January 31, 2007
Once again around the post: Helvetica v Arial:
Saying 'What's wrong with Arial aesthetically?' is a bit like comparing Greta Garbo to Jodie Marsh.
And a re joiner.A Time Warner company installs Aqua Teen Hunger Force LED art boards in 10 cities, and a bunch are found in Boston, shutting the city down
Funny: these aren't "Hoax devices" - they are just LED pictures. One is already up for sale, these are really cool, but people see batteries and round things on black boards and freak out
Arlington West Memorial
Arlington West Memorial photos by Alan Levenson
Thousands of miles west of Arlington National Cemetery in Santa Monica, California, every Sunday morning the Veterans For Peace begin erecting crosses, Jewish stars and Muslim moon and stars in a perfect grid; then drape coffins with American flags: one for each serviceman/woman killed that week. At the end of the day, much like a Mandala, everything is packed up into trucks, the sand is swept, and the memorial disappears
Alan Levenson shares his photographs of the temporal (and temporary) perpetual Arlington West Memorial.
Hashima Island
Photo of Hashima Island by Saiga Yuji
Hashima Island, commonly called Gunkanjima Island (Battleship Island), is an abandoned coal mining island approximately 15 kilometers from Nagasaki. The island was populated from 1887 to 1974 as a coal mining facility which was closed when Japan switched to cleaner forms of energy. The now illegal to enter island is an artifact of rapid Japanese industrialization.
Saiga Yuji has a series of photos of Hashima Island from the period during occupation and in its' now decreped state which are amazing. It is not clear if Yuji took the photos or collected and edited the photos. Either way, a monograph is available Gunkanjima: Awakening of a Dead Island for 3,150 yuan though the author's website.
January 30, 2007
January 29, 2007
Are a country's foreign embassies an extension of its territory?
in a word: no
The Effect of Typeface on the Perception of Email (via)
Big surprise that using Comic Sans changes readers' perception
January 27, 2007
Idiotarod 2007: Idiots take on Greenpoint
The 2007 Idiotarod, organized by Carts of Brooklyn Association (COBRA) was bigger and more chaotic race in its' three four year history. Imported from San Francisco and very much one of New York City's response to the annual Bay to Breakers, the 2004 inaugural race set the standard for under-the-radar chaos, while the 2007 race illustrates the high-watermark of non-permitted gatherings. The race course changes each year in order to keep the route secret as a matter of whim.
This year the Idiotarod was scheduled to began in McCarren Park at the edge of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, Brooklyn. However, as the race was advertised greatly on the web and on blogs, the NYPD was unsurprising in great force, employing mounted, plains-clothed officers, plenty of uniformed officers at every park entrance and the aerial unit.
New York's Finest, patrolling for unlawful racing
Change of Venue
It was obvious that the NYPD was not going to let the race begin at McCarren Park and COBRA was sent scrambling for an alternate starting point. Spectators, race teams and innocent gawkers were milling about unsure of what was to be the outcome. It was obvious that the NYPD officers were nervous; there was a large crowd forming and from their standpoint, they had no control over the situation.
At this point the crowed was moving in all directions; no one knew where the new staring line would be. Some teams made their way deeper into Polish Greenpoint to McGolrick Park, guessing this would be the new starting area.
Finally word was relayed to the separated and isolated teams that the new starting area would be at Franklin and Commercial Streets, at the very tip of Greenpoint, along the Newtown Creek. Teams who did not get word of the revised starting area merely followed the police cars and the NYPD aerial unit, as it hovered over the rooftops of Greenpoint.
The Starting Area
The new starting area was perhaps the perfect area for the large crowd of 500+ which had assembled. Located at the very end of the Greenpoint peninsula, there is the Newton Barge Terminal Playground situated among the historically industrial area. With the lack of traffic the NYPD officers noticeably became more calm.
As teams gathered into the street, the whole neighborhood came out to see what was going on, greatly increasing the amount of people in the park. As COBRA checked competitors in, a small band played among the chaos.
Unknown band plays as the chaos swirls around them
All around were teams looking at other team's costumes, photographers (both pro and not) angling for the best shot and the COBRA members trying to keep the peace.
