Found 264 items.

	Title	Type	Added	Modified	Created
	Bill McDonough, "Growth is Good"	Link	2005-07-09	2005-07-09
	<blockquote>", if you use nature as a model and mentor, if you use modern designs and chemicals that are safe. Growth is destructive if you use energy not from the sun and a system of chemicals that is toxic, so it's anti-life."</blockquote> o "McDonough Partners":http://www.mcdonoughpartners.com/ o "mcdonough.com":http://www.mcdonough.com/ o "China-U.S. Center for Sustainable Development":http://www.chinauscenter.org/
	"To survive, Africa must reduce its birth rates" by Alex Gerber	Link	2005-07-09	2005-07-09
	This is an opinion piece in the Thursday, July 7 San Diego Union-Tribune by Alex Gerber. It may have been picked up by other papers, but I'm not finding it yet. It was important for me to read because of the case it makes for China's current imposing world presence being due partly to limitation of family size to one child by means of contraceptive programs and forced abortions. Before reading this opinion, I would too quickly brush off people (very often "Ishmael":../sdishmael/ readers) who were concerned with population overshoot. I would say the problem is not population, which, in fact is declining or stable in all developed countries (I think) when not counting immigration, but the amount of resources a given population consumes. Other things I have read support the concept of "Cities as population sinks" - that is, the people who live in cities don't have many children, and that percentage of people is growing. **However**, at the same time, in the back of my head I knew that the people who criticise "Paul Ehrlich":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ralph_Ehrlich, The Club of Rome's "Limit's to Growth":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limits_to_Growth, and the basic thesis in the Ishmael books were wrong. There are massive famines and dieoffs occurring right now among both humans and other species, and this has been true for some time. So, what now? I don't know. Here's the portion of Alex Gerber's essay that focuses on China:<blockquote>In the real world, we should turn to the China experience. Throughout its history, China has been plagued by periodic famines due to crop failures. From 1958 to 1961, China experienced the worst famine in world history &#8211; 30 million (the combined population of our 10 larges cities) starved to death. Chairman Mao, advised that China's fertility rate would result in a population increase from 1.2 billion to 4.2 billion in the next century, realized that future famines would be measured in billions rather than millions. Think of it! A country with one-sixth the arable land of the United States would be faced with a quadrupled population almost equal to the total population of the rest of the world. China's choice was between wall-to-wall people with an animal subsistence level, and intensive population control. The choice was influenced by an old Chinese proverb, "If we don't change our direction, we'll end up where we're heading." A 10-year trial of voluntary family-size restriction was unsuccessful, and in 1970 Mao decreed the limitation of family size to one child. This was accomplished by the world's most comprehensive contraception program and enforced abortions for contraceptive failures &#8211; a program theoretically reducing China's population to 370 million by 2080 and more in harmony with her resources. A 1989 editorial in The New York Times described China's policy of enforced abortions as an "act of official inhumanity &#8211; that violates one of the most basic human rights." Fortunately, China's leaders were more aware than her critics of the threatened civil disintegration of Chinese society. An incubating catastrophe was averted by the scientific method, rather than by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as in an earlier era. History speaks for itself. In only two generations, China emerged from a Third World country to an economic powerhouse closing in on the living standards of Western industrial societies. It all started with population control measures. ... Gerber, a clinical professor of surgery emeritus at the University of Southern California, was formerly a White House health care consultant and chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee of Pasadena Planned Parenthood.</blockquote>
	Personal Rapid Transit Systems: a car on a stick	Link	2005-07-09	2005-07-09
