant sip of his Yerba Mate tea.

The inside of the establishment is painted a dark, dark cobalt blue. It's a small space with an old bar, old school cash register, and gilt gold decorations, including the namesake pig, peering out at odd angles. I'd never been in a coffeeshop that looked like it was painted by a pre-teen whose artistic vision exceed his grasp of good interior design. But I've yet to forget the place.

Maybe Time not only heals all wounds, but also provides that patina we need to give a place that sense of history, of community. Or maybe the Starbucks aesthetic is just fine.

Sandra Tsing Loh comments on said aesthetic (as have many other writers, who I won't cite here) and how it has permeated her entire life.

"My generation. . . our psyches, our aesthetics have become totally Starbucks-ized! I expect every space I enter to look like Starbucks. I walk into a room and expect to be immediately bathed in earth tones, track lighting, and a story on a chalkboard about how far organically grown Costa Rican beans have traveled to see me, me, me. . ." (from Sandra Tsing Loh's Mother on Fire, 257).

I'm not anti-the Starbucks aesthetic. But I'd prefer a drink at the Bourgeois Pig over the nearest Starbucks and not just because the Bourgeois barista was genuinely excited at my request for a raspberry mocha compared to the green-aproned peeps at the coffee chain named after the first mate on the Pequod in Moby Dick (true story), who I could create the most inane custom order and they wouldn't blink. Sheesh, sometimes the customer isn't always right. Sometimes s/he's a raging lunatic and must be put down like Old Yeller. Or maybe it's my phobia of becoming an insufferable yuppie talking.

Granted, I'm a horrible design snob, but I'm also a history nerd. And if a place feels like it's been around forever, or at least I can't tell, I'll happily pony up $3.99 for a thimbleful of chai. Ah, marketing, you destroy me and revive me.

Irregardless, our built environment has forgotten to mandate "the third place" as Ray Oldenburg calls them in his excellent work, the Great Good Place.

To cite Wikipedia, Oldenburg calls one's "first place" the home and those that one lives with. The "second place" is the workplace — where people may actually spend most of their time. Third places, then, are "anchors" of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction. All societies already have informal meeting places; what is new in modern times is the intentionality of seeking them out as vital to current societal needs. Oldenburg suggests these hallmarks of a true "third place": free or inexpensive; food and drink, while not essential, are important; highly accessible: proximate for many (walking distance); involve regulars – those who habitually congregate there; welcoming and comfortable; both new friends and old should be found there. -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_place

While it may take me a lifetime to actually use that helpful sheet of paper that my bank encloses with each monthly account statement, at least there is food for thought for what could be added to our built environment as the absence of a third place leaves a vacuum in our social lives.

Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose (the more things change, the more they stay the same)

2010-12-20T22:57:00.000-08:00

Looking for a job my how-to-get-a-job books recommend that I define what I want in a job. They don’t recommend vagaries. So, I’ve been thinking of what I’d like to do ideally/where I’d like to live and what reality might be able to provide.

When I was young I wanted to be an artist- sleep late, have people pay me to paint, travel to lands far from the staid but comfortable Midwest in which I grew up. I also wanted to live in a big city, with exciting things to do at night, which would be waiting for me after I rolled out of bed. There would be cultural events at my disposal. Ideally, it’d be a big creative city brimming with artistic people to chat with over coffee, watch good-not-boring foreign films with, and contemplate priceless works of art together. Also, ideally my dad's last name would be Trump, Rockefeller, or other titian of industry.

Some things remain the same- in a perfect world I’d prefer to sleep late, be paid to paint, and travel. But I know that nowadays it’s next to impossible to eke out, much less make a proper living as a painter. Therefore, I’ve realigned my sights for something more realistic. I’ve always wanted to have a job that would make a difference in the world. And as much as I believe in the power of art I don’t think that a painting will solve world hunger. Mona Lisa’s been around for about five hundred years and she has yet to put a dent in the issue of international famine.

I also think that problem-solving and liaison with multiple parties is something that I’d like to do and would be great at. Ideally, I’d work in an education or sustainability-emphasis capacity. And I’d definitely like to have new challenges every once in a while. I did go/am at planning school. But I am 95% confident in the hiring potential probabilities in the planning realm. All I hear about are people being laid off. However, I get most of my planning news in California. Now is definitely time to start expanding my horizons, especially those that could provide an optimistic boost.

Regardless of where I end up, being in a big city is still very important to me, and especially one that has creative areas. Again, with the utopianism, I’d like to stay in LA. The weather is perfect about 360 days out of the year, there’s always something interesting to do, and we have a vibrant, active creative community. Even if some of them pay too much for clothes that they could pick up at Good Will for 200 dollars less, same look.

However, I have a mental list of places that I’d like to live in before I settle down somewhere for a really long time and Texas is one of them. I’ve lived technically in the four parts of the US. They’re not the true cardinal points. But it is definitely the four major regions of the US= the Northeast (Connecticut), the Southeast (Savannah), the West Coast (California), and the Midwest (Chicago, Wisconsin). But I haven’t lived in Texas, which I consider a country unto itself. It’s certainly big enough to be. And guys that say ma'am like George Eads of CSI fame make me weak in the knees. Granted, that wasn't terribly professional, but it's true. I also visited Charlotte, North Carolina over spring break last year and I loved it there. It reminds me of Savannah, where I went to undergrad, but there is more to do.

I’m open to moving anywhere, that is the perk of moving around a lot as a kid. Just nowhere with wretched amounts of humidity and within reasonable driving distance of a major metropolitan area.

I'll keep you posted on what unfolds! And where I end up. :)

Your Car = You (Whether You Like It or Not)

2010-12-20T16:47:00.000-08:00

Pulling up behind a car at my parents’ local library I noticed that said car was the same model and color as the one that my roommate drove in college, a white Pontiac Grand Am.

This made me think how our cars are an extension of us- be it conscious or sub-conscious, and thus become a part of our personal history. College kids drive beat up Civics and old Camrys. Investment bankers drive sleek German sedans. Moms used to drive minivans, now they drive SUVs, treehuggers drive Priuses and the well-heeled treehuggers in today’s economy may drive Nissan Leafs.

Some thing is signaled when you say that you drive a Mercedes versus a Kia.

The point is even cited in the work, Get What You Deserve! How to Guerilla Market Yourself by marketing gurus Seth Godin and Jay (Conrad) Levinson, ". . . cars, as much as anything else you can buy, telegraph your professional and social status" (128).

And there is a fun new ad campaign by a precocious seven-year-old who is horrified by the “uncool” car that his parents drive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80pNUxIczig

Even kids know that a car is a reflection of you and who you are, or who you want to be.

Even some parts of our history are tied to certain cars. My first car was a 98 white Plymouth Neon. I drove it for the last two years of college all around Savannah, Georgia and made a lot of (G-rated) memories there. It died horribly- T-boned in Chicago and I bought a silver 99 VW Passat, which was my first love affair with a car. That car had everything I wanted- heated, leather seats, a CD changer, a sun roof/moon roof, and a delectable assortment of bumper stickers including one that said, "I Dig Pale Skinny Guys" It was a mobile personal ad.

I am currently carless and have been for the past three years. But when I get a full-time job I am looking at a Honda Insight as it is slightly cheaper than a Prius and yet it is a hyrbid without the overt lifestyle connotations of a Prius.

Therefore, to extricate ourselves from our cars we must not just relinquish the convenience and security that they provide. We must also give up a part of ourselves, of our identity. And that point is often absent from cars versus mass transit debates.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Freeway, or b-i-k-e = l-o-s-e-r?!?!

2010-12-17T15:29:00.000-08:00

My friend and fellow planner, Ed and I were talking as we drove around LA gathering stuff for our Thanksgiving feast. He had been carless like myself last year, but he had his car shipped to him a month ago. And he was loving his newfound freedom!

We were talking about how within certain circles the car versus mass transit debate starts to develop tunnel-vision. We agree that, given the opportunity and access, people should take mass transit instead of their cars. Mass transit increases air quality, reduces nonpoint source pollution, and could even reduce congestion - all of this is assuming that new vehicles do not replace the vehicles that were taken off the road as drivers become riders.

But some times having a car is so much more convenient such as shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. Or when one has to buy paper goods. Lugging a 6 pack of paper towels on the bus is no fun for anyone, including and especially the other riders.

At the same time, when did a bike become short-hand for loser? Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic: How We Drive and What It Says About Us, wrote an interesting article about the movie Greenberg, whose main character's main mode of transportation is not his own car, and what does that say (or imply) about the man himself?

http://www.slate.com/id/2262214/

I have many happy memories riding my bike as a kid and I imagine that many other people do too. Unfortunately, a lot of people think that bikes are only for kids. But there are literally hundreds of highly educated people who possess bachelors, masters degrees, and even advanced degrees, who use bicycles as their predominant, or only form of transportation, including Dr. Donald Shoup, PhD.

Yet some bikers become so single-minded in their passion that they think that's what good for them should be good for everyone confoundit, to quote Nero Wolfe.

As with many things in life, except chocolate and Italian men, I believe that a little moderation never hurt on either side of the debate.

Isn't It Ironic, Don't You Think? A Little Too Ironic

2010-12-17T15:00:00.001-08:00

I had some free time and was reading Los Angeles author, Sandra Tsing Loh's book, Mother on Fire when I came across this passage,

"I am a person who believes that in Los Angeles, people's innermost personalities, their philosophies even, are revealed in the driving routes they choose, the trail of bread crumbs they make as they weave their way through the city" (Tsing Loh, 58).

One of the funniest points in the animated movie Madagascar was when the menagerie of animals asks an NYPD horse how to get to point X. The horse starts telling them, with great authority in his voice when another NYPD horse butts in and gives an alternate sense of directions. The two horses begin to argue over whose directions are superior while the other animals grow agitated. Unfortunately, I was one of the few people who actually thought that Madagascar was funny. It was aimed at a NYC-centric audience, or at least an audience who would pick up on jokes such as New Yorkers priding themselves on possessing the best set of directions to anywhere in their city, or surrounding burroughs.

Meanwhile, I am often clueless where I am until 6 months after I have left a city and adhere religiously to set ways to get places until after I have moved away. (NYC is the exception- I'm an excellent navigator there, but you'd have to be a cross-eyed monkey not to know where you are)

I was thinking about getting from point A via various routes as I have been navigating the street network of my parents' latest residential town. This year it is Windsor Heights, Iowa, a suburb, if such a word can be utilized to describe, of Des Moines. Last year it was a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, ie Shoreview, Minnesota. Next year it'll probably be the moon.

As I drive down Hickman, one of the main streets, I keep looking for White Bear Lake Road, which will take me to Target. Yes, if the Target I was looking for was in Shoreview. Or I keep craning my neck for Culver's, which is by my mom's work and the proffer of treats both hot and cold- frozen custard and Butter Burgers. (the hamburger bun is buttered, it's not some French fusion take on the American classic). But my mom does not work at an accounting firm anymore. She works as a payroll specialist at a bowling alley. Which is not near a Culver's. Or at least not to my knowledge.

I have come to realize that I am an excellent navigator. In places that I have been. Not in places that I current am. (the same is also true for my foreign language skills- while in Italian all of my sub-par French came rushing back.)

Meanwhile, in LA, I blissfully take in the city while my friends drive, or while I take public transportation ignoring most major streets and intersections. I have a gift for describing the feel of a place. But the cross-streets, um, why don't you ask him over there?

This is a constant bone of contention between my friend Derek (my go-to driver/ride) and myself. Derek grew up in Orange County, which is a stone's throw away from LA. And if I had been an OC kid I would have been hightailing it up to LA every chance I could get the keys. Incidentally, people from Orange County do NOT call it the "OC," just as true San Franciscans do not call it Frisco. Therefore, I assume that Derek has a sixth sense of the streets of LA. Especially when we are going some place unfamiliar to me. More often than not he doesn't know how to get there either but assumes that I have squirreled away a set of directions or possess a sense of navigation I have yet to procure.

I have come to realize this when our drive starts to take five, ten, fifteen minutes longer than Mapquest (despite its fallible glory) predicted. Usually it boils down to me asking if he knows where the place is, he replying that he thought that I did, I saying no, him asking if I had printed out directions, and my response as being I thought that he would know the general area so, no. People say that we act like brother and sister. A lot. I have yet to dispute their claims successfully.

My friend Eddie, however, who was more reliant on public transportation than I until his car arrived from Rhode Island, is an excellent navigator, despite being an LA transplant himself. Eddie is also more technically-oriented than I am and can write an amazing paper in about two hours, no prior prep while I academically crucify myself for about three weeks straight before the turn-in date.

If I stay in LA I'll pay more attention to the streets' names. Until then, despite the great irony that I am getting my masters in urban planning, I don't know where a lot of the major streets intersect- does Santa Monica run parallel or perpendicular to Vermont? Will Olympic and Normandie ever intersect? Uh, I don't think so, but don't quote me, etc.,

Ask me in ten years, when, maybe, I won't be in LA, the best way to get to the Glendale Galleria from Little Tokyo (ie downtown LA) during rush hour. I'll probably have excellent directions. Have me describe the feel of Weller Court in Little Tokyo- well, you got a pen?

You Make My Heart Go Pitter-Pat, My Love of Urban Design

2010-10-25T15:54:00.001-07:00

I am taking an excellent class, which focuses on urban design, a subject that we haven't focused on to date in any of my other classes. My professor is an urban designer and architect, working for one of the most prolific, and one of the original new urbanist design firms, Moule + Polyzoides of Pasadena. Elizabeth Moule and Stephanos Polyzoides, are both founding members of the Congress for New Urbanism.

Urban design is what made me fall in love with urban planning to begin with. I was studying abroad in Italy and my undergrad professor took us around the streets of Florence, or fine Firenze, and showed us how one could interpret a city's history based on its layout, its building materials, how close the buildings were to one another, how tall were they, etc., This made the inner history nerd in me rise up and squeak with glee.

Ever since then I've had a keener awareness of buildings and open space, the types of materials used, the layouts of cities. I'm not as much a designer, who, I maintain are more technical than creative in their objectives, therefore I didn't go to urban design school. But as an artist, I look for visual harmony in the built environment- places where people want to be, buildings that are in harmony and scale, points of interest, either natural or manmade.

My current professor teaches with the same passion as the first professor who sparked my interest. He wants us to see the world the way he does, as pieces put together that can be beautiful with enough forethought and planning. We can create places that are welcoming, energizing, and inspiring, not slapped together and without much of a purpose or focus. I hope to have an opportunity to share such insights with others in the future too.

Today I Don't Care About the Planet (Because It's Too Darn Hot Outside)

2010-09-27T22:40:00.001-07:00

Today was definitely a day that I wished that I had a car- this wish had popped up a few days ago too when I was accidentally locked out of my apartment due to fault of my own.

We reached a record scorcher and even tonight at ten to eleven PM it's still pretty hot outside.

And I craved the 2010 Honda Insight that I've been researching in my spare time the past few days. It appears to be a better deal than the Toyota Prius and as a secretly neurotic energy nerd I am concerned about the potential for peak oil, and the increased demand (ahh more econ!) from other countries that will increase the price we have to pay here in the States. I wished, even if I was/am still living in my current place, that I could get into my personal chariot, crank the A/C and grab hold of my American right to drive myself down to the end of the block if desired.

Alas, I sweltered under the heat, wondering at what degree does rubber melt as I was wearing my favorite flip flops.

I know that I'm getting that itch to get up and go, which rears its head every two years. And one of the best ways to get away is to take yourself in a personal automobile, an option I currently do not possess. Though I am seriously considering signing up for a Zip car membership.

But this car fever made me think about how does one reach the person who has a car, loves their car and has no desire to give up their car? Especially to drive it to the corner grocery to pick up their 24-pack of unnecessary bottled water. Seriously?! We all lived without bottled water for millennia. Now I have people ask me if I want a bottle like do I want to know the cure for cancer?

I have also come to realize that looking at a lot of this through the lens of economics (admittedly often in its idealized form- there are no needs, only demands as there are substitutes everywhere kind of thinking) is very helpful.

What incentives will people respond to?

For example, no one buys those spiral CFL light bulbs because they're "cool"-the purchaser or the lightbulb. They do it because buying them will shave a few cents off their electric bill over the long haul.