The Competitors
The draw of the Idiotarod are the inventive, risque and silly costumes teams are required to wear. Here's a look at some of the more interesting groups to grace the 2007 Idiotarod:
A crowd favorite this year was Team Lapdance (shown above), who's costume involved black speedos and briefs along with the required bowtie. An integral part of their cart was the folding chair, which they employed throughout the competition to bribe referees and earn money. Andy, a Team Lapdance member had this to say about why they came out to the Idiotarod, We're out here for the City and our country, and to show everybody a good time.
When asked about how much money they had earned he replied, We're doing alright... a little better than expected. We pulled around six dollars so far.
His teammate Nick "all the way from Philadelphia" had this to say about his outfit, Tommy Hillfiger black briefs, some cufflinks and a bowtie [which is the] only thing which would show the world the message we wanted to relay, which is the Idiotarod is awesome.
There will be no warnings, and arrests will be made
At this point, a police officer from the 94th Precinct walked into a central location and announced that anyone stopping or interfering with traffic in the street will be arrested without warning. The officer also had this to say:
Stay on the sidewalks. Do not go into the street. Also, be aware that there is no permit for this event, no permit has been given for this event. Again stay on the sidewalk and obey all rules.
This immediately drew a chant from the crowd, U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
At some point, cooler heads prevailed, and it appeared that COBRA and the NYPD struck some sort of bargain, and with the burst of firecrackers the race was on.
The Start
Unlike in years past, where there were wide streets to run and no threat of arrest, the police funneled the competitors into the sidewalk. The race headed south on Franklin Street, using only the sidewalks, to the first checkpoint at the corner of Greenpoint and Franklin Streets. At the same moment half of the police units screamed out of the area and headed out to shadow the crowd.
As the race meandered its way through Greenpoint, the finish line became apparent: Queens. This meant that the only Newtown Creek crossing would be the Pulaski Bridge; a major bottleneck due to the narrow sidewalk and the slope of the bridge.
The Bridge
As teams ran up the bridge, many tried to pass and were tangled with each other's carts. At some point, unidentified people, most likely COBRA members, began hurling canola oil, flour, water and anything they could throw as teams labored their way up the bridge. This was in addition to the materials teams themselves employed against other teams. These materials included flour, some sticky brown goo, rotten pig meat, tennis balls, silly string and eggs. The bridge became a slippery mess as thee various liquids froze in the cold winter air.
The Finish Line
As the teams entered Queens, many became lost; which goes to show that the plight of Damon Mootoo who was lost for five days can happen to anyone in Queens. Eventually the teams all made their way to the finish line, where meager prizes and a party awaited.
The official results, on WikiPedia of all places are as follows:
| Official prize | Team |
| Best in Show | Guitar Heroes |
| 1st Place | Shite Heads |
| 5th Place | IdiotaRod Stewart |
| 6th Place | Team Meathead |
| 7th Place | Quit Beastin' |
| Best Sabotage | Team Chicken Run |
| Best Industrial Design | Punkimus Prime |
| Last Place | Carmen de Mairena |
Conclusion
By and far this year's Idiotarod was bigger and more successful that the proceeding years. So big, that that next year the organizers will need to apply for a permit from the NYPD or break the starting line up into different areas, so that there aren't so many people congregating in one area blocking traffic. Or, COBRA needs to devise some sort of texting/mobile phone system where the starting line is only given out to the teams an hour before the event. Because the Idiotarod has gotten so big, and so much press has followed this event, how the organizers cope logistically with the multitude of racers, spectators and gawkers will have to change. However, I have to commend it to the Carts of Brooklyn people, they ran a well-organized event, and no one was arrested or seriously hurt.
See all of my photos on my 2007 Idiotarod Photoset.
this article was edited for legibility.
January 24, 2007
Adam Greenfield is teaching a course at ITP entitled Urban Computing which looks really interesting
those NYU kids have all the fun
Infographic: 6 Years of the SotU
While I was not watching the State of the Union address last night, here is a nice 6 years: State of the Union Infographic by the New York Times.
January 23, 2007
Why Watch the SoTU?
Why watch the State of the Union when you can make your own custom Star Wars Crawl?
