Architects including Frank Gehry, Jacques Herzog, Renzo Piano, Daniel Libeskind, Rafael Viñoly and Zaha Hadid have appealed to mayor Boris Johnson to save Design for London (DfL).
BD reported last week that DfL - currently part of the London Development Agency - had been tipped to survive in some form subject to a final funding settlement with Whitehall, a move welcomed by the mayor’s former chief adviser on architecture Richard Rogers.
But the continuing threat to the organisation has been underlined in an open letter to the mayor and “the people of London” organised by the Dutch practice Maxwan.
Any Brits want to comment? Seems like an organization that could be rife with 'corruption.' With CRAs in California and planning agencies across the US getting das boots, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Howard Roarke didn't need no socialist handouts to become successful. Find some rich clients and go build stuff. If you can't do that, clearly you don't have the required talent.
I'm tired of my taxpayer money funding spiral staircases to moon when there is a pothole in front of my house.
That's interesting. In the US, development agencies are usually not QUANGOs.
(That's a much better name for NGO [Non-governmental Organization]. But, Britain is generally better at doing everything than America.)
The interesting part here is that development agencies here usually manage and make most of city budgets outside the general fund (real estate and sales taxes). The issue most cities and states in America are facing is that those non-general-fund funds (discretionary funds, slush funds) have mostly disappeared.
One interesting point is that State of Florida's discretionary investments to sustain several of the state's programs was dumped into New York City condominium projects. Very LOLworthy.
However... the other problem here is that CABE is threatened, too. If either group wants to contest the government, they put themselves are further risk of being defunded.
Primarily, the reason behind NGOs in the US securing their own funding, developing use taxes and maintaining their own organizations is that it would be much harder to dissolve or disrupt them when it came to political fights.
But... and this is a big but... These organizations became relatively powerful and so money heavy that they started doing things from buying police cars to paying for garbage collection.
That's where the corruption comes in. And most of these organizations are toxic with groupthink, cronyism and unfair bidding practices.
I see a similar theme here with Design for London. They claim to champion "good design"... but what is "good design?" Do they just fund friends who also shares the same definition of good design?
Seems counterintuitive.
Feb 24, 11 2:20 pm ·
·
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.
Design for London on the chopping block
Architects including Frank Gehry, Jacques Herzog, Renzo Piano, Daniel Libeskind, Rafael Viñoly and Zaha Hadid have appealed to mayor Boris Johnson to save Design for London (DfL).
BD reported last week that DfL - currently part of the London Development Agency - had been tipped to survive in some form subject to a final funding settlement with Whitehall, a move welcomed by the mayor’s former chief adviser on architecture Richard Rogers.
But the continuing threat to the organisation has been underlined in an open letter to the mayor and “the people of London” organised by the Dutch practice Maxwan.
Read more: BDonline.co.uk
Any Brits want to comment? Seems like an organization that could be rife with 'corruption.' With CRAs in California and planning agencies across the US getting das boots, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Howard Roarke didn't need no socialist handouts to become successful. Find some rich clients and go build stuff. If you can't do that, clearly you don't have the required talent.
I'm tired of my taxpayer money funding spiral staircases to moon when there is a pothole in front of my house.
bring it into CABE and save money. It was considered 'jobs for the boys' anyway. I'm always up for a good bonfire of the QUANGOs
That's interesting. In the US, development agencies are usually not QUANGOs.
(That's a much better name for NGO [Non-governmental Organization]. But, Britain is generally better at doing everything than America.)
The interesting part here is that development agencies here usually manage and make most of city budgets outside the general fund (real estate and sales taxes). The issue most cities and states in America are facing is that those non-general-fund funds (discretionary funds, slush funds) have mostly disappeared.
One interesting point is that State of Florida's discretionary investments to sustain several of the state's programs was dumped into New York City condominium projects. Very LOLworthy.
However... the other problem here is that CABE is threatened, too. If either group wants to contest the government, they put themselves are further risk of being defunded.
Primarily, the reason behind NGOs in the US securing their own funding, developing use taxes and maintaining their own organizations is that it would be much harder to dissolve or disrupt them when it came to political fights.
But... and this is a big but... These organizations became relatively powerful and so money heavy that they started doing things from buying police cars to paying for garbage collection.
That's where the corruption comes in. And most of these organizations are toxic with groupthink, cronyism and unfair bidding practices.
I see a similar theme here with Design for London. They claim to champion "good design"... but what is "good design?" Do they just fund friends who also shares the same definition of good design?
Seems counterintuitive.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.