Some of us may claim more altruistic reasons "I love the planet!" Yeah, but you love money more. We all do. Economists want us to put our money where our mouth is (that which we are willing to sacrifice in order to obtain something that we perceive has greater personal value than what we currently possess- oh my gosh it sunk in and stayed!)

I've been very thinking a lot about how to foster and encourage permanent social change. There is a very interesting group based in England called Futerra that deals with this concept. http://www.futerra.co.uk/

And while they have an office in New York I'd love to spread the gospel around the U.S. To quote the immortal Clash, "London calling from the underground!"

How Much Is Too Much? The Question of Government Intervention, Posed for the Second Time (to me)

2010-09-27T22:24:00.000-07:00

I have noticed a trend in my readings for school lately- the issue of public vs. private, or public-private partnerships, and how much of a role should government take in daily affairs of its citizens?

This last question is incredibly loaded and I no way intend to make this into a Tea Party soap box other household objects noun noun mop mop broom broom?

Instead, I'd like to gripe that this information would have been very helpful to me last year when I was sitting through a rather painful and sortof unnecessary class that is required called Intersectoral Leadership.

Back then I was a snot-nosed planning punk and I didn't understand what policy had to do with planning (answer = everything!) I kind of understood that policy lets planners do "stuff," but I didn't see why I had to spend two- eight-hour weekends (Saturday and Sunday) sitting in a classroom listening to an NPO (non-profit organization) guy tell me that government has gotten so big *cue the voice you use when gesturing with a baby* SO BIG! that it has to delegate some of its functions. Woot. Couldn't one have just put that on say, a memo and I'd promise to read it (and subsequently never would.)

However, this theme has come up again to haunt me. It is getting close to Halloween, or as the Misfits say "every day is Halloween."

This time the subject is coming up in my transportation class. The question was posed, what if there were no governmental role in transportation? It's an interesting question for a planner, admittedly less so for Joe Schmoe. But it does pose an interesting parallel universe, where corporations, or savvy entrepreneurs could charge sky-high rates to utilize their roads, which may, or may not be in serviceable condition. There wouldn't be synchronizing of traffic lights, would there even be traffic lights? This is of course jumping off from the world as we know it and Big Brother just walking away, saying "Have at it, kids" not some world where traffic lights were never invented.

Also, the theme is cropping up in my economics class under the guise of markets and the government.

I suppose that this is good as I have to write a paper for my econ class about some topic that relates to economics, and yes, deep down, like Kevin Bacon, there are six degrees or less to anything in the universe and economics. I may be able to expound on bus deregulation- I'll spare you the details, but in a nutshell in the era of Reagan and Thatcher, bus routes were sold off to the private sector, leaving those who used under-utilized routes, aka often the rural routes, in the lurch. (And one wonders why London had to introduce congestion pricing.) But now I'm just nerding out.

I guess what goes around comes around. And maybe one'll like it a little better the second time. Maybe.

Falling out of love with an old love, falling back in love with an old love

2010-09-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

So, as you can see from my last post I am suffering from "planning fatigue." I want to get off the policy-politics merry-go-round, but know that graduation fast approacheth and I better have a game plan.

And while I wouldn't say outright no to a city planning job, especially at the City of Los Angeles, where I currently intern, as everyone is friends with everyone, there isn't a stringent hierarchy, and everyone has a sense of humor about wanting to do good, but knowing that the plans of mice and men aft go stray, I'm not 100% confident that there will be a city job waiting for me anywhere anytime soon.

Therefore, I am diversifying.

I have been in love with the publishing field ever since I discovered that books do not magically appear on bookshelves. I didn't become an English major because they're a bigger (or at least a more well-known punchline than an art history major, though a close second behind a general liberal arts major) The punchline being, sooooo, what do you do with a degree like that!? I also am not thatttttt interested in diagraming sentences or remembering what a preposition is.

However, I love the concept of being an acquisitions editor. Someone who can see the potential in a manuscript that will inspire others and bring delight to a reader's soul.

I can name my favorite art book publishers off the top of my head (having considered going into art book publishing as an alternative to fine art insurance)- Phaidon, Harry N. Abrams, Watson-Guptil, and Taschen, in that order, unless I am applying to a job. Then it's whoever it is that I am applying to.

But when it comes to urban planning books it is more of a scattergun approach when it comes to favorite titles, especially as my interests are so varied- a quick list of favorites would be Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development by Joan Fitzgerald (Oxford), Next Stop Reloville: Inside America's New Rootless Professional Class by: Peter T. Kilborn (Times Books), Fostering Sustainable Behavior: an Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing by: Doug Mckenzie-Mohr and William Smith (New Society Publishers), the American City: What Works, What Doesn't by: Alexander Garvin (McGraw-Hill Professional), Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do and What It Says About Us by Tom Vanderbilt (Vintage), and anything by Witold Rybczynski (who is published under Viking, Oxford, and other publishers' imprints) and most of these aren't urban planning books, per se, but deal with aspects of the built environment.

However, there is one publisher, whose work I unfailingly enjoy, and would enjoy more if their average retail price wasn't about $60- yikes! They're called Wiley Publishers for short, long version is John Wiley & Sons, Inc., You may be familiar with their "For Dummies" series. Yeah, I thought it was a different publisher too, like Random House. Guess not.

The reason they are the focus of this post is because they have an office in Ames, Iowa, of all places. Ames-?! which is 45 minutes away from where my parents live! Ames, not exactly a hotbed of cultural activity. The Iowa Writers Workshop, which I thought was more like one of those weekend affairs that Erica Jong, bookended by Jonathan Saffron Foer and Jonathan Franzen attend and self-congratulate one another on their earnings and how they're going to spend their latest million, is in Iowa City (and is also a grad program- oops.)

Wiley's headquarters is in Hoboken, New Jersey, land of super thick New Joizee accents, if the stars of TLC's Cake Boss, are any indicator. Neither are cities that I would pick as my number one destination spot. But I love me some publishing. Yes, I do acknowledge the irony of that incredibly grammatically poor sentence. And driving 45 minutes up the freeway to get my foot in the door is a lot cheaper than flying across the country. Or worse, moving back in with one's parents, yes Dad, haha it would be "worse" for you- ha ha, than living in Iowa.

Hello Wiley- I have publicly declared my love for you! What are you going to do about it?! I would like to say that I can't wait to snap up Water Centric Sustainable Communities: Planning, Retrofitting, and Building the Next Urban Environment. But at $130 I'm going to have to wait for my employee discount ;-)

The 3 P's- planning, politics, and policy- good luck untangling them!

2010-09-22T19:13:00.002-07:00

In an effort to streamline my look today I inadvertently locked myself out of my place. Let me explain.

I possess an army green messenger bag given to me by my school as a hey thanks for coming here. However, I never use it because I don't like how it distributes its weight.

But today I was going to my internship and I was going to be carrying a few items, but not a lot. Therefore, I decided that I didn't want to bring my backpack that makes me look like I'm going hiking up K2. But I had more stuff than my purse would carry. Hence, the messenger bag.

Unfortunately, I always stuff my keys into a side pocket of my ever-present backpack, a fact I forgot as I was rushing out the door today. I partially blame the earliness of the hour. Those who know me know that I don't function very well before 10 AM. Today was no exception.

In a twist of fate all of my work that needed to be done for class tomorrow was a group effort and was done early- not before I dragged a classmate to my place to do our work as I thought that it would be a more comfortable environment, not realizing that it would also be inaccessible.

Therefore, not having any pressing work at the moment- OK I could read for a few of my classes in advance of next week, but where is the fun in that? I have decided to seize this opportunity to reflect a little bit on my future.

Every couple of months I write down what my interests are in urban planning and see if they change. For the past few sessions they have remained the same.

But as of late, I don't know if it can be attributed to an overwhelming amount of work, being so close to school for the past two weeks, without time to go somewhere else, or not getting to connect and check in with my friends as much as I did last year, or just second year blues, but I am growing fatigued of how intrinsically- and how untangleable- planning is to politics and policy.

To the uninitiated this would seem like a good thing on a cursory glance. If politicians support planning then you can always find someone to back you, right? I wish. When I say politics sometimes this can apply that, at least in L.A., to the fact that owing to its size, we have 13 districts, which include 13 council people, each of who is gunning for their share of the pie, for themselves and their constituents. Or again, to cite LA, and California in general, due to the way our legislation, citizens can vote on anything that goes through the legislature, which means that a "good" concept, can be killed, if there is enough weight behind the opposing side, and their lobbyists. And in LA almost everything gets voted on, even in planning. Here City Council has the final say.

Contrary to what some people would like to believe, planning does not occur in a vacuum. City Council passes ordinances, Zoning Administrators, who are politically appointed, approve or deny variances regarding commercial and residential properties. This does provide a check-and-balance system, but also can stymy some innovative ideas just because someone doesn't like it.

And planning is also tied to policy. Planners rarely, if ever, get to stand up and declare "we should abolish Euclidian zoning!" I'll spare you the boring details of what that is. Suffice to say it is why we have residential areas, commercial areas, and industrial areas. No, everything has to go through a process, which almost always involves research and data and politics.

Eh. I've had enough.

2010-09-22T19:13:00.001-07:00

I Know a Little Bit About a Lot of Things, But I Don't Know Enough About You. OK, well read this book!

2010-08-23T22:31:00.001-07:00

I was humming the song, "I Know a Little Bit About a Lot of Things, But I Don't Know Enough About You" to which a close friend replied, "I could definitely say that about you."

Well, you want to know about me? And how I see the world? Then read Next Stop, Reloville by Peter T. Kilborn. The excellent book grew out of an article Mr. Kilborn wrote for the NYT entitled, "The 5-Bedroom, 6-Figure Rootless Lifestyle," which my dad posted on his blog, and which I ate up.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE6D61F39F932A35755C0A9639C8B63

So one can imagine my surprise and delight to discover that Mr. Kilborn had written a book on the subject.

I tore through it engulfing it in a few days (one of the perks of a long bus ride to my internship at the City of Los Angeles)

Mr. Kilborn is officially next to David Brooks, author of Bobos in Paradise and On Paradise Drive, both highly recommended not only for their incisive social commentary, but also their fantastic humor (when I speak in the plural I mean Kilborn and Brooks and Brooks' work.)

KIlborn is a (retired) journalist by trade and it shows in his writing style. Each chapter reads like a very short story (or a long newspaper article, depending on your POV) focused on a theme- relo spouses, corporate recruiting, etc., and a family (or several families.) A highly skilled journalist he seeks out viewpoints from a variety of what he calls "relos," or people whose career advancement is dictated by moving around the country (see also definition of the Mech family, i.e., my family)

There are some families that have very young children, some families with pre-teen or teenage children, a few career relos, and a couple retired or empty nesters. He is also diligent in not just highlighting the soccer mom types (like the Link family in the NYT article, who are also the first chapter of the book), but also the families that have travelled overseas, the kids who thrive on moving, the families on a verge of divorce due to so many stressful moves, the man who lost custody of his daughters due to his desire to move higher up on the career ladder, and the people who seem almost insatiable in their desire to do just a little better, to have a little bit more of the fat money cake.

It's interesting that I felt such relief that there were other people who went through the same thing as me- whenever I moved I was always "the new kid" and some years, the only new kid. Yet I also felt incredibly alone. I suppose it was dredging up old memories and old heartache, the process of starting over, again, of putting yourself out there, trying to make connections with people.

Kilborn makes an excellent point saying that "The Yons' roots are their kids and their memories." (Kilborn, 130)

If you asked my parents, where is home? They may say Wausau, WI, where they have a lot of friends and family, but they haven't lived there in 10 years, they may be at a loss. They've moved several times since I moved out and even since my brother moved out four years after me. Each move I always feel chips away at one's sense of permanence and belonging to one particular place.

However, as Kilborn points out, family relos, are often examples of a by-gone era- the nuclear family- complete with breadwinner dad, stay-at-home mom (for many relo spouses due to their partners' constant relocation it is very difficult to try to establish a career so many raise their children but do not hold down a monetary-based job), and often several children.

When people ask me what is it like? I tell them that it is very freeing not to be tied to any one place, never leaving, never exploring the world because you are stuck in your microcosm. At the same time it's very hard to answer "where are you from?" Because I don't really have a place called home. At school I now tell people that I'm from Chicago. But when I go back to Chicago it doesn't feel like home anymore even though I moved away only two years ago. So much has changed in the Windy City, the rhythm is different and I can't catch the beat.

I'd like to say that Charlotte feels like a spiritual home, but then people might ask me about specific places there that I like and how are the people and I'd only get flustered and have to correct them that I'm never lived there properly. It just feels like home.

It also saddened me that so many families buy bigger and bigger houses as a substitute form of comfort. But that people buy cookie-cutter homes because it's really easy to resell a brand-new cookie cutter rather than an older home, which has more "character." Just ask my mom, she'll tell ya. And that these people feel as alienated as I did, but the nature of their job dictates constant relocation, but guidance on how to make even short-term friends is non-existent.

But like Evita Peron said in the musical, "Evita," "Don't cry for me [Argentina]" Moving around has been very freeing as I said above. I've been able to really get to know different places in the U.S., meet new people, learn about new cultures and values, and these experiences have made me who I am.

Given the choice, I may not have moved some places at some times, but other experiences I wouldn't change for the world. That may not answer my friend's question in its entirety, but it sure is a place to start. Being a relo kid is definitely a big chunk of who I am.

Also, Kilborn's book is so good I snapped up a copy on Amazon, partially to pass on to my parents, partially because highlighting library books is frowned upon. :)

Good Night Los Angeles, You City of a Thousand Something, Somethings

2010-08-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

*apologies in advance about the formatting. I tried manually resetting the columns, so that formats it correctly. But no go. I'll try to fix it later. Maybe it's just an error tonight. Or maybe Blogspot doesn't remember me or think that I'll notice due to my lack of posting! Enjoy!

I have now lived in Los Angeles for one year, though sometimes it feels like forever and other days it seems like I just moved here.

I was talking with my friend Luke, who had signed up to be a peer mentor and one of the reasons he said that he chose to do this is

because he says, it takes a year to learn your way around L.A. And it's true.

One of the reasons that I love L.A. is the incredible diversity it possesses. West LA is NOTHING like East LA. West LA is a mix of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Century City, Westwood, Culver City, Brentwood, Palms, Venice, Jefferson Park, Park La Brea, West Hollywood, etc., Some of the names non-L.A.'ers may recognize as very tony places such as Westwood (home to UCLA) and Brentwood, as well as Venice. I have no idea what's in Cheviot HIlls, Palms, or Jefferson Park. But I am conducting a very successful one-sided love affair with Culver City, which I find to be a small nestled in a big city. Off of the downtown Culver there is an adorable elementary school surrounded by houses. In DT Culver there is a movie theater, a historic hotel, bank, shops, eateries- a new urbanist's dream!

East LA is technically unincorporated. And it shows. Dominately Mexican and other Latino countries in culture and composition it suffers from lack of political attention. Unfortunately, it is economically disadvantaged, as well as weather-wise. The East side is always at least ten degrees hotter than the West side and at least fifteen degrees hotter than Santa Monica, where the ocean meets the shore. However, you can find some super tasty food in East LA and people are more connected there due to stronger social ties. Unfortunately, we can't do anything about the weather. :p

People say that L.A. doesn't have a center. And while we have a downtown, like many cities' downtowns, it is mainly for business and does shut down in certain areas at night. Though we have some really great bars like the whisky (or whiskey) bar, SevenGrand (at 7th and Grand), the Golden Gopher (on 8th between Hill and Olive), the Broadway Bar (830 S. Broadway between 8th and 9th), the gorgeous Edison Downtown (technically 108 W. 2nd, but it's on Harlem Place, wedged between 2nd and 3rd, Spring and Main) and the low-slung Library (at 6th and Hope). Dress code is pretty strictly enforced, especially at the Edison. But the bartenders are competent and it's always lively. And as my transpo professor, Dr. Genivieve Giuliano observed today, L.A. has a crescent of a center- starting from downtown, going through Hollywood and ending in Santa Monica.