January 19, 2007
Yesterday's Republican-led impasse regarding ethics reform has passed: Senate Passes Vast Ethics Overhaul
never underestimate the power of shame
Metros of the World, Unite!
It is Friday, and silly questions thrive on Friday.
Here's my list of Metros of the World I have ridden:
I want to hear from you: which Metros of the World have you ridden?
January 18, 2007
Republicans Block Ethics Reform
US Capitol. Senate Chambers are on the right, originally uploaded by renowiggum
Last night, Republicans effectively killed ethics reform by attempting to introduce a poison-pill amendment to S1 - A bill to provide greater transparency in the legislative process in the form of S.AMDT.17 - To establish a legislative line item veto. Through a vote of cloture, Senate Democrats attempted to move the bill to a final vote. The cloture vote failed 51-46, having fallen short of the necessary three-fifths of the full Senate, normally 60 votes.
Senator Byrd (D-WV) had the proper response from the Senate floor last night, provided by Senate Congressional Record:
Mr. President, I rise tonight at this late hour. The hour is late and the night is black. I rise tonight to shine a bright light on political chicanery that is playing out on the Senate floor.
In November, America voted for a change. The people sent a strong signal that they wanted less partisanship and more accountability in Washington. In response to the voters, Senator Reid, Senator Feinstein, and Senator McConnell put before the Senate an ethics reform bill that would add transparency and accountability to the legislative process. They should be proud of their product, and the Senate has had a good debate thus far on the bill.
But wait, wait, wait 1 second. Before we can clear the way for greater accountability and sunshine into the way work gets done in these halls, the Senate is being blackmailed into an assault on the Congress's single most precious and most powerful authority--the power of the purse. That is the most powerful authority we have: the power of the purse.
Tonight, this reform bill is threatened by an effort by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to give the President line-item veto authority. No vote on the line-item veto, they say, and no ethics reform. That is nothing more than legislative blackmail, and I, for one, will not pay the price. No one should stand still when this Constitution, which I hold in my hand, is the hostage. No one should stand still, I repeat, when this Constitution, which I hold in my hand, is the hostage.
This line-item veto authority would grant tremendous and dangerous new power to the President. He would have unchecked authority to take from the Congress the power of the purse, a power that the constitutional Framers thought was absolutely vital to protecting the people's liberties.
It was just 8 years ago that the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the line-item veto was unconstitutional. Now our colleagues--some of them--on the other side of the aisle are threatening to hold up the ethics reform bill in an effort to hand the President another line-item veto authority. Are the memories around here so short?
Later
Yesterday's Republican-led impasse regarding ethics reform has passed: Senate Passes Vast Ethics Overhaul by a vote of 96 to 2 with Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Tom Coburn (R-OK, were the only members to vote against the bill.
I'm glad both sides did right by this bill, let's keep this up.
January 17, 2007
Coming soon to a theater near you, Helvetica: The Movie
you might remember my Vote for Helvetica propaganda I installed in DAAP in 2002
The Cost of War of Choice: What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy
that this was in the NY Times business section tells you all you need to know...
Records, Records, Records
Screenshot, Ted Staunton's Record Label Picture Gallery
Via Aaron James Draplin comes this excellent Ted Staunton's Record Label Picture Gallery. Just another area of product design made obsolete by technology's progress.
January 16, 2007
The President has taken unprecedented step of firing at least seven US Attorneys without cause and Sen. Feinstein speaks out
at least two were prosecuting Republican officials, and all were fired prior to the end of their term
Le Grand Content,
...examines the omnipresent Powerpoint-culture in search for its philosophical potential.
January 15, 2007
On Government run Health Care versus Insurance
[this] is, overwhelmingly, what counts as the "left" position on health care in the United States -- government run insurance not government run health care.
About those "Explosions" - Letting Off Some Steam
Just to let everyone know, those "explosion" sounds which started around 2255 (10:55 pm) were from the 14th Street ConEd cogeneration plant - shown above from Greenpoint during the Tribute in Light. Apparently the cogeneration plant was letting off steam, for reasons I am sure will become apparent in a few days. Herself and I walked down to the water's edge and watched the steam rise, along with 20-30 of our closes Greenpoint neighbors.
