Longitudinal Slum

Road Trip

Zipcar is our new favorite service. After living in NYC for over six years we have almost no sense of what the surrounding region looks like. New York State is a big question mark, as are the other states leading into New England. So a quick road trip to New Haven followed by a night in Providence has helped to build a bit of a mental picture of some of the I-95 corridor.

A combination of the ease of the Zipcar and Google Maps on the iPhone reminded me how nice and liberating it used to be to own a car and take spur of the moment road trips, though when taken from Lincoln, Nebraska it usually meant committing to a biblical trek just to get anywhere worthwhile. While we could have gotten to New Haven and Providence by means of rail, having the car afforded us a certain level of freedom and flexibility that isn't possible taking the train. Maybe we should be more idealistic and commit strictly to mass transit, but flying down the Interstate in a little Mazda felt like the American dream.

A couple thoughts about Zipcar: It's a shared-car program, meaning it's users are supposed to have a certain level of care and responsibility toward the car. Of course the car we picked up was coated in cat hair, pine needles and soda syrup, while the glove compartment was filled with parking tickets. It just reinforces the notion that people are awful. Other than having to deal with other people's slop, it's an efficient and well thought through experience.

The more I use the iPhone, the more I wonder how people used to get by without it. Outside of being able to use it as a navigation device, the convenience of being able to Google 'hotels' when arriving in a city, compare their locations on Google Maps, and call the hotels displayed in the search results for rates and reservations, all seamlessly with one device is a dream.

And finally, after some confusion driving into New York City and ending up driving Myrtle Avenue from the middle of Queens to Fort Greene, Brooklyn, I'm of the opinion that Robert Moses didn't carve nearly enough super-highways through the boroughs...

Nebraska's I-80 Wish List

The Nebraska Innovation Zone Commission is looking for input on the future of the I-80 corridor between Lincoln and Omaha. A brief survey is online here.

People In Lincoln NE Don't Deserve Nice Things

Well it's hardly worth being compared to Central Park; Clark Enersen Partners and Olsson Associates hardly compare to Olmsted and Vaux. And an open space located at the confluence of a university campus, a residential neighborhood, and the tired outskirts of a struggling downtown will hardly have the same impact and importance Central Park plays for its dense urban surroundings. But a token amount of greenspace is still greenspace. Important probably more so as a piece of urban infrastructure (flood control), than a park (Lincolnites don't know what to do with parks), it is nevertheless a significant step toward making Lincoln a better place to live. The hokey touches such as "walls may be imprinted with quotes from Nebraska authors. Walking paths may be imprinted with raccoon footprints" are a bit much, as are the elements from the park designer kit-of-parts (amphitheater, a fountain jet, water slide, a signature fountain, and children holding balloons...), but if it works to coax Lincolnites out of their homes so be it. The project is one of the 2015 Vision Group's 'pillars' to a better future.

The 2015 Vision Group should consider adding an 11th pillar: Get the rest of the city to pull its head out of its ultra-conservative ass. Based on the comments to this story in the Journal Star, you would get the impression that the majority of Lincolnites are primarily concerned with protecting their tax money from a Liberal conspiracy to improve the city:

"How 'bout some tax relief not tax increase? "

" I consider myself somewhat liberal but this this is just another white elephant for the taxpayers to pay for... I for one don't want to give another penny to the pipe dreams of developers who will get filty rich on these projects. "

" whats the crime rate in this neighborhood, what happens after the day people leave and night falls I question the money and location"

" maybe we could do some whitewater rafting and snowsking on the slopes..........cmon, it's a slo flo creek and is not a feasible recreational site.......is this a dream and vision by a delusionary corn-fed group of wanna-be's?....take a deep breath and wake up from your fantasy land ramblings........just makes me shake my head and wonder what the heck they are drinking........creek water would be my guess, and it is not from the fountain of youth........ "

" This boondoggle should be renamed "Transient Heaven", because that's who will ifest it. We'll need lots of vounteers to clean Transient Heaven, just like all the other parks."

" Sounds like a good idea but I don't know if I'd want to walk in that area alone. I hope it doesn't end up nasty because of the nasty area around there. "

Lincolnites also fear minorities and the poor. Regardless, a step in the right direction. If handled properly it has the potential, as implied by 2015 Vision member Rich Bailey, to be a catalyst for development surrounding the park. Which it needs, otherwise the park will be underused (except by the poor and transients), as Lincolnites aren't accustomed to going to the park and feeling at ease in their own skin.

Plans unveiled for 'Lincoln's central park' [Lincoln Journal Star]

Planners Kick-Off I-80 Corridor Study

Led by Omaha's HDR, the team "promised not to back away from possible controversy and conflict."

I-80 corridor study under way [Omaha World Herald]
previously
Nebraskans Look To Develop The Interstate Strip [Longitudinal Slum]

Nebraskans Look To Develop The Interstate Strip

Wakey Wakey.

A long summer break comes to a close, driven more so by a drawn out and complicated move to the suburbs than anything else. Now to start again fresh. We'll see if this gets any easier, like big-boxes were.

A good place to start is Lincoln, Nebraska. It's a fun place to keep track of - we know it well, and car crashes are difficult to look away from. Lincoln and Omaha are separated by 50 or 60 miles, linked by a stretch of Interstate 80. For the most part it is empty of any development. A small town here and there, a sprinkling of metal sheds and gas stations. Lots of corn fields, some grazing cows, and a muddy river. It's a stretch of Interstate that is destined to be filled with development. At one time I remember my father suggesting that it made perfect sense to locate a regional airport along this corridor, and let Lincoln and Omaha abandon their sleepy airports.