I have had so many fun adventures in just one year in L.A. I live right by school, which is also within very reasonable walking distance to Exposition Park, which is home to the Natural History Museum, which is free for USC students! The Cal Science Center is also there and a beautiful rose garden that is huge! Also, one of the buildings is used as the Jeffersonian Institute for one of my favorite TV shows, Bones and another building was used in one of my favorite movies, Monkeybone. I think my brother and I are the only two people, besides those who attended the premiere, who have seen that movie. No matter. I love it.

Back to L.A. In L.A. I've seen movies in cemeteries- Hollywood Forever, and the classic Arsenic and Old Lace, on the grounds where wooly mammoths and dinosaurs once tread, ie the grounds of the La Brea Tar Pit, where I saw Encino Man! I've seen celebrities in historic theaters, Lea Thompson and Gene Kelly's widow, at the Egyptian (one and a half blocks east of Hollywood and Highland). My best friend and I accidentally (!) almost ran over Chris Pine, aka Captain Kirk, in our quest to get gelato at Pazzo Gelato at Sunset and Hyperion- kitty-korner from the famed Sunset Junction. That night we also parked right next to Russell Brand' (and friend) and we were leaving at the same time. I looked over as the other party was getting into their car and I wanted to make sure that they did not scratch Jeannette's car and I look up at the passenger and see that it is the author of My Booky Wook!

Not to give you the impression that I'm only interested in movies, I've also seen priceless works of art at the LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and scuffed at some of the more modern pieces- some stuff I can categorically say is NOT art.

I'm obsessed with great food and sometimes the best bites aren't always the priciest. My friends and I sometimes hightail it up to Burbank where one of the last remaining Big Boys is in business. It is also an example of "Googie" architecture I am informed by my friend. At first I thought that he was pulling my leg, but there is a legit style of architecture called "Googie." Good to know. If you love good Mexican food, obviously there are may fine places to sample all over L.A., but across from the historic Union Station it's hard to beat the eats on Olvero Street. I've also eaten soooo well in Little Tokyo, or LT, to those in the know. Hama Sushi is dee-licious! As is the place with the yellow awning that has amazing ramen- this is nothing like the freeze-dried packets from college! I also love Panini Gardens in Santa Monica, on Main Street, but that technically is not L.A. And anything from the farmers' markets that are scattered throughout L.A. are awesome! But I am especially partial to a place at the farmers' market on Thursday at City Hall that advertise crepes, but make a deelish tandoori chicken. I get it every Thursday!

I also love free stuff such as going to the Griffith Observatory, especially at night and seeing all of L.A. stretch out before you, glittering below the night sky, hightailing it up to Forest Lawn in Glendale, which Jeannette and I discovered totally by accident- we noticed something that looked like a castle on a hill and drove to it to investigate- it's actually a cathedral, going to Art Walk in downtown L.A. every second Thursday of the month, window shopping on the Third Street Promenade (Santa Monica), walking around Silverlake, or West Adams and gawking at all of the gorgeous architecture, some of which is in disrepair, perusing the cute bookstore at Weller Court in Little Tokyo, or enjoying the perks of being a USC student and going to First Fridays at the Natural History Museum for free and trying not to snicker at the hipsters who are trying not to geek out over the dinosaurs that are mere feet from them.

And some experiences in L.A. defy description. Driving down the 110 at night, seeing all the massive skyscrapers suddenly loom over you, feeling the ocean air on your skin as you lie on the beach in Santa Monica (again, not L.A.-L.A. but whatever), smelling the roses in Expo Park, people watching at the farmers market ( and admittedly "boy-scouting") just being alive and feeling the pulse of the city even though we don't have a defined center.

Yes, it takes you a while to find your footing, figure out the major streets, discover new favorites, but that's true of moving anywhere.

But hang in there, tough it out, or find someone who loves it as much as I do, and you won't be disappointed!

The title is a paraphrase from an old song Bertie Wooster sings in the opening sequence of episode 3 "The Purity of the Turf" of my one of all-time favorite shows, Jeeves and Wooster (lyrics below) I've also enclosed a link to the posting on YouTube- it's right after the initial credits. Enjoy!

Link to "Good night Vienna"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXQ3qLr6eQI

Goodnight Vienna, You city of a million melodies Our hearts are thrilling to the strains that you play >From dawn till the daylight dies. Goodnight Vienna, Where moonlight fills the air with mystery And eyes are shining to the gypsy guitars That sing to the starry sky. Enchanted city of Columbine and Pierrot, We know the magic of your spell, Of our romances, you’re the hero, Now is the time to say farewell. Goodnight Vienna, Now lovers kiss beneath your linden tree The world is waiting on the edge of the day Just waiting to say goodnight.

from- http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/g/goodnightvienna.shtml

Been a Long Time Since We Rock and Rolled

2010-08-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

So I realized that it's been more than 6 months since I last posted. Oops. My goal was to repost at least within 6 months, but that old quote about "the best laid plans" springs to mind.

Nevertheless, I have been hard at work, dear reader. The gears in the ol brain machine have been grinding away and I have been learning some very interesting concepts that I can't wait to share with you. But I'm going to have to space them out so that it doesn't look like I went on an OCD jag.

Also, the motivation to differentiate myself, to find a job in a year weighs heavily on my mind. My personal motto is that worry doesn't solve anything, action does. However, as I enter into my second year (!) of grad school I realize that there is a definite, immovable, defined deadline that looms overhead. But having a blog that I haven't posted to in a year isn't exactly a selling point.

And currently the economy is still pretty sucky. Here's a super big spot o'sunshine from a member of the dismal science, economics-

http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/10/jobs-federal-reserve-personal-finance-consumer-debt.html?feed=rss_popstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+forbes/EZKq+(Forbes.com:+Most+popular+stories)

But physics maintain that what goes down must come up. Hope springs eternal. Read on!

Where's Your Head At?

2010-01-17T20:56:00.001-08:00

Basement Jaxx repeatedly ask, "Where's Your Head At?" in their song of the same title.

This post is what I have been thinking about what I have been wanting to do with my planning degree after I graduate.

Initially, I had started school thinking that I wanted to revitalize downtowns, such as Detroit. Then I realized that such a prospect could become rather depressing. A classmate of mine is from Hartford, CT and is absolutely head-over-heels crazy in love with that city. He can't wait to move back and apply his knowledge and help return it to its former glory. I'm not sure I share his enthusiasm, but I know that it won't be long before I'm reading about him in the Journal of American Planning.

After my enthusiasm for revitalization/ economic redevelopment waned I thought that I could tackle gentrification. It is a two-headed monster. On one hand, it provides a much needed economic boost to a so-called "blighted" area. But on the other hand, it should be asked, at whose expense?! I love to shop as much as the next girl, but I don't want my desire for a good bargain at Nordstrom Rack to literally displace a low-income resident, who finds themself living literally at the "wrong" place at the wrong time.

Therefore, I thought, I've done a lot of research on gentrification, why not stop bad business and be more accountable? I'm still for transparency in business, but I also have accepted that sometimes lobbyists and politicians, the latter whom make the final decisions, are so intertwined that I can only practice incrementalism, and push a lot of paperwork through the necessary channels.

At the same time I have not given up. I subscribe to the sentiment expressed in the poem, "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley (1849-1903)-

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole.

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

As the immortal Bard reminded us, "If it be now, it is not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all." Hamlet 5.2

Bring it.

Lately my attention has turned to suburbia, its inevitably, and how can I make it better? I would like to believe that in newer suburban developments/metropolitan regions, cities are more open to pursuing new, more sustainable ideas. This may be pie-in-the-sky wishing, but it is my wish. My plans may change in the future. But for the present that is where my head is at.

And That's When I Realized, I Was Home, a valentine to the City of Angels

2010-01-17T20:34:00.000-08:00

I just got home from a trip to Sin City, Las Vegas, with a bunch of my classmates at USC. As much as Las Vegas reminds me of a zoo, they really shouldn't exist, but they're here, so we may as well enjoy them, I had a great time.

The problem with Las Vegas is that if you're there for only a short time there is a desire to squeeze out as much fun and debauchery as possible. This leads to dehydration, exhaustion, and other unpleasant sensations.

We were only there for a day and a half, so we rushed around to the Bellagio, the MGM Grand, Caesar's Palace, etc., having a grand old time. But after a while I grew tired and was relieved that we were going home so I could collapse on my own bed.

But what I wasn't counting on was the reassuring sensation that came over me as we pulled into the city. I saw the skyline and familiar road signs and I thought to myself, I am home.

Home is an abstract concept for me as my family and I have lived in a ton of places, I have lived on my own in a variety of settings, and I have friends all over the U.S. I have written about this before, but it is still something with which I am wrestling.

I never expected to fall in love with L.A. other than enjoying wearing t-shirts in January while my parents are still shoveling snow in Minnesota. But I really have fallen in love with L.A. There is such a diversity here that is unmatched by any place on earth, even New York, or my beloved Chicago.

I went back to Chicago for New Year's and there was so much that was familiar and felt like I'd never left. But at the same time I yearned for things that were in L.A. that didn't exist in Chicago, and not just warmer weather. They don't have taco trucks, or especially Korean BBQ trucks (horrors! though they do have the vendor pushcarts i.e. roach coaches) nor is their Asian population as large as L.A. There is a Chinatown in Chicago, but no Thai Town, Little Tokyo, or Koreatown. Though in their defense they have Greektown and a much more predominant Polish and Irish population than the City of Angels.

It was also a little eerie seeing American Apparel stores popping up in Chicago. American Apparel is based out of Los Angeles, including their manufacturing plant. But to see it in the Windy City with negative wind chills was surreal, though inevitable as American Apparel's population increases without abatement.

Chicago still outpaces L.A. any day in terms of public transit and the way it so seamlessly woven into the urban landscape is inspiring. But the cold and ice is miserable.

Quite a few of the architectural hallmarks in Los Angeles are grounded in pop culture, not architectural history, such as Capitol Records and the Hollywood sign versus the Sears Tower and the Hancock Building. But there is also an abundance of Art Deco to be found in L.A., for which I am a HUGE sucker.

I still love Chicago, but I don't think that I will be planning there any time soon. Chicago politics being what they are is a huge obstacle and I don't think I want to move back to the Chicago "area" to plan one of its suburbs, though I may change my mind on that in the future.

The future remains unwritten, but for now I have found my place, and it is under the sun.

Food for Thought

2010-01-11T20:30:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about food and food networks over the last semester. One of the doctoral students in communications was very big into food networks, urban gardening, and not being reliant on faraway sources for food.

Also, my bff is involved in a start-up non-profit called Institute for Bionomic Urbanism (headed up by a Ms. Laura Burkhalter), which seeks to develop urban gardens, even temporarily.

http://www.ibu-la.org/index.php/programs/urban_farms/

See their page on the Whitley Gardens as an example of their work-

http://www.ibu-la.org/index.php/projects/whitley_gardens/

An article by the founder of IBU called Beyond the Crisis: Towards a new Urban Paradigm

http://www.archinect.com/features/article_print.php?id=90159_0_23_0_M

I am a fan on Facebook of Edible Landscapes and Roots of Change. And the lady who runs the Edible Landscapes page posted an article from the Atlantic that left me more than a little gobsmacked-

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/school-yard-garden

I don't want to summarize the article, as it'll be shaded by my bias

But here's my take on it-

I don't think the intent of school gardens is to stilt or shortchange kids so much as an opportunity to teach them to be mindful stewards of the earth and to know where their food comes from. (hint: it's not grown in Styrofoam packages in the supermarket) Is the author implying that migrant farm worker parents have some kind of "edge" over non-agricultural parents?

(scene: in the grocery store): Hey kids, daddy used to harvest this, don't you feel all warm and fuzzy?

And besides, Euclid isn't in high demand these days :( I'd rather kids know where their food comes from than who Descartes was. I am an amateur philosophy enthusiast, but it's ridiculous to think that a little school garden is going to hamper kids' learning. If there is one thing I really have no patience for (besides post-post modern art), it's displaced liberal guilt. Kids need to know where their food comes from just as much as they need to know their three R's. Boo Atlantic boo.

Also, one of my favorite memories from childhood was growing alfalfa sprouts in washed out milk cartons in second grade. I took great pride in being able to grow something myself. And yeah, now I'm a masters of urban planning candidate. A little ag learning didn't hurt anyone.

And here is the reply to the article from the administrator of the Edible Landscapes page-

Ok, now I’m really mad. I’ve been a Master Gardener since 2004 and have designed and run public school gardens for the last 10 years. Granted, I’ve seen some garden programs that started off being not what I’d call “rigorously designed”. But as with all rapidly institutionally adopted programs, roll-out and resources for school gardens were erratic and scare at first, so many teachers and parents were left “to find their own way”. My standards-based garden curriculum, covering more than the nutrition education aspect, NEVER replaced book learning in the classroom. In fact, it proved to be another invaluable teaching tool in the educator’s toolbox. As any of our education reformers will tell you, book learning alone is not effective in teaching students who do not learn that way (Multiple Intelligence Learning styles: visual, auditory, tactile/kinesthetic learning). Garden, if well designed and supported by the school staff and parents, can be a VERY powerful teaching tool. EVERY talented teacher I know uses a variety of many different modalities of teaching a single concept; not just books and not just inside a classroom.
Many of my fellow Master Gardeners can share dozens if not hundreds of stories of witnessing a child, struggling to overcome the obstacles of language, economic and, yes, even health issues, become engaged and even inspired by a lesson augmented by a garden activity. Why? Because the abstract concept introduced in the classroom from a book came alive to that child when they experienced that same concept in a hands-on, project-based learning activity in the garden.
Ms. Flanagan comes very close to equating the School Garden Movement to …racism and directly (and nastily) bashes the parent volunteers who push for gardens as being “a certain kind of educated, professional-class, middle-aged woman (the same kind of woman who tends to light, midway through life’s journey, on school voluntarism as a locus of her fathomless energies)”. WOW! MG’s are mandated to work with the under-served. We can tell you that this does not accurately describe the parents OR typical volunteer we see.
Oh yes…I could go on venting but suffice it to say that Ms. Flanagan REALLY needs to walk a mile in my garden boots!
Geri Miller - LAUSD

What is this skool of which you speak!?

2010-01-11T16:22:00.000-08:00

Back in the saddle again. Back where a friend is a friend. Where the long-horn cattle, um, OK never fed on the lowly gypsum weed, at least not to the best of my knowledge here in California. But tomorrow I start my classes, hence, the Back in the Saddle medley!

A renewed sense of purpose! A new zeal for learning! Um, maybe. Not gonna lie. I really enjoyed my break. After several years in retail and the healthcare industry, where apparently time does not stop for festivus, it was nice to have a long stretch of "me time."

Christmas was awesome, but bizarre. It was weird getting urban planning books from my grandparents. Especially as I hadn't requested them. But the titles were on my amazon.com wishlist. Am looking into digging into them, especially Boomburbs: the Rise of America's Accidental Cities by Robert E. Lang and Jennifer Lefurgy.

This will coincide nicely with my urban demography class and my Smart Growth and Sprawl class, which is being taught by Bill Fulton.

I am unabashedly excited that I am going to be studying under Professor Fulton, who is the mayor of Ventura, author of the (definitive) Guide to CA Planning, and wrote several other (!) books including the Regional City with Peter Calthorpe and also wrote the Reluctant Metropolis. Yes, it sounds like brown-nosing, and probably is, but he is one of the heavy-hitters in the field and it's exciting to be able to say that he was one of my professors. Hey, our department head studied under Kevin Lynch- this could be a pattern!

More to come. Have to head over to the bookstore, see if our books every got stocked. The irony kills me. Here's to an exciting new year!

It's All in How You Look at It

2009-12-07T13:33:00.000-08:00

I'm not even going to comment on the incredible lapse of time between this and my last post. Suffice to say I have been learning a lot and have been very busy in grad school. Future posts will expound on some of the concepts I have been learning.

But one of the most interesting things I have learned in college is how other people see L.A. This is especially interesting being in an urban planning concentration, so I am surrounded by people who take note of the world around us.

I live near downtown LA, right next to USC, but I am highly partial to the West Side- mainly Santa Monica, Culver City, and Mar Vista. I attribute this mainly to the fact that my ride and bff lives on the West Side and that's where she hangs out, so that's where I hang out.