Via Gothamist Contribute:
this is the BNN summary of the wire traffic: @ THE CON-ED PLANT ON EAST 13 ST| FDNY GETTING NUMEROUS CALLS OF AN EXPLOSION FROM MANHATTAN ALSO FROM ACROSS THE RIVER IN BROOKLYN OF AN EXPLOSION. FD REPORTS THEY ARE STEAM BEING RELEASED
So there you go.
Later: Heres a photo from the end of the street in my neighborhood. Photos of steam wasn't too interesting, so photos of people is all I took.
I Still Dream
Martin Luther King Jr. By Alexander Austin, originally uploaded by yngrich
As is my tradition, in honor of the great Martin Luther King, Jr. I break copyright laws by providing a mp3 of Martin Luther King Jr's I Have A Dream speech (transcript provided) for 24 hours.
Please listen to the I Have A Dream speech [mp3] - all 16 minutes. As promised, the mp3 is no longer available.
You can also see the speech on YouTube:
I only feature this for 24 hours because it is still copyrighted by the King family, but I believe that this monumental speech denouncing all hate and warmongering in the world deserves to be in the public domain, for:
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
Amen
January 14, 2007
Photos of People Taking Photos of Art
» x « · comments (1) | older photos »
I think it is great that people want to take photos of famous art pieces for review later, but they often don't stop to appreciate the art.
Check out the full set of Photos of People Taking Photos of Art.
January 12, 2007
On The War of 1812: Old War Looks Awfully Familiar
interesting, but the parallels run shallow
Insanely detailed Lego Church: Abston Church of Christ
Crosstown Traffic
night time, originally uploaded by seth_holladay
New York Times has an article about where traffic comes from in the NYC region, and their hook is that it doesn't come from the suburbs. In Traffic’s Jam, Who’s Driving May Be Surprising:
It’s a common enough thought among city drivers inching through traffic: Everyone around me came from the suburbs, making my life miserable. But it’s wrong, because more than half the drivers who crowd into Manhattan each workday come from the five boroughs.
...
Census data show that more city residents than suburbanites drive to work in Manhattan every day, according to Mr. Schaller. He estimated that 263,000 people in 19 counties in and around New York City drive regularly to jobs in Manhattan below 60th Street. Of those, 53 percent, or 141,000, live in the five boroughs, Mr. Schaller said. The greatest numbers are from Queens, with 51,300, and Brooklyn, with 33,400. About 23,900 auto commuters live in Manhattan, while 17,400 are from the Bronx and 15,200 from Staten Island. The suburban area with the most auto commuters to Manhattan is Nassau County, with 22,091 people driving to work in the borough, followed by Bergen County, with 19,975.
Outer Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx might as well be called the suburbs. Have you ever been out at Far Rockaway or past Shea? It might as well be Levittown, being that outer Queens and Brooklyn were the last to be developed in the post-WWII years.
It would be interesting to cross-reference driving habits by density, because I am sure they are directly related, and the lack (or lessening) of density of outer Brooklyn and Queens means owning a car becomes more necessary.
Below is a population maps of NYC with population density >10K resident per sq. mi (3861 per sq km):
population maps of NYC with population density >10K resident per sq. mi (3861 per sq km) by fake is the new real
And here is a color-coded population density map by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia:
New York City population density 1990
You can see east of the Belt Parkway/Van Wyck corridors, the density fall rapidly. All still in Queens, mind you, but vastly different in scale than the rest of the city. The change in scale and lack of direct, and fast, public transportation makes personal vehicles a no-brainer, and often a necessity.
So, I think there is a good case to be made that a majority of traffic to the Manhattan core comes from what we would all call the "suburbs" - regardless if it happens to fall within the five boroughs. Either way, it doesn't really matter: there are a ton of cars coming into the Manhattan core from outside the core, to the tune of 239,100 vehicles; 91% of vehicles below 60th Street are not from Manhattan. This is why public policy about parking and congestion pricing will be front and center for the foreseeable future.
Food for thought, I guess.
January 11, 2007
RE: smell and dvd: taking ephemeral email permanent through paint and canvas
Broken Angel, Saved!?
