Topic: CITY OF ANGELS (Read 29369 times)

S. Woody White · « **Reply #30 on:** October 02, 2006, 06:54:26 AM »

Members of Congress are paid by the Federal government. That way the Senators from Rhode Island are on a par with the Senators from New York.

S. Woody White · « **Reply #31 on:** October 02, 2006, 06:54:51 AM »

Page Two Congress Dance!

S. Woody White · « **Reply #32 on:** October 02, 2006, 06:55:28 AM »

And I'm off to work!

DearReaderLaura · « **Reply #33 on:** October 02, 2006, 07:12:34 AM »

It's a beautiful day here -- 76F at 7 a.m. I walked for the last two hours.

The weather is so nice lately that I have hardly seen Joshie (my cat). He has been very busy with projects outside. I get a sighting of him now and again, so I know he's ok.

Matt H. · « **Reply #34 on:** October 02, 2006, 07:21:55 AM »

Good morning!

We're going to be having the same glorious weather through mid-week: cool mornings and highs at 80 during the day. Can't be much better than that.

Matt H. · « **Reply #35 on:** October 02, 2006, 07:24:55 AM »

I forgot to mention last night the two network shows I watched from last week.

First up was THE OFFICE and sad to say the folks at Dunder-Mifflin had a very off night last Thursday. There were some sweet things in the show (Toby trying to ask Pam for a date, Michael's realization that no one was interested in his party until Jim showed up). But really nothing that I could say was laugh-out loud/funny.

The leads were at a convention which usually makes for a poorer episode when they are actually away from the office getting into trouble there. Of course, I guess they have to take breaks from there occasionally just to break the monotony, but I really prefer that they stay there.

Matt H. · « **Reply #36 on:** October 02, 2006, 07:26:23 AM »

Also watched last Friday's LAW & ORDER. Again, not a great case, but I was glad that the teen girl's tears didn't deter McCoy from going after her. And his new ADA helped him see through the girl's deception, so I appreciated her a lot more than in her debut last week.

Matt H. · « **Reply #37 on:** October 02, 2006, 07:27:36 AM »

Lots of TV to catch up with today, so I doubt I'll get to THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, the next in the sci-fi boxed set that I'll be watching.

Charles Pogue · « **Reply #38 on:** October 02, 2006, 07:34:18 AM »

S. Woody, You have efficient, free public transport. Like airports. Trams that intersect every part of the city. You need a car outside the city, you take a tram to the public parking areas where all cars are kept outside the city limits.

Edisaurus · « **Reply #39 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:07:52 AM »

TOD: In my perfect city:
Preservation of historic resources would be a high priority.
No condos or townhomes would be built until there was 60% buy-in.
Cities that see density as a quick fix would not be able to implement these projects until they have a viable transit option.
Parking lots would be scaled down and placed behind strip malls.

Developers will not receive tax dollars through the form of TADS or other incentives to encourage them to build their projects, especially if it's not in a blighted area. If it's a good enough idea with reasonable expecations, it will sell.

The city will have mixed income housing with a component for the elderly. It will encourage walking and alternative transportation---bike paths, etc. It will not continue to widen roads as a solution to traffic problems.
It will have HOV lanes for hybrids and alternatively-fuled vehicles.
It will have a large arts component and encourage creativity.
Churches will still be tax-exempt, but any addition business they get involved in that creates income (private schools, health clubs, etc.) must pay taxes. Churches will also have very limited parking footprints, like parking decks. Otherwise they will keep destroying surrounding neighborhoods to expand their empires with huge parking lots that are only used a few hours a week. That's OK for the suburbs, but not in a town.
The city will be encouraged to embrace a mixture of cultures and ethnicites, not just immigrant workers whom they exploit by day and wish they would disappear by night.
In short, everything my town is not!

Matt H. · « **Reply #40 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:17:52 AM »

Having lunch with best friend John today, so I need to get cleaned up to be on my way.

WBBL.

TPunk · « **Reply #41 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:18:10 AM »

Quote from: George on October 02, 2006, 02:18:54 AM

Then Jane wrote:And MBarnum wrote:THANKS!! Unless something horribly horrible goes wrong, the next time I log in, I'll be a condo owner!! Officially, legally and financially!!

Woo hoo!

TPunk · « **Reply #42 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:26:44 AM »

Because I work for the Jewish Board, I get the Jewish holidays off. So this morning instead of rushing to work, I slept in and did 2 loads of laundry. Later this afternoon I'm going to run some errands then meet Rodzinski and his co-workers for their monthly bowling outing in Queens.

TPunk · « **Reply #43 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:28:05 AM »

Last night we had an early dinner at John's Pizzeria. Yum! Then we went to see Little Miss Sunshine- my second viewing and Rodzinski's first. I have been begging him for months to see it and he finally caved in. After the movie he asked why I had kept it a secret for so long, since it was such a good movie.

TPunk · « **Reply #44 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:29:25 AM »

Then as we were exciting the movie we saw that Jackass 2 was about to start in another theater so we decided to make it a double feature. Pretty funny with only a few parts that I had to hide my face from. I can't take any of the gorey stuff they do.

TPunk · « **Reply #45 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:29:54 AM »

Right now I'm off to fold the laundry and maybe do a bit of sewing.

TPunk · « **Reply #46 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:30:15 AM »

Ta ta for now!

PennyO · « **Reply #47 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:31:38 AM »

Hiya, all.

