I find myself ambivalent about the whole LEED thing... We're under a lot of pressure at my office to take the exam (and I think the office is chipping in something for the fee), and I have nothing against those who have chosen to become LEED-certified, but I also share Beta's and Vado's concerns. From what I've heard about the exam and from my experience working on some LEED-certified projects, it seems to be more about checking off boxes, memorizing figures, and filling out reams of paperwork than it is about thinking about "green" design on a holistic level.... I reminds me of the kid we all knew in high school who got the top score on the SAT's, but who still gets lost pulling out of his own driveway.
I'm not sure what's going on with the construction site next door... They're still doing work, but they're certainly not in any rush to complete the project. It's a 6-story retail/condo development that began construction before the economy crashed, but I don't think I've ever seen more than three or four workers on the site at any given time. It's been under construction for about a year now, and they're still doing foundation work. The noise usually doesn't bother me because I'm usually at work during the daytime, but it becomes a nuisance whenever I'm home sick or if they're working on a Saturday... Thankfully it hasn't been too bad today, but I couldn't even hear my own TV back when they were doing major excavation work.
Apparently the co-op board in my building is suing the developers and the construction company, because the excavation work was causing some major cracking of the masonry walls and foundation. Now they've bolted these huge steel frames to the outside of the building on the side facing the construction site, and they've set up some devices throughout the building to monitor the cracks. The problem isn't as bad in my wing of the building, but I still feel compelled to stay current on my renters insurance... And I'm glad I'm merely a renter here, rather than a shareholder in the co-op.
suing the contractor due to cracks in an adjacent building... hmm I'd love to hear the evidence provided in justifying that one because the damage could easily be caused by something else. It is like the humming bird that causes the hurricane by flapping it's wings.
Completely taking cues from both Cameron and Frank I've decided to cash in on this architecture of excess by starting my own flickr group that bears the name... welcome architecture of excess. And to further give my nod to archinect/Thread Central I've added only one image from my collection - a picture taken en route to a bar with Vado & Liberty Bell. Please guys take a look, join the group and add your own images. Especially you treekiller...
aw, man. that's not necessarily an architecture of excess. that makes it sound bad - or at least overly decadent.
like graves or not, that building was HUGE in making downtown louisville begin to thrive in the late-80s and it's held up well over the last two+ decades. it's well-made, yes, and of rich materials. but excess?!
i think of stuff like BMW Welt the Mercedes museum - buildings with no purpose but flash/PR.
lb,, you really do not need anyone to teach you sketch up,, i have seen senior people at work relatively comfortable with it, and those guys cannot use their email. Find the time to just play a little with it,,, i picked it up in one day, but i had prior modelling experience in more "complex" programs, it could take you a month for all you care, if you have any specific issues, im sure someone here will help you
fays, I do play with it, and produce drawings, but I totally can't get a handle on how one line, for example, will suddenly become a part of a plane, when all I want is a line, and then how to un-couple those objects.
I can use it badly, but I'd like to figure out how to use it properly.
I've find that the key to using it properly is grouping and components. Assume that every line wants to be a part of any and every surface it touches. The only exception to this is when the surface is part of a group (or component) and the line is not part of that group. Also remember than nothing wants to be an object. So the way I work around these two things simultaneously is that I use groups when I want to have objects.
the trick is to group every element as soon as you make it. and to work faster, create a shortcut for the grouping option, ideally the button G. if you want a line, draw it, group it, even if it is one thing. grouped objects do not become one once u place them next to each other. when u choose a group, a bounding box will appear around it, as opposed to non-grouped components. if you want to edit them, just double click and will have the option to isolate the objects and edit them either in isolation or while the whole model is in view, but greyed out. i dont remember the exact name for that option, as i created a shortcut for it, but ill let you know tomorrow.
draw-group-draw-group-draw-group. thats the trick. try it.
the trick is to group every element as soon as you make it. and to work faster, create a shortcut for the grouping option, ideally the button G. if you want a line, draw it, group it, even if it is one thing. grouped objects do not become one once u place them next to each other. when u choose a group, a bounding box will appear around it, as opposed to non-grouped components. if you want to edit them, just double click and will have the option to isolate the objects and edit them either in isolation or while the whole model is in view, but greyed out. i dont remember the exact name for that option, as i created a shortcut for it, but ill let you know tomorrow.
draw-group-draw-group-draw-group. thats the trick. try it.