It was interesting talking about the West Side with a friend who lives in West Adams, which is north of campus and about a 30 minute walk from me (I am west of campus). She doesn't have a car and as West Siders get prickly when the subject of mass trans infringing on their private paradise it's hard to get over there from where we are without the assistance of a car, or multiple bus transfers. Therefore, when I mentioned my favorite hair salon, which straddles the line between Culver City and Mar Vista she looked at me without comprehension.

I also enjoy Glendale, which, when I mention it, I often receive blank stares from my classmates as their errands don't take them up there often. And I admit, it is rather suburban. But in spite of, and at at the same time, because of that fact, I love it! There is a Whole Foods, a Trader Joe's, a Target, and a mall (the Target is actually inside the mall) all within easy driving distance. This is, unfortunately, why people love suburbia so.

My friend who is a born and raised Oakland guy lives in downtown/ the Arts District in a very chic converted loft, etc., He loves it there even though he has to bike to campus, which takes about 5 miles as he has no car. Being from the San Francisco Bay Area he is no stranger to weird happenings. However, when he went to West Hollywood for the first time, or WeHo, he described his first impression as Disneyland on heroin and Xanax. Apparently, there are all different kinds of "strange."

Personally, WeHo isn't my favorite place, but it'll do. LA INK is filmed there and that is also where all the "cool clubs" are. It's the new "cool" place to be in LA. But I'm not one for paying to get into a club and dressing up like disco Barbie, as I prefer a dark bar or a great restaurant.

For more on great eats in LA based on personal recommendations, check out http://gastrojan.blogspot.com My latest blog, written with other USC grad students on our favorite food finds LA!

Another friend lives in a condo that I am horribly jealous of, as it is clean and sophisticated, unlike my bedlam asylum of a house. She lives in Little Tokyo, or LT, which is really close to where my Oakland transplant friend lives and also Skid Row. She has an internship and a husband both of which require a lot of time. (My Oakland friend and I are both currently single, my West Adams friend has a boyfriend, but he is currently in Chicago). So, she has no frame of reference when I mention my favorite West Side spots, even though she does have a car. But she loves LT and knows her way around very well, including a great spot where one can get peach basil white sangria served by Zachary Quinto, the new Spock,'s doppelganger.

In the end, having or not having a car, tends to make a huge difference how one sees the world, especially, our microcosm that is LA. But it is always interesting learning about other people's perceptions and frames of reference.

Let's Just Get This Outta the Way, or Intro to Grad School, trial by fire

2009-10-19T23:01:00.000-07:00

OK, I'll be the first to admit that I do not possess the strongest technical skills, especially in the math department.

My program @ USC apparently does not care as it is subjecting me to legal (environment of planning), intersectoral leadership (mainly public policy *yawn* there is a REASON I am not a public policy concentration!) & stats- ouch. Triple whammy. All in my first year. Not great.

I also have econ & demographics to look forward to. I say bring on the history & the theory!- those are my strong suits. As is negotiation- I've literally been professionally negotiating since the 7th grade (debate team) and I don't mind sayin' that I'm pretty darn good at it. I like to think that I can see your POV, but negotiate well enough that it's win-win for both of us with both of us walking away, happily clutching our piece of the proverbial pie.

However, apparently one needs to be good at quantitative analysis, to a degree, too in order to obtain a degree at SC. Yes, I know that rhymed.

In the real world though it will be (more) important to play nice with others, if one wants to ever get anything resembling one's way- when not being squished by the powers that be- hey! I'm just tryin' to save the planet here!

In the meantime, I have to put up with my legal professor, who gave very sound legal advice. . . Then would go off on a tangent about how we should all give up our cars & take public transit- yeah, good luck telling the people in Beverly Hills to give up their Maseratis. I also never managed to wrap my head around what he wanted on his exams and got a cruddy grade. At least now a B- doesn't sting so bad.

A month ago it practically paralyzed me into a depression. I don't think I'd literally ever gotten a B- in my academic career. Nietzsche said, "That which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger." The philosopher who went insane, did have a point there.

I'm having to sit through two weekend classes about "intersectoral" leadership, of which I have yet to ascertain what is so intersectoral as all we talk about is public policy. I think I'm literally the only one who's ever mentioned the word "planning" in class. The guy's in public policy so it is understandable. But sheesh, I get it- the government's contracted out a bunch of their functions to private for- and nonprofits and it's hard to maintain accountability in terms of results. Not like it was ever easy when it came to Uncle Sam.

And now I am slugging through stats. Apparently, drinking diet Coke and not being a regular soda drinker is not a good combination. Eh. . . gotta go read again. This should make for an interesting second half of a first semester.

Luckily, I have Sustainable Cities to keep me afloat, which helps remind me that there are other disciplines and it is to everyone's advantage to acknowledge the other so we can all recognize that we are all in this together, not really (perceived) adversaries! Now that's intersectoral! I've got communications, journalism, psych, planning, architecture, etc., concentrations in my class, which adds up to a lot of brain power! I always leave that class thinking that if we all pooled our collection knowledge we could virtually end global warming!

At least when I'm done with these classes, I'll never have to take them again! Gotta keep readin' for stats. Yargh.

Never Thought I'd Say This

2009-10-07T16:49:00.000-07:00

but it's harder to write a short paper than a really long paper.

I am in the throes of writing my first paper since I furtively handed in my senior thesis on art theft and its risk management. Actually, I never had it officially by my theoretical thesis committee, but I received my diploma all the same. And it has a pretty little magna cum laude sticker on it too, so I'm pretty confident I officially graduated ;-)

I am actually trying to trim my ideas down to a concise thesis- not easy for a former/current closet art historian, whose discipline is composed of people who can babble on for pages about the curl of a finger or the hue of a dress. Literally. I've had to sit through those paper presentations. Painful at best.

At first I wanted to write about the history of suburbia- how it came to be and where it got out of hand- when it threw downtown under the bus and forced the inner city to subsidize their infrastructure. But it only has to be 10-15 pages. And that would take a bit longer.

Then I thought about smart growth and new urbanism and the criticism these movements have received, but that too could take a lot of time.

So, I have decided to do how to "solve" suburbia, which is one of my key interests in planning anyway

No, my solution is not to drop H-bombs on Naperville, Deer Run, and all those other oddly named pseudo-nature places where the closest thing to greenery is your shrubs you bought from Home Depot.

Instead I am concentrating on three areas that can be applied to any community- stopping cookie cutter development, less development that can only be accessed by cars, and the promotion of community building areas- cafes, bookstores, boutiques, etc., and citing real-life examples- pictures always helpful.

I've got til Tuesday- ouch + a presentation on an article that I have yet to read for Sustainable Cities. Guess what I'll be doing this weekend? :P

the Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

2009-09-28T00:36:00.000-07:00

aft go astray. . .

So, note to self- it is perhaps unwise to commit one's self to a two credit course, which is spread out over two weekends (Saturday and Sunday, 8 hours a piece), in addition to a four-credit semester long class, and two- half-semester classes, which I didn't know, used to be semester long. But they were reduced so that people could take more electives.

I am now looking at about 30 articles to read before this weekend, a paper that is due on October 12th, a book review on the 19th? two presentations- I think on the 24th and sometime in late November, and a paper due at the end of the semester. Grad school had been a cake walk until I came to this bed of nails. Tread lightly!

Oi, now I am $111 (?!?!?!?) lighter as I had to purchase a "reader" i.e. glorified photocopies spiralbound- no plastic cover nor back may I add!? in order to be within compliance of copyright and royalty laws.

Though I am thinking of being sneaky and going to Staples and having them just give me a new spiral binding as, being a resourceful packrat, I have a previous clear plastic cover and back from a prior publication that no longer suits my needs. *Cue evil laugh* I will work my way around the system yet!

Ugh, better get back to work, I have to finish Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by: Roger Fisher and William Ury before slugging my way through a TON of articles on public policy- yay light reading! :P

I demand answers!!! Ooh, this'll do. . .

2009-09-20T01:14:00.000-07:00

I have officially embraced Facebook after months and months of very stubborn resistance. But I have found it to be an excellent networking tool, old friend finder, & unexpected place for me to get links to books, sites, etc., that might have skipped my notice.

One is also able to post whatever random thought is on one's mind- the slightly less obnoxious version of Twitter I feel- and on Friday I posted that I was looking forward to doing research on suburbia. And one of my oldest and dearest of friends left me a link for http://www.culdesac.com which is also the title of a book by a Mr. John F. Wasik.

The full title is called, the Cul-de-Sac Syndrome: Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream and it looks riveting.

I know I still need to do a review of Tom Vanderbilt's work, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), which by the way, is FASCINATING.

Even and especially if you are not a traffic engineer nor a transportation planner, it is riveting. It certainly made me see the world differently- literally- and made me not wear a helmet when bicycling (among many fun facts) as apparently drivers drive closer to helmeted cyclists perceiving them, incorrectly, as having extra protection against their insane driving. Yes, my magic plastic brain bucket will surely protect me against the evils of your Escalade! I like my space when I'm standing or walking, I feel the same way on the road. "Share the road you maniacs!" as Calvin's dad, of the immortal beloved classic cartoon "Calvin and Hobbes" would bellow as he proudly pedaled. But I digress as always.

I have been watching the economic meltdown with a sort of morbid fascination. I tried to summarize what was happening in my January 21, 2009 post "Hardship = Opportunity," which also has a link to the absolutely excellent article, Um, What Just Happened?" by Richard Medley as it was called in the December 2008 issue of Esquire. But was given the more erudite title, "the End of America's Capitalist Fantasy and the Shape of Banks to Come"on their Web site- http://www.esquire.com/features/green/features-why-is-our-economy-in-a-recession-1208?click=main_sr

And it was only a matter of time before people starting churning out books about this subject, but this was a personal recommendation as mentioned above and I have no cause to doubt that it would be a waste of money. Though it is also on my amazon.com wish list ;-)

I have several articles that I have culled together to write for another post, but moving, starting grad school, etc., got in the way. Stay tuned. I'll post something sometime. In the meantime there is recommended reading!

A Socially Just City?

2009-09-16T02:05:00.000-07:00

I have just finished reading what can be described as "fascinating," for lack of a better word, article about the "Taco Flats," or tent city in Fresno, CA called, "Tent City U.S.A." by George Saunders, author of the book Braindead Megaphone, in the September 2009 issue of GQ. It's the one with the young Michael Jackson on the cover, not Olivia Wilde.

I don't know what is wrong with GQ's/Men's Style Web site, but lately I can't find half the articles I want on there, or else I would have enclosed a link. This is unfortunate as I'm revising my definition of the aforementioned article to "excellent" upon further contemplation. (as soon as I figure out my new scanner/printer I will scan it in and "publish" it as a PDF- stay tuned)

Mr. Saunders, who is a professor at Syracuse University, sets out to find out what life is like living off the 41, between H Street and the Freight Yard, in Fresno, CA. He literally pitches a tent, (with the help of some of the local inhabitants as his initial lone attempts prove unsuccessful) and lives among them for a temporary period.

I have enclosed a link to Mr. Saunders's Web site, which mentions his research for this piece, but probably due to copyright infringement, he is unable to publish it. Yet GQ continues to have the articles from a few months ago that really well, why dedicate space to? Such as the sex extortion scandal in New Berlin, WI (my old old sortof stomping grounds- go Eisenhower! Or in the light of that article, maybe not) and Levi Palin (yawn. . .)

However, based on the note on his Web site, Mr. Saunders hopes to expand his piece into potentially a book, which I think would be a fascinating read.

When I first heard about the Taco Flats "project," if you will, in TIME magazine, I was horrified. How could this happen in America (?!) I wondered, and literally so close to me- Fresno was only an hour away from my last place of resident- yet I was doing nothing. . . again, conducting the car-less experiment sometimes has unexpected variables.

This article was incredibly insightful- painting incredibly illuminating and compassionate portrayals of the people who live here, but not flinching away from the traits that make them all too human and keep them tied to this unusual "settlement." Yes, most of them are "crazy" i.e. mentally ill, a lot of them are drug addicts, and just about all of them are liars to a pathological degree.

But are they any less deserving of our compassion?

Reading the article I was relieved to know that they are not entirely destitute- there is a nearby shelter that provides them with free meals, no questions asked, as well as showers and laundry. There are also Port-a-Potties on-site and charity groups that come by to drop off meals and toiletries. No, it's not the Ritz, but I'm sure it is a step above some refugee camps in other parts of the world, and even some camping trips that I've had to endure.

Some of these people have "chosen" to come here. They didn't exactly make a wrong turn heading for Disneyland, but with few other options they have made a home and a community for themselves in admittedly squalid conditions. One woman named Sweet Mamma left home and headed straight here. Another woman was a recently released convict and ditched her prison-issued train ticket to squat at Taco Flats. Another couple, one of the disputed "settlers" of the area, had been living under a bridge and had relocated. A woman named Large Jo disputed that claim and said that it was the paisas who'd set up. One man left his life after his wife died and set up here.

I admit that I grew up in the suburbs/small Midwestern towns where we honestly just don't have homeless people. And if we did, I was too naive to see them.

I remember the first time I encountered a homeless person. I was in San Diego, with my family, and must have been about 9 or 10. The experience frightened and bewildered me. Why were there people sitting on the street? Why were they so dirty? Why were they asking for money? Didn't they have somewhere to go?

And the sad answer remains, yes and no. Some homeless people are too mentally unfit to make rational decisions, such as go to a shelter, others are too proud, and still others remain uncategorizable.

Every time I am confronted by a homeless person I'm not sure what to do. My dad buys them a cup of coffee, or a meal. But my dad is 5'10" and 195+ lbs. I am 5' and not. Also, I'm never sure if I do give the person money, if they are going to buy drugs, or actually buy food. And there are also shelters that will take the person in, admittedly only for a limited time. But surely there must be a long-term option for them? I can't believe that we can just let these people fall through the cracks.

In my History of Planning class we talk a lot about "socially just cities"- not just building for the wealthy, or even the middle class, but considering all peoples of a city i.e. the poor. But I'm not sure how much we consider the homeless?

As I'd mentioned in an earlier posting, "Helping Those Who Can't Help Themselves" (November 9, 2008) I have no prior experience in the social sciences and still do not.

I still like the idea presented in the Livable City: Revitalizing Urban Communities by Partners for Livable Communities, where in Washington D.C. a Business Improvement District (B.I.D.) opened a "daytime drop-in center in a local church where the homeless can eat, shower, wash clothes, and meet representatives of various government and nonprofit agencies offering job training and detoxification programs." (the Livable City, 166)

I don't think that there are any perfectly cut-and-dry answers to this problem. I'm sure that there are many solutions, as there are many solutions to fix what ails urban planning, not all of them are "right," though most of them are valid.

As I go to sleep I do know for one thing, that I must remember to be grateful now and always for what I have and not to forget those who lack.

The Frustrations of a Perfectionist

2009-09-14T20:20:00.000-07:00

I have finally finished my legal environment of urban planning mid-term! It is finished! And she stretched out her arms. . .and there was no chocolate lying around!

I have decided the obstacle that makes this difficult is that I really don't know what the format is for this so I don't know if I'm doing it right or not. I have no precedent nor can I beat the system! This is very frustrating for a self-confessed perfectionist who borders on anal-retentive. <:-(

The premise was interesting enough- it is a hypothetical case and as a planning intern at Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe (a shoutout to the Three Stooges), I need to write a memorandum for the supervising partner discussing an legal issues including the plantiff's best arguments, the likely arguments of the County and the client, as well as the possible judicial review.

Our professor said that we need to identify the issues and what is going on, determine the criteria for the rules (is this really an example of a prior nonconforming use? etc.,) and use the facts where they satisfy. Uh huh, easy for you to say with your 40+ years of lawyer/judge experience behind you.

However, having zero pre-law background and IL work comp knowledge not being very useful I kind of feel like I'm being tossed in a pool and being told to swim, but never having taken a swimming lesson before. I don't really know if anything is missing and therefore can't correct it!

I've been working on it for the past four days and I doubt I can improve on what I have, if anything I'd make it worse. So, again, here goes nothing! I'd feel a lot better if 50% of my grade wasn't riding on this. . .

