THE GREAT RESET: HOW NEW WAYS OF LIVING AND WORKING By Richard Florida

THE GREAT RESET: HOW NEW WAYS OF LIVING AND WORKING
By Richard Florida

Review By Steve Wright

Class: our assignment today is to read 200-plus pages written by an economist who takes us back to the Great Depression of the 1930s and Long Depression of the late 1900s to find answers to what ails us during the Long Recession of the early 21st century.

Sounds about as enticing as sock drawer rearranging or dental work, doesn't it?
Trying to decipher the thoughts of an economist could be a painful exercise in these painful times.

But not if the economist is Richard Florida, author of the highly readable bestsellers The Rise of the Creative Class and Who's Your City?

Florida is an urban thinker who urges us to get past our handwringing over lost factory jobs that are never coming back and peak home values that are not going to rebound.

He would rather that we use the current economic collapse as a catalyst to motivate ourselves to finally focus on a future dependent on creativity, human capital, mobility and innovation.

His The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive the Post-Crash Prosperity calmly and clearly tell us that all the bailouts in the world will not save manufacturing in America.

The Great Reset (Harper Collins, $26.99 in hardback) also explains that while foreclosures are gut-wrenching, we never were better in an era of artificial wealth that inflated the price of a concrete box condo in the Miami sky to half a million dollars when its true value was likely half that.

Florida argues that Americans have to understand that a manufacturing-based economy has been declining for half a century and we can no longer expect to measure prosperity in terms of automobiles being made in Detroit.

TOMORROW PART 2 -- MOBILITY, THE AMERICAN DREAM


Wright is the author of 5,000 published articles on urban life, architecture, public policy, planning and design. He is active in working to make sure universal design, which provides barrier-free access to people with disabilities, is incorporated to the essential and rapidly-evolving practice of sustainability.

RESOURCES:

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Great-Reset-Richard-Florida/?isbn=9780061937194

http://www.creativeclass.com/

BOOK REVIEW: AMERICA'S MAYOR JOHN V. LINDSAY AND THE REINVENTION OF NEW YORK -- PART 3

Lindsay's creation of the Urban Design Group brought in dynamic young planners to look at open spaces and zoning as a way to preserve and enhance city life.

He strengthened Community Boards to give them power to review neighborhood land use issues before a decision could be made by the City Planning Commission or forwarded to the City Council for final approval.

The urban gem that is today's SOHO is a result of the Lindsay administration's work to preserve the old industrial structures and allow them the right to be adapted for residential, artist loft and other modern urban uses.

Lindsay lead a bicycle brigade to Central Park on a car-free Manhattan street -- decades before the New Urbanists and others have battled for bike lanes, wider sidewalks, better transit and other elements of the physical city unburdened from car dependency.

Though many New Yorkers labeled Lindsay as a failed dreamer, history should be much kinder in how it evaluates the soulful and energetic fighter for equality and livability.

Lindsay revolutionized urban planning and reminded us that urban cities -- even when they were on the verge of becoming unlivable from the mid 60s to mid 70s -- are places to be celebrated, enjoyed and energized.

For its fair examination of his triumphs as an unflinching urbanist -- especially to the benefit of the economically and politically disenfranchised -- America's Mayor: John V. Lindsay and the Reinvention of New York ($29.95 paperback) deserves hallowed space on the book shelf of anyone and everyone who cares about cities.

Wright is the author of 5,000 published articles on urban life, architecture, public policy, planning and design. He is active in working to make sure universal design, which provides barrier-free access to people with disabilities, is incorporated to the essential and rapidly-evolving practice of sustainability.

RESOURCES

http://www.cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15260-0/americas-mayor

http://lindsay.mcny.org

http://www.thirteen.org/lindsay/video/full-program/fun-city-revisited

BOOK REVIEW: AMERICA'S MAYOR JOHN V. LINDSAY AND THE REINVENTION OF NEW YORK -- PART 2

BOOK REVIEW: AMERICA'S MAYOR
JOHN V. LINDSAY AND THE REINVENTION OF NEW YORK

By Steve Wright

Lindsay, the consummate reformer, scored huge victories in the area of empowering blacks and Hispanics -- greatly rising the number of minorities in the upper, middle and lower ranks of New York government.

He also created mini City Halls throughout the boroughs and neighborhoods to give a voice to millions who were previously ignored by their government.

Perhaps Lindsay's most courageous act in 1968 when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. A shirt-sleeved Lindsay walked the streets of Harlem well into the night, mingling with tens of thousands of justifiable outraged people, and simply repeating the words "I'm sorry" while pleading for calm.