Liberty....I still have my training wheels on my sketch-up! I play with it as well. I find it really takes to much time to generate what I'm looking for so I do a quick cubic model then I go "Kirby" with it. Now alot of people will not understand, "Going Kirby", but I know you do.
It does help me in a primative kind of way....makes my brain start working again.
I'm actually headed to Tucson next weekend, a favorite professor is retiring and my gang of friends is taking her out to say thank you. I sense I won't even recognize the city or campus AND I cannot wait to feel that hot desert air!
I got my hair cut today at a combination salon/art gallery called Alchemy. It was quite enjoyable as my new stylist was perky and gave great shampoo. The haircut is good too. There was a painting(actually it was a work on paper of mixed media and wash) that I really liked. It was called CouchFuck.
Hey Indianastan is according to Forbes ranks 49th in Greenness! Awesome as usual.
Now is the time for municipalities to amend their codes to require basic green and sustainable techniques, other wise it will never get done because greenfield developers will argue against it. it's not the starchitects that are impacting the world its the sprawl and the consequences associated with it. but hell i'm 50 and will be dead in no time.
amen, vado, amen. that is exactly what i am calling for. the impact of that minor effort - minor cause most citizens won't have a clue - could change the nature of our profession, and direct an assload of work in our direction....
thanks for that link treekiller. it was very interesting. i agree with both guys. i get the feeling someone is trying to make this into a binary question but don't feel the need for zealotry myself.
speaking of zealotry, i was taking a trip through my brain of architectural associations and couldn't help wonder about the architecture of excess from the past, which led me down the path to exhibition design like paxton's crystal palace . is it eco, because it lasted fairly long, was demountable, and even redesigned to incorporate a tree or two...? or is it disaster, because it was made for money (fucking capitalists!), made with iron that was made with coal that was unfiltered and sooti-licious, and probably taken from the ground by people working too hard for little pay (fucking capitalists!)?
or going back just a wee bit further, there is nothing more excessive than a cathedral (fucking capitalists!oh no, that's not right is it?)...but actually, there is a pretty big difference in the sense that people who lived around a cathedral were at least allowed a sense of ownership. not because they actually owned the place (yeah right, as if), or cuz materials were local (in spite of mythology not all ancient buildings were made of local materials - many were built from materials shipped from far off, hence the excess appellation), but at least because they got to see it as part of their community. not like a museum or office building at all...and maybe that is the difference? cuz otherwise i don't see much of a dif at all. in that sense cameron is sort of comparing apples to coconuts and i don't see why, except because he can, and because it draws attention...
because lets face it cameron is talking about shelter for the masses, something which architects have never had a role in, except when connected with totalitarian states...so it is a bit hard to know what an architect is supposed to do. there is not a model for it in the past, and whatever we do now is going to be a new thing entirely...
which makes me wish, rather fervently that cameron would leave the excess alone and talk about architecture of success instead. why is it that his vision can only be understood by standing on the pissed-on grave of the near past? that seems rather wasteful to me. it also puts him in the business of attacking when he should be praising, of tearing-down when he should be building.
i am exaggerating, but these are the things that leave me feeling a bit cold about AFH's new line of attack. what AFH does i am totally behind, but what they [b]say[b]? i feel slightly uneasy about. if gehry is irrelevant then why talk about him at all? fuck that shit lets get to the important stuff. seriously.
unless of course frank is actually relevant, in which case maybe we could ask for his help instead of spitting in his coffee...
Very nice and thoughtful take on the whole topic, jump. Thank you for taking the time to put it all down on virtual paper for us.
Just finished a day of long meetings after a late night working. All clients are happy and optimistic - yay! This job really is worth it all on days like today, though yesterday I doubted.
Now, Im going to have a beer or a glass of wine and collapse.
I just got back from the community board meeting about the noise issues on the block. About 20 people showed up, including about a half-dozen from my own building. The board and the police liaison officer got an earful from everybody.
The good news is, a couple of problem establishments will probably be losing their liquor licenses pretty soon. One applied for a license as a