Life is a Balancing Act

2009-09-12T12:13:00.000-07:00

Last night I went out for drinks with two friends from my concentration, Derek and Sylvia.

Internally, I have been wondering how everything that needs to get done, is going to get done.

I have a legal mid-term take home test due on Tuesday, I have a group project for history due in about a week and I am one of the people doing the research (i.e. need more research so the people writing the thing actually have something to go off of), I have two papers due in about a month+ (= have to get started on that research at some point, though thankfully, I have put together an outline), readings due for every class every week, a book review due in October (? specific date a little fuzzy as I think it was TBA?), and I'm trying to decide if I can swing work/study and an internship.

We were all discussing how we really need to find paying internships as there never seems like enough money to go around. The City of LA is offering internships, which is great as I could just take the DASH there and gain some experience in the public sector. The problem is, due to the cruddy state of our state budget (seriously!? don't spend what you don't have!) they are non-paying internships. In a perfect world everything would be paid, and big bucks at that, but for now I guess beggars can't be choosers. I guess, if I get it, I'd have to see how it is an opportunity that can lead to bigger things. Also, if it's non-paying, I can take off the two-three weeks I want at Christmas as hey, it's non-paying so they're not exactly in a position to argue about how I "owe" them anything.

Also, my letter of recommendation was turned in late for my potential work/study. The deadline was Friday, it got sent on Saturday. We'll see if it'll squeak through. If not, that's one less thing to worry about, or one more,( i.e. I'd have to find another work/study position and I'm not sure what's available anymore). It's hard to say.

What will be, will be, though I think I'm going to leave the lady in charge a message explaining that I found out it was e-mailed today and if there is any way I can come in and talk to her about my qualifications. Hopefully, I'm being considered based on the strength of my own merits, not just on my letter of recommendation. Though again, it'd be a great opportunity, as one of the schools where the program is held, is literally, right across the street from where I live.

All in all, it's reassuring that other people are trying to figure out how to get everything done, and eat, and pay rent, and not go insane.

That reminds me, I also have to redo my resume. Eh, if it's not one thing, it's another.

Re:think How People Think

2009-09-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

I attended an event last night that was not what I expected and also challenged some of my pre-conceived notions.

With a friend from SC , Sylvia, who is also in the planning department I went to downtown LA, which is a stone's throw away from where I live (sortof), yet I rarely go there. Downtown LA is like a lot of downtown areas- it reminded me of the less fashionable sections of the Loop in Chicago, especially in the area around the Harold Washington Library on State Street- it's more than a little rundown around the edges. Yet there is evidence of its former glory in the delightful, yes I said delightful! pre-war buildings and architectural details. But it's hard to see the forest for the trees when the grime gets in the way. In other words, it has a long way to go before it can reclaim its former grandeur.

We had gone to what was described as "an interactive modeling workshop with James Rojas." This wasn't strip down and strike artful poses in the buff (thanks, but no) or looking emaciated in high-end couture, it was what I thought was going to be Mr. Rojas talking about his design process making little scale models of cities, etc.,

It wasn't that at all.

We walked into a converted art gallery- a rather narrow space with stark white walls, exposed duct work, etc., and a sparse selection of "art" on the walls- a few framed photographs of houses, some drawings, etc., We did our meet-and-greet with people we knew discussing our legal environment of planning mid-term that most people feel pretty confident about, but no one is 100% secure over, considering that it constitutes 50% of our grade!

After a while we were ushered into the back half of the gallery where there was a folding table strewn with bric-a-brac- bits of children's toys, broken necklaces, buttons, beads, oddly shaped little pieces of plastic, foam cut-outs, wooden blocks, etc.,

We were told that we were going to design our own visions of sustainable cities with the objects on the table.

A guy from my classes, Glen, who is also in my group project for history, and I collaborated and decided that our final design with a redesign of Amsterdam. We had started out constructing a canal composed of blue poker chips and built on our idea from there. Wooden blocks with buttons on top served as buildings with solar cells on top, little white tubes that lay between the buildings were urban gardens. We also designed a community center on one end of our proposed utopia, with a giant stage for gatherings and a light rail transit system snaked around the city.

After we were done we had to explain our vision and when everyone had presented, Mr. Rojas talked about how it is important, as planners, to think of ways to express how a proposed plan will look in order for greater visual comprehension. One can throw up a bunch of maps at a community meeting, but a lot of people are not receptive to that. People respond when they are invited to be involved and know that their opinions will be valued. Some people might like maps, others may want to see a model of a proposed project before they get on board, and still others would like to see images of what a potential scenario would look like. There is no one set way to guarantee cooperation or agreement from members of a community.

The same concept was conveyed in my History of Planning class with our first assignment. Part of the reason Dr. Sloane wanted it to be open-ended with no set parameters was because he wanted us to understand the importance of design in planning. But he also wanted us to understand that there is no one right way to convey an idea. One person might make a video, another might do a painting, other people put together presentation boards or construct models.

Regardless of how one goes about it, the importance that to effective communicate an idea, one can't rely on words alone.

I'll Beat Them At Their Own Game!

2009-09-11T01:21:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Smug Mountain! I feel like a very educated consumer. I have been on edmunds.com and US News & World Report meticulously scrutinizing each and every flaw of my beloved Honda Fit.

US News and World Report also has a partnership with some company called TrueCar something Price-? and it shows in one's zip code, what other people have paid for their cars, what the dealer paid, what the manufacturer's invoice was, etc., Haha! Power to the people!

I have also weighed the pros and cons of leasing vs. buying and for now, in my current situation I think a lease is a better idea for me. I'm a hardcore renter and for now I think that I am also a car lease-r. I am hopeful about these new "electric" cars and would like to keep my options open in the future- no dependence on petrodictatorships! Tyranny no more! I hope. . . Here comes the sun doo-doo-doo and I say it's gonna power my car! Well, maybe. . .

Now to decide if I should get an in-dash nav system, which makes me think that the potential that it will be stolen a lot rises dramatically, as one can't just pop it like one can with some car stereos, or just upgrade my cell phone plan to get turn-by-turn directions. . .

Some days you are the pigeon, other days you are the statue

2009-09-09T19:16:00.000-07:00

So after two fruitless weeks of waiting for my Legal Environment of Planning textbook that I'd ordered from a seller on half.com, I broke down and bought it at my campus bookstore due to my pending midterm that counts for 50% of my grade. Yipes!

Turns out, if I'd been smart and gone to the bookstore in the first place, I would have been able to buy it used cheaper at the bookstore and gotten it right away.

So much for sticking it to the man. I guess I got stuck :P

The Weirdest Library System Ever

2009-09-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday I unintentionally embarked on a campus library tour. As mentioned earlier I have several papers due and decided to get a leg up on the competition by checking out my books early i.e. look up for books that I wouldn't have to needlessly buy. Plus, I get to check them out for the whole semester! So, even if they are of no use to be scholarly, I am able to pursue them at my leisure- that includes all Thanksgiving long! Um, however long that is.

I started out at what I thought was the be-all-end-all library, called Leavey. It is the newest library and based on its size alone I thought that it would house all the volumes for which I was looking.

Appearance can be deceiving, as I soon found out. Though it is by far one of the biggest buildings, at least at first glance, on campus, it only had two of the books that I was interested in. It does however, have a rather impressive amount of labs and quiet study sessions. I have designated this my favorite study area with outlets for my new best friend, Macbook.

It turns out most of the books that I wanted are at VKC, named after somebody rich and famous, well, famous to USC. VKC is a very period-specific building. It practically screams 1970's architecture, which is like the old quote about pornography, "I-know-it-when-I-see-it" kind of style.

Not that I have anything against 1970's architecture. In fact, I find it quite comforting, as half of Wisconsin's built environment is still encased in 70's architecture. So in a way, those salmon-orange-y colored bricks and beige concrete trim remind me of my childhood.

I felt like a kid in a candy store hitting the VKC bookstacks- half of my amazon.com wishlist was on those shelves! I admit I went a little overboard, but better too much than too little, right?

It is a little odd that they have taken off all of the bookjackets at Leavey and VKC. If a book is softcover obviously they are not going to rip off the cover. Perhaps this is to discourage students' from using Publisher Weekly's review of book X for their report? Though I doubt you can write a whole paper based on the phrase "an inspiring work, I couldn't put it down". . .

I did check out a book at Doheney (see below) that had a book jacket, but they cut out a spot on the bookjacket's spine in order for a person to be able to see the Dewey Decimal label on the actual book itself- motivation = ?!

Then, I realized that one more book, which was essential to my research was at Doheney, one of the buildings that made me want to come here. If you've never been to USC, you must, for the architecture alone. Whoever was in charge of approving the architecture here must have had a thing for medieval-inspired architecture and I begrudge him or her not.

It is a beautiful, well-manicured campus and should be darn-it! considering how much I am shelling out! The old student union building now pharmacy/ticket office/and other stuff building, the President's office/cafe/again other stuff building, Mudd Hall, and Doheney are all testaments to gorgeous medieval style/revival-? architecture. If you ignore the girls in their tiny tank tops and guys on skateboards you'd almost think, in some areas, that you had wandered onto the set of a Brother Cadfael TV movie. OK, there aren't any monks or nuns wandering around on a daily basis, but you get the point.

There is one weird thing about Doheney though, and that's the way the books are stored.

Doheney is huge and looks like it should be at a monastery so one would think that the entire inside would look like a monastery too. Once you manage to heave open the oppressively heavy doors one enters a gorgeous atrium -? narthex-? area. There is a long stately counter where one checks out books and hallways on either side that look almost wide enough to play a decent game of Frisbee in. But once you go behind the check-out counter, (I know weird already) things get a little odd.

Behind the check-out counter are where the vast majority of the books are kept. And this area is not as swank. In fact, it's downright utilitarian. The floor is that industrial smooth linoleum? tile? something. . . The bookstacks are the old school metal kind, with adjustable shelves and look a little rickety, as if they are going to cave under the weight of the books they hold. They are also crammed together so tightly that my friend, Jeannette, who is an interior designer, declared that they were not ADA-compliant. And I had to agree. A few aisles are open enough for a person in a wheelchair to go down, but I imagine that a very large person I would have a difficult navigating back there in many spots.

Also, the ceilings are freakishly low. There is no set ceiling height for nearly any interior, but these are barely 6 and a 1/2 feet. To add to that, there is a lot of exposed pipe and ductwork. Gazing upon this we both wondered how a classmate of mine, who is easily 6'3" would be able to walk around here safely without winding up with a major shiner.

In addition, there are electric tape, or some kind of more permanent tape markings, on the floor to sort of guide you where to go. I navigate via the Dewey Decimal system and have found the tape system as useful as the bread crumbs that Hansel and Gretel employed on their journey into parts unknown.

And to add to it, almost all of the bookstacks are below ground. I found this very confusing the first time I went there looking for my book and unable to find it on the initial level. I was told that I should consult the chart by the elevator. Turns out my book was on the 4th floor and I was on the "5th," which based on the elevation, would only be the second floor.

I know that the French don't count the ground level as the 1st floor, but this was a little ridiculous. Clearly, I was not consulted when they put in the elevator buttons.

I observed to Jeannette, when I showed her the library, that it would be ironic to be stuck on level 3 for example, i.e. two stories underground, during an earthquake, and to be crushed under a bookstack. Death by literature. A fitting end for a bibliophile.

My mom will probably find this remark unnecessarily morbid. But I try not to spend too much time in the subterranean levels for too long. Hopefully, at least, the whole building is up to earthquake code.

After visiting Leavey, VKC, and Doheny and lugging around about 75 lbs. in books I was wiped out. But I feel very smug looking at my teetering stacks of tomes that I am well equipped in my research. Added perk, one can have articles from journals, magazines, periodicals, etc., e-mailed to one's self or downloaded as a PDF. No more giving the copy machine half of my life savings! Death to tyranny!

Jeannette says that we should start a BDSM club in some of the sublevels of Doheney, which I am inclined to consider putting together to supplement a little income. Madame X says you have a late fee! *whip snapping* Hey, it's a fitting space for such an activity, why not put it to good use?! :)

Metropolitanism and How I Went Down the Rabbit Hole, or Why Wikipedia is Awesome

2009-09-04T17:42:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a little research for my papers, and one of the subtopics that I was considering was sprawl and McMansions. I thought to myself, hmm, I wonder if anyone has written about those on Wikipedia? If Panic! at the Disco had a page before I realized how much they suck then someone must have written about McMansions.

Sure enough, someone had written about it and they had also thoughtfully provided links to several very good sources that I will probably utilize for my paper(s).

One of the topics was from the Atlantic Monthly, which had an article from 1999, (yikes! 10 years!?) called, "Divided We Sprawl," Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley, Atlantic, December 1999

It introduced a concept called "metropolitanism," which I'd never heard of, but I guess would now fall under the blanket term of sustainability as its concepts are very similar, if not identical. See below-

"The idea that cities and suburbs are related, rather than antithetical, and make up a single social and economic reality, is called metropolitanism." (Katz and Bradley)

"THE metropolitanist policy agenda has four basic elements: changing the rules of the development game, pooling resources, giving people access to all parts of a metropolitan area, and reforming governance. These are interlocking aspects of how to create good places to live; they are closely related and can be hard to distinguish. To understand the cascade of consequences that policies can have, consider the policy chain reaction that would begin if the rules of the development game were changed to fit the metropolitanist paradigm. Those rules are mainly the policies that guide transportation investments, land use, and governance decisions, all of which are themselves entangled." (Katz and Bradley)

To expound on the movement's basic tenants would probably tax the attention span of the average reader, but I highly encourage one to check out the article. It is written in a very accessible manner, it is admittedly though, a little on the long side. But very good reading nonetheless.

The authors don't reveal the origin of the concept of metropolitanism and Wikipedia didn't come up with a page on metropolitanism, but the authors of the Atlantic article may have borrowed the phrase from Friedrich Ulfers and his work, "Times Square as an Exemplar of Postmodern Urban Space. Toward a New Metropolitanism: Reconstituting Public Culture, Urban Citizenship, and the Multicultural Imaginary in New York and Berlin." Ed. Friedrich Ulfers, Gunter Lenz, and Antje Dallmann. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag

Regardless of the provenance of the word it is an interesting and exciting concept, which deserves more attention. I'd always seen the Atlantic on the newsstands, but I didn't know that they wrote anything that would be of particular interest to me. Yay!

Toot! Toot! Yep, that's the sound of my horn

2009-09-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that I feel rather smug right now? And not sweating as I am not at my house, but surrounded by the air conditioned bliss of the library, which like Goldlilocks's preferred temperature of porridge is not too hot and not too cold.

I have been working on my outline for my history and Sustainable Cities papers and I am feeling rather good about them. Despite years and years of churning out meaningless papers I still get a certain amount of anxiety when faced with the prospect of writing a paper for a new professor.

How hard is he or she going to grade it? Will s/he hate my thesis? Are they super sticklers for punctuation? I had a professor who docked me 5 points for the lack of use of a semi-colon and yet he constantly and consistently mispronounced one of the most famous Italian Baroque (or arguably Romantic) artists- calling him Kid-a-vahgio, not Car-a-vaggio, like Carrara marble. Sheesh.

Anywho, having already formulated some thoughts on my paper I can now branch out my thinking and consider hm- does sprawl develop the same way everywhere in the US? Or is it different in Atlanta vs. Phoenix vs. Seattle? Armed with these questions I can scour my library's online book database for relevant titles. Though I think I have already checked out 1/3 of the VKC's collection, or at least 1/3 of their titles on sprawl :)

Now I could really go for some ice cream, but I don't want to leave my spot! Oh the afflictions of the academic!

the Car-less Experiment

2009-09-04T01:33:00.000-07:00

I have been car-less for the past two years and for the most part it has been incredibly freeing.

However, lately, it has been putting a crimp on my social schedule. Superficial, but true. And if you'll bear with me I'll also explain that my social schedule is also my professional networking schedule.

My bff J is currently playing part-time chauffeur to me and my grocery store-Target-Barnes & Noble needs, and the carpooling has been great for us and the environment. We catch up, act silly, sing along to the music, and reduce our carbon emissions.

