Waterfront Smorgasbord, UK’s Always Greener, Campaign Promises, More…
Hayley Richardson | Thu, Nov 15th, 2007 | Category: Commentary | Tags: commentary, pennpraxis, orange county, identification cards, delaware riverfront, little saigon, adrien fenty, plastic bag-free city, ghirardellli square
DC Mayor Announces Plans to Preserve Affordable Housing
“Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced last night a wide-ranging plan to provide permanent housing for the city’s chronically homeless, to preserve affordable housing by making it harder for landlords to convert buildings into high-priced condos and to help fund 500 townhouses affordable to low- and moderate-income workers.”
Nutter Urged to Adopt Waterfront Proposal
“The report on Philadelphia’s Delaware waterfront presented to the public last night by PennPraxis is like a lavish Pennsylvania Dutch smorgasbord prepared especially for incoming mayor Michael Nutter. There are dozens of options to choose from: Some go together better than others; some are old standbys; some seem a little pricey. But he would be wise to heap a few choices on his plate and dig in with gusto.
The only option Nutter shouldn’t consider is not partaking at all.”
“A movement to ban plastic bags across much of Wales received a boost yesterday as Newport made its bid to become the nation’s first carrier bag-free city.The city, named the UK’s greenest by an environmental group last month, is the latest urban area to join the eco-friendly initiative.
Any ban would see the end of free plastic bags being handed out in shops with consumers instead urged to use sturdy reusable or cotton bags.
“The typical no-grocery-store neighborhood in Dallas has half the white residents, twice the black residents, roughly the same number of Hispanic residents, $20,000 less in median annual income and twice the number of HHS clients.Is this what economic theory predicts? No. It may not surprise you that grocers open few stores in low-income neighborhoods, but economic theory actually predicts the opposite.”
“Imagine what would happen if New York City-style development came to the heart of Orange County’s Little Saigon, now a jumble of mom-and-pop shops in mostly old strip malls. Lofts would sit atop high-end stores. People would lounge at outdoor restaurants and sidewalk cafes. An urban focus. The area would have hotels and a sculpture garden. That’s the ambitious vision put forth by a group of land-use experts to transform the area, home to the largest concentration of Vietnamese Americans in the country. Little Saigon has not lived up to its potential as a tourist spot, the group says, and it’s going to take a lot of money, cooperation and faith to get it to the next level.”
San Francisco To Issue ID Cards
“The city has tentatively approved a program to provide identification cards to illegal immigrants, transgender people and other residents who may be unable or unwilling to get a state-issued driver’s license.
Similar programs have been proposed in New York City and Miami, but so far San Francisco is the biggest city to adopt one.”
Ghirardelli Square to Enter the 21st Century
“JMA Ventures, LLC (JMA), owners of San Francisco’s historic Ghirardelli Square, has announced that the revitalization of the Square into an urban enclave combining its historic detail with an array of new tenants and the highly anticipated Fairmont Heritage Place, Ghirardelli Square, is underway.
“Ghirardelli Square is a very special place—a beloved and historic San Francisco icon, a uniquely intimate physical space, and one of the most beautiful locations in the city,” said Todd Chapman, a principal of JMA. “Our vision for renewing Ghirardelli Square carefully preserves these wonderful attributes while creating a reenergized enclave that will benefit both the immediate neighborhood and the entire city of San Francisco.”
World: Urbanization Hot Topic in the Pacific
“Pacific Island country and territory members of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community have been urged to consider urbanization as an emerging issue with detrimental social and economic impacts on their people.
And the 5th Pacific Community Conference, on its last day of meetings, heard that increasing urbanization in the region is a major development challenge and that unmanaged urbanization could have disastrous consequences.
A conference paper on the subject stated that issues relating to increasing urbanization include poor access to land, insecure land tenure, poor housing with inadequate amenities, poor environmental conditions, inadequate infrastructure to meet basic needs of water and sanitation, and lack of access to education and health services.”