	Send an email to the carfree groups announcing that you're starting a new project, and you are very likely to get an email like the one I paste below. We should consider the possibility of learning something from PRT advocates, but, in general, what the Carfree City is about is "access by proximity" not about fancy transit systems. You don't need any public transit but a public pedestrian street, with room for hand-pushed freight carts, to have a beautiful carfree city. There may however be situations where these systems are useful. Jerry Schneider writes:<blockquote>I hope your group will also consider examining a variety of non-auto modes, capable of providing auto-competitive mobility without many of the negative impacts of the auto. I see most of them being compatible with the auto-free concept and American lifestyles. My ITT website includes descriptions of more than 80 emerging systems from around the world. Some are operational, some are under development and some are still conceptual. All are electric, environmentally benign, low cost, easy to quickly construct and useful for both intercity and intracity travel. A quick overview is provided by four Photoindex pages. Links to details are available at the "List of Systems page":http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/techtable.htm Current leaders include: o "Cabintaxi":http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/cabin.htm o "Skyweb Express":http://www.skywebexpress.com o "ULTra":http://www.atsltd.co.uk/ o "Mega/MicroRail":http://www.megarail.com o "Cybertran":http://www.cybertran.com o "Austrans":http://www.austrans.com o "System 21":http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/sys21.htm o "RUF":http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/ruf1.htm o "Urbanaut":http://www.urbanaut.com. Jerry Schneider, Professor Emeritus, U of Washington, Seattle - "Innovative Transportation Technologies":http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans </blockquote>
	Car hitting pedestrian starts riot in China; and more on the "car war" theme.	Link	2005-07-09	2005-07-09
	I saw this in "The Epoch":http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-6-29/29918.html "Times":http://theepochtimes.com/. Here's "another article":http://www.resurgence.org/resurgence/issues/roberts218.htm (in the very nice "resurgence magazine":http://www.resurgence.org/) that came up in a search on <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=%22car+wars%22">"car wars"</a>. See also "The Pushcart War":http://www.google.com/search?q=pushcart+war by Jean Merrill. <blockquote>It started before 3 p.m. when a Toyota sedan grazed a middle school student crossing the street and the teen and the driver quarreled. A few men emerged from the car and set on the student, a local store manager surnamed Wu who saw the clash told Reuters by telephone. The men were taken to a police station and a crowd that had been watching the fight swarmed around the building, Wu said, demanding that the men be handed over to them as their numbers swelled by the minute. Some among the growing mob focused their anger on the men's Toyota, smashing it, flipping it over and torching it, Wu said. ... The crowd, now numbering as many as 10,000, also flipped three parked police cars and set them ablaze. ... Protests have become increasingly common in China, fueled by corruption and the widening wealth gap, but authorities are keen to quickly quash dissent and preserve stability. There were more than 58,000 protests, many of them over land rights disputes, across the country in 2003, a Communist Party-backed magazine, Outlook, has reported.</blockquote>
	"July 4 is deadliest crash day," by Michael Woods, Toledo Blade science editor and health columnist	Link	2005-07-02	2005-07-02
	The following appeared on the second page of the health section in the "Tuesday, June 28 Union Tribune:":http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050628/news_1c28fourth.html <blockquote>For every highway death, there are about 53 disabling injuries. ... More than 40,000 people die each year on the roads and 2.1 million suffer disabling injuries. **Can you imagine society accepting any other technology that kills and maims on such a horrendous scale?** ... Automobiles are the most dangerous way to travel. Death rates are about 0.80 per 100 million passenger-miles compared to 0.02 for airlines. Yet people seldom worry because they are right there in the driver's seat every day, supposedly in control. Everyone, of course, is the world's safest driver. That sort of illusion also tricks people into overlooking the seriousness of cigarette smoking, obesity and other major health and safety hazards even as they are distracted about risks that actually are remote. But no other everyday activity carries as great a risk of dying &#8211; 1 in 79, according to the safety council &#8211; as climbing behind that wheel. </blockquote> The author, "Michael Woods":http://www.toledoblade.com/woods, is the science editor for the Toledo Blade of "Toledo, Ohio":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo%2C_Ohio. Here's the full text:<blockquote> **Study: July 4 is deadliest crash day** By Michael Woods SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE June 28, 2005 When safety officials raise red flags before every Independence Day weekend, motorists often wonder exactly how much more dangerous is travel during the Fourth of July holiday. Maybe highway death tolls that