However, there SC events that could be of great use and interest to me- such as a visit to an artist's studio, who builds architecture models, which is in downtown LA in the evening. I have asked if J, who has an interest in urban planning, would be able to come too (as she would be my ride) and the powers that be said that they thought so, but to check back. I have also submitted a request for carpooling if she is unable to come due to space limitations.

My legal professor was sharing a story in class today about his dinner party encounter with a planning commission member for the city of Culver City (CA), who made the error of asking him what they should do to improve Culver City. He said that they should reduce parking (anathema in LA!!!), widen the sidewalks, narrow the streets, and reduce the speed limits to 15 mph. Needless to say, the other party did not talk to him for the rest of the night. He was saying this in all seriousness and I agree with him. But he also has a job (and a car I presume) and doesn't need to get to an internship!

One of the good/bad things about SC is that there is a mandatory internship- it's between 400- 1,000 hrs. (to be completed over the course of your studies). It forces you into getting real experience in the real world. But things get a little trickier when one wants to work in Santa Monica, but has no access to get there, short of lots and lots of excruciating long bus rides- Chicago and your amazing El trains, where are you when I need you?!

Also, I suspect that it will start to get a little unspokenly "weird" if I keep dragging J to SC social events that I want to go to and she isn't an enrolled student nor is she my girlfriend in that sense of the word. And people start to wonder, who is that girl? I never see her around. . .

And whenever there are field trips listed on a syllabus I wonder who I can charm into picking me up and taking me, or if there are other people who are car-less. :(

I totally admit that currently I am unable to meet friends for drinks anywhere as 1) I would need to find a way to get there and 2) I would need to find a way to get back- safely! And relying on the kindness of friends wears thin on all parties fast.

And I realized that I have to limit my studying on-campus at this present moment. As the a/c guy failed to show today I tried to stall as long as I could before I trudged home. But it was fast approaching dusk and I've never walked home at night and I wasn't in the mood to conduct a social experiment. I don't live in a super "sketchy" neighborhood, but we don't leave our front doors unlocked either.

The final realization I have come to, is that I need a car in order to not only get around, but to literally succeed!

Alas, one of those things you hear about LA that "you need a car to get around" is pretty much fact.

Obviously, many poor people do not own cars and have to rely on public transportation. But I also doubt that a lot of them need to put in a 1,000 hour, or maybe it's 400 hour mandatory internship for school! Can I also say that a lot of them also have very strong local social ties so in order to meet their friends they don't have to traverse three different zip codes? I have friends in Little Tokyo, Los Feliz, and Marina del Rey! None of the places, with the exception of LT are that easy to get to by public transit :P

There is a strong emphasis on social justice at my school, so hopefully one of my peers in the transportation concentration will be able to start addressing our abysmal state of public transit. Though the big big and big green buses to Santa Monica and Culver City, respectively are cute. And our metro local is a zippy shade of orange.

Unfortunately, I was not smart enough to put aside the money that I saved on transportation each month- partially because I was paying off the bill for a rebuilt tranny on my last car (RIP) and partially due to Target- darn you Target! Why must you be filled with shiny objects?!

So, now I am crunching numbers on 2009 Honda Fit's, wondering if I can eat and make a car payment. I'll keep ya posted.

This isn't due to ego. If I had my way I'd buy an old beater and drive it into the ground until I get a real job. The problem is my last car, my baby, was a used vehicle and I opted against buying a dealer-certified vehicle. This meant that I'm pretty sure I inherited a daddy's girl/boy's car, which they drove around and didn't pay any mind to the maintenance. Final result? I wound up paying for a completely rebuilt transmission, which cost almost as much, or more than the car was worth. And I don't even own it anymore. (the fact that this was due to a cross-country move is beside the point. Then the timing belt/the engine blew on said car. When it rains it pours. Too bad it was owned free and clear.) And I don't know a crankshaft from a gear shaft, so if anything goes awry I'm at the mercy of a mechanic.

But I am nothing if not a scrupulous researcher and I've done my homework and the Fit has earned rave reviews. It also meets my needs exactly- a small car = easy to park, loaded with safety features and a/c and a CD player come standard. :) My needs are simple and few- I only want the best!

Apparently, shopping in October is the perfect time to wrangle a deal. There's also a tall drink of water in my classes who I hope will be able to come with me as I've heard that dealers are outright biased against women buyers. So I'll bring me a tall strappin' fellow to do the talkin'. And a former co-worker was a former car salesperson so I'm tapping her for tips too.

Plus, with a car I could pick up a small job, ugh, maybe. Unless my parking costs eat up what would be considered my paycheck. Hmm, I'm rather partial to Trader Joe's, and they always have ample parking!

The adventure continues! If it's not one thing, it's another!

Things are falling down on me. Heavy things I could not see- Phish (Never thought I'd quote them)

2009-09-03T20:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am sitting mere inches from my desktop fan, with a pervading smell of "dog" wafting by every few seconds- I think some of the dog dander was absorbed into the dust of the fan and now blows on me- ewww.

Suffice to say the a/c guy did not come today. But luckily, it is cooler than it had been, which is good because I need all the energy that I can muster- as projects and assignments are raining down on me!

I have a pretty good idea/execution for assignment 1 for my history class. Just have to cut up the photos, layer some pieces on pieces of foamcore, print out some descriptors (as apparently we are not getting in front of the class and presenting them) and mount 'em. Eh- with the cats always climbing on the counters perhaps this is best saved for my bedroom @ 2 AM as it will be cooler there and I have no prior engagements in my bedroom at that time ;-)

We also have a group assignment for history, which should be an interesting collaboration as the people I am working with I don't know very well/haven't hung out with socially. As always, the terms of the assignment are a little vague. We are supposed to rewrite a community plan's history as

"A community's history, like a community plan, is a mosaic of planning concerns. It should consider transportation, economic development, social planning land use, and urban design issues from a historical perspective."

Um, OK. . . I guess write what a town's history should have been??? Rewrite history?

"The product will be a short history of 4-6 pages,. . .The brochure (I know, he went from product to brochure???) should have one-inch margins, have appropriate sources, and be effectively illustrated.

We were thinking that Detroit would be a great example, for reasons that are pretty self-explanatory. Despite its current sorry state, it does have a rich history- Jazz Age, Motown, a proud history of making America's cars (uh yeah. . .), still pretty good sports teams, etc.,

And of course the ever-present readings for Sustainable (Cities). Granted, we don't have class for two weeks, but I'd rather get it over with so that I can put a major dent in my reading for my papers that will be due a lot sooner than I'd like. Six weeks sounds so safe and far away and then the wolf is breathing down your neck! Actually, one of the papers isn't due until November 30th (!? wow that sounds like forever from now!), but still yipes!

I have been trying to save myself a little time by thinking of writing papers on subjects that would work well for both my Sustainable Cities class and my History class. Another post will discuss what I have been mulling over as potential theses.

Though, I do have to do a presentation for class on the 14th on the article, "Twenty-five Years of Sprawl in the Seattle Region: Growth Management Responses and Implications for Conservation" by: Lin Robinson, Joshua Newell, and John M. Marzluff, published in Landscape and Urban Planning, Issue 71, pages 51-72.

Years spent quivering and wondering what on earth was I doing in junior-high debate club has primed me for any public speaking engagement, but one time I do bow off practicing my presentation and I admit it wasn't as smooth as it could have been.

Oh yeah, and I'd like to at least start, the End of Energy Obesity by Peter Tertzakian and Peter Hollihan. Tertzakian also wrote A Thousand Barrels a Second, as we have to do a 10 minute review presentation on a selected book related to urban sustainability. Hm, breaking our ties with non-renewable energy should fit the bill. Just gotta read the sucker! It was/is a new book at the Santa Monica library, but it looked so interesting that I bought myself a copy on amazon.com- plus double points with my new credit card!

I have yet to receive my "legal" book for Legal Environment of Urban Planning, so I can't put any notes in there yet in anticipation of our open-book test. They have six weeks dang it! But I can type up summaries of the cases he has presented thus far. . .

I am a little tired of alternately standing and sitting on the barstool in the kitchen, which puts just enough pressure on the back of my thighs that I wonder if I could get a blood clot. Only 1 1/2 hrs. til tomorrow, add 8-10 hours for sleep, and then I shall hightail it to campus for some of that free a/c!

Perhaps I shall retire up to my room to continue my studies, if I crank the fan up to high and set it to oscillate I might live :P

You Can't Believe Everything You Hear, or Refuting Misconceptions about LA

2009-09-02T23:31:00.000-07:00

"He's in California becoming someone else."

"He'll fit right in. You can be anyone you want to there, as long as you don't mid being stuck in traffic. -Boomsday by Christopher Buckley

When I first visited LA I was terrified to leave my friend's house.

As Craig Ferguson observed in his hilarious show, A Wee Bit O' Revolution, "I'm too fat, I'm too old, I'll be judged!" (though this was in the context of stepping out in San Francisco, which I believe is much more forgiving in terms of aesthetics.

I was afraid that everyone would be super skinny, or super fit, blonde, super tan, and extremely judgmental of those who didn't quite reach that elusive mark of so-called "perfection." And while this is true in a lot of Beverly Hills, it is not the case in a lot of the rest of LA.

I highly recommend coming out here so that you can hang out in Silverlake Junction and indulge in some fabulous gelato, peruse the bins at Amoeba Records in Hollywood, which isn't the Hollywood that er, Hollywood-the-Star-Machine tries to sell, or Santa Monica to really enjoy a true beach town. OK, Santa Monica is technically LA LA, but it is there and it is fabulous and I love it and I want to work there someday. Malibu isn't LA LA either, but that doesn't stop people from associating it with the Barbie Nation.

And in all these places and elsewhere yes there are girls that look like wannabees from the TV show, the Hills and guys who look they spend more time in the bathroom "grooming" than is socially necessary, but there are also very average people here. I am proud to say that I am one of them. Yes, there is a disproportionate amount of incredibly attractive people here, but I would say that there many people who don't fall under the "conventional" label of attractive, who are still very pretty to look at. For those of you whose appearance I stared at perhaps for a moment longer than was appropriate I am sorry. But wow, you were pretty.

In fact, a lot of those "perfect" people are a little freakish looking. There is something that is not quite "natural" about them. Sometimes it's really obvious- hello tan-o-rexic! Other times it's more subtle and then you realize that while her driver's license says 55, her face is trying to stay frozen in 1974. Ladies aren't the only ones to blame. I still have a hard time absorbing the image of the super "ripped" guys who are older than my dad (birthdate 1955), but are in better shape than most of my peers. Please, being a slave to the gym will not stave off mortality forever. Look at FloJo. (RIP FloJo)

Yes, the traffic still sucks, at most times of the day. But every once in a while one is pleasantly surprised that the rest of the maniacs decided to stay home. This is the inevitable outcome of building a city based on the automobile and not giving a fig about what we now call "sprawl."

Also, it's not all palm trees and movie stars. While I would love to say that I have met actor X and actress Y, I have not, and not for lack of trying. So far, no encounters with the rich and/or famous, but I spend most of my time in Silverlake and Santa Monica, where LiLo and Tom Cruise tend not to be.

The number of model/actress/waitstaff is unknown as I hate to pay someone else to make something that I can make myself and tip them to boot. But I imagine as long as the Dream Machine chugs along that there will be starry-eyed hopefuls trickling in every day and introducing themselves to tourists as "Hi, I'm Brittney, and I'll be your server today" until they get "discovered."

But the weather is temperate- one can visit the mountains, the beach, or the desert all in a matter of hours. Just goes to show that you can't believe everything you hear.

So as Interpol, the band, says in their song, "the Heinrich Manuever" "how are things on the West Coast?" I dunno, why don't you come out and find out for yourself? See you soon!

I left my heart in. . .Chicago

2009-09-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

In my "history of planning" class, as I call it, we are studying Daniel Burnham, a turn of the 20th century architect and one of the world's first urban planners, and his plan for Chicago.

I often wonder where I am "from," especially in new social situations when people ask. I like to deflect the question and usually tell people that I've lived in a lot of places, but I like to say Chicago. This is partially because people know where it is and partially because it is true.

I am a citizen of the universe, and while I'd like to say that I'm from Rome, that's just not true.

However, in the US, Chicago is a city that makes me proud. I love the CTA, which gives New York stiff competition, the fact that the library has a pass that you can check out to go to the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, the Art Institute, etc., for free, the people who are eclectic and proud of it- they don't play second fiddle to anyone- though they may be considered New York and LA's younger, scrappier sibling they pay that categorization no mind and go about their lives with a devil-may-care attitude.

And reading through the Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City by Carl Smith, I have a renewed sense of civic pride. There are lots of tidbits of Chicago history, of long-dead people, whose names now mark streets, like, the General Committee vice chairman (of the Plan of Chicago) Charles H. Wacker, whose name is now synonymous with Wacker Drive, which yes, elicits giggles from school boys and girls for reasons I won't go into.

Yes, Chicago is a little flawed, mainly due to a long and not-so-secret history of political corruption, but as one of my best friends, who is a born-and-bred Chicago native observes with an impish smile and shrug of the shoulders, would we (Chicagoans) have it any other way?

As Vince Vaughn's character in the movie, the Breakup, observed in one of his Three Brothers tour of Chicago, "Chicago is called the Second City. But that's because in 1871, there was the Great Chicago Fire, (which destroyed about four square miles), but we rebuilt. And now we wear that nickname as a badge of honor." Contrary to the people who think that it stands for the fact that theoretically Chicago is "second" to New York.

Great, great public transportation, amazing culture- so many museums, concerts, history, etc., world-class sports teams (for those who care about those things), incredibly diversified neighborhoods from poor immigrant communities who still shine with pride at what they have accomplished to super posh zip codes filled with money almost as old as the city itself, and a mayor who responded to allegations of political corruption as "That's just silly, silly, silly." What more could you want?! Oh yeah, less freezing cold winters, but you can't have it all, though Chicago comes really close.

Will You Be My (Study) Buddy?

2009-09-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

I have realized, to my detriment, that it takes me about three hours to complete a reading that normally should probably only take about an hour and a half. It's not due to adult-onset reading disabilities or anything like that, I just have become more easily distracted over the years. I place the blame partially on working in retail, the thankless, dull-yet-taxing enterprise, which requires distractions in order to get through the day. Though, yes most of the blame rests on my cute (and yes still un-tattooed Mom) shoulders.

Plus, having a solid and fast Internet connection on my new laptop along with iTunes and Photo Booth doesn't make things any easier. Seriously, how did I live without this before!? :)

Maybe I just need a study-buddy. Nah, I tend to infect others with my bad habits ;-) If it were a guy would it be better? No, probably much worse! lol

I do feel better knowing that my housemate, Emily, is equally bad at just sitting down and hammering out her homework. See, it can't be that bad!

Nor does it help that even when I do take copious notes in some classes it doesn't matter because the professor has to charge ahead because it is only a half-a-semester class.

Oh well, onward through the fog!

In other news,

Academic purgatory

2009-09-01T23:22:00.000-07:00

I feel quite lucky this week as my Sustainable Cities class isn't meeting for two weeks due to the impending Labor Day holiday.

Therefore giving me a luxurious amount of time to focus on

I also felt a lot better knowing that a lot of my classmates are freaking out over our first graded assignment for our Planning History and Urban Form class entitled "Considering Urban Form.". Our professor is great and really knows his stuff. However, he is less specific in the syllabus for the assignment.

We are supposed to go to a place and analyze why it "somehow symbolizes urban planning." Then we need to find a way to represent it visually. He doesn't give us restrictions in terms of media and in fact, discourages us from "overthinking."

He says that "the place you pick is important." It needs to be "clear, concise, and analytical. Third, it will be easy to lose the third attribute in the last sentence. How is your product both descriptive of the place and analytically of its importance? This will be the difference between the excellent and the good project."

He is self-aware enough to slyly remark, "So, is the assignment vague enough for you? I hope so. The idea here is that you figure out what you think it should look like. Don't try to figure out what I would like, because that is impossible since I don't know."