It's Yom Kippur, and we break the fast tonight at my sister's Rikki's son's place, here in the Marina. I have last-minute registration/fees/filing stuff to do down at CSU-LA... and then, I'm officially a fulltime student!

TOD- Andres Duany is an architect who has marvelous plans for cities: green, mixed-use, live-work, mixed-class... he has actually designed and built these marvels all around the world. I had the privilege of attending a 9-day design session in Maui last year, when his group was brought in to look at a local piece (hundreds of acres), dotted with archeological artifacts and ancient holy sites, with a major stream running from the mountain top to the sea.

Duany absolutely despises the houses over here/work areas way yonder/giant mall over there design that has uglified so much of America, and created the necessity of several long drives EACH DAY for millions of people. He bases his designs on the Village concept, where ALL services are located within a quarter mile of the Center, including housing. In a large population, it means that there are several "Centers" within a five-minute walk -- this includes the Tram Stop to take people "yonder'.

Buildings IN the center of town are for the most part 3 storeys, with retail on the bottom and living on the 2nd and 3rd. The public part of every street is walkable, with alleys behind, where the garages are. Google his name - his work comes up in lots of interesting ways.

PennyO · « **Reply #48 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:33:06 AM »

Did we hear that the boys from OZ are going to be in LA at any point in their journey???

PennyO · « **Reply #49 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:34:19 AM »

GEORGE!!!! I'm so happy for ya, you little HomeOwner, you!

PennyO · « **Reply #50 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:35:29 AM »

I think it's actually spelled "Douany", now that I think more about him...

PennyO · « **Reply #51 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:36:16 AM »

Nope - just googled him... I was right the first time - Duany.

bk · « **Reply #52 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:52:18 AM »

Quote from: S. Woody White on October 02, 2006, 06:51:49 AM

NO cars, Charles? That's a bit optomistic, and not exactly practical.

I'm thinking of two problems - first, transportation of goods. Cars (more exactly, trucks) will still be needed to deliver goods to stores, restaurants, and such. Yes, they can be a total pain in the posterior - I've been to NYC, and Philly, and DC, I've seen what these monsters can do to traffic when they're parked in front making their deliveries - but consider, if the traffic were restricted to just those trucks, it would be a lot easier getting around them. It's the personal cars that are the real problem.

Problem #2 - what about the elderly, the infirm, those who cannot "walk anyplace in thirty minutes" because it takes them thirty minutes to travel what most of us take in just five? That's part of why I included the tram service in my Rehoboth plan. I see a lot of the elderly when I'm at work, many (not all) of them wonderfully nice people, but they aren't very mobile and they are very happy when I pack their bags to their specifications, to make it easier for them to carry their purchases. We should try to make life easier for them at all times - they should be able to enjoy their lives as much as possible.

I agree with Pogue about no cars. It's a lovely dream on just about every level. I also understand the concern about the elderly - there should be some sort of public transportation (say some sort of shuttle service) that could be provided for anyone who needed it). One of the projects I saw on the Discovery show was literally a city in the sky for Japan. Designed so that you would never have to leave if you didn't want to. It was interesting - not my cuppa, but interesting in that there would be no transportation problems. I'd love to see more of what they're working on or developing, because something's gotta give.

bk · « **Reply #53 on:** October 02, 2006, 08:57:58 AM »

I answered before reading the posts on this page - I'm really enjoying this topic!

I got a solid eight hours - I was hoping it would be more, but I suspect that when I'm sitting on my couch like so much fish later that I'll probably doze off. Former dear reader Hisaka is now living and going to school here in Studio City for the next three months - so I may sup with her tonight if I get over my weariness. The Japanese school she's attending was an all-girl's high school formerly - my darling daughter went there.

Oh, and those at Joe Allen who saw my book were the first to see who it was dedicated to.

bk · « **Reply #54 on:** October 02, 2006, 09:00:30 AM »

Edisaurus, I'll have to put in the DVD again, but according to the box there's nothing included as any kind of extra. I cannot believe ANYONE would remake Gigot!!!

MBarnum · « **Reply #55 on:** October 02, 2006, 09:02:52 AM »

Tell Hisaka we all say "Hello!"

And ask her if she has ever seen the 1960s Japanese movie GOKE, BODY SNATCHER FROM HELL...the DVR taped it last night! LOL!

MBarnum · « **Reply #56 on:** October 02, 2006, 09:04:15 AM »

My city would have parking spaces that are actually large enough to park a car in.

Ginny · « **Reply #57 on:** October 02, 2006, 09:11:20 AM »

Greetings from Times Square! DH Richard and I had a smooth flight, beautiful landing, and a "thrilling" cab ride in from LGA. Off to get a little lunch, pick up MetroCards and theatre tickets and who know what else.

We're meeting DR Elmore at Artie's at 6:30. Anybody else want to join us?

Charles Pogue · « **Reply #58 on:** October 02, 2006, 09:21:06 AM »

MBarnum, The Lovely Wife and I were out and about in Lexington yesterday and I commented to her, how happy I was to be in an area where they actually have parking spaces with plenty of space. After being in LA for so long, I had forgotten that in other places we don't have to squeeze cars in like sardine cans.

DakotaCelt · « **Reply #59 on:** October 02, 2006, 09:23:15 AM »

Enjoy your time in NYC Ginny and DH and with DR Elmore!

Good day one and all!

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Author Topic: CITY OF ANGELS (Read 29369 times)

MBarnum

MBarnum