weekend just seem high because it's a three-day weekend rather than two. But a whole range of scientific studies confirms that Independence Day weekend is the most dangerous three days within a year &#8211; a health and safety threat that actually gets less attention than it deserves. In February, for instance, researchers with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reported on a major study of motor vehicle crash deaths in the U.S. from 1986 to 2002. A total of 727,483 people died in crashes during that period. For every highway death, there are about 53 disabling injuries. So 38.5 million people suffered disabling injuries in that period. The study, published in the trade journal Injury Prevention, found that July 4 was, on average, the deadliest day during the 17-year period, with an average of 161 crash deaths. July 3 was the second-deadliest, averaging 149 deaths. July 2 was in the Top 10, averaging 138 deaths. Those Top 10 days were, in order: July 4, July 3, Dec. 23, Aug. 3, Jan. 1, Aug. 6, Aug. 4, Aug. 12, July 2 and Sept. 2. On an average day during the study years, 117 people are killed in traffic accidents. National Safety Council studies show that the average number of deaths during the Independence Day weekend is 7.1 percent higher than other holiday periods of the same length. The Independence Day weekend toll may result partly from more cars being on the road, according to the insurance institute's study. It also is due, in part, to the number of people driving after drinking as people travel to and from picnics, fireworks displays and other activities, researchers said. July 4 also had a higher proportion of deaths involving elevated blood alcohol levels than any other day. The Independence Day weekend, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. More than 40,000 people die each year on the roads and 2.1 million suffer disabling injuries. Can you imagine society accepting any other technology that kills and maims on such a horrendous scale? It happens because human beings create what scientists term "illusory zones of immunity" around familiar everyday activities that supposedly are under their control. Automobiles are the most dangerous way to travel. Death rates are about 0.80 per 100 million passenger-miles compared to 0.02 for airlines. Yet people seldom worry because they are right there in the driver's seat every day, supposedly in control. Everyone, of course, is the world's safest driver. That sort of illusion also tricks people into overlooking the seriousness of cigarette smoking, obesity and other major health and safety hazards even as they are distracted about risks that actually are remote. But no other everyday activity carries as great a risk of dying &#8211; 1 in 79, according to the safety council &#8211; as climbing behind that wheel. </blockquote>
	District 7 Councilmember's newsletter for SDSU area	Link	2005-07-01	2005-07-02
	The current councilmember for this district is Jim Madaffer. The college area, with respect to land area, is a small portion of a large district. See "the district map":http://genesis.sannet.gov/infospc/templates/cd7/map_main.jsp. Population-wise, I would guess the college area is one of the most dense parts of the district.
	San Diego Critical Mass	Link	2005-06-27	2006-05-29
	<blockquote>The last Friday of every month, we meet at the big fountain in Balboa Park at 7:00 PM and ride bicycles through the streets of San Diego, providing motorists, as well as ourselves, with a vision of how things could be different. It's a celebration of cycling! Bring your friends; meet new friends.</blockquote>The old email list was/ is(?) here: "https://libertad.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/critical-mass":https://libertad.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/critical-mass.
	Carfree San Diego discussion and announcement list	Link	2005-06-27	2006-02-13
	Set your email preferences to "Special Notices" if you do not wish to participate in email discussions, but do wish to be notified when events have been finalized. From the list description:<blockquote>We are a group of concerned individuals/citizens who feel that cars have become a nuisance to society. We want to take back our city by raising awareness about car issues and building a critical mass of self propelled realists. We want a CARFREE San Diego!</blockquote> Thanks to Jordan for setting this up!
	the San Diego district council of the Urban Land Institute	Link	2005-06-21	2005-06-21
	The people who make money from building are the ones who have a significant effect on the built environment. (heck, I have to write something here, right?) An article in the Union Tribune mentioned this group and said that the new generation of developers in this Council was interested in making the urban environment better, not just in making a buck... So here they are. I don't have the money or the influence to make carfree development a reality, but maybe some of them do.
