Can't Please Everyone, So You've Got to Please Yourself

When I was a kid I loved the song, "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band. I loved the narrative embedded in the song and as a budding non-conformist I was especially drawn to the lyric "you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself."

As a planner studying with talented, enthusiastic, but incredibly diverse planners at USC I believe that there was something that linked us beyond our love for cities, and I believe that it was our unquenchable desire to do good, sometimes to the point of pleasing others.

Planners want to create cities that serve as many people from as many walks of life and socio-economic levels as possible. "Equitable cities," "socially inclusive," "socially equitable- we can play this game all night people- cities," etc., But as we've all learned the hard way, if you try to please everyone you'll wind up pleasing no one.

Yale School of Architecture assistant design and professor Keith Krumwiede has designed an exhibit called, "Freedomland." Krumwiede has laid a grid over a fictitious land where all the things that we aspire to are met: local farming communes in harmony with urban living, but people can still go home to their single family homes.

As I am no longer in LA and unable to see the exhibit I'll let Nate Berg describe it,

"Each town is a square, three miles by three miles, subdivided into 36 square sections of 160 acres each, the entire landscape of which is bisected by primary roads at half-mile intervals. At the center of each town are four 160-acre infrastructural squares – an energy area with a field of solar panels, a water reservoir, a “ten-acre big box of community and commerce” market square, and “an ever-growing, manicured pyramid of refuse” in the waste square.

Each 160-acre square in the rest of the town is further subdivided into four 40-acre plots, one-quarter of which is used for housing, and the rest is preserved as open and agricultural space. The housing styles, the exhibition notes, are selected from “the country’s greatest builders” and represent the most popular designs in the country. Each housing plan and neighborhood layout is detailed. To facilitate crop rotation and the short lifespan of modern housing, each neighborhood is demolished every 20 years and rotated counterclockwise to the next 40-acre plot.

It’s a modern-day, tongue-in-cheek take on Thomas Jefferson’s ideas about a rural democratic society of citizen farmers."

Although many planners will rarely, if and or ever have the luxury of designing a town completely from scratch we need to be realistic. Trying to check off every single item on the town utopia of our fantasies doesn't create a fantastic bouillabaisse, it just creates a hot mess. This is not to say that we should not strive to create places that are equitable for all, but it's ridiculous to just throw whatever is at the wall and see what sticks. People already think that are cities are a hodge podge, let's not give them more evidence.

"Freedomland" is currently available for viewing at the Woodbury University Hollywood Gallery in Los Angeles.

source: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2012/02/most-absurd-community-one-tries-please-everyone/1273/

If You Could See It From My Perspective

I had a really interesting chat today with a friend of mine who is from Switzerland, and until recently was working at Pixar. We are relatively new friends, but from what I have gathered, he came to the US for undergrad at Northwestern in Chicago and now works here in Emeryville/greater San Francisco area. The reason why I provide this background this because I asked him if it was strange not seeing the cars that he was familiar with in Switzerland over here. He replied that where he was from not many people drove because gas is so expensive. Also, the public transport was very good. Transport was consistent so it was not a hardship to take public transit. Another comment that I thought was very interesting was that he said that he had a hard time understanding our bus routes. Where he came from the bus ran on a main road, not splitting off. Whenever people talk about public transit, not in that awed tone of "you read public transit!?" that one would reserve for occasions that your companion casually mention that they commute in on a flying unicorn, but in the blasé tone that one would describe the color of oatmeal I often think of Chicago and New York. These are both cities where public transit is woven so seamlessly into the urban fabric that it is truly integrated, not an anomaly like I is in, say, Los Angeles.

I'm a Stranger Here Myself

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. . .

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?

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

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?

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?

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

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.