MODERN LODGING WITH TRANSIT ACCESS TO ALL OF BELGIUM
A beer on the waterfront patio from
the Hotel’s Eat In restaurant was great and one day I fueled up on the
breakfast buffet.
It is a 10 minute walk to restaurants
and shops and only a 20 minute walk to the center of lively and historic Gent.
MODERN LODGING WITH TRANSIT ACCESS TO ALL OF BELGIUM
It is well managed – I asked for
extra bed sheets, help with the non-functioning AC and dead battery room safe
and go help in less than 30 minutes.
The property is 10 minutes from Dampoort
Rail Station – I used it for low cost, high speed rail connections to Antwerp,
Mechelen, Brussels, Bruges and Lille, France.
There is a large Carrefour grocery store very close to Dampoort Station and I used it to buy breakfast and snack food foods for the full kitchen in the aparthotel.
YOU WOULD NEVER KNOW IT IN MIAMI, WHERE ANTI-SOCIAL PEOPLE PARK ON THE SIDEWALK BY THE HUNDREDS – DESTROYING SAFE MOBILITY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Anti-social "car brain"
Miami drivers 'celebrate' by blocking sidewalks which destroys safe mobility
for people with disabilities.
Cars MUST be ticketed and towed.
Don't tell me people might not know any
better.
A 10 year old on a bike knows not to
park on the sidewalk.
Don't say a wheelchair user can just
"go around in the street."
Miami streets are dangerous, even the
side streets.
Ask the family that lost a good man who
was killed by a vehicle on the side street next to Miami’s Shenandoah Park.
But Steve, maybe there was nowhere
else to park.
Even in lawless, selfish Miami -- lack of convenience is NOT an excuse for illegal behavior.
COSY 3 STAR PROPERTY IN THE PERFECT LOCATION WITH A GREAT STAFF
I stayed for less than $150 fully loaded with
tax, etc.
There is a shutter and blackout
drapes, but the view was so beautiful, I kept the shades open and fell asleep
to clouds passing over moonlight in Paris!
This is THE place to rest and base
your visit in Paris.
COSY 3 STAR PROPERTY IN THE PERFECT LOCATION WITH A GREAT STAFF
It feels like staying with family.
The room is not huge, but it is
perfect.
I walked to sites and attractions in
the 3rd, 4th, 9th, 8th and 10th arrondissements.
Marche Aligre is a short walk away
and my all-time favorite Marché Bastille (aka Marché Richard-Lenoir) is a
spirited 30 minute walk away through the authentic Faubourg St. Antoine.
COSY 3 STAR PROPERTY IN THE PERFECT LOCATION WITH A GREAT STAFF
The neighborhood is safe, quiet and
filled with locals.
You will feel like a Parisian.
Saime Voltaire Boulangerie, Au petit
Panisse, and Boucherie John Gillot were excellent local foodie places very
close to the hotel.
COSY 3 STAR PROPERTY IN THE PERFECT LOCATION WITH A GREAT STAFF
The location is perfect.
It’s about a five minute walk from
Nation station that takes you everywhere in Paris via Metro and RER trains.
COSY 3 STAR PROPERTY IN THE PERFECT LOCATION WITH A GREAT STAFF
There is a small elevator.
The bathroom was large, modern and
the shower had endless warm water.
There were nightstands on each side
with plugs for my white noise machine and charging phone.
A small desk with coffee maker was
space enough for morning pastries and a final day lunch in my room.
COSY 3 STAR PROPERTY IN THE PERFECT LOCATION WITH A GREAT STAFF
My room was so quiet.
I got a 6th floor room -- the top
floor -- despite a discount booking.
It is a typical Haussmann building
with garret style apartment with gabled wall and tilt out window.
The views over the Pairs rooftops
were dreamlike.
YOU CANNOT HAVE TWO MAJOR PARTS OF YOUR EXHIBIT ACCESSIBLE ONLY VIA STAIRS. WHAT GIVES, SUPERBLUE?
I visited your immersive art
experience.
In return for nearly $40 per ticket,
please improve wayfinding.
The continuation of the exhibit
(virtual spray painting) is upstairs.
No signage to wheelchair accessible
entrance.
Quoting your website: "Superblue
Miami (1101 NW 23rd St) is fully wheelchair accessible.
All exhibition areas, pathways and
surfaces are navigable by wheelchair.
But only stairs (we asked) lead to 2nd
level of Es Devlin Forest of Us.
MINORITY-OWNED PLANNING FIRMS ARE AS ESSENTIAL AS THEY EVER WERE, THESE FOUR TOP EXPERTS ARGUE — NO MATTER WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS
“How do you help communities
to become places where they can actualize all their abilities? Diversity as a
perspective makes our profession better.”
When it
comes to sustainability, Estolano emphasized that firms owned by people of
color can frame issues of climate justice, pollution, the clean energy
transition, and water quality in terms that reflect the direct experience of
the communities that have been most impacted.
“We had our neighborhoods bulldozed to build freeways that caused more air pollution that seared our lungs,” she added.
“We understand what it means to live within the
evacuation zone of an oil refinery and can appreciate what clean cars and
renewable energy can mean for our kids and their kids.”
MINORITY-OWNED PLANNING FIRMS ARE AS ESSENTIAL AS THEY EVER WERE, THESE FOUR TOP EXPERTS ARGUE — NO MATTER WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS
“We work
closely with communities on changing the things that result from poor planning
and poor policy,” she added.