	Comments on the San Diego airport issue	Link	2005-06-18	2005-06-18
	The airport authority wants a new/bigger airport for San Diego. They sponsored an online dialog to see what people thought. My position was: get the airport out of the city, discourage use of air transportation, use the old airport site for a carfree district. Connect to existing airports via rail. If a new airport is built, put it far away, prevent urban development around it, and connect it to city via a rail link. I note that Joel Crawford of carfree.com suggests that "carfree cities will need an airport:":http://carfree.com/pax_trans.html <blockquote>A large city requires an airport, which should be located far from town and connected to the center by high-speed rail.</blockquote> In my view having to deal with airplane or helicopter noise is not acceptable if we are to create urban environments that are a dream to live in. This puts me at odds with those who say things like, "progress is inevitable, and that is the price--shut up and stop complaining". Here is a link to the main page of the dialogs: "Fly into the Future":http://www.future.signonsandiego.com/
	HillQuest - website, blog, and printed guide about Hillcrest, "San Diego's most diverse neighborhood"	Link	2005-06-05	2005-06-05
	Perhaps the best San Diego website I have found! See especially the quicktime slideshow on "early San Diego transportation":http://www.hillquest.com/history/HQ3_transport.html. There are some funky pointy/areodynamic trollies and some wicker-basket electric carts! From the "blog:":http://www.hillquest.com/a/blog1.html <blockquote>A true success story in terms of community revitalization, Hillcrest has blossomed over the past decade into one of the hippest, most happening communities in San Diego. Nestled to the west and north of Balboa Park from Park Boulevard westward to Mission Hills, Hillcrest is known primarily for its wide array of award-winning restaurants, trendy specialty stores, medical offices, two major hospitals and the largest concentration of gay and lesbian-owned businesses in the city. Those who live here enjoy a wide choice of older homes mixed in with newer, upscale apartments and condominiums. The Hillcrest Business Association throws the annual streetfair bash known as CityFest, which was originally held to celebrate the restoration and relighting of the famous neon sign at University and Fifth avenues. Hillcrest is also the proud home of the annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Pride celebration, which includes a parade through the ’hood and a two-day festival in idyllic Balboa Park (at Juniper Street and Balboa Park Way).</blockquote>
	New Perspectives Quarterly - the only world-class publication dedicated to the exchange of knowledge globally	Link	2005-06-05	2005-06-05
	If there is a periodical worth subscribing to, this may be it. I have yet to spend some time with a print copy, but from what I see online, I wish I had my own copies to read. I'm afraid SDSU does not subscribe to it--though they have it at the Imperial Valley campus...
	The New America Foundation - venture capital for writing about policy ideas that transcend the conventional political spectrum	Link	2005-06-05	2005-06-05
	Check out their "program areas":http://www.newamerica.net/index.cfm?pg=section&secID=2, including things like "American Grand Strategy":http://www.newamerica.net/index.cfm?pg=Section&SecID=10. Very nice:<blockquote>One of the primary causes of our nation’s impoverished public debate is the scarcity of promising young thinkers making their mark as credible public intellectuals. Although there are organizations and publications on both sides of the political spectrum that help emerging writers espouse predictable partisan positions, no comparable support structures exist for independent-minded thinkers who want to engage in an open-ended search for pragmatic public policy solutions. Aspiring intellectuals whose views do not put them squarely on one ideological side or another therefore lack the financial support, career guidance, institutional credibility, and intellectual community needed for them to emerge as potent new voices on the national scene. ... New America Fellows receive far more than financial support. They are provided office space, health insurance, research and editorial assistance, help in placing articles, and perhaps most important, the opportunity to interact in a close-knit intellectual community. The organization’s senior staff regularly provides intellectual guidance, high-quality editing, training in public speaking, and a host of other professional development services to the Fellows.