In an era of the 60s when Watts, Newark and dozens of other cities burned and rioted, Lindsay succeeded in keeping the most densely-populated city in America from erupting in violence -- because the people knew he cared and because it wasn't the first time the WASP mayor had walked the streets passionately listening to the protests and concerns of poor and minority neighborhoods.

While many cities responded to downtrodden neighborhoods by simply bulldozing dozens of city blocks in the misguided urban renewal programs of the times, Lindsay worked to preserve and invigorate the urban fabric of historic, yet crumbling neighborhoods far beyond the influential reaches of Manhattan.

In an era when many believed the solution to America's big cities was basically abandoning them for the suburbs, Lindsay's charisma kept alive the passion for urban living.

Though the press chided him at the time for a comment that New York was "Fun City" at a time of so much economic, labor, racial and political strife, Lindsay was one of the very few big city mayors who were visionary enough to see cities as great repositories of wealth in the form of diversity, cultural offerings, public transit, density and walkability.

While Robert Moses had spent decades tearing down affordable housing, turning parks into sterile places and pushing superhighways through livable neighborhoods -- idolized Jane Jacobs fought and defeated the Power Broker over his plans to destroy parts of Greenwich Village with freeways -- Wagner put the brakes on wholesale block clearing of New York's neighborhoods rich and poor.

TOMORROW PART 3 -- LINDSAY THE URBAN VISIONARY

Wright is the author of 5,000 published articles on urban life, architecture, public policy, planning and design. He is active in working to make sure universal design, which provides barrier-free access to people with disabilities, is incorporated to the essential and rapidly-evolving practice of sustainability.

RESOURCES

http://www.cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15260-0/americas-mayor

http://lindsay.mcny.org

http://www.thirteen.org/lindsay/video/full-program/fun-city-revisited

BOOK REVIEW: AMERICA'S MAYOR JOHN V. LINDSAY AND THE REINVENTION OF NEW YORK

BOOK REVIEW: AMERICA'S MAYOR
JOHN V. LINDSAY AND THE REINVENTION OF NEW YORK

By Steve Wright

Poor John V. Lindsay.

He came into office as the 103rd Mayor of New York City as a youthful, fresh and tireless leader -- ready to empower the disenfranchised in America's biggest city.

A patrician of privilege, he was bound and determined to show a Republican could be a progressive, liberal leader.

While now Republican on U.S. soil in the year 2010 would want to be labeled a liberal, times were different in 1965 and Lindsay felt his calling was to be a champion of civil, Hispanic, black, gay and women's rights.

The two-term mayor, riding a wave of antiwar sentiment, even took a shot at being president of the United States. But sadly, by the time Lindsay left office, he was a saddened, aged and somewhat broken man.

His idealism and enthusiasm couldn't withstand a turbulent era every bit as brutal and barbaric as today's recession-impacted political climate.

America's Mayor: John V. Lindsay and the Reinvention of New York examines Lindsay's legacy through 224 pages of individual essays from journalists, insiders, activists, staffers and others who witnessed Lindsay's work in what has been called "The Second Toughest Job in America."

Edited by Sam Roberts, the urban affairs correspondent of The New York Times, the Columbia University Press book gives an unvarnished look at the triumphs and failures of Lindsay, who died in 2000.

While the book will be cherished by anyone who loves urban issues and is intrigued by the churning good, bad and ugly that is New York, Roberts had his work cut out for him trying to sew together dozens of personal essays that don't always follow a chronological progression.

Sometimes America's Mayor fails in its attempt to sew together the strong opinions of contributors Pete Hamill, Nicholas Pileggi, Jimmy Breslin and Mario Cuomo into one flowing narrative.

While the sum of the parts could sometimes be better, the book triumphs in its capturing of the endlessly nightmarish issues that pounded away at Lindsay's ability to manage a huge, unwieldy city crushed by labor strife and challenged by a huge demographic changes that saw a huge influx of black and Puerto Rican residents while white ethnics were fleeing the city.

TOMORROW: PART TWO -- CALM IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

Wright is the author of 5,000 published articles on urban life, architecture, public policy, planning and design. He is active in working to make sure universal design, which provides barrier-free access to people with disabilities, is incorporated to the essential and rapidly-evolving practice of sustainability.

RESOURCES

http://www.cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15260-0/americas-mayor

http://lindsay.mcny.org

http://www.thirteen.org/lindsay/video/full-program/fun-city-revisited

SELLING LIFESTYLE CENTERS -- part 6

SELLING LIFESTYLE CENTERS

Smart Growth, New Urbanism, Traditional Neighborhood Development?

