Building Fun Fact

In the U.S. it is against the law to smoke in any public building.

Dose of Bobo LIt

Books to add to my leisurely reading list after I get through my New Yorkers and Wired magazines, and the other books in my book cases that I have yet to read: Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn - both by Henry Miller, and My Life and Loves in Greenwich Village (complete and uncensored…the uninhibited diary of America’s greatest Bohemian) – Maxwell Bodenheim

Where is the Neighborhood Going?...From $800 to $3500 a month

Ahh, my old neighboorhood: the East Village. I remember walking through the familiar grunge of Ave A, Thompkin's Square Park to get to my place between Ave C and D. The Avenue A side of the park has always been the brightest. The lights would eliminate my fears of walking home after sunset. That's the beauty of the New York lights and constant activity, it makes you feel safer.

I was never a regular at Ray's Candy Store but did stop in a few times and hope that he doesn't have to close shop in the next few months. The irony is that the store's own success is essentially what raised Ray's rents from $800 a month to $3500 a month.

In recent years New York has lost some of its character to rising rent costs, landlords have perhaps gotten a bit greedy wanting to attract more national chains that pay higher premiums for locations that local businesses like Ray's Candy Store helped make into the cash-cow that they are today.

It's been 3.5 years since I lived in the East Village, but I still think of it as home...but is my sense of home slowly becoming a memory...is it still the village I love (and that loves me)?

Green building...hybrid solutions

Going green is the newest business fad, there are many long-term incentives to build green and cities and states are developing more real-time incentives everyday.

However, habits don't change overnight even with an abundance of incentives. With the emergence of the Prius and other hybrids the automobile industry has started to mass-produce green solutions. The market is responding and though it may seem that everyone is embracing hybrids especially when you consider places like LA and San Francisco, the actual market-share still has a long way to go.

This morning, CNN reported that if we assume that in 2020 (10 years from now) hybrids make-up 30% of the market-share of automobiles in the U.S. it would only put a minor 1% (or 202,000 barrels a day) dent into the overall U.S. oil demand. True we have to start somewhere, and we have, but we have to continue doing more than just good faith efforts or following a fad.

Of course it is also true that it is going to take more than just altering our car purchases to get our world to a less oil dependent place. Infrastructure is of course the next big ticket item that is under scrutiny to implement more sustainable solutions. However, we need to move at a faster pace, if 30% of the buildings and other infrastructure projects in 2020 were green projects the 1% dent could also be joined by a bigger dent.

Everyone has heard the green lingo, now we just need to build more green projects.

Learning about Development in Your City

Progressively informed citizens know about the development agencies shaping their cities…do you know yours?

Here are some of the development agencies overseeing diverse redevelopment efforts that have sparked my interests:

• Los Angeles, CRA/LA: www.crala.org
• New York, EDC: www.nycedc.com
• London, London Development Agency: www.lda.gov.uk
• San Diego, Redevelopment Agency: www.sandiego.gov/redevelopment-agency
• Mexico City, SEDUVI: www.seduvi.df.gob.mx/seduvi

These agencies tend to hold public meetings to discuss upcoming projects among “decision makers” and hear-out community residents. Unfortunately not all of the agencies do a great job of announcing public hearings. Check their websites regularly, most rely heavily on using their webpage as the their best PR tool and scapegoat for transparency.

The Planner's Triangle

Urban planning is a comprehensive approach to land use and its aim is to improve the built and social environments in cities. With each project urban planners, as Professor Scott Campbell from the University of Michigan appropriatly puts it, must alleviate the tension that is generated from environmental protection, economic development and social equity, or as he calls it "Planner's Triangle" before a project can move forward.