</blockquote>
	Universism - a reasoned search for passion	Link	2005-06-05	2005-07-21
	"Universists apply personal reason and experience to the fundamental questions of human existence, derive inspiration from the natural uncertainty of the human state, and deny the validity of revelation, faith and dogma." This is wonderful to find. Universist HQ is in Birmingham, Alabama... (Ideally we could have multiple location tags?). The movement is worldwide. UPDATE: There may be a "San Diego universist meeting":http://www.faithless.org/community/index.php?showtopic=3847 sometime. UPDATE2 (July 21, 2005): I started a "yahoo group for San Diego area universist-leaning people":http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sduniversists/. See what I wrote on the "society for philosophical inquiry":../socrates/. Here is some babble I wrote to the "yoism":../yoism/ discussion list: I would paste some relevant quotes in here, but... too much of it is good to read. Their graphic design however seems eerie, scientology-, gattica-, new-age dystopia suggestive to me... notice the emphasis on skyscrapers, synthetic, non-natural forms and scenery. [the two towers on the main page are in fact the (former) World Trade Center in NYC--this is fitting in that universism evolved out of a dialog about how to avoid the destructive effects of religious faith] Furthermore, I detect and read in the faq a kinship with libertarianism and the free-market religion. They are saved from that error by their emphasis on the question... (and this is explicit in the faq as well) but it may be (I really have no basis for this belief) that many of the most active are from a crowd similar to that of "the freestate project":http://freestateproject.org/. If universism grows and matures as a faith and as a practice, I imagine, in time, it will have more of a socially progressive feel (like "yoism":http://yoism.org, like "AFSC":http://afsc.org/, like the "earthcharter":http://www.earthcharter.org/... And appear to be less an offshoot of Ayn Rand's Howard Roark from _The Fountainhead_ ... once they start to put into practice more of an "empathetic principle":http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2001/04/09/in-defence-of-trouble/. The founder, Ford Vox, who's beautiful name suggests to me "Hitchhiker's Guide" (Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox), writes eloquently, and as Huston Smith wrote of Buddha, he is a great logician, or maybe the word was empiricist... and the vision he has expressed resonates with a lot of us! I think all my babble above is about them (or all of us) synthesizing the individualistic and the empathetic-- and a third rung would have to be the passionate / sublime / even the ceremonial or ritual, which I experienced nowhere as frequently as in the volunteer choir of a conservative episcopal church... It is wonderful to watch this happening. "The society of philosophical inquiry":http://carfreeuniverse.org/Members/colin/socrates/ is another closely related effort I recently discovered from reading the "San Diego Union Tribune":../sandiegonews/, which is where I heard about universism as well! It is interesting that mention of the movement has effectively been "censored from Wikipedia":http://universist.org/wikipedia.htm.
	Rolando Community Council	Link	2005-05-21	2005-05-21
	The grandma I live with goes to their meetings. I've been to one... the meeting is only a short walk away.
