Prefab bungalow courts

Edward Erfurt sent along a link to Tumbleweed Houses, a company in California that makes pint-sized (40-500 sq. ft.) prefab houses that look, well, darn cute.

These things would look just silly facing a typical street, surrounded by typically sized houses. What I’m imagining is a co-housing bungalow court: ten tiny houses could easily fit on a 50′ x 125′ double lot, with room for a not-tiny common house (with laundry, gathering space, a real kitchen, and parking for shared cars) and many tiny trees. At $30,000 for each “deluxe” 12′ x 16′ house, the finished cost with land would still be less than $50K per tiny house. That’s $300/month (at 6% interest): less than many people pay for their cars, far below construction cost of comparably dense multifamily, and cheaper, even, than new SROs which give their residents less space, less privacy, and less dignity.

Quartier International


Quartier International

Originally uploaded by paytonc.

The initial master plan for the Quartier International by Peterson Littenberg was even featured in “The New Urbanism” (ed. Peter Katz). Here, part of the area as built, with the Palais des Congr�s (T�treault, Parent, Languedoc & associ�s, Saia & Barbese, �difica, with Hal Ingberg, 2002) facing Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle. Who says that New Urbanism cannot accommodate modern architecture?

More photoblog posts to come, since a big photodump to Flickr has buried some gems.

Non, mer�i

In the States, we cast three-ton Ten Commandments to place in front of our public buildings; in Canada, they get, well, hopefully this speaks for itself. (Any description of mine might land this site on some kind of FBI watch list.) “Les petits Baigneurs,” 1915 bronze by Alfred Lalibert� (restored 1992), at the entrance to the Maisonneuve public baths in Montreal. (Hint: it makes a little more sense when the water’s running, although anyone with a mildly dirty mind would still think otherwise.)

Where can I find some beaver?

I’ve uploaded a few cameraphone pics of Montr�al and Qu�bec to Flickr, but since I don’t want to risk getting socked with a monstrous data-roaming charge (Fido’s prepaid voice service in Canada doesn’t include data) I’ll still hold off on uploading much until I get back to the States later this month. Still, consider my socks knocked off by these two urban jewels.

Oh, and no, we could not enter the Beaver Club.

Green Portland garners notice

Nicholas Kristof’s recent editorial applauding the efforts of Portland, Oregon to cut carbon emissions — it has already reduced emissions below 1990 levels despite appreciable population and economic growth (per-capita emissions have dropped 13%) and is on track to exceed Kyoto targets — has reached #1 on the most e-mailed articles list.

What’s really notable is that the Portland strategy (of course) focuses on transportation and livability as strategies to build sustainability. Too many environmental critiques still take an engineer’s perspective and look for more efficient systems to save the day; a challenge as large as climate change could certainly use tinkering around the edges, as with more efficient street lights, but also requires rethinking much larger systems like private transport.

[O]fficials in Portland insist that the campaign to cut carbon emissions has entailed no significant economic price, and on the contrary has brought the city huge benefits: less tax money spent on energy, more convenient transportation, a greener city, and expertise in energy efficiency that is helping local businesses win contracts worldwide… Portland’s officials were able to curb carbon emissions only because the steps they took were intrinsically popular and cheap, serving other purposes like reducing traffic congestion or saving on electrical costs.

Heritage staffers just love people

When government disappears, private citizens will be moved by their own consciences to treat one another with Biblical kindness. Yeah, well, let’s start with the people who tell us these lies daily, like the staff of the Heritage Foundation. Indeed, their VP for finance has been charged with jumping out of his car and shoving a bicyclist who was about half his size. Says the assaulted cyclist,

“”It was some kind of road-rage nonsense. When he got out of the car, I told him: ‘You’re crazy! Get back in the car!’… I was pretty scraped up and bruised. And he just got back into his car and floored it. He took off.”

Illinois wind lifts off

ELPC reports that over 3,000 MW of electric capacity is proposed for Illinois, enough to power over a million Illinois homes. Indeed, one 400 MW project near Bloomington could power a medium-sized city. Illinois is far behind some of its Midwestern neighbors in the wind power game because of its slow movement towards a Renewable Portfolio Standard and, compared to the Plains to the west, meager wind resources.