The Lincoln Journal Star follows up on the Nebraska Innovation Zone Commission, a nineteen person committee charged to "advocate and recommend programs that encourage regional cooperation and foster community sustainability and economic development initiatives" along the Interstate 80 corridor. As the Journal Star points out, it's a virgin strip that can either be designed well (of course the word design isn't used), or it can become a wasteland of metal buildings and over-sized billboards (it already is leaving Omaha).

The occasion for the Journal Star editorial is the assemblage of a team of consultants, with Yale University Professor Alexander Garvin acting as a technical adviser to HDR Engineering, local Omaha firm:

Inspiring optimism was the inclusion on the team of Yale University Professor Alexander Garvin, who has wide experience as a consultant, including a leading role in redevelopment of the World Trade Center site.

Obviously, word hasn't reached Lincoln that redevelopment at 'the pit' (New York's version of a car crash) hasn't gone so smooth, and any coherent design vision has been tossed out in favor of business as usual, compromise on a grand scale, and fear-mongering. The other consultants are Olsson Associates of Lincoln and RDG Planning and Design of Omaha. Outside of Garvin, the commission is doing a good job of looking to the locals for advice, which is undoubtedly bound to lead to more of the status quo and an underwhelming recommendation. Likely in colored pencil.

If this sounds pessimistic, visit the comments section at the end of the editorial. RMAR writes "I have not seen the reason why this development is needed - we know it's not going lower our taxes!!" You go girl! (Nebraskans are uptight about their taxes). There is room for optimism. Recently daOMA launched (an unfortunate name is bound to confuse this endeavor with a Dutchman). But seriously, daOMA - design alliance OMAha (you know architects are involved when the use of upper and lowercase letters gets all fucked up) has the potential to take the Omaha design community to the next level, hopefully leaving behind a superficial and stylistic formalism that has plagued it for years. Hopefully the discussion created by this group is able to jump between scales, and look beyond Omaha's crunked downtown (architecture / decoration), and contribute to or lead the discussion surrounding the Interstate 80 corridor (urbanism).

I-80 corridor panel raises eyes to future [Lincoln Journal Star]

Los Angeles & Smart Growth

LA Weekly with a feature article on Los Angeles and smart growth, and several of the challenges the city faces as it looks to control the transportation and density issues.

What's Smart About Smart Growth? [LA Weekly]

On The Subway

On the subway. Edgy Muppet style.

Robert Moses & The Modern City

This afternoon we viewed one of the three exhibits on Robert Moses, this one at the Museum of the City of New York, titled Robert Moses and the Modern City: Remaking the Metropolis. Focusing on the physical transformation of New York City, the exhibit examines a range of works completed by Moses, ranging from roadways and parks, to developments such as the United Nations and Lincoln Center. The show also includes unrealized projects such as the Midtown Expressway, the Lower Manhattan Expressway, and the Brooklyn Battery Bridge - all presented in model form.

The exhibit strikes a balance between giving credit where credit is due and displaying projects where Moses was defeated by stiff opposition. The Expressways proposed for Manhattan and the Brooklyn Battery Bridge would have drastically changed the face of Manhattan as we know it, much the same way the landscape of the Bronx was altered with the Expressway Moses built there.

Notes from a Union Station bound Amtrak train from Penn Station

Notes from a Union Station bound Amtrak train from Penn Station – the Carolinian – with stops in Trenton, Philadelphia, Baltimore, amongst others. From a coach seat window glimpses of the rapidly changing landscape are possible, here one second and gone the next. The speed of the train coupled with a fluxuating pattern of development varying between dense to thin, open and closed, afford snapshots of development, quickly taken away by an approaching group of trees or vegetation or building located tight to the tracks. The nature of the observed landscape varies from an infrastructure specific to rail or transportation, either active or long abandoned, to sections of the city (the definition of city used loosely), which are interrupted by the rail line or end at the rail line.

Dross is most prevalent in manufacturing areas, most of which seem to be abandoned. A combination of empty buildings and surrounding spaces overgrown with junk or vegetation define these leftover spaces. Random buffers of ‘nature’ sometimes separate the rail from these spaces, usually a combination of water (ponds or steams) and ill-formed clusters of trees. When the route passes through denser residential ‘neighborhoods’ the quantity of good building stock – by NYC standards – is overwhelming. Neighborhoods packed with row houses are abundant, and you can almost smell the potential of these areas if half of them weren’t visibly derelict, abandoned or completely burned out. All things the guys from This Old House couldn’t fix however, should they ever venture into what look like the worst parts of Baltimore.

In addition to observing the physical landscape, signal clouds and their presence or lack thereof become obvious. The most obvious of these is the range of Sprint’s cell coverage. An unexpected signal cloud is the range of wifi coverage. With Macstumbler open, the application blips as the train rolls through a pocket with coverage – though all are password savvy, and the signal fades and drops as quick as it appears. The application saves a list of all wifi signals with names ranging from the generic, like NETGEAR or 06B$09199818, to the clever, like ‘franks wireless network’ or 'GrillConcepts'.

US Interstate As Subway Map

The Eisenhower Interstate System (Simplified) [Chris Yates Studio]