	The American Dream Project, Will Marrè, and comparison with other 'dream' projects	Link	2005-05-21	2005-05-21
	Here's "Will Marr&egrave;":http://www.willmarre.com/. He seems closest to what I what I go for in my "visions":../vision000/. The others that follow are older: "CommonDreams.org:":http://www.commondreams.org/about.htm <blockquote>It's been said that dreams are our roadmaps to the future. If so, where are we headed? Common Dreams is a national non-profit citizens' organization working to bring progressive Americans together to promote progressive visions for America's future. Founded in 1997, we are committed to being on the cutting-edge of using the internet as a political organizing tool - and creating new models for internet activism.</blockquote> "The Center for a New American Dream:":http://www.newdream.org/about/ <blockquote>(since about 1997?) The Center for a New American Dream helps Americans consume responsibly to protect the environment, enhance quality of life, and promote social justice. Getting more of what matters Every day, we require a little of the planet’s resources to keep us going. How we use those resources can make a big difference in determining the health of the planet, the well-being of others, even our own happiness. Everything we do has an impact. The trick is to make that impact more positive. The Center exists to create that positive impact. We work with individuals, institutions, communities, and businesses to conserve natural resources, counter the commercialization of our culture, and change the way goods are produced and consumed. As for the “new” in New American Dream, we help people live the dream, but in a way that ensures a livable planet for current and future generations. Our message isn’t about deprivation. It’s about getting more of what really matters—more time, more nature, more fairness, and more fun. o Living consciously o Buying wisely o Making a difference</blockquote> Finally, here's The American Dream Project:<blockquote> Vision Our vision is to Change the World by changing the way we think about our world. We are a community of leaders, educators, professionals, parents and students offering research, publications, speeches, workshops, multi-media, discussion groups and teaching materials helping reignite the American Dream for the new future. Mission The American Dream Project inspires people to change the world through values, passion, innovation and creativity. We provide free leadership, workplace, educational and community ideas and resources through our website and events.</blockquote> What I like especially are the commentaries and insights under the "American Dream Project Centers". For example under "myDreamLife":http://americandreamproject.org/main/my_dream_life.php we have:<blockquote> The American Dream Project points to a radical change in the definition of our DreamLife. Inside, our souls need "Positive Emotions":http://americandreamproject.org/main/positive_emotions.php, "Passionate Engagement":http://americandreamproject.org/main/passionate_engagement.php and "Personal Meaning":http://americandreamproject.org/main/relationships_meaning.php. Outside, our lives have to integrate our "lifestyle":http://americandreamproject.org/main/lifestyle.php, relationships and career. If we neglect our inner needs we’ll feel dissatisfied…unhappy no matter what we achieve. If we don’t take conscious control of our outer life, we’ll never escape the stress of conflicting priorities. Instead we’ll have stress, working harder and harder to fill a bucket with a hole in the bottom.</blockquote> Here is Will's question:<blockquote>"What do you really want?" "No ... What does your soul long to accomplish?" There was no getting away from the question. He wanted an honest answer, not some made-up, leave-me-alone, you-can't-be-serious answer. This question is at the foundation of Will's recently launched American Dream Project, an online think tank and community for change focused on reigniting the American Dream in the 21st Century. This groundbreaking action-based initiative is aimed at a new generation of leaders, professionals, and students who want to make an impact and are looking for a blueprint for a life they both value and enjoy. </blockquote> Check out the group he cofounded, "Redline Resistance":http://www.redlineresistance.com/, "aimed at reducing teenage deaths and accidents from car crashes." The person who may be the cofounder "writes:":http://www.redlineresistance.com/about.aspx<blockquote> The statistics about teenage driving are appalling. Every week over 100 teenagers die and thousands more are seriously injured. Every week! This has been going on for decades. No amount of driver training or warning seems to make a difference. I decided we should try. We brought some education experts together with hundreds of young drivers and asked what would make a difference. We found two things were worth trying. </blockquote> He also cofounded "seacology:":http://www.seacology.org/ <blockquote>Seacology is the world's premier nonprofit, nongovernmental organization with the sole and unique purpose of preserving the environments and cultures of islands throughout the globe. Mission Too often, islanders around the world are told that they should make financial sacrifices on behalf of the environment, and receive nothing in return. Seacology searches for "win-win" situations that not only protect the local environment, but also provide tangible benefits to the islanders. In Samoa, Seacology's first project was to build a critically needed school in the remote village of Falealupo. In exchange, the village chiefs signed a covenant protecting 30,000 acres of pristine rainforest. In Nadogo Village, Fiji, Seacology has provided funding for basic access road improvements in exchange for a protective covenant preserving a 2,000-acre rainforest. These are just a couple of our many worldwide island projects. Our ambitions are large, yet our programs are successful because they are locally managed. Thus Seacology's motto is, "Saving the world....one island village at a time." </blockquote> For another contrast, be sure to visit "the American Dream Coalition":../AmericanDreamCoalition/.
