Dangerous Obesity, Mississippi Skyline, Halted Downtowns, more
Hayley Richardson | Mon, Feb 25th, 2008 | Category: Headlines | Tags: hayley richardson, new york city, los angeles, downtown, construction, katrina, skyliine, traffic plateau, green cart, mississippi skyline, obesity, traffic growth, st louis, architectural tension, small business
Manhattanville’s Architectural Tension
“Beyond the glass and steel illustrations of Columbia’s planned Manhattanville buildings is a tension between preserving the aesthetic aspects of the neighborhood and convincing local residents to embrace a modern look.Although architecture alone does not create a space, design wields powerful force in helping to sculpt not only the physical characteristics, but also the emotional and psychological mood of a neighborhood. “What the community expects in the new architecture is that the story of the community not be lost,” said Susan Russell, chief of staff for City Councilman Robert Jackson (D-West Harlem). “And that’s part of the fight,” she added.”
“By the 1950s, the politicians and planners of Southern California had made their bet: Freeways would solve the awful traffic gripping city streets.Now, Los Angeles officials are taking a different tack. With the Santa Monica Freeway congested, they’re looking at increasing the capacity of Olympic and Pico boulevards to ease traffic on the Westside.
Life has a way of coming full circle, eh?”
Halted Downtown
“The downtown Los Angeles skyline is still dotted with construction cranes, but not as many as developers once promised. More than a third of the approximately 110 residential projects proposed for downtown—including the 50-story Zen tower on 3rd and Hill streets, the Mill Street Lofts in the industrial district, the multitower Metropolis off the 110 Freeway and the conversion of the former Herald Examiner building—have been delayed or put on hold amid the rocky real estate market.”
Obesity More Dangerous Than Terrorism
“World governments are focussing too much on fighting terrorism while obesity and other “lifestyle diseases” are killing millions more people, an international conference heard Monday. Overcoming deadly factors such as poor diet, smoking and a lack of exercise should take top priority in the fight against a growing epidemic of chronic disease, legal and health experts said.”
“Some people in this tiny Katrina-ravaged town talk of Harry Hull’s modest, vinyl-clad home as if a spaceship had landed on the bayou. It stands out not because it is built on land only 5 feet above sea level—scores of people have rebuilt on low land—but because it looms 18 feet above ground. It is raised so high on wooden pilings that Hull, 70, must climb 26 steps to get to his front door.Yet the structure could offer a glimpse into the future of his city and other low-lying coastal areas nationwide.”
Green Cart Battle
“Perhaps more than any other civic rivals, street vendors and brick-and-mortar stores seem to play a zero-sum game. The stores are wary of the vendors, whom they see as nimble nuisances undercutting their prices, unfettered by regulation or rent. The vendors see the stores as competition-hating Goliaths. The city stepped briskly into the fray in December, when it proposed licensing a fleet of fruit and vegetable carts to operate in poor neighborhoods where people were eating little fresh produce.Reaction was swift and noisy. Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist for small retailers, said the proposal, known as the Green Carts bill, would “cannibalize existing business.”
“Traffic in the St. Louis area has plateaued this decade, ending years of fast growth that fueled demand for more and wider roads. A recent analysis by East-West Gateway Council of Governments shows traffic growth in the eight-county region slowed to an average annual rate of less than 1 percent between 2000 and 2006. The stagnation is spurring discussions about how to plan for road projects. And in Missouri, it has raised concerns about how to generate more road funds, because gasoline tax revenue doesn’t rise much when traffic is stagnant.”