Does Anybody Remember Alamitos Bay State Park
While looking up something in the Central Library last Thursday, I learned two other things that I’ll end up remembering a lot longer:
1) Michael Jackson is dead;
2) There used to be a place in Long Beach called Alamitos Bay State Park.
Continue reading the District.

Julian Ship Supplies closing after 55 years
LONG BEACH - After 55 years of outfitting outgoing ocean vessels with whatever they needed, Julian Ship Supplies is closing its doors. The chandler was a fixture in downtown Long Beach at the corner of Magnolia Avenue and Broadway in its unique historic 1931 structure that was torn down earlier this year. Continue reading Press Telegam.

Urban retrofits
As the world warms, it’s also getting more urban - more than half the world’s population now lives in and around cities. So when it comes to sustainable living, cities pose a growing challenge. In one sense, cities have a lot going for them - good public transit, efficient power distribution, and a density that means you often don’t need cars to get around. Continue reading Boston Globe.

Breakwater Plans Have A Long Way To Go
Recent news that the Army Corps of Engineers will conduct a federal study of the Long Beach breakwater has breathed new life into locals who believe the structure should be altered - or removed completely, some say - but there are plenty of hurdles and hoops standing in the way before we see any actual change. For one, the $100,000 funding that is necessary for the study has not yet passed through Washington. The Press-Telegram's Paul Eakins explains it thusly: Continue reading Long Beach Post.

Changing Skyline: Four visions for creating a green gem on the riverfront

Anyone who still believes that nothing changes in Philadelphia should have attended last week's Battle of the Architects at Festival Pier on the Delaware waterfront. The public event pitted four top landscape-design firms against one another for a chance to build a city park on a wildly overgrown finger pier at the foot of Race Street. Continue reading Philadelphia Inquirer.

Yale asked to save some structures at building site
NEW HAVEN — While Yale University pushes forward with a major development project — construction of two new residential colleges — preservationists are urging Yale officials to save at least a few of its buildings on the site and incorporate them into the design. Continue reading New Haven Register.

More on Art Deco SST Records Building.

Remember the Art Deco SST Records building we told you about in this week’s cover story? The one concealed under another facade, at least since the 1950s? Well, here’s some photos of that facade which I shot last night, and a little bit more information about it. Continue reading The District.

Deukmejian Courthouse? Supervisor Knabe Thinks So
In a statement sent to the LBPOST.com today, Supervisor Don Knabe announced his intention to seek recognition of long-time Long Beach resident and former California Governor George Deukmejian by naming the new Long Beach Courthouse in his honor. Continue reading Long Beach Post.

Funding to study breakwater moves ahead in Washington
Long-awaited and essential funding that would allow the Army Corps of Engineers to consider reconfiguring the Long Beach Breakwater has moved forward in Washington, officials said Friday. The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water approved a bill this week that includes $100,000 for the Army Corps to review the city of Long Beach's reconnaissance study of the breakwater, said Tom Modica, the city's manager of government affairs. Continue reading Press Telegram.

Intelligent Redesign

Fourth Street and Linden Avenue is a legendary intersection in Long Beach—the longtime home, on two corners, of the famous SST Records. The label’s roster when it rose to prominence during the 1980s was a who’s who of punk and alternative rock, from founder Greg Ginn’s band Black Flag, to Sonic Youth and Husker Du, and from Bad Brains to the Minutemen and Dinosaur Jr. Continue reading the District.

Gold Nugget Winners Signal New Era in Housing Design
Housing starts and building permits edged up significantly last month, suggesting the industry may be slowly creeping its way toward a rebound. But if the winners of this year’s Gold Nugget Awards are any indication, the new projects coming off the boards don't look much like the homes that were fueling architecture and design competitions at the height of the housing boom. Continue reading Builder.

A green space does not mean it's eco-friendly
A lush front yard full of buds and blossoms might be pretty, but a manicured surrounding is not always the greenest option. Landscaping is the process of modifying the visible features of any area of land and there's almost no end to the options for making an urban or rural space aesthetically pleasing. Continue reading DNA.

Finding The Milk Road

After the passage of Proposition 8, some of my friends and I began discussing the irony of California lagging behind a Midwest state (namely, Iowa) in terms of providing marriage equality to its citizens. That conversation eventually turned to the question of how Long Beach might make a statement in regard to this situation. Continue reading Long Beach Post.