	Carl DeMaio, The Performance Institute, and the San Diego Citizens' budget project	Link	2005-05-21	2005-05-21
	This is relevant to San Diego politics/governance. o "The performance institute":http://www.performanceweb.org/ o "another URL for the San Diego project":http://www.cagac.org/sandiego/index.htm o "Carl DeMaio":http://www.performanceweb.org/about/staff/demaio_carl.html
	SD-URBAN discussion list and Citizens Coordinate for Century 3 (C-3)	Link	2005-05-17	2005-07-21
	Citizens Coordinate for Century 3 is an old group, still active, and following it up leads to interesting links.<Blockquote> C-3 (Citizens Coordinate for Century 3): o Is a group of informed citizens who voice their concerns about regional planning issues. It has played an important role in shaping public policy since 1961. o Encourages a comprehensive approach to growth management issues: open spaces, high standards of urban design in the revitalization of downtown and neighborhoods, and coordination of planning between public and private sectors. o Is active in many San Diego regional projects such as the Toward Permanent Paradise project which provides a contemporary vision of the San Diego region's future. o Pulls together a membership of old San Diego money and new San Diego politics to get across a viewpoint of how San Diego should be planned.</blockquote> Allan Hoffman with "The Mission Group":http://www.missiongrouponline.com/ may be a member of C-3. Backing up on the URL brings us to the "San Diego Urban Environment discussion list:":http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/sdurban/ <blockquote>NOTE: to subscribe to the list, send an email to Listserver -at- UCSD.EDU with "subscribe myemail@myhost.org sd-urban" in the *body* of the message. Leave subject blank. This list is intended to provide a forum for continuing discussion of local design issues such as land use, preservation, urban design and the design of new public buildings. Historical, economic and political issues are germane to understanding such current dilemmas as a plan for the Embarcadero on the downtown waterfront, the design for a new central library, and the implications of the Multiple Species Conservation Program. For my part, while it has never been my profession, I have had an interest in architecture and urban design for as long as I can remember. ... As our city unfolds, I am committed to joining with others to find creative solutions to our urban design issues. Please feel free to introduce yourself to the list and share *your* thoughts regarding San Diego's urban environment. All list members are invited to participate in a respectful discussion. (Please note that name-calling (flames) and commercial advertisements are inappropriate on the list and will cause removal from the list.) When you RESPOND to a message on the list, you need to ADDRESS your reply to the list (or cc the list) at SD-URBAN -at- UCSD.EDU, otherwise your message will go only to the person who wrote the original message. Please feel free to contact me any time if you have questions. Looking forward to seeing you on-line! Carolyn Myhre, List owner</blockquote> This list is very active--maybe 20 emails a day, so set a filter. Carolyn Chase of San Diego EarthFair fame has been posting news stories of interest from various San Diego papers. There is not an archive that I know of.
	San Diego Civic Solutions	Link	2005-05-17	2005-05-17
	Very nice.<blockquote>We see a San Diego of tomorrow comprised of compact communities containing a diverse mix of residential, employment and recreational opportunities, located in neighborhoods shaped by quality design, served by a variety of transportation options, and bounded by a permanently, preserved and enhanced open space system.</blockquote> Two people behind it are "Sanford Goodkin":http://www.sgoodkin.com/ and "Howard Blackson":http://www.hb3urbandesign.com/. Don't you wish your city had visionaries like these?
	The society for philosophical inquiry (and the World Café)	Link	2005-05-17	2008-03-05
	<blockquote>"Creating a positive future begins in human conversation. The simplest and most powerful investment any member of a community or an organization may make in renewal is to begin talking with other people as though the answers mattered."</blockquote> See also "the World Cafe":http://theworldcafe.com/.
	The Richard Florida creativity group	Link	2005-05-17	2005-05-17
	It is not easy to ignore this guy, and I believe in what he says. The hard thing is doing the work to make his vision happen... and no question: carfree areas are more attractive to the creative class.