I think that that last sentence is the final nail in a lot of our coffins. We, luckily, were not as brainwashed as some of the overachievers and members of the meritocracy as David Brooks calls them, that came after us- slavishly chasing: 1600 SAT scores, valedictorian, president of the student council positions, while being the starting QB and first chair oboe player all at the same time, etc., But I do know that the majority of my peers and I were academically brainwashed to parrot what our teachers wanted to hear, despite their insistence on "critical thinking," which to this day I still don't know what they meant.

Ironically, I went to art school, so I should be pretty confident in terms of visual representation, but there is that old high school self-loathing/self-doubt/perfectionism that constantly worries is this good enough?!?!?!?! When 20% of your grade is riding on this, one wants to be more than a little secure!

I am fairly confident in my concept- sorry I can't disclose it til next week just in case one of my peers is feeling academically lazy, which I highly doubt they will, but in this age of intellectual copyright one can never be too careful.

We won't be presenting these unless he likes the idea that is represented and feels that it warrants class discussion, so it really has to speak for itself. I think that my idea has legs on which it can stand and I have a brand-new printer so that should help.

Ugh. I can stand everything but limbo. Here goes nothing!

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

2009-08-30T20:20:00.000-07:00

I have realized that some things never change- like when my parents used to nag me to do my homework before I could play, so I could play without interruption later.

Now I am on my own and don't have anyone to remind me to do my homework, which is both good and bad.

Like a good girl I did my History of Urban Planning homework so I could have fun this weekend. (my legal environment of planning book has yet to show up despite my purchase of expedited shipping)

I decided to save my readings for Sustainable Cities until tonight so that the readings would be fresh in my mind. Little did I know that while the readings are "recommended"- some of my classmates are reading the articles in depth and presenting on them- they are all reallllly long. Thank God for footnotes and bibliographies, but I am still slugging my way through a twenty-page paper on the controversy surrounding the terms "sustainability" and "sustainable development" (analysis to follow- if I survive this) that I started last Thursday. But owing to Facebook and my new computer and new place with wi-fi I got a little distracted and didn't finish it in one go.

I also have found it a bit hard to swallow in places. One of my favorite bits is about how some author considers sustainability "ecological socialism." Ah academia, the last haven for socialists. But have those so-called socialists ever really considered what socialism in action is really like? If they want to know, they could talk to pretty much anyone born after 1920 in Eastern Europe and how much "fun" their lives have been. (excluding the lucky girls and boys who were able to snag modeling contracts and I think Putin is a little biased. But that man is scary- even and especially with his shirt off, so I won't say anything against him.)

(this is just him fishing!!! for heaven's sake. Why does it make me think of Deliverance!?

Oh yeah, probably because of this picture that scares both me and the editor in chief of GQ. (I can't find the specific edition that the editor's letter mentions that seeing Vladimir Putin shirtless makes Jim Nelson more than a little nervous, but it's in there- just not preserved in cyberspace.)

I thought that my undergrad professor's babbling on and on about semiotics and Ferdinand de Saussure and his "signifiers" and "signifieds" were painful exercises in academia, but this might win king of the hill. And something tells me there's going to be a LOT more of this!

Thank God for Dad's devotion to Stephen Covey and his Seven Habits of Highly Effective People- some of it just might have stuck :P cuz I know Saussure sure didn't! OK, gotta keep reading. . .

My First Week- a recap

2009-08-29T00:33:00.000-07:00

People have asked how my first week has gone, and overall, it has been great.

I have met a lot of interesting people from all over, and from other disciplines as well. One of my roommates/housemates- the British term flatmate would probably be more appropriate- is a doctoral candidate in bio-med from Tucson. I met a girl from the Bay Area who worked for Google and now is a geriatrics major. I don't know if major is the right word for people pursuing their master's, but I have yet to find a better term, though I am open to suggestion :P

A lot of the people in my program, urban planning, are sustainable land use, which is good to know, though I think we all have different goals for what we would like to end up doing with our degree.

I have heard people say that it's hard to find an L.A. native, but I don't think that they're asking in the right circles. I think those people are talking about Hollywood. The girl whose parents own the house I am renting a room from is an L.A. native and I met a guy at our program's mixer who was born and raised in Orange County.

A lot less people than I thought are opting for transportation, which I found interesting as infrastructure is such a big issue with the Obama administration right now due to all our aging bridges, highways, etc.,

We all come from different backgrounds, but our prior academic studies and their connection to our current passion is interesting. For example, one person that I met last night at the mixer is doing his concentration in transportation, and if memory serves, and if I heard him correctly over the incredibly loud and even worse "music" he said that he was a chem and micro-bio major. I asked him why and how he made the leap to urban planning and he said that he had been working on something insert science words here- the reverb drowned it out- something about making fuels that were more efficient or something.

We have several philosophy as undergrad majors people, which I really thought was an interesting leap. I'll have to hunt them down and ask them what changed their course in direction.

And as much as I hated moving around as a kid, it has really helped me both in my profession and also being able to relate to people. I was able to talk with a person who has lived here in L.A. for nine years, but came from Iowa, I was also able to talk with another person who was a self-proclaimed "Mr. Hartford" and I was able to call him on his bluff. Turns out he really is from Hartford, CT, not Avon, or Glastonbury, etc., I connected with an old friend on Facebook who I went to high school with in Connecticut, but now lives in Madison, WI, even though she spent her whole life in Massachusetts.

Class commentary

2009-08-28T23:36:00.000-07:00

When I first registered for classes I thought, this is silly- why can't I sign up for a bunch of classes? Why do they only recommend that you start with 8-10-12 credits? Oh, now I see your point.

I am taking Sustainable Cities on Mondays, (only, having shown up on Wednesday with no one there- read your schedule genius!) which as I have had only one class so far I can't really comment on it, other than the professor seems very well educated and knows what he's talking about, which is always good. And it is "seminar style," so we do a lot of reading between classes and then apparently come back and sit at a long conference table. Though it pays to show up early as there are more chairs and students that would like to sit in them than there is room at the table. Oops.

Luckily for me, can I sound a little smug?, the building that my class is in is literally right across the street from where I live and it's only about a ten minute walk to class, getting up to the 4th floor, included.

Tuesday/Thursday is my history of urban planning and legal environment of planning classes- back to back, hence my death race to get to legal on time, which is significantly farther than I'd like. Fortunately, a good majority of my history class also goes to the legal class.

My history class is taught by the former department chair, but due to inevitable department reshuffles now no longer holds that particular position and I think oversees the undergrad division. The class is a little different than I'd pictured it in my head. But then again so was my visual culture, which had nothing to do with say, ads on TV and everything to do with semiotics and Levi-Straus, not the jeans guy! The class has started out being grounded in theory with Kevin Lynch and Spiro Kostof, two of the first theorists. My syllabus says we're going to be talking about Chicago and Irvine, so party on.

My legal class is a LOT more fun than I ever imagined it would be. My working knowledge of the law outside the basic amendments and Illinois work comp is pretty limited. I know I've never been able to talk my way out of a ticket that's for sure.

So, I was a tad apprehensive, thinking that I was going to have to commit a lot of statutes and dates and laws to memory. Nope. But my class has helped make my sit-in's on the site plan reviews in Visalia make a lot of sense.

Now I know why, for example, Dennis, the city manager (?) always added that the developer needed to submit an EIR (environmental impact report) after he'd discussed all of the other codes like fire and health and safety. Also, my professor is a hoot.

He has all these sly remarks that makes one think one is watching an old movie like the Man Who Came to Dinner or a Marx Brothers. Example:

"I used to live in Kansas. But being in the Midwest, I don't really consider that living."

Being slightly anal and definitely a little OCD I have marked all of my major assignments on a giant dry-erase board that I found on the side of the road and promptly Lysol'ed the heck out of before bringing it inside.

I figure that it's dumb to try to read too far ahead, especially for my history and legal classes as I know I need Sloane to break down whatever we read for his class and Kushner definitely can break a case down into sound bytes.

But it is comforting knowing exactly what will be expected and how to budget my time.

I have work-study, which won't make or break me, but I would like that extra X $ alloted to me. And I have applied for a reading tutoring program, one of whose schools is literally right across the street from me- so fingers crossed!

The second half of the semester I swap history & legal for theory (planning, of course) & stats- ack! Luckily, my stats professor announced that he hadn't taken stats himself since he was in school, so we won't get weighed down in a lot of extra superfluous stuff.

I'm fairly confident (even if my pater familia is not) that I will do well in that class as I have always preferred large groups of numbers, especially of concrete data that I could use rather than 8% of 3/4 of 250- if you know the answer great, I don't care. But if you want me to explain why it is important that we build housing for the needs of the 35% of the population that are married, but with no children, the seniors that make up 20%, the singles that compromise 30% of the population and not just the 15% of the two-parent, married with children population for whom suburbia is designed.

Plus, the class's full name is statistics and arguing from data- so all those junior high debate team competitions and trying to sound like I knew what euthanasia was will come in handy too!

Notes from the Underground, or more like the hyper-manicured grounds

2009-08-28T14:22:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are unaware, after a long and arduous process, I am officially a first year grad student at USC, or S-C, as they call it here, now enrolled in the school of PPD- Planning, Policy & Development- with an emphasis on sustainable land use i.e. go green! More green building materials, more access to mass transit, building environments that promote a better standard of living for all people, etc.,

I am still getting used to seeing kids clad- willingly- in apparel (and not just the athletic kind) that bears the school's logo and/or colors.

At my art school, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) to wear the apparel sold at the bookstore was to be met with indifference, or why did you spend $60 on that hoodie?!

There are probably a thousand "beach cruiser" bikes here too- in just about every color imaginable- though they tend toward the citrus hues and a lot of Pepto-Bismol pink. These bikes would get you laughed out of any self-respecting "real" bike shop- one gear!? you've got to be kidding me! But they're happy to sell them to you on Main Street in Santa Monica for $300+ a pop. Ouch.

It is also "rush" week at school this week i.e. sorority Barbie Yup, every stereotype you think of when the word "sororities" comes up is pretty much here. I am obligated to say tho, that not all sororities are like that. As one of my best friends is both a self-proclaimed metalhead and member of a very non-Barbie-ish sorority.

But it is a beautiful campus- really freakin beautiful- I can't decide which is my favorite building- pictures to follow- and the faculty are top-notch.

It's nice to have pretty buildings to look at as I engage in a death sprint from my Tuesday class of the History of Urban Planning in Ralph and Goldy Lewis Hall to um, I call it Tapien, which is about a 1/4 mile away, which wouldn't be bad, except I only have ten minutes between classes- thanks to a last-minute scheduling change.

I like to pop in my earbuds and crank up the ol' ipod, but I have to be mindful of the maintenance, grounds, and other staff who whiz around on their little electric cars, driving like the maniacs that they and every other driver are in the City of Angels- hello! I pay your salary- yes you! Would it kill you to slow down? At least the carts are electric.

Some kids also ride their skateboards, which I possess absolutely no experience in, and only have admiration for them as they navigate around the swarms of bodies. I'd like to learn, but I'm pretty sure that I do not possess the requisite inner-ear balance necessary not to kill myself.

I've been able to watch the USC band practice their songs and I must say that it is quite inspiring, think "Chariots of Fire". Though again, as a former art school attendee I simply cannot comprehend the hoopla surrounding the Trojan football team, nor the desire to fork over $160 of my student loan dollars to attend 6 home games. Um fight on?

I can know pick out an undergrad from a grad student at sixty paces, the Lauren Conrad wannabees don't count. Nor the guys who hope to be the next Brody Jenner *shudder* I thought they broke the mold. Some of the guys it is a little harder- facial hair is not a surefire indicator, though it usually points to underclassman. But it amazes me how little I have in common socially with the vast majority of these people- even the seniors. We have different attitudes on cell phones, ipods, and even laptops- all of the aforementioned items were not "givein's" when I was their age- they were all pricey, techy gadgets that I could live without, not something that everyone and their grandma (!) have. I think the fact that we are carbon-based life forms are the only thing that we have in common. Cuz it certainly ain't music.

So, there, in a nutshell, is the USC social campus.

This Better Not Be Fatal

2009-08-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

So, I have officially completed my first week of grad school without harm or loss of limb- wooh!

I realized that I only posted one entry for July, and August is almost over now too. But in my defense, I moved down to LA and settled in, which despite having done this more times than I can remember, I still do everything at the last minutes :P And yes, having a lot of "stuff" doesn't make the process any easier. Luckily, one of my new roommates is a kindred spirit who understands the psychologically soothing effects of familiar baubles.

Anyway, I am now the proud new owner of a brand spanking new Macbook and with a steady connection, I hope to use this forum as a way to present what I have been learning at my very expensive school, partially due to the insistence of my pater familia, but also partially, hopefully for my peers, who can serve as a regulating system- letting me know if I am off-base, was sleeping when the professor made a point that I consequently misinterpreted, etc.,

I am very excited about my classes- summary to follow :)

I have also developed a terminal case of adult-itis- I took it upon myself to clean my shared bathroom, which didn't look like it had seen a sponge since I-don't-want-to-think-about-it. Now it is all sparkle-y clean and the trash isn't higher than the toilet tank- gross, I know. But my landlord is really chill, so it balances out.

I know that you can't go home again, but once you start to notice that things are dirty and actually take steps to clean up, can you go back?! Time will tell! Watch this space!

the Problem with Joe

2009-07-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

I used to live where I live now about (oi) 15 years ago. As I was much younger I don't have very many concrete memories of what life was like. However, I do remember stopping at the slightly more expensive grocery store in town at night to get something. I remember the plaza and the grocery store's facade and how the interior lights slipped out on the sidewalk and into the interior of our mini-van. I don't remember what we were buying or why, but I remember the feel of the place. Guess I was destined to be a planner.

As fate would have it, I now live within walking distance of that plaza from my past. The grocery store is out of business, the slightly upscale restaurant across the way has changed owners at least twice and the drugstore closed and is potentially going to be turned into a CVS.

The plaza still has a Carl's Jr. fast food restaurant, a donut shop that keeps truly sporadic hours, a Dollar Store, a Sally's Beauty Supply, and an improbably located Edible Arrangements.

Despite these amenities the plaza feels incredibly vacant, owing largely to the gaping hole/empty retail space where the grocery store used to be. It's kind of like a sledgehammer went through a wall. Yes, the wall is still standing and is still technically whole, but it needs to be fixed.

So, one can imagine my surprise and delight when over my housemate's Sunday dinner the idea was mentioned that a Trader Joe's was in talks to set up shop where the grocery store had been. This is a phenomenal idea as the nearest Trader Joe's is an hour away in Fresno, which seems rather far to drive to by little frozen tiny cubes of basil, no matter how much my dad raves about them. Meanwhile, when I am in L.A. I drive by at least three Trader Joe's.

Unfortunately, the rumor of a soon-to-open Trader Joe's was dispelled by another member at the gathering who had asked an employee at the Fresno Trader Joe's and that person had said that there is no truth to the rumor. And that corporate needed there to be at least 45,000 people or something in the area before they would consider building one. What their corporate people failed to recognize where the surrounding areas of my town, that yes are small, but also are not conveniently located near an access road to get to a freeway or highway to connect them to Fresno. Several of the neighboring towns are situated so that in order to get to Fresno, they have to drive through my town. Hmmm.

I've done a lot of research on downtown revitalization, one of my main areas of focus for my future urban planning practice and history has taught us that clearing out a bunch of land and plunking down a mall can backfire over time as the novelty wears thin.

However, with Trader Joe's, and this is not an endorsement of their company, but merely an economic observation, that store offers many goods and food stuffs that other stores do not carry in the area, due to lack of perceived demand. Trader Joe's is a niche market and frankly is a market waiting to be filled here by shoppers of all economic backgrounds. I worked for a neurosurgeon for a while whose wife enjoys gourmet cooking, I also have a friend who is going for his master's in plant biology who equally enjoys cooking, even if his income is much more modest and lucky duck that he is, lives in Fresno and enjoys frequenting his local Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's is not a shopping mall, it is, pared down to its essence (no pun intended) a grocery store, but a specialty one at that. Unlike a mall, which people may grow tired of, it has the potential to increase profits as the population continues to grow and last time I checked people need to eat at least once a day. It also would be able to revive an area that is frankly depressed. It also can utilize a pre-existing structure with very little interior renovation. Most of the fixturing from the original grocery store is still in place. The lights are all on all day, which makes me twitch, but that's a story for another day.