New Lives for Old Buildings - How one city is smoothing the way for adaptive reuse.
All over Phoenix, neighborhoods are re-energizing, one small business at a time. Locally owned, one-of-a-kind restaurants, shops, cafés and service providers give Phoenix a unique identity. Business owners welcome a steady stream of regulars through their doors and know many of their customers on a first-name basis. Continue reading Governing.

Study: Cerritos neighborhood has nation's worst air quality
A federal study released Wednesday shows a Cerritos neighborhood bordering the Santa Ana (5) Freeway suffering from the nation's worst air quality. The Environmental Protection Agency lists the area, which borders an industrial zone between Alondra and Artesia boulevards, as having a cancer risk of 1,200 in a million. Continue reading Press Telegram.

Gated community raises issue for City Council on new construction rules
LONG BEACH - A last-minute homeowners association complaint could lead to gated communities being exempt from new construction noticing requirements, which were to be given final approval Tuesday evening. Continue reading Press Telegram.

The Genius of Interagency Metropolitan Policy
The Obama administration unveiled an impressive, innovative approach to metropolitan policy last week. The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency met with the secretaries of Transportation and Housing & Urban Development to work out the skeleton for a promising new approach to urban policy. Continue reading DailyKos.

Bellevue bests Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.?
Peter Steinbrueck and Gordon Price have lived parallel lives on either side of the 49th parallel, which divides Washington from British Columbia. Steinbrueck is an architect, former Seattle City Council member and smart-growth advocate who has taught at the University of Washington and recently passed up a run for mayor to study urban policy and environmental challenges as a Loeb fellow at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Continue reading Seattle Post-Intelligencer

New Transit and Visitor Center opens at First and Pine
LONG BEACH - After a 20-year struggle by Long Beach Transit to construct a new Transit and Visitor Center, Monday's grand opening ceremony marked long-awaited success. Moving the center to the corner of First Street and Pine Avenue was met with opposition for 20 years, mostly from a lack of desire to offer public restrooms, said LBT President Larry Jackson. Continue reading Press Telegram.

Long Beach Senior Housing project opens
LONG BEACH - Laid off from a Toyota dealership in December 2008, a stressed-out Vladimir Borisov suffered a heart attack as the bills kept coming for the Marina del Rey apartment he shared with his wife, Zhannetta. Continue reading Press Telegram.

City dwellers leave small carbon footprint

Cities have an old and deserved reputation for being dirty -- the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley imagined hell was like a city, "populous and smoky." But a new study by the Center for Neighborhood Technology found that while cities produce more greenhouse gases per acre than suburban and rural areas, people who live in cities produce less. Continue reading Chicago Sun-Times.

Long Beach Boulevard Businesses Worry about Street Work
As the median construction work on Long Beach Boulevard between Victoria and Neece streets heats up, the opposition to the work cools down. “We heard the managers of Quizno’s and Jack in the Box were going to come to our neighborhood meeting, but only the owner of the ARCO am/pm store came,” said Dave San Jose, president of the Coolidge Triangle Neighbor-hood Association. Continue reading Uptown Gazette.

City wants high-rise crane removed
Impatient about the stillborn construction site on Wacker Drive, city officials are demanding the removal of the high-rise crane at the proposed Waterview Tower. No work has been done on the planned 90-story building since last year, and now it stands as a shell about 27 stories tall at the southwest corner of Wacker and Clark. Continue reading Chicago Sun-Times.

Wharf plan a 'chance to define Auckland'
Aucklanders should soon see the first designs for a cruise ship terminal and Rugby World Cup "party central" on Queens Wharf. Council officials are holding a workshop today that will lead to expressions of interests from architects to produce plans. Continue reading New Zealand Herald.

Kroc Center wins OK from Planning Commission
LONG BEACH — An ambitious project for a community center in Central Long Beach passed an important hurdle Thursday as the Planning Commission certified an Environmental Impact Report and recommended the City Council approve the project. Continue reading Press Telegram.

Turning Nonprofits into For-Profits
The nonprofit Bikestation reached a crossroads in late 2007. Founded in Long Beach, Calif., in 1996 to design, build, and manage bike transit centers, the 10-employee organization couldn't handle all the calls coming in on its $300,000 budget, funded mostly through earned income. Continue reading Business Week.