Broken Angel
The continuing saga of Broken Angel appears headed toward a beneficial conclusion. Last week it was announced that the building and adjoining property were up for sale, but this looks like it was "Plan B." In today's New York Times, it appears that that the City and the Woods have come to an agreement:
Yesterday, in a conference with the Brooklyn Supreme Court, the Woods agreed to submit engineering plans by next Wednesday to dismantle the building’s 40-foot rooftop structure, the main violation. The Woods have also entered into a tentative agreement to share ownership with a local developer, Shahn Andersen, who would turn most of the building into condominiums, according to a spokeswoman for City Councilwoman Letitia James. The Broken Angel, as the house is known, would include some form of community space, along with living and studio space for the Woods.
This is exactly what the Woods wanted: save the building's best and most enigmatic parts, which is the masonry the Wood's constructed over the years. Pairing up with a developer is the really the only recourse when you have very little cash on hand, but quite a lot of valuable land. The masonry core of the existing building is quite stable, only a bit of shoring appears to be required. The tricky part is removing the wood addition, which is acting like a giant rubber band, holding the masonry top together.
I wish the Wood's luck; there is still a long ways to go, but it looks like they will be able to save the building.
Case Study: Viaduc des Arts
Viaduc des Arts, originally uploaded by cgfan
Via City Comforts, who is all over the Seattle Viaduct hoopla, comes this fascinating (5 year old) article about the Viaduc des Arts, a former railroad viaduct, stretches east along the wide Avenue Daumesnil between the Place de la Bastille and city hall of the 12e Arrondissement. Instead of tearing it down, they created a series of craftsmen and artists lotfs:
The shops recall the history of the neighborhood, which was once the blue-collar home of artisans, craftspersons, and antiques shops. The shops, therefore, display the arts and crafts of today, some of them made on the premises. Each shop occupies a single arch of the old viaduct. The arches have been refaced in a handsome orange-red brick that deliberately recalls another historic icon, the famous Place des Vosges not far away. Parking is tucked almost invisibly underground. The shopfronts themselves are elegantly detailed in glass, metal, and wood in a taut, minimalist architectural language that is very much that of today and becomes a kind of modern craft in itself. The architect was Patrick Berger.
The shops, though, wonderful as they are, are less than half the story. The rest is the park upstairs. It's called the Promenade Plantee. Three miles of the old track bed have been converted into a linear park, a kind of aerial nature walk in the city. The landscaping is a botanist's dream. You're never bored. Your path is endlessly varied. Some of the plants ripple in the wind like natural marshland. Others resemble formal parterres. In places, the park spreads out into playing fields and strolling parkland. At other times it narrows to a tight file edged by dark trees. Or it becomes a courtyard where oldsters, sipping their wine, watch kids playing games. Sometimes you walk through a trellised arbor. In one place, there's a cave-like hideaway. In still another, the park shears its way through a new building, splitting it in half. The designers -- Philippe Mathieu and Jacques Vergely -- seize every chance to dramatize the anomaly of a linear park that slips through Paris like thread through a needle.
Remind you of anything?
On The High Line 04/23 by nicolaitan
Interesting; I just hope the Highline will be half as successful. Unfortunately, instead of artists lofts or workshops, I think that the Highline will, besides be a great urban park, foster luxury condos and high end hotels, thus proving to be a great opportunity lost.
Turnstiling: How Do you Go Through the Turnstyle?
HEET, originally uploaded by Triborough
Living in New York, unless you are fortunate to live within walking distance to your job, you have to take the subway; which results in having to go through the turnstiles a minimum of four times each day. This means either going through a regular turnstile or a HEET (iron maiden, tourist trap, etc.) daily. With such an ubiquitous experience all New Yorkers endure, one's technique is forced to be honed to an art form; from the way you swipe your card, to how you go through the turnstile it is hard not to develop a personal style of turnstiling.
Case in point: recently I was following a woman out of the subway car headed toward a HEET exit. Instead of getting into the HEET and pushing on the forward arms, she entered in and pulled the HEET arms which were behind her. Very strange, but that is her way of turnstiling
My style on regular turnstiles is to get my card out of my wallet a few strides before the turnstiles, get my arm out in front of me, swipe, then pivot right so that the bar will hit my left hip. This ensures if I get the dreaded error message the Boys won't be in danger. In the HEET I just push with my right shoulder.