Estolano’s firm is currently leading the planning process for the future of a state-owned site in LA’s Crenshaw district that’s been shuttered for more than a decade.
Served by light rail, it could be redeveloped with housing, job training and
other community services.
MINORITY-OWNED PLANNING FIRMS ARE AS ESSENTIAL AS THEY EVER WERE, THESE FOUR TOP EXPERTS ARGUE — NO MATTER WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS
Her experience leading the Los Angeles-based Estolano
Advisors has made her skeptical of strategies that call for luring large firms
into a community with big subsidies and tax breaks without asking much in
return.
Estolano
said most consistent growth comes from home-grown small businesses.
“This is how we build wealth in this country, particularly when so many folks are locked out of home ownership in high cost cities,” she added.
“We need to invest in infrastructure because it is the foundation for our quality of life and for business growth.
And we have to work directly with businesses to design
workforce training programs tailored to their needs, but only if they can
deliver jobs and careers that pay enough to support a family.”
MINORITY-OWNED PLANNING FIRMS ARE AS ESSENTIAL AS THEY EVER WERE, THESE FOUR TOP EXPERTS ARGUE — NO MATTER WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS
It also charted
ways of sustaining economic justice by ensuring small, diverse businesses could
become contractors for the transit agency, balancing social impact with
economic growth.
“Our only shareholders are the community,” said Charnelle Hicks, who serves as principal at Philadelphia-based CHPlanning.
“[If the plan lacks an element of diversity, we need] to ask the question:
‘So you’re good with not including this
consideration for the community?’”
MINORITY-OWNED PLANNING FIRMS ARE AS ESSENTIAL AS THEY EVER WERE, THESE FOUR TOP EXPERTS ARGUE — NO MATTER WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS
“Whether the community is Amish or Muslim, unique perspectives exist,” said Charnelle Hicks, who serves as principal at Philadelphia-based CHPlanning.
“You must
think about [questions like,] ‘What are the things they care about?,’ and ask,
‘What are their priorities?’
At some
point, we all will have disabilities. So we must design for accessibility.”
Hicks cited
a plan for the Central Ohio Transit Authority that looked at sustainability not
just in terms of the environment, but also in terms of how the transit system
of greater Columbus, Ohio could be more inclusive.
MINORITY-OWNED PLANNING FIRMS ARE AS ESSENTIAL AS THEY EVER WERE, THESE FOUR TOP EXPERTS ARGUE — NO MATTER WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS
“In the
public sector, taxes are paid by everyone – so you would think the plan would
be for everyone, but we all know it doesn’t always turn out that way,”
said Hicks, who serves as principal at Philadelphia-based CHPlanning.
If different
people with different backgrounds are not considered from the beginning of the
planning process, Hicks argues that projects will fail.
DESPITE CALLS TO TEAR IT DOWN
I thought Mamdani is the mayor of the
marginalized.
This action makes him more like the
lobbyist for the more than trillion dollar per year auto industry.
$4 billion in pedestrian/wheelchair
mobility is game changing.
Spent on an expressway = failure.
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/08/24/mamdani-bqe-plan-august-2026?utm_source=streetsblog-nyc.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=the-triple-cantilever-is-here-to-stay
MINORITY-OWNED PLANNING FIRMS ARE AS ESSENTIAL AS THEY EVER WERE, THESE FOUR TOP EXPERTS ARGUE — NO MATTER WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS
“It is not that large firms cannot do good work, because they often do,” said Charles Brown, who is the Founder & CEO of the urban planning, public policy and research firm, Horizon 54.
“It is that perspective matters. Diverse firms do not just bring different faces to the table.
We often bring different
questions, experiences, and ways of understanding the people affected by the
work.”
“Why?
Because we believe those closest to the problem are closest to the solution,”
Brown continued.
MINORITY-OWNED PLANNING FIRMS ARE AS ESSENTIAL AS THEY EVER WERE, THESE FOUR TOP EXPERTS ARGUE — NO MATTER WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS
“Diverse firms often bring lived experiences, deep community relationship, and unique ways of seeing a problem,” said Charles Brown, who is the Founder & CEO of the urban planning, public policy and research firm, Horizon 54, formerly called Equitable Cities. “Often, that leads us to ask questions or identify impacts that others may overlook.”
Still, Brown and the other experts we interviewed for this story acknowledged that minority-owned firms face uniquely steep barriers today.
Affirmative action programs were a required part of federal contracting for a half century, but President Trump signed an executive order revoking it as one of his first acts in office.
The Trump administration also has banned federal contractors,
subcontractors, and grant recipients from operating diversity, equity and
inclusion programs of their own.
MINORITY-OWNED PLANNING FIRMS ARE AS ESSENTIAL AS THEY EVER WERE, THESE FOUR TOP EXPERTS ARGUE — NO MATTER WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS
It’s not just about the disability realm.
Planning history is littered with top-down, failed projects, where the majority imposed what it thought was best for the minority.
And even if that majority was well-meaning, they got it wrong.
That’s why experts like Charles T. Brown argue that planning teams must be led by firms that understand the unique and nuanced requirements of placemaking for all — or at least include key sub-consultants on their teams.
And in an era when the
very concepts of “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion” are under fire in
Washington and beyond, they say diverse hiring is even more important.