	Carfree human-made islands in shape of the world	Link	2005-05-17	2005-05-17
	from "First freehold properties on The World go up for sale:":http://www.ameinfo.com/59084.html <blockquote> Unique to OQYANA is the fact that it will be the Middle East's first car-free destination. Travelling around the destination will either be by inter-island ferries or via an extensive network of seamlessly, inter-linked walkways. "OQYANA will truly be a sanctuary of supreme lifestyle - a tourism-getaway and second home destination," said Waleed Al-Humaidhi, Chairman, EFAD Holding. "It will be a walker's paradise with 17 kilometres of inter-linked walkways, a haven for beach lovers with some 5,300 metres of shore front and a boating hub with over 1,500 berths."</blockquote> The same company was responsible for "The Palm":http://www.thepalm.ae/. o google on "the palm":http://www.google.com/search?q=%22the+palm%22+dubai o "The World, Dubai":http://guide.theemiratesnetwork.com/living/dubai/the_world_islands.php o "The World Dubai - 300 kleine Inseln in Form der Welt":http://www.theworld.dubai-city.de/ o "wikipedia on Dubai":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai o google on "dubai the world":http://www.google.com/search?q=dubai+%22the+world%22 o google on "OQYANA":http://www.google.com/search?q=oqyana
	Carless in Cleveland (only a week?)	Link	2005-05-17	2005-05-17
	"For my first day of being car-less in Cleveland for one week, I had a good start." The author has a radio show, see "stonecoldbikini.com":http://stonecoldbikini.com/.
	John Akre's carfree 2005 diary	Link	2005-05-17	2005-05-17
	Be sure to visit the rest of his "sloppybooks site":http://www.sloppybooks.com/. He writes:<blockquote>I cannot separate the act of riding in a car in the United States from complicity in the war in Iraq and in global warming. A ride in a car is a bomb aimed at innocent civilians. A ride in a car is a rising ocean erasing ancient civilizations from coasts and lowlands. When I ride in a private car I am complicit in the genocide, I have become the bomb blast. I do not want this killing, this world-ending in my name, so I will pledge to avoid cars, so I will pledge to avoid rides. I will make a quiet pledge to a carfree 2005.</blockquote> I don't quite understand... he's had "a carfree home page":http://home.earthlink.net/~jakre/carfree/freelif.htm online since 1998 at least... so who's writing the diary? or did he get a car after he wrote his carfree life page, and is now doing without again? He seems to have written whole novels against the car...
	Fat man, who killed two pedestrians with his truck in 1990, walks across the US	Link	2005-05-11	2005-05-17
	<blockquote>Fifteen years ago, Vaught, a fit ex-Marine, was driving into the sun when an elderly couple crossed his path. His car struck them both. The woman went through the windshield; Vaught spent the night in jail with her blood in his hair. That brief moment was the beginning of a downward spiral into depression and obesity. </blockquote> The day his story appeared in the San Diego Union Tribune, May 3, 2005, "Trekker hopes to deal with size and a memory":http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050503-9999-1m3guy.html, there was an article on the facing page, "Two die when pickup, car crash in Oceanside." Every day the paper is like this. Rarely do the casualties of the car-wasteland become as creatively desperate as Steve Vaught (the fat man). According to the UT article, when he had trouble walking through the Target store in Escondido on March 31, he became desperate enough to change his life that he decided to walk across the US. He's like me. He's like all of us. He's a physical, individual manifestation of the layers of bad planning decisions that have resulted in what the "Green City Visions":../greencityvisions/ conference calls "the face of the peak oil / climate change / biodiversity collapse / health crisis" to which I add, "social wasteland." So, cheer him on! And talk to him about becoming an activist for the carfree cause. His yahoo group is "thefatmanwalking_group":http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/thefatmanwalking_group/. The name makes me think of the burning man festival and the blue man group. Eventually I plan to get "carfree patches":../carfreechic/ made. Maybe I could send him one and he'd sew it on his bag...

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