How do you turnstile?
January 10, 2007
Long Johns: The Eternal Question
Long Johns, originally uploaded by MicheKerr
The Eternal Question: Long johns: Are you supposed to wear them accompanying underwear, or as underwear?
Can the InterWeb get any better?
Without, of course. What do you think?
On Using Penguins to Shill Products
coventry, originally uploaded by Kalense Kid
This year's exploitation looks to be penguins, as the New York Times states in, A Procession of Penguins Arrives on Madison Ave:
Penguins have long been popular in advertising, but they have become even more so after three successful movies with penguin characters: "Madagascar" and "March of the Penguins" in 2005 and "Happy Feet" last year. They have helped turn the penguin into the new pitchbeast of choice.
Well, they are cute, but I wonder how long until the market of "cute, fuzzy animal" will become saturated, and this fad passes. Is there a point where the American people will say, "Enough with the penguins, already!"? And will they rise up, against their penguin overlords? Only time will tell. Anyway, what caught my eye was the last graf:
The next significant date for peddling penguins - and penguin peddling - is June 8, when the Sony Pictures Animation division of Sony is scheduled to release an animated film, "Surf's Up," a mock documentary about a young surfing penguin (voiced by Shia LaBeouf) and his mentor (Jeff Bridges).
Trying to describe the idea, Premiere magazine wrote, "Think 'Point Break' meets 'This Is Spinal Tap,' with penguins."
I think the "Total Penguin Saturation Point" is arriving soon; perhaps June 8th, 2007.
January 9, 2007
The new assertiveness of cities:
Perhaps some days we will see, next to the G8, the GC55 meeting (the 55 global cities) or the M400 (the 400 metropolises with over 6 million inhabitants)
One complete set of Letraset TRIA Pantone markers, in the color spectrum resting on their nibs for one month on a stack of paper: Pantone Pen Print
On being always wrong: More Journalistic Excellence from Pajamas Media
What would happen if you were to connect all the ZIP codes in the US in ascending order? The US ZIPScribble Map
Reading About Parking
God's Abacus, originally uploaded by Today is a good day
Two interesting reads by Donald Shoup (via Adam), Professor of Urban Planning at Yale UCLA. Professor Shoup has a portfolio with a background in economics, engineering, and planning, Donald Shoup has focused his research on public finance, transportation, and the land market. He has extensively studied the issue of parking as a key link between transportation and land use, with important consequences for cities, the economy, and the environment.
Interesting how much en vogue economists are at the moment. Thank you Stephen Levitt.
Here are two interesting papers, which I will have to get my head fully around: The High Cost of Free Parking:
Off-street parking requirements are devastating American cities. So says Donald Shoup in this no-holds-barred treatise on the way parking should be.
Free parking, Shoup argues, has contributed to auto dependence, rapid urban sprawl, extravagant energy use, and a host of other problems. Planners mandate free parking to alleviate congestion, but end up distorting transportation choices, debasing urban design, damaging the economy, and degrading the environment. Ubiquitous free parking helps explain why our cities sprawl on a scale fit more for cars than for people, and why American motor vehicles now consume one-eighth of the world's total oil production.
And another available in PDF format entitled, The Political Calculus of Congestion Pricing (PDF):
Many scholars have argued the political viability of congestion pricing depends on how toll revenue is distributed, and that pricing schemes need to create more winners than losers to gain acceptability. This calculus is inadequate because it does little to create claimants for the toll revenue who will champion pricing the freeways. Rather, such a calculus simply attempts to pacify opposition. A more promising approach to creating support for tolls is to return the freeway toll revenue to the cities which the freeways pass. Returning the revenue to cities with freeways is fair because it compensates these cities for bearing the local external costs of a regional system, and gives them the resources to help mitigate freeway caused problems. It is also efficient, in that it will give an already organized lobbying group an incentive to champion tolls. The paper uses Los Angeles County to illustrate how distributing toll revenues to cities with freeways can increase political support for congestion tolls. Since LA freeways are not located in the highest-income cities in the county, our proposal coverts congestion tolls into financial support for the county’s lowest-income cities. Seventy of the 88 cities in Los Angeles County would receive toll revenue, and the estimated revenue for the recipient cities would almost double these cities’ general fund revenues.