Localities, too, can charge ahead to encourage renewable energy: not only by doing as Chicago did and purchasing Green Tags, but through good planning. Klickitat County in southern Washington state has created a zoning overlay district that allows wind turbines as-of-right in parts of the county that are both suitably windy and ready to deal with the land-use impacts. The zone was created after a $500,000 feasibility study, money that it will quickly recover with 500 MW of generation capacity planned.

Biotic Bicycle Brigade rides to Ravinia

The Biotic Bicycle Brigade invites you to ride to Ravinia this summer! Join us for three concerts by the renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Lawn seats at Ravinia are just $10 or free with student ID. Bring picnic materials, or help us make a picnic at locally owned grocers.

The ride is about 20 miles each way (about the same as the entire lakefront path), and we usually take a moderate pace (12 mph) up paths and shady residential streets. Bring lights and wear a helmet. New for 2005: you might be able to bring your bike back aboard Metra!

June 25 Saturday 4pm Bucktown — 5pm Lincoln Square — 7pm Ravinia
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 (�Resurrection�)
CSO & Chorus conducted by James Conlon; Heidi Grant Murphy,�Soprano; Birgitta Svend�n, Mezzo-Soprano

July 15 Friday 5pm Bucktown — 6pm Lincoln Square — 8pm Ravinia
Bach: Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins, Glass: Double Timpani Concerto,and Brahms: Concerto in A Minor for Violin and Cello, Op. 102
CSO conducted by James Conlon; Pinchas Zukerman, Violin; Amanda Forsyth, Cello; Jessica Linnebach, Violin; Jonathan Haas, Timpani; Svetaslov Stoyanov, Timpani

Aug 7 Sunday 3:30pm Bucktown — 4:30pm Lincoln Square — 6:30pm Ravinia
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 in C Minor
CSO conducted by Christoph Eschenbach

Meeting locations
Bucktown at Damen & Wabansia, outside the Goddess & Grocer
Lincoln Square at Lincoln & Giddings, outside Delicatessen Meyer

Leaking the route map proposal

My route proposal (239K) for the June 2005 Critical Mass ride. It’s much gayer than the other one. It also makes for a wonderful tour of pre-renewal South Side urbanism, although a truly proper tour of that would have to include much of South Shore.

Update: photos from the ride by: Art, Bob K, Bob M, Devin, Don, and Jordan. I recommend Don’s open-hydrant shots (way to avoid dousing the camera) and Devin’s shots on the Quads.

Perimeter Ride-30 July

From John Greenfield:

Mark your calendar for the 4th annual Perimeter Ride, Saturday, July 30, 9 AM, meeting at the Handlebar, 2311 W. North.

This free, 100-mile ride moves at a relaxed 10 — 12 MPH pace with lots of stops for sightseeing, snacking, swimming, and other legal and illegal activities.

We’ll meet at the Handlebar for breakfast at 9 AM and hit the road at 10. The route is roughly the perimeter of the city, from Hegewisch to Beverly, Edgebrook to Rogers Park, and includes lots of off-street paths and the entire lakefront. We’ll wind up back at the Handlebar sometime after midnight for drinks.

If you’re not biking on the edge, you’re taking up tooo much space.

The Perimeter Ride is a fantastic way to see those completely out-of-the-way parts of the city, like the Calumet basin, that you’d otherwise have absolutely no reason to go and see. Plus, 100 miles isn’t nearly as far as one might think!

Photoblog

This is not really turning into a cameraphone photoblog, but Flickr’s upload-by-email makes it ridiculously easy to send posts from, oh, a street corner or a nightclub or anywhere. I’m pondering switching to WordPress later this summer, which supports blog-by-email.

Banana


Banana

Originally uploaded by paytonc.

It’s completely invisible amidst the stage-light glare, but here Evan Cranley, bassist for Stars, is waving a banana at the audience. (More precisely, grasping it lengthwise and thrusting it back and forth.) Why?

Later, Torquil Campbell said something along the lines of, “we could be the first generation that says, ‘forget about getting there on time, I’m going to save the planet and walk.'” Another little step in making “dead” environmentalism a little more alive and relevant to folks, I guess. A coordinated effort to make driving uncool — but who would fund it?

And yes, I managed to find the tallest guy in the place to stand behind; such is my fate.