Posts tagged Bad Streets
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Drive-through apartments
In Robert Heinlein’s (fairly bad) book I Will Fear No Evil, cities have become so dangerous that residents drive their cars directly into their buildings, up car-sized elevators, and right to the doors of their apartments. Early in the book a significant figure is murdered because she tries to use the pedestrian entrance. Now, via Streetsblog, such a building is under construction… Keep reading…
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Washington’s good streets and bad streets
Washington, DC is a city with some of the most magnificent public spaces and some of the worst at the same time. The Mall is mixed; it’s a huge tourist attraction with great, free museums and monuments, but many of the buildings present blank stone walls to the streets and there are too many cars, rendering it more of an empty grassy space between attractions than a destination in… Keep reading…
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New York public spaces good and bad
Speaking of public space, the Project for Public Spaces has put together a detailed commentary on New York’s public space - the good spaces, the terrible ones, and the opportunities for the future. Keep reading…
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“Suburban sensibility”
A Times article about Newport, the dense mixed-used development on the Hudson waterfront in Jersey City, talks about how the LeFrak family turned this wasteland of abandoned railyards into a thriving neighborhood. It’s a real success story and a great - and uncommon - example of how open developable spaces can be turned into something better than two-story generic… Keep reading…
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Which is better?
Which street would you prefer? Keep reading…
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More than a thousand words
None but the most corrupt of politicians would think that moving Yankee Stadium over to a public park, farther from the highway, replacing that park with some space on top of garages and other parkland crammed up against the river far away from the neighborhood, and having the city kick in $70 million for this, could possibly be a good idea. Keep reading…
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Five things not to do when building a convention center
1. Surround your building with an imposing stone facade that completely isolates it from the nearby street. Place no cafes or other businesses on the street, no places to sit, or anything to engage pedestrians. Keep reading…
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Ghost Town
I arrived in our nation’s capital yesterday. It took significantly longer to get from Dulles Airport to my hotel (2 1/4 hours) than to fly all the way from Boston (1 1/2 hours). I had to wait for the shtutle bus from the concourse to the main terminal to arrive, then longer for it to leave, then in line for the SuperShuttle, then 15 minutes for the SuperShuttle to leave… Keep reading…
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Get yer community plans here - maybe
Theresa Toro points out the Greenpoint/Williamsburg community plan, whose difficulty of finding I lamented earlier. Keep reading…