Two articles, I'm sure my readers will agree, are perfect bedtime fodder.
For the Record
Yes: there was some strange smell in Manhattan today.
But no, the City did not blow up; the appropriate authorities have no idea what is was/is.
And yes, I'm OK; and thank you for your concern. It must have been a slow news day, because everyone was emailing me about it. I was glad to hear from you, and write to you about it.
Although, I wish it was the Maple Syrup smell, this time.
Comparison Maps of American Universities
Now this is more like it! Just like the subway systems of the world, presented on the same scale, here is a similar project: Comparison Maps of American Universities by Ayers Saint Gross Architects + Planners.
This is a fantastic collection of urban information. What I would like to see are comparisons by geographic location - for example, looking at the similarities and contrasts between Yale and the University of Cincinnati (UC) shown above; comparisons by date of campus construction; comparisons of context and relative urbanity, etc.
Having had a fair amount of experience at both campuses (clarification: with 6+ years at UC and multiple trips to New Haven; see note), it is interesting to look at Yale versus UC. Yale's present campus dating from 1716, is the direct result of lack of central heat and (most importantly) lack of electrical illumination. The technology of the time fostered long, thin masonry buildings with double-loaded corridors with regular windows to maximize light. Later additions were required to mimic this style for political and taste reasons. Visit Yale today, and you would be hard pressed to pick out contemporary buildings (Art and Architecture excepted) from new.
UC on the other hand, was founded in 1819 but was established at its' present site in 1870, well after the first arc lamps were available and during the golden age of incandescent invention. However, its' two growth spurts were post-WWII and in the last 20 years. As a result, you get larger buildings with larger footprints which take advantage of central heat and cooling, electric lighting, and other economies of scale.
These maps, along with Sanborn Maps, are invaluable tools for designers and historians.
By the way: for those New Yorkers out there, here are comparison maps for Bronx Zoo and Rutgers (no Columbia or NYU).
January 8, 2007
Buckeyes Got Trounced
I can't even watch anymore.
What happened?
Photos of World-wide Labels
3671, originally uploaded by cottoncandyhammer
Wonderful photoset of Worldwide Labels on Flickr.
Thank God the internet is an enabler for people's wonderful obsessions.
January 7, 2007
The family of the 13 year-old graffiti
artist
who was killed by the LIRR train on Friday is considering suing the MTA because they failed to maintain the fences around the tracks'nuff said
January 5, 2007
NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly:
This is a week of heroes in New York.
Indeed: Wesley Autey jumped into subway tracks to save another straphanger from an oncoming train and Men Save Toddler From Four Story Fall
New York State May Suspend Tests of New Voting Machines
can we please keep the big-red-lever machines?
January 4, 2007
How much space does the SoHo Mall have, anyway?
Map of SoHo, by CitiDex
Yesterday I wrote about the exploding rents of SoHo Mall, and there were some interesting comments, specifically:
To see a jump from 70 bones a sq ft to 200 within 6-12 months has to have something more than location involved. I wonder if there was competition for the new space and it became a bidding war?? Sounds like a research project!!
So this got me thinking: what is the theoretical maximum leasable square footage in what is now, the SoHo Mall?
First, some ground rules:
- SoHo is generally considered to be bounded by Houston on the north, Lafayette on the east, Canal Street on the south and the Hudson River to the west.
- I am defining the SoHo Mall as the area bounded by Houston on the north, Crosby St on the east, Broome on the south and Sullivan on the west.
- Why? Because those are the areas I feel are more "mall-like." And, because I'm lazy those blocks are all the same size.
- I might be less lazy in the future and change the size of the SoHo Mall, but this is good for now.
- I will only be calculating the first floor as the most desirable, knowing that often times the cellar and the second floors of existing buildings are often used in commercial retail.