Renaissance Hotels & Resorts opens ultra-modern hotel properly in Paris

The Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe, recently opened hotel property in Paris, France by Renaissance Hotels & Resorts, combines an ultra-modern design by renowned Paris architect Christian de Portzamparc with the best of the Renaissance brand experience. Continue reading Go Wealthy.

Downtown Transit Center Helps Bus Riders, Tourists
The 35,000 people a day who stream through the Downtown Transit Mall now have a new center to make their life a little easier. On June 9, Long Beach Transit quietly opened the doors to its new Downtown Transit and Visitor Information Center at the corner of First Street and Pine Avenue. The formal opening and dedication is next Monday. Continue reading Downtown Gazette.

City Dwellers Worldwide Healthier than Suburban Counterparts
No matter which country you are in, new research finds those who live in an urban neighborhood are twice as likely to be physically active the those in the suburbs. According to a San Diego State University study published in this month’s American Journal of Preventative Medicine, the biggest single factor influencing physical activity around the world is accessibility to sidewalks. Continue reading SDSU New Center.

Seattle's First Cargo Container Buildings are Craned into Place
Seattle, WA June 20, 2009 -- Seattle-based HyBrid Architecture announces the assembly of Seattle's first buildings constructed of recycled cargo containers in the Design District of the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle on Thursday, June 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The two buildings are the future home of office space and a retail showroom gallery for a local interior design firm. Continue reading PR Web.

Know When to Hold 'em
“I don’t want to be dragged into this muddy fight,” Kris Larson almost pleads, proving how quickly he’s gotten up to speed as the new vice president of the Downtown Long Beach Associates (DLBA). Just about every veteran of Pine Avenue’s long-and-whining road to nowhere has wished something similar at one time or another. Continue reading The District.

Los Cerritos report -- wetlands or not?
Environmental battles generally are split into two camps of experts -- those who favor developers and those who favor ecological sites. A study on an area considered by many as a key habitat buffer of Los Cerritos Wetlands has sparked a whirlwind of debate in environmentalist circles this week, because it declares that the site is not wetlands. Continue reading Press Telegram.

The Roads Warrior

As the newly appointed secretary of transportation, would you agree that America’s crumbling infrastructure has become an acute embarrassment? The way I characterize it is America is one big pothole, and Americans are ready for their streets and roads and bridges to be fixed up. Contine reading New York Times Magazine

Long Beach Heritage walking tours of downtown to resume
LONG BEACH - The Long Beach Heritage Walking Tours have returned after a two-year hiatus. The construction in the downtown Long Beach area prompted Heritage to stop offering the tours, said the group's Executive Director Mary Kay Nottage. The tours used to be offered on a weekly basis, she said. Continue reading Press Telegram.

Repairs to Queen Mary falling behind
LONG BEACH - The Queen Mary has fallen behind on promised capital improvements, according to a financial review released Wednesday by City Auditor Laura Doud. Continue reading Press Telegram.

Recession Hurting U.S. Cities At "Radically Varying Levels"
The recession is hurting U.S. cities at "radically varying levels," which will lead to an uneven economic recovery, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution. Continue reading Huffington Post.

Long Beach City Council makes developers notify more neighbors of building projects
LONG BEACH - Developers are going to have to dig a little deeper in their pockets when applying for a permit to build in Long Beach. The City Council amended the Zoning Regulation Tuesday night requiring contractors to extend the noticing radius - the area around project sites where where neighbors must be notified - from the interim 500 feet and two blocks to 1,000 feet for institutional and city projects and 750 feet for all other residential projects. Continue reading Press Telegram.

LB Skate Park Named One Of 100 Unneeded Stimulus Projects
Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn today released his report “100 Stimulus Projects – A Second Opinion,” criticizing 100 projects marked for funding under President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, meant to infuse states with money for projects that would not be completed otherwise. Continue reading Long Beach Post.

City Hall faces fixing its own neighborhood

Mayor Nutter's inspiring but so far unfulfilled promise to improve the way we plan and build this city is about to be tested. The test involves the proposed "extreme makeover" of Dilworth Plaza, the prominent public space on the west side of City Hall. Today, it is a jumble of ramps, steps, railings, sunken courts, and raised platforms, all constructed out of massive blocks of gray granite. Continue reading Philadelphia Enquirer.