Lifestyle Center, Town Center, Planned Community?

What do these phrases mean to Realtors in Florida?

Well, in a state with all kinds of ecological issues from river corridors to wetlands to sensitive beach areas to water recharge fields to the granddaddy of all ecosystems – the Everglades – good land use practices are more important than just about any place in the nation.

Whatever the buzzword is of the day, Smart Growth is very important to home buyers and even retail, office, commercial clients.

Florida Association of Realtors past president Michael Dooley, of Illustrated Properties in Hobe Sound, puts it this way:

“The obvious benefit of Smart Growth, with respect to the mixed used concept, is you conserve infrastructure and save energy,” he said. “You also tend to get more of a community harmony, where neighbor knows neighbor. Abacoa (in Jupiter) is a bustling community day and night.”

Dooley said he believes over time, statistics will show that compact developments deter crime, because they have more neighbors to watch out for trouble, more constant activity and a stronger sense of community.

“One of the challenges is a lot of cities have 30- to 40-year-old growth plans. Even though they have been state-mandated to create growth management plans, they have created them under the old (suburban) model. So when an innovative concept comes along, the local code prohibits it,” he said. “It is a real challenge to rewrite codes and it is important for Realtors to stay involved in the process.”

Dooley has worked to educate communities about Smart Growth. He said governments need more educating than buyers.

“The buyer that comes into the office today is a new culture of buyer. The youth today are a different breed, they are much more sophisticated. They come looking for that type of housing,” he said of residences close to transit, pedestrian activities, commerce, offices, parks, education and other amenities.

Wright is an award-winning journalist who has written about growth, development, architecture, town planning and urban issues for two decades. He works in a traditional, walkable, sustainable community in a restored historic home in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana.

SELLING LIFESTYLE CENTERS -- part 5

SELLING LIFESTYLE CENTERS

In the northeast corner of Florida, between Jacksonville and St. Augustine, the Houston-based Hines Company -- one of the largest privately held real estate development, investment and management companies in the world – has created the planned community of Palencia.

Palencia is built to conserve wetlands and other precious acreage around the homes and compact Village Center. Jackie Ross, a Realtor from nearby Ponte Vedra Beach, said lifestyle centers are a relatively new concept in the Jacksonville region, but they are rapidly growing in popularity.

“It is clearly evident people like this concept. Sales have soared, and appreciation has been wonderful in Palencia to this point. It is expected to continue. Buyers like the idea of walking or bike riding to neighborhood shopping and amenities.”

Realtor Cheryl Grieb, of Olde Kissimmee Realty in explosively-growing Osceola County, said Smart Growth embraces high density, so a community can preserve land for open space, water recharge and recreation.

“It’s a live, work play as a whole concept. It creates a stronger bond, a huge sense of community,” she said. With health in everyone’s mind, it’s great to (live where you can) walk to grocery store, the movies.

“With Smart Growth, you have a myriad of choices: the unit over a retail center, a townhouse, a single family home, a condo,” she continued. “Walkability, environmentally friendly, variety of choices, cutting down on use of automobile, public transit, revitalization -- that’s Smart Growth.”

Wright is an award-winning journalist who has written about growth, development, architecture, town planning and urban issues for two decades. He works in a traditional, walkable, sustainable community in a restored historic home in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana.

TOMORROW: Smart Growth Sidebar

SELLING LIFESTYLE CENTERS -- part 4

SELLING LIFESTYLE CENTERS

Realtor Michael Dooley -- a Smart Growth advocate, former president of the Florida Association of Realtors and former member of Martin County’s local planning and growth agency – said there is no way to put an exact face on the typical lifestyle community buyer.

“Look at Abacoa, Traditions, Disney’s Celebration -- all of these communities have a good mix of young, active professionals and active retires,” Dooley said, adding that the only group that sales are low in is older retirees, who may be uncomfortable with the concept of new-build town centers with mixed use.

In Orlando, just three miles east of the center of downtown, developers continue to build compact urban forms, such as the live-work unit, on the site of the former Orlando Naval Training Center now known as Baldwin Park.

Realtor Matt Harkins, president of Harkins Development Corporation, built 23 urban buildings, each containing a pair of live-work units in the downtown section of Baldwin Park. The live-work units accommodate to attorneys, CPAs, therapists and other professionals.

The units can be built out three different ways, but the most pure urban form has an office space of about 600 square feet, a studio apartment of about the same space above the garage and 2,000 square foot primary residence. Each has a separate entrance, so a person could live in the main space, have his office in the separate but attached space and rent out the studio apartment for additional revenue.

TOMORROW: St. Augustine-Jacksonville