tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1541468051247516447.post7406856675800570427..comments2024-02-19T05:18:27.849-05:00Comments on <center>the Q at Parkside</center>: On Affordability, Here and ElsewhereClarkson FlatBedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13463744536115119388noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1541468051247516447.post-751689418381942292014-10-14T15:10:26.404-04:002014-10-14T15:10:26.404-04:00This brought to mind a wonderful sci-fi novel I re...This brought to mind a wonderful sci-fi novel I read recently, "Ready Player One." Thirty years from now, in an America ruined by pollution and climate change most people live in what they call "stacks"—basically rusting trailer homes and broken-down RVs stacked up on scaffolding 6 or more units high... pretty grim. Definitely not the solution to the shortage of affordable housing.<br /><br />The cover art suggests what the stacks look like but for some reason they covered almost the entire illustration with type. You have to look closely...<br />http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413313211&sr=1-1&keywords=ready+player+one<br /><br />Recommended reading. My 12 year old loved it. I liked it a lot, too.diakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01160226342863738763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1541468051247516447.post-36540539904440624572014-10-14T12:46:20.219-04:002014-10-14T12:46:20.219-04:00Shamless plug alert:
We're examining this ver...Shamless plug alert:<br /><br />We're examining this very problem (on a global scale) here at MoMA. Come check out our exhibition "Uneven Growth", opening in late November:<br /><br />http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1438Paul Gallowayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03275925044525881962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1541468051247516447.post-38389062431693400222014-10-14T11:50:55.687-04:002014-10-14T11:50:55.687-04:00LA isn't the greatest example. Because of gene...LA isn't the greatest example. Because of general hatred toward development, most of LA county has only built a fraction of the housing it really needs to keep up with growth (maybe it is a good example...). About 20% of the housing built in LA in the last 15 years has happened in DTLA which would be remarkable if the overall numbers weren't so low. Plenty of places throughout LA to build smarter and more densely but there is too much community opposition. LA, to its benefit, realized that making use of its walkable core was probably a good thing. They eliminated parking minimums in 1999 and worked hard to attract housing downtown. They haven't done quite as good a job at preserving subsidized housing as SF has but overall they have built more housing (and don't have the same astronomical prices that SF does either). I wish there was a little better understanding about supply and demand and the ways we can better leverage the flow of both. I wish the NYC area would work harder to build denser suburbs along their rail lines. Like the suburbs of DC have.<br /><br />As for Detroit, the biggest problem was racism. The area has grown. But Detroit (which was always low density) saw none of that. That outmigration only spread. Of course the bigger issue with Detroit is probably shouldn't have been there in the first place and depended on a ring of large cities around the great lakes. The story of Detroit is the story of Cleveland and Buffalo as well as union busting that lead companies to build factories in the south. <br /><br />I wish NYers cared more for Hudson Valley and Connecticut cities than Detroit, and my family is from Detroit!Christopher1974https://www.blogger.com/profile/10082503041642567957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1541468051247516447.post-6760148709683763482014-10-14T11:50:48.890-04:002014-10-14T11:50:48.890-04:00Clarkson, if you really want the government on you...Clarkson, if you really want the government on your side of your housing crusade, you oughta start a movement to induce the federal government to establish a trailer park at Floyd Bennett Field, where there's more open land than anywhere else in the city.<br /><br />It's not as though you'll have any luck stopping builders from building multi-story buildings on privately owned land in a neighborhood that is obviously ripe for an upgrade. <br /><br />But maybe Obama will get that "Grapes of Wrath" Steinbeckian feeling and open up Floyd Bennett Field, instead of acting like it's a site for oil wells or a coal mine.no_slappzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04207475509053402475noreply@blogger.com