City Comforts, the blog

I think it's true

Climate change goes mainstream. But not everyone is happy. One commenter at a blog I read once in a while writes:

I’m beginning to wonder if this is the new big lie. Blair’s espousing it, the mainstream media are decrying it and I’m certain the solution will be further decimation of civil liberties and new taxes.

He is correct. If we do nothing and remain in a state of denial, then the possible catastrophes of climate change will definitely call forth authoritarian government which restricts civil liberties.

That's exactly the reason why we should be starting to take some action now -- to at least admit that there is an issue, Georege Bush -- before the only measures left are extreme ones and we have no choice but to adopt them.

And to the "denialists" out there — don't worry. Once you accept the fact that climate change is happening there is still plenty of legitimate disagreement about what to do and/or how rapidly to do it.

Impressive

Kenny G Blows Away All Musical Golfers.

And Bob Dylan is #63 on the list of "Top 100 in Music."

A good start

Sony Portable Reader System.

But I'd like to see it at $199, not $349.

And the price of eBooks is just way too high.

Non sequitur — nay idiocy — of the day

...As for not being able to see their face, so much of politics is conducted on the telephone...".

Chairlifts

I have spent many many hours on ski lfts of various kinds and yet this is the first time I have found an article (Wikipedia , of course) which discusses them: Chairlift. (You'l never find one in those totally boring ski magaizines Ski and Skiing -- or even the supposedly cool ones like Powder.)

Why the Updated Title?

This blog received a comment — and annoyingly, from a phony email address so I have deleted it — which read as follows:

"Remember the good old days when city comforts were occasionally discussed here at Viaduct, The Blog?"

My response is that indeed I do remember, and very fondly, and I also love the new (and temporary) name which my mystery reader offers. So there it is. Viaduct, The Blog. It has a nice ring, eh? (In fact, truly, I had been thinking more about Viaduct Vlog.)

Obviously my faithful reader draws a different conclusion, to which I gently respond as follows:

• This blog always has been and will continue to be a hobby. When people start paying me the big bucks to read it, I will respond to market pressures and give the readers what they want.

• I've said, for now, just about all I need to say about city comforts. My book and The Three Rules are a pretty good start, at least. (I especially recommend my little 'movie' The Sublime and the Ridiculous.) If citizens, builders and planners can't pick it up from there then nothing more I can say will do any good.

• I've said, for now, just about all I want to say about city comforts. There's a big fascinating world out there beyond the screen and right now I am more interested in being out in it than in writing about it.

• The Viaduct is in fact a big deal. It indeed deserves "a blog of its own," and what my sarcastic reader might rather have noted is that I am not doing a very good job at it, which would be fair criticism, if irrelevant. "The Viaduct" is a very rich event, full of subtlety and complexity. Planning for the Viaduct "situation" sums up and illustrates nicely much of what is stupid and venal and base in Seattle planning, and that's not only by government planners, btw. Citizens and media are almost equally to be held responsible for the nonsense which passes for public discussion. (I don't expect much from the MSM. My great disappointment is in the vapid reporting and commentary from The Stranger.)

So, I'm around. Not going anywhere. I'll drop by every now and then if I have anything to say. But for now, I am pretty-much talked out.

Dreamers awake!

FAQ: The environmental impact of replacing the Viaduct.

The ramifications multiply. The only realistic alternative -- once you factor in money and political will -- is the Retrofit.

Notice the date of the story

Reality for viaduct may be retrofit.

In September, City Councilman Nick Licata organized a meeting with state Department of Transportation Secretary Doug McDonald and two engineers from Imbsen & Associates, a California firm specializing in bridge retrofitting. At the meeting, Dr. Roy Imbsen said that a retrofit would work as an interim solution for as long as 25 years. Imbsen estimated that the retrofit could be done for under $500 million and could even be done in stages, as money became available.

Before any serious consideration of viaduct alternatives can be undertaken, the retrofit idea should be thoroughly reviewed by city and state transportation staff and outside professionals.

So repair it now.

New urgency on viaduct repairs

Stop using the need for repairs as an excuse to launch a mega-project which we cannot afford and which will have a positive impact far, far less than its cost.

Many moons ago

click

Another big advantage of new construction

Sims wants tower to replace King County's "ugly" building.

Because the building's mechanical systems need replacement and because any remodeling would entail removal of hazardous asbestos, Brown said, "The cost is astronomical for any kind of remodeling."

And new construction (on the same site, requiring complete demolition of the existing structure) does not require asbestos abatement? Not. It does. It is usually somewhat cheaper to remove asbestos in anticipation of demolition, because one doesn't have to be so careful to save other building elements. But in many cases it is perfectly acceptable to "encapsulate" the asbestos and leave it in place, which of course you cannot do in abatement in anticipation of new construction. Sheesh.

Divertimento

I rarely link to my friend AC Douglas' anymore (of course I rarely post at all these days, having said most of what I have to say) because ACD has very wisely taken to eschewing commentary on urban design and is posting almost exclusively on music, a subject about which I have thoughts & feelings but so little knowledge that it would be fruitless to inflict them. But his post on The iPod Sensibility Enters The Concert Hall — read while listening to the marvelous Percy Sledge on my third generation iPod — prompts a comment.

ACD disparages something he calls the "iPod sensibility" but oddly distinguishes it from the physical iPod itself. He says (and I may be misunderstanding him) that the problem is that the iPod is emblematic of "... an entire generation walking about out there that imagines what they're hearing through their iPod headsets is what music — genuine music; classical music — really sounds, and ought to sound, like."

OK. The idea is that if you don't hear music in the physical context for which it was originally written/performed, then you are not getting the correct program. Maybe so. But wouldn't that mean that, for instance, listening to any music on a record or CD also partakes of this horrible "iPod sensibility?"And listening to a string quartet or any chamber music in a large symphony hall be false?  Further, wouldn't it mean that watching a movie designed for a theater on a 27" screen also be substandard?  etc etc If the only true way to experience a performance is in its original context, then aren't we all rather out of luck?

What originally raised ACD's ire was the installation of "...an 'electroacoustic architecture system' in Zellerbach Hall. [Berkeley] It involves lots of microphones and speakers, a supersonic mixing board, computers, and all sorts of digital equipment."

I don't have any particular opinion about what they are doing at Zellerbach but there is a larger issue at hand. It seems to me that it cuts across all media and arts. ACD objects to an "electroacoustic architecture system" not because he has heard the results there but because it will change (as it must, I assume) "the sound" and thus our experience of what the composer wrote. Fair enough.

But wouldn't the better test to be whether it enhances the performance? The pleasure? etc. If the principle is that we should not monkey with anything in the way of how a piece of art is performed/received, then by ACD's test, as I understand it, we should not read The Odyssey but only listen to it (and in 12th century BC Greek, to boot) as that was how its creator(s?) formed it. That seems rather self-defeating.

This is Seattle

Alaskan Way Viaduct.

if we can't afford the tunnel, the next best option is a comprehensive examination of a combined surface street and expanded transit alternative.

Yes. Studying is a good way to burn up money.

"I would prefer women not to wear the veil at all.'

So says Jack Straw.

“Communities are bound together partly by informal, chance relations between strangers, people being able to acknowledge each other in the street or being able to pass the time of day,” he said. “That is made more difficult if people are wearing a veil.”