Livable Streets

Maybe because life is a journey, not a destination so sometimes how you get there is just as important as where you’re going. Maybe it’s because of all the buzz in the city about upcoming bike initiatives, the sense of social-responsibility to reduce global-warming, to live a healthier lifestyle. Or maybe it’s the promise of a 10 - 20% lunch discount. Whatever it was, the room was overflowing this evening with people who came to learn more about street designs for cycling - from bike lanes and boulevards to bike boxes (not, as I learned, something you necessarily store you bike in). Michael Moule displayed some data relating bike facilities, bike counts, and bike accidents and showed the crowd some graphs with lines and bars that practically sketched the shape of a bicycle, the information was so encouraging.

RDA cedes design control over Long Beach Courthouse, allowing project to move ahead
LONG BEACH - To advance plans for the proposed Long Beach Courthouse, Long Beach Redevelopment Agency board members Monday approved a ceremonial but necessary document that would relinquish design control over the project. Continue reading Press Telegram.

Proposed Los Cerritos Wetlands land-swap could include larger portion of site
LONG BEACH - City negotiators have revamped the controversial proposed Los Cerritos Wetlands land-swap deal to involve a larger slice of the ecologically sensitive site. The City Council will get the details of the proposal during a closed session today, scheduled at 3 p.m., with City Manager Patrick West. Continue reading Press Telegram.

City Approves Proposal For Youth Transition Home
A proposal to transform an abandoned building into a center that helps youth transition out of foster care received support from City Council last week. At its June 2 meeting, the City Council unanimously approved the conversion of the former Palace Hotel in central Long Beach to a foster youth transition home, which will be run by Los Angeles-based nonprofit United Friends of the Children (UFC) and developed by the LINC Housing Corporation. Continue reading Downtown Gazette.

Village Green: Revitalizing Cincinnati's Historic Over-the-Rhine

Over-the-Rhine may have a long way to go in order to become the model of revitalization that it can be, but one has to be impressed with what's happening there. Let's start today with the overall vision: in 2002, the city of Cincinnati published a comprehensive plan for bringing the neighborhood back to life. Continue reading Huffington Post.

City streets becoming footpath-free zones
Auckland drivers and pedestrians will have to get to know each other a lot better as footpaths are removed from some busy city side-streets. Urban designers have won approval in principle from the city council's transport committee for developing a suite of streets into "shared space" where pedestrians will be free to roam as long as they do not unduly hold up motor traffic. Continue reading new Zealand Herald.

Rebooting Urban Watersheds

Folsom Avenue's low-lying yards are dotted with citrus trees slumping with fruit. Rows of grayish sandbags guard the foundations of dilapidated homes and line the bottoms of garage doors, foreshadowing floodwater. Continue reading High Country News.

The Next Mayor: New leader should emphasize green spaces and jobs
The next mayor of Syracuse will have many challenges, which can also be wonderful opportunities for change and growth. There are three areas in particular where an innovative administration can take best advantage of our city's strengths. Continue reading Syracuse Post Standard.

Globesity: How climate change and obesity draw from the same roots
You’ve heard all the reasons before: We drive too much. We eat too much meat and processed food. We spend too much time with plugged-in devices—computers, TVs, air conditioners. But what problem are we talking about—climate change, or the worldwide rise in obesity? Continue reading Grist.

More Info On LB Kroc Center Project

We’ve gotten a lot of responses to our article about the proposed Kroc Center at the Chittick Field site at Walnut and PCH. For those looking for more info about it, we just received the link to the Long Beach Kroc Center website, which includes more renderings, a complete (proposed) construction schedule, and more info. Continue reading Long Beach Post Sports.

Restrooms near Long Beach shore to be replaced
LONG BEACH - New restrooms are coming to Long Beach shores due to safety concerns caused by older models. restroom being replaced at the corner of Ocean Boulevard and Claremont Avenue is "part of the city's capital plan to move forward and replace all the restrooms along the beach." Continue reading Press Telegram.

Congresswoman's abandoned house angers neighbors

Laura Richardson's former home in Sacramento's upscale Curtis Park neighborhood is in disrepair. Residents say they have appealed to her and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi without success. Continue reading Los Angeles Times.

Better Safe Than Square One
Since the real estate bubble burst, countless construction sites across the city have become frozen in time, fossils from an age of both ambitious and arrogant architecture and development. Continue reading Architects Newspaper

Long Beach Bold

Norman Vincent Peale counseled "Be bold, and the forces of power will come to your aide."