- I will finally use an efficiency factor of .85 to take into account walls, stairs, elevators, etc which always eat into ground floor retail space.
OK, for those following at home, the SoHo mall (for this exercise) looks like this:
SoHo Mall
Inside the SoHo Mall boundaries, there are 21 blocks of roughly the same size: 200'-0" x 375'-"0 which gives us an average block area of 75,000 SF, which gives us an estimated area of:
1,575,000 SF
Multiply that by the .85 efficiency factor and we get:
1,338,750 SF
Now to the fun part: let's see what the owners of the SoHo Mall take in yearly from commercial retail rent. Which, when using the average cost-per-square-foot provided yesterday of $66/SF and the "premium" number quoted as $200/SF, we get this:
- $88,357,500 (@ $66/SF)
- $267,750,000 (@ $200/SF)
Nice! Of course, not everyone is paying the premium, and many commercial tenants are paying "sub premium" rent because they were smart and locked their rent down with a 5-10 year lease (but watch the yearly escalation costs!).
This was a fun exercise, if you have any comments leave it below. Nonetheless: Congratulations owners of the SoHo Mall! I'm sure you are hoping you have some lease renewals coming up so, don't you?
January 3, 2007
MoMA Sells Land for $125 Million
it looks like it is a series of parcels at 51 West 53rd Street, where currently the museum uses as queue overflow
NY Times Catches some SoHo Mall fever
untitled, originally uploaded by Keisuke Omi
Looks like the New York Times woke up, and figured out that SoHo Bounces Back as a Fashion Center:
Before Sept. 11, 2001, SoHo seemed on the way to emerging as one of the most prestigious shopping districts in Manhattan. But after the attack on the World Trade Center, many retailers eventually left their stores after it appeared that shoppers had abandoned the district.
Now, SoHo is on the rise again, particularly among foreign clothing retailers seeking to establish stores in New York.
I've been calling the areas around Broadway, Prince, Spring, and Green the SoHo Mall
for 'nigh on two years now. But no bother, let's get into some real retail porn.
The article lists rent between $62-$70/SF for the area, and gives specific rents for the following stores:
- 69 Greene Street occupied by Bo Concept at 7,000 SF @ $385,000 ($55/SF) leased in 2005
- 71 Greene Street occupied by Phi at 7,000 SF @ $450,000 ($62/SF) leased in 2006
- 546 Broadway occupied by Uniqlo at 50,000 SF @ $3.5 million ($70/SF) leased in March 2006
But get ready for this:
Mr. Staav and another senior managing director with Lansco, Christine Emery, both retail specialists in the SoHo area, recently assisted the landlord at 92 Greene Street, a 50,000-square-foot loft condominium building under construction on a former parking lot, in two leasing transactions with foreign designers. Evisu, a Japanese jeans maker, took 3,200 square feet, and Cotélac, a French women’s clothier, leased 2,500 square feet.
The asking annual rent for both spaces was about $200 a foot. “Just two years ago, the area was dead,” Ms. Emery said. “Now we’re seeing a return to pre-9/11 rents,” which were about $500,000 a year for a 3,500- to 4,000-square-foot space on Greene Street.
$200 a square foot! That exceeds Ms. Emery's pre-9/11 rental rates which were $125-143/SF!
Looks like the SoHo mall is staying for good.
January 2, 2007
Funny/Disturbing: Tickle Me Elmo On Fire
Wal-Mart Puts Some Muscle Behind Compact Fluorescents
good for them (and they will make tons of money)
Post YouTube world: Young Turn to Web Sites Without Rules
I've never heard of Stickam.com
-
how the few get rich off the many online
The sex of my brain is way more male than female
whatever that means
After 200 years, Washington, D.C. residents may get a vote in Congress
if it means that they will have to change their license plates, then so be it!
Droog in NYC
Chandelier "85 Lamps" -3, originally uploaded by DNS at Flickr
Droog Design was recently in the New York Times, Simply Droog - Is It Design? Art? Or Just a Dutch Joke? reviewing their show at the Museum of Arts & Design entitled, Simply Droog: 10 + 3 Years of Creating Innovation and Discussion. I would highly recommend seeing the exhibition before the closing date of 14 January.
