What cities and Halloween have in common, Dallas as a green city, MORE
John Reinhardt | Wed, Oct 31st, 2007 | Category: Headlines | Tags: commentary, john reinhardt, halloween, ghost tourism, greenwich village, kyoto protocol, death of gay enclaves, castro district, green building standards
Happy Halloween!
Ghosts: The hot new thing in economic development
“Cities and small town nationwide have jumped on the ghost-circuit bandwagon, and thousands of ghost-hunting clubs have sprung up, turning ghost tourism into a multi-billion dollar business that thrives beyond Halloween.
Some offer overnight packages, where guests spend the night in a haunted hotel. Others allow guests to wander through haunted buildings, armed with handheld ghost-detecting meters or night-vision goggles, searching for proof of paranormal activity.”
Does the cancellation of a Halloween parade signal the death of gay enclaves in American cities?
The New York Times reports on the cancellation of the Castro District’s Halloween parade, noting that it may be the sign of larger trends:
“These are wrenching times for San Francisco’s historic gay village, with population shifts, booming development, and a waning sense of belonging that is also being felt in gay enclaves across the nation, from Key West, Fla., to West Hollywood, as they struggle to maintain cultural relevance in the face of gentrification.”
Others weigh in.
Think Locally: Dallas city council adopts green building standards
What is a city to do when the State and Federal government policies are not meeting their vision for a greener city? Develop their own policies.
“Political will has been lacking in Washington and in Austin, as many elected officials have been unwilling to take even small steps toward reducing energy consumption and combating greenhouse gas emissions. Dallas joins a long list of cities across the country that, in the absence of federal or state mandates, are developing their own environmental policies.”
Planning concepts for the foodie
TOD? Garden City? Form-Based Codes? Nate Berg of Planetizen takes a humorous look at planning jargon by explaining the terms with images of something we’re all familiar with: food.
Keeping up with Kyoto: Cities struggle to meet environmental goals
With 2012 just five years away, many cities are rethinking their pledges to reduce environmental emissions to 7% below 1990’s levels by that date. According to the Seattle Times, even cities in the environmentally focused state of Washington are feeling the pressure:
“Many of the cities are still only in the earliest stages, with a deadline less than five years away. Several have effectively reneged on their pledges and have set more modest goals instead. Even cities that have worked on the issue for years are finding it challenging to retool communities built for cars and powered by fossil fuels.”
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