The bold goal set by leaders in Long Beach of becoming "the next great bike city in America" has served as a catalyst for money and talent moving to Long Beach. Since this goal was established in 2007 literally millions of dollars have come from outside Long Beach in the form of grants and funding allocations to help achieve this bold goal. Business owners have taken voluntary leadership positions in this campaign. Specialists in bicycle education, planning and street design have joined the team. The City of Long Beach recognizes the economic development potential of this bold goal and is capitalizing on it. All this activity, from establishing the goal, to keeping the focus on outcomes, have come from an unexpected source - Long Beach bicyclists and the people who love them.

So what is next?

Part of our strategy is to broaden the conversation in Long Beach to consider ways other cities have successfully evolved to safely incorporate cycling into the streetscape. On Monday, June 15, 6pm at the appropriately named Cafe - Utopia, (corner of E. 1st and Linden, downtown), a recognized expert in quality street design for cycling, Michael Moule, will give a lecture on traffic circles, bike blvds, and other innovations on the horizon in Long Beach. Please attend this free event if you are interested in this topic and would like to know more. Mr. Moule is a traffic engineer who as worked in Seattle and now Tampa, Florida.

Rock Miller, a respected leader among progressive traffic engineers in Southern California will also be at this event and will present specific opportunities for bike blvd. treatments in various Long Beach locations.

Hosted by Brian Ulaszewski, Context+Discourse and Charles Gandy, City of Long Beach Mobility Coordinator.

A Bright Future?
Cities are turning to LEDs as a way to cut costs—even before the technology has proven itself. Michael Bergren turned to LEDs in a moment of desper­ation. Faced with a 6 percent spending cut, the assistant field-operations manager for the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan, had a choice: trim his fixed budget—which covers the cost of lighting public infrastructure—or get creative. He chose the latter. Continue reading Metropolis.

Free shuttle proves a success
The LBCC Shuttle has served more than 6,000 students since its debut in January 2009. From the data provided by Spring 2008 ASB Vice President John Kindred, in March, 2,863 students rode the shuttle. "I am really happy to hear that this shuttle is helping many students. I feel like my hard work for this project has come true," Kindred said. Continue reading Viking.

Three firms vying for Long Beach Courthouse redesign contract LONG BEACH - Three architecture firms involved in the design of buildings ranging from the Aquarium of the Pacific to the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters are now vying for the chance to design the new Long Beach Courthouse. Continue reading Press Telegram.

A Paris Plan, Less Grand Than Gritty

PARIS — Every president of France’s Fifth Republic has had his Pharaonic project, by which he believes he will leave his mark on the capital and French culture. Continue reading New York Times.

Flat Tire

On a recent rainy Wednesday, Charlie Gandy breezes into new East Village coffee spot Sipology, shuffling his well-worn Chuck Taylors across the floor, slightly beat-up bike helmet in hand, right khaki pant leg folded up to his shin. Continue reading The District.

State funds for tree-planting in Long Beach restored
LONG BEACH - State funding to plant 605 new trees in Long Beach has been restored after plans were halted last year because of the economic downturn. Continue reading Press Telegram.

The Best Seats in Times Square
Add this to the weird reasons to love New York City: Less than a week after Times Square became an outdoor lounge, it’s already hard to find a seat in the crossroads of the world. Continue reading New York Times.

How Much Sustainable Stormwater Management Can You Get?
The Press Telegram reported that Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved $22.6 million for construction of a storm drain along Termino Avenue. One does wonder how many rain gardens, permeable roadways, retention basins and bioswales can be funded with that sort of money. Continue reading Press Telegram.

A Jan Van Dijs Project You May Have Missed
Before the developer restored the Art Theatre, he renovated four key industrial buildings in central Long Beach Press-Telegram reporter Kristopher Hanson’s story Monday on the emergence of a design district along Coronado Avenue north of Anaheim Street led us down a street I’m not sure many of us would go unless we had business there. Continue reading The District.

High stakes in streetcar game

Has Mayor David Miller gambled away the city's best hope for new streetcar funding? Or will painting the federal government into a political corner pay off for the 260,000 commuters who ride TTC streetcars every day? Continue reading Toronto Star.