The people at the top level at Trader Joe's Inc., Corp.? whatever- need to look beyond their narrow parameters and see what an opportunity a new location could be not only for them, but also for the surrounding area. Just sayin. . .

If I Ever Leave This World Alive -Flogging Molly

2009-06-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

I thought it appropriate to use a Los Angeles-based band, and one of my favorites, as the title for my latest posting.

Grad school is soon upon me, and I like to have everything nailed down as much as possible. So, I thought that I had a place all lined up. It was cute, private, and close to school.

Then I called the property manager to check on whether the owner was agreeable to my lease terms and he thought that I had found another place and found another tenant! This is despite my pronouncement that I loved it and that I would take it. In the City of Angels where you can't throw a Variety newspaper without hitting a waitress-actress hyperbole is just bole.

This is not something you want to hear during the middle of your work day. I raced home and immediately hit Craig's List.

I've lined up a few prospects in a variety of situations: a thirty-something married couple, a grad school film student, a professor, and a recent grad whose parents own the house- all different, but all potentially good fits.

I enjoy variety including my living situations. I've mainly lived with one another person, but in may different places: the ghetto of Chicago, a nicer section of Chicago, an island off Savannah, Georgia, the Central Valley of California, and even alone in the suburb of Chicago.

And I've met a variety of people living in these different places: a vegetarian interior designer, a Scientologist "chiropractor", a fencing enthusiast/part-time nudist, a sociologist/music moron twin (I can say that I'm her "sister"), a graphic designer whose never met a rainbow she doesn't love, a landscape designer/ VW enthusiast, etc.,

As unnerving as it is trying to find a new place in a strange city, I've enjoyed meeting all kinds of different people as prospective housemates, or even potential friends? :) "Cold calling" prospective housemates feels a little like going on a blind date- putting your best foot forward, inflating your good qualities, etc., But sometimes things work out! I'll keep you posted. Happy 4th y'all!

Grow a Pair!

2009-06-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

Haha! Got you! Please, I consider myself to be vaguely tasteful and this blog's subject matter is not worthy of Maxim, but more along the lines of Better Homes and Gardens. Sortof.

This is merely a rumination on my childhood summers, prefaced by a sensationalist title to capture the reader's attention. It worked, didn't it?

Anyway, as I have mentioned ad nauseum, I have lived in a lot of places growing up. But one of the few consistent memories that I had was my mom's love of planting and gardening, wherever we lived. Sometimes the properties we lived on were not sympathetic to a garden, but they would accept bushes, flowers, shrubs, etc.,

My mom is not a girlie girl. She is happiest digging in the dirt, planting new, er, plants, plucking a homegrown tomato off the vine for dinner, or cutting a few roses and putting them in a bowl to spruce up the dining room table. She enjoys other activities, to be sure, but this is one of the major activities that I believe give her a defined sense of pleasure.

I, on the other hand, despite my aspirations, do not like to garden. Despite being a latent environmentalist, I could take or leave plants for my own personal use. I go into Home Depot's garden section and fall over from sticker shock. $42 for a tree?! I could buy shoes! I had a topiary in high school, as I was obsessed with them, but not enough to water it. Mom nursed that back to health.

I have lasting scars from the time I tried to weed our rose beds as the weeds were getting as tall as I. And I had heard our landlady express dismay over how her prized roses were being overrun by weeds. So, seeking an opportunity to do a good deed, I pulled and I yanked and I got two 3-inch gashes for my efforts.

I also attempted to grow a little basil from seeds purchased from the dollar section of Target, but they started to look a little sad. So, I fed them just a little Miracle-Gro and that annihilated them. No joke. It was there one day looking a little peckish and dead as a doornail the next.

I think it all stems back from my childhood. My mom tried her best to get us kids (my brother and I) involved in gardening. She even let us pick out our own seeds and plant them. But Wisconsin soil is fickle and while green beans, tomatoes, and zucchini tend to proliferate- slightly more Utopian horticultural dreams like watermelons, do not. I think I also tried to grow something else that did sprout but was not as interesting on my plate as it was on the shiny seed packet. Probably spaghetti squash or something like that.

But for those of you who do not have black thumbs I urge you to try a little garden, even an herb garden. Especially if you have kids. As we get farther and farther from nature I think more and more kids literally believe that food only comes from restaurants and the grocery store and that dirt's only purpose is to turn into mudpies. Show them where it really comes from. I remember the incredible pride I felt as a second grader when my alfalfa shoots sprouted in my milk carton. I wasn't terribly taken by the taste of my labors, but I loved that I had grown it all by myself. Well, cheek to jowl with my classmates' milk cartons in that windowsill. But my alfalfa was mine alone! I had raised it up from the darkness and into the light! Hyperbole? Probably. But success? You bet your sweet bippie.

As my fresh cilantro becomes a weekly habit at 30 cents a week I am going to grow my own cilantro and try that basil again. Maybe even a little rosemary in honor of my grandma? I've already got the OK from my new property manager!

To paraphrase circa 1980's Sesame Street won't you come out and (grow something) with me?

GQ put out a very informative article in their May 2009 issue called, "Grow Your Own: a Man's Introduction to Gardening" Unfortunately, they did not provide a hyperlink to the article. So if you want to read it, leave me a comment and I'll send you a PDF or there's always ebay- Zac Efron is on the cover if that's any additional incentive. :) Happy summer y'all!

Also, I don't know him from Adam, but a Mr. Colin McCrate, founder of Seattle Urban Farm Company was mentioned in the article. Here is a link to their blog, http://sustainableseattle.blogspot.com/2009/04/seattles-colin-mccrate-in-may-gq.html

More Things I Have Learned From the Road

2009-06-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

*The original draft was written at the 7th Street L.A. Greyhound station- right across the street from the American Apparel factory/non-sweatshop. But as I am too cheap to add an Internet option to my phone I am publishing it now. Enjoy*

I consider myself a pretty experienced traveller. I have literally been flying in airplanes ever since I was 4 months old- how else do you think they transport infant adoptees? FedEx?! I've survived cross-country trips with my family and trans-Atlantic flights with strangers. I enjoy trains and deal with buses because they're cheap and are the only mass transit vehicles that traverse the Grapevine- the foothills/mountain range that separate central from southern California.

But today (6-22-09) I learned something new. Greyhound will not print you a second ticket should you lose or misplace your original.

This came as quite a shock to me especially as I thought that I was all set to board my 2 PM trip without any hassles. (Another note- just like airplanes ALWAYS come at least an hour early!) Nope, what the person behind the counter at my departure location had failed to advise me was not to throw away my ticket because, unlike the airlines, but like life, this is the only one you get.

Usually, I don't throw away any of my travel stubs until I get home, or to my final destination- kind of a one-stop garbage purging if you will. However, this time, this ONE time! I threw away what I thought was just my Greyhound receipt and the little folder it came in, not even bothering to check if there was anything else important in there. O the folly of my ways! Think very expensive signed check in the pocket of your jeans, going through the wash.

I wound up spending the next twenty minutes frantically texting and calling my friend who was by this time en route to Santa Monica, while I was in downtown, making her also nowhere near her house in Mar Vista, where my ticket sat in her kitchen garbage can.

I was also wrestling with two medium sized bags, whose straps kept falling off my shoulder, rubbing down my arm and crating marks in their wake. I have very sensitive skin, and I bring this up not to sound like a wuss, but because the marks the falling straps left on my arm turned red and angry looking- like a cat had scratched me, or that I had pursued an unsuccessful half-hearted suicide attempt, entirely untrue but superficially embarrassing. Red, "cutter"-like marks on my arms did not exactly enhance my already frazzled appearance or contribute to anyone's assurance of the general condition of my mental health. Great.

It is ironic that this was definitely a case of be careful what you wish for- as I had said earlier in the weekend- OK, lamented, having to go back to my deliberately non-air-conditioned place, walking to work in the oppressive heat versus the rather balmy L.A. weather, and a job that is a means to an end. My friend had said that I could stay with her until it was time for grad school, but alas, money is my mortal master, and bills must be paid. Not something that happens while one slurps down lemon basil gelato in Silver Lake. Highly recommended place right on Sunset Strip. Exact name unknown at this particular moment. Will report back later.

I can't wait until I don't have to do this 4 hour schlep back and forth anymore. It's hard to be an environmentalist! Although I applaud Greyhound for not wasting paper, but I do find this occurrence of not printing out a new ticket for one that is most definitely lost, a tad arbitrary.

This blog doesn't have much at all to do with planning, at least the urban kind, but I thought that someone out there might find this vaguely amusing. And if it has, then my pain had a purpose. You have been warned people of Earth!

Welcome Back to Civilization! or Where Do We Go From Here?

2009-06-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

I must confess that I was a little nervous on my latest bus ride back from L.A. this past Monday. For more on my other hijinks see "More Things I Learned From the Road" 6-25-09 I've taken the Greyhound from my current location to L.A. several times and I like to think that I am an old pro by now.

However, due to circumstances beyond my control, (see aforementioned blog) I didn't take a Greyhound Greyhound bus. Instead I took another line, which leaves from the same station. But this line takes fewer stops, which makes fewer checkpoints between civilization. The inbetween points are really long stretches of California farmland and undeveloped or undevelopable land, not much to see and unfortunately makes the mind, which has been exposed to too many slasher movies, wander and consider the potential for me to star in a real-life version of Jeepers Creepers.

But as I am writing this blog not from beyond the grave, I survived the trip. I was a bit too excited when I saw those 12-foot high fences that attempt to block the noise from the stone's-throw-away freeway while corraling the aesthetically-unappealling sprawling edge suburbs.

The reason I bring this up is because during my bus ride, and yesterday too, in the most unlikely of events- watching one of my favorite movies, Wedding Crashers, I was thinking about the future of development. In Wedding Crashers Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdam's characters take a charmed bike ride through the (probably) Virginia countryside. There are unpaved bike paths, rolling meadows, and centuries-old trees that fill the background. This is the kind of land that I can get behind, that I can defend, chain myself to a tree for, etc.,

But the barren, frankly ugly California countryside I could do without. If anything, it is prime real estate. Sections just like this have been developed an hour, two hours driving distance outside of L.A. One might think that I should be psyched about this. But the environmentalist in me bemoans how expensive the infrastructure is to support these fringe communities. The edge suburbs of L.A. are developed in the desert, not exactly land known for abundant natural sources of water. Then there are utilities, waste management, etc.,

I guess there is no truly perfect solution. Once that beautiful Virginia countryside is razed for development there is no turning back. A good example is one of the final scenes in the surprisingly anti-development movie, Evan Almighty where God, in the form of Morgan Freeman shows Evan aka Steve Carrell, shows what the land used to look like before his development was built. On the other hand, developing in the desert makes sense, at first, no one else is using it, there isn't much of an eco-system or too many animals to consider potentially displacing. But it's really expensive to establish and maintain infrastructure in a land that is technically uninhabitable.

But like the title of Barack Obama's autobiography/call-to-arms, one needs to believe in the Audacity of Hope. That there are solutions, but we need the audacity to hope, to believe that they exist, to look for them, and not to rest until we find some that are win-win for everyone.

Navelgazers Anonymous

2009-06-25T17:15:00.000-07:00

I like to keep family matters and my blog separate, but a recent road trip my parents just returned from had me thinking about the nature of things.

My parents went to visit some college in the mountains of North Carolina so that my dad could see if said college would be a good place for him to teach at in the future. He was looking to teach actuarial science or business.

I assume that if he would teach a class, any class really, that he would include a concise history of whatever objective he was teaching- when did it first start, who has applied it, who has built upon it, etc.,

This is the complete and total opposite of my former discipline, art history, which as far as I can tell looks so far back it practically looks forward. One of the reasons I quit art history is because it never seemed to look forward, it was always pre-occupied with what had happened in the past. Sometimes in the ancient past, like BC or BCE, depending on how politically correct you want to be, past!

In all fairness sometimes art history bothers to stop staring at its own navel long enough to see what is going on in the current world, but usually the only thing it comes up with is some painfully self-conscious exercise in narcissism. Although I must say that Bruno aka Sacha Baron Cohen is one THE best performance art pieces since ever and definitely better than any piece that is deliberate performance art. See Matthew Barney (partner of Bjork), Chris Burden, etc., for examples.

My new discipline, urban planning, looks, or should look both to the past and to the future. If anything it really needs to be a student of the past to see what has worked and what definitely did not work to avoid literally expensive mistakes. But at the same time it is concerned about the present and working for the future, for a better future.

Again, unlike art, planning fails when it caters to elitism- hello Lewis Mumford! Catering only to a specific demographic only brings about downfall. Yet one more thing to get me psyched about planning!

How Far Is Too Far?

2009-06-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

I am getting a new apartment in Los Angeles this weekend, actually, hopefully, ideally, renting a room in a house that rents out all of the rooms to individual tenants- and USC grad students only if everything goes according to plan.

But the age-old question of location, location, location had me thinking- how far is too far? Points A and B being your place of residence and your consistent destination- work, school, your kid's school, your place of worship, your favorite protesting spot, whatever.

For some of you who know me, I have lived in 11, soon to be 12 places in 26 years. And for the most part my family and I have selected our dwellings within reasonable proximity to our locations that we would frequent often i.e. work, school, and church. When I say reasonable proximity I mean about 15-20 minutes. We never lived in any big, big cities, so traveling times were pretty consistent, with weather being the only variable- black ice? add at least 5 minutes for safety.

It threw us for a loop when we moved to Connecticut and people lived in different towns, but knew each other as if they were in the same zip code. Like I said, we lived in small towns and yes people from Wausau knew people from Merrill, but they went to different churches, their kids to different schools, etc., To live in Avon, but to go to church in Canton was very strange to us. The Connecticut way of life still remains very strange to me. I'm surprised no one has spontaneously combusted yet.

When I moved to Chicago on my own it took me a good hour to get to work via public transportation- bus + the Red line, not counting delays due to linework, which was a constant in the summer of 2006.

Sometimes I took my car, but during the holidays working retail in Lincoln Park made it impossible to find a spot for my car, so I relied on the ease of the public transportation. And when my car was damaged beyond repair my prior experience using public transportation made the journey less of a hassle and more of just a part of my going-to-work routine.

When I moved to the suburb of Naperville I chose an apartment whose location was only ten minutes driving time away, but unfortunately was not located on a road that was safe enough to get to on foot.

Now it takes me about half an hour (on foot) to get to my current job. Some people are horrified when I tell them how long it takes and more than three people have offered to pick me up on their way to work. But my walk not only gives me exercise, it also gives me a chance to wake up and really immerse myself in my surroundings.

But my latest relocation had me thinking. The champions of New Urbanism argue that our auto-dependent society has allowed people to live farther from their jobs- not necessarily a bad thing at the end of the day- but not great for the environment either when you consider how many emissions and pollutions one can accrue over simply a five-day work week when mass transit is possible.

Note I didn't say plausible as many people in the suburbs can attest to- I don't even want to know how few suburbs even have a bus line running through or within reasonable walking distance of the major sub-divisions.

Unlike say, Chicago (how I love their transportation department!) where one is hard pressed to find a major neighborhood that is not near some form of public transportation. And New York? Fugghedaboudit! In one ill-planned trip I managed to get from Wall Street to the West Side to midtown with the help of the NY subway system and my own dogged determination.

We have family friends who live up in the Bay Area and the father commutes two hours-each way! each day to get to his job. This is beyond crazy to me. Yes, I understand the need to have your kids be in "good schools," "safe neighborhoods," etc., But Dad has to schlep two hours each way each day? Oi. . . This is not uncommon for people in the Bay Area- my housemate's dad, when he (my housemate) was growing up- would ride his motorcycle- come rain or shine between the lanes of stalled cars (think the opening scene from Office Space)- two hours to get to his job.

I have no doubt that this is true for families across the country, especially in bigger, non-mass-transit oriented cities, especially in the South like Atlanta and Charlotte. But I think that it is a time for a revolution.

Hopefully as part of the "green" movement more funding will be devoted to mass transit, and innovative forms of it- light rail, anyone? And two hour one-way commutes will become a thing of the past. Here's hoping.