Archive for May, 2009

Red Farm

where once there was this red farm, in beautiful previously verdant chester PA, now there is this.

Poster

where once there was land with people with so much to do with their hands that boredom was not possible, now there is this.

Enwii

not long ago robert putnam wrote that america was bowling alone. now the bored among us can bowl via wii courtesy of nintendo: a mere flick of the wrist…and do something without ever really doing anything.

you can bowl against someone on another continent, a virtual friend, and two of you can go virtual bowling. you can be together without ever having to be together. i suppose this is a step up from bowling alone, however.

but again we must be blessed here in america, where god looks down upon us, as we carve up the chesapeake bay watershed, and befoul HIS soils with suburban effluent, and red state jingoisms (yes pennsylvania is blue but remember what james carville said about alabama being between philly and pittsburgh), and vinyl sided platitudes.

we besot mother earth and drape outselves in red white and blue bunting. we toll brother the blessed topsoil and then oh brother we head off to sunday services to rebuke the heathens on the tigress.

there is ENWII out there. it’s just a flick of the wrist. a sort of boredom with work. with fellowship. with the give and take of friendship in real bowling alleys. we are virtually there, of course. and it is virtue that is proving so elusive. have another whopper. wiiiiii

virtual bowling via infrared. virtual community via the cul de sac. virtual patriotism via the yellow ribbon someone else’s kid got shot earning. virtual stewardship of the land.

Originally posted on January 29, 2007

off to sacramento and the con-agra river valley. then tucson, home of wild cats, the wildcats, the valley of the sun tour, a shrinking flow of immigrants, and one of the leading edges of america’s conversation with itself about the armada and how well or poorly we’re coping. notes to follow….

Originally posted on January 9, 2007

Gospel Fellowship

A&W

the ogallala acquifer is nearing empty and the best we seem to be able to do in land use planning is pave over more desert with impermeable asphalt and start roadside church fellowships in order that we may have a place to pray for rain. meanwhile the rains are coming, or at least in the case of the rockies, if not cold weather, than at least jesus and sarasparilla, and, oh yeah, a hot dog.

one wonders how exactly we’ll get out of this rather deep hole we’ve dug for ourselves, where people with fat dogs can now buy FDA canine fat-reducing pills, where the fact that there’s no water in the aral sea doesn’t seem to concern anyone, least of all anyone in scottsdale, and where middle class bloat has obscured sightlines to the nightly news which portray serious problems in urban america not getting any attention whatsoever.

us schools fail to graduate 400,000 kids a year, but hey at least their souls are being saved. 3,000 american kids are wormfood, but at least mary’s on the dash and jesus is at the A&W. 11,000 football fields worth of greenland ice shelf now bobs in the north sea like so many ice cubes in a bechtel executive’s glass of whiskey, but hey wal-mart’s hiring.

at least for an urban planner there’s always work. you can always count on growth to proceed unfairly and without real concern for future cost, and bills always come due. but then again, if ever there’s too few cities needing help, god sent jesus so that the world might be saved.

Originally posted on January 7, 2007

you get to write a city’s housing policy

here are the considerations

1. older, industrial city population 140,000
2. weak market but less weak today than five, ten, and 15 years ago
3. interesting architecture; often historic
4. horrible urban renewal garbage to cope with
5. concentrated poverty – black, puerto rican, hispanic
6. wealthy wealthy wealthy suburbs – white white white
7. new immigrant corridors

here are additional considerations:

• popular perception is city is unaffordable
• data shows EXTREMELY affordable to COUNTY, but not to current residents
• market rate developers have eye on city
• surrounding markets strong and prohibitively expensive
• city has ZERO capacity to develop affordable product, manage a trust, et al
• schools abysmal
• city has corrupt not too distant past city has numerouus stated priorities
  • affordable for very low income
  • address fiscal weakness/capacity issue
  • home sales alright but not strong; value/equity desired – there is no middle

thoughts welcomed

Originally posted on January 3, 2007