Battle Between Budget and Beauty, Which Budget Won
Posting this article in response to Brian's quote. The candid description of the city development process may sound familiar to some. But does there really need to be such a dichotomy between budget and beauty? Continue reading New York Times.

Festivities Celebrate Opening Of Restored Garden

Rancho Los Alamitos Historic Ranch and Gardens has come a step closer to once again attaining its historical appearance. Staff, supports and community members will celebrate the opening of a restored one-acre native garden at the 7.5-acre site with an event this Saturday. Continue reading Grunion Gazette.

1,000 units, near car-free, planned in Hayward
Hayward, an East Bay suburb not known for pushing progressive ideals, quietly has laid the groundwork for a radical experiment in environmentally conscious living - a nearly car-free housing development. Continue reading San Francisco Chronicle.

Day-Labor Station Wins Global Innovation Award

Since we wrote about Public Architecture’s proposal for a sustainably-designed, portable day-labor station back in 2007, it’s been racking up awards: first, silver prize at last year’s regional Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction; and now the Innovation prize in the global phase of the awards. Continue reading Metropolis.

Designed to Thrive
LONG BEACH - It wasn't long ago the industrial park bordering East Anaheim Street appeared on a slippery slope to total disrepair. Block after block, shuttered and underperforming businesses quietly awaited a date with the wrecking ball. Continue reading Press Telegram.

LB City Council agenda tinged with `green'
LONG BEACH - Newly elected 1st District Councilman Robert Garcia says he is sticking to his campaign promise to protect the environment. After taking office in May, his first two items on the agenda for Tuesday's City Council meeting, starting at 6 p.m., deal with environmentally friendly issues. Continue reading Press Telegram.

Capturing the Value of Transit

With stimulus funding creating new transit projects across the country, now may be a great time to use innovative methods for funding development around transit, say Nadine Fogarty and Gloria Ohland of the Center for Transit-Oriented Development. Portland and Denver are just two communities that have seen property values rise around rail. Continue reading Planetizen.

Lost Dreams : Monorail, Monorail, Monorail
Throughout the past half-century Southern California has had a fascination with monorails. In 1954, one was to connect Long Beach to Panorama City and in the 90’s there was one proposed to run down Interstate 101 Freeway, which was rumored to be the origins of the “Marge versus Monorail” Simpsons episode. At the same time, a monorail was proposed as part of Port Disney in the downtown waterfront. Though Disney went in another direction, the monorail took another decade to die. The monorail was to connect the Queen Mary to the First Street transit mall.

House GOP Urges Elimination of (GOP-Backed) Kid Safety Program
House Republicans aren't known for their well-reasoned spending proposals lately, but they took it to a new level today by sending President Obama a $375 billion budget-cutting plan that slices $1 billion from bicycle and pedestrian programs. Continue reading StreetsBlog.

Believe It or Not: Ultra-Sustainable Block to be Built in Dallas

The folks at San Francisco-based Urban Re:Vision weren't kidding when they announced their intention to build America's "first fully sustainable block" in Dallas, Texas. After receiving entries from designers in 14 countries, three winning designs have been chosen. Continue reading Treehugger

VA Hospital Expansion on the Fast Track

After almost six months of construction, the $100 million project at the VA Long Beach Medical Center is catching stride. The cranes lowering the steel support frames at the east and west campus sites can be seen for miles as the project continues to gain momentum. Continue reading Beachcomber.

UA plan would create downtown Tucson campus
The University of Arizona believes it can have an impact on redeveloping downtown Tucson and help itself at the same time by putting a campus on the southeast corner of Stone Avenue and Pennington Street in a building that housed a Walgreens until 2003. Continue reading Inside Tuscon Business.

Jan Gehl Inspires Toronto

Danish urban planner extraordinaire, Jan Gehl, was at the Design Exchange on Wednesday, talking about public spaces for the 21st century. Gehl is the powerhouse behind Melbourne's successful urban design strategy and he recently worked with New York City's radical Commissioner of Transportation Janette Sadik-Khan for the PlaNYC Initiative, including the new pedestrianization of Times Square. If you want clearly-stated, clearly-do-able urban design, Gehl is the man to listen to. Continue reading BlogTO

Environmental report offers glimpses of proposed Long Beach Courthouse
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Next week residents will get to weigh in on environmental impact study of a new Long Beach Courthouse, a report that offers details about the proposed project, including a main entrance on Broadway, improvements to the Magnolia Avenue garage and the possible closure of Daisy Avenue between West Broadway and Third Street. Continue reading Press Telegram.

What is a City of the Future?

The choice should be simple. A city official’s first responsibility is to ensure the health and safety of the people in his or her community. Insofar as stimulus funds are available to repair failing bridges, dams, roads and vital infrastructure, that’s where they should be invested. Continue reading Worldchanging.

Real Estate: The End Of Gentrification?
Urban gentrification has been a fact of life for two decades. But can it last, and if so where? Our real estate experts have the answers. Continue reading Forbes.

Look Up For Opportunity
On any given Sunday afternoon, when most people are winding down their weekend, San Diego’s Hard Rock Hotel comes to life, with hundreds of partygoers packed onto the hotel’s rooftop pool deck. Continue reading Long Beach Post.

Junior/Senior

Vintage gated communities are not emblematic of Long Beach, but we do have them. There’s one at 37th Place near Redondo Avenue and Ocean Boulevard, on a little street so nice, they gated it twice. It has one gate for the apartment-house parking lot, and a second behind it, leading to the few homes on this one-block street that dead-ends at the Pacific Ocean. Continue reading the District.

Cycling experts create innovative on-street bicycle network in New York City
Last year, New York City had a 35 per cent increase in commuter cycling. Much of that increase was attributable to New York City’s Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), which has been experimenting with innovative bicycle facilities based on European models. Continue reading Rabble.

Work and the Open Source City
One chilly Wednesday afternoon in late May, I joined a small group of technologists, researchers, architects and urban planners on a field trip through Lower Manhattan and three distinct neighborhoods in Brooklyn to get a glimpse of the future of work. Continue reading Urban Omnibus.

Another downtown consultant
We're not inclined to encourage City Hall to hire reams of consultants, but now and then one earns her fee. Such was the case in a recent study of downtown Long Beach's economic prospects. Continue reading Press Telegram.

This president does not chop brush
It didn't take long for Barack Obama to make clear that the days when the president would flee the White House, and the District of Columbia, for a weekend of chopping brush at a remote Texas ranch were over. Continue reading Salon.

Obesity in Australia costs economy $8 billion, suggests report
BETTER urban design of our cities and suburbs to encourage people to be active and a greater focus on teaching children the importance of healthy eating and exercise are key recommendations of the Australian House of Representative. Continue reading Matangi Tonga.

MIX: Nine San Diego Architects and Designers

Last week I was invited to attend the opening of a new architecture exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla called: MIX: 9 SAN DIEGO ARCHITECTS & DESIGNERS. The architects in the show include Teddy Cruz, Sebastian Mariscal, Public (Jim Brown & Jim Gates), Lloyd Russell, Rinehart/Herbst, Luce Studio and Jonathan Segal. I HIGHLY recommend taking a trip down there to see the show if you have time. It runs through September 6th and it’s one of the best architectural exhibits I’ve been to. Each architect got their own room to do whatever they felt best showed their work. A few highlights for me were Lloyd Russell’s rammed earth model stands and Sebastian Mariscal’s room that had a line out the door like an amusement park ride. His room had exterior material mock-ups, sketches, videos, contractor bids, etc. Public had a great room as well with a lot of models, including a few I had done for them while I worked there. Overall, it was really inspiring and the show had an excellent turn-out. Visit MCASD for more information

Residents, workers key to downtown Long Beach comeback
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Residents and workers will play key roles in the reinvention of downtown, according to a market study released Monday. Continue reading Press Telegram.

Rethinking the Mall
One doesn’t pop in to make a quick purchase at the Forum Shops at Caesar’s. Once inside this pseudo-palatial labyrinth, your path is blocked, er, directed by faux-marble benches, enormous planters and ill-placed concierge desks. Continue reading New York Times.

Small mixed-use: The neighborhood of the future

One Saturday in early October, Mayor Greg Nickels took a stroll across Upper Queen Anne, joined along the way by community representatives. Continue reading Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.

Long Beach's 14th Street Skate Park headed for a facelift

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Youths gathered Friday at the 14th Street Skate Park to socialize and showboat as onlookers watched. And there was plenty of grinding - and some crashing - by the 10 or so gathered skaters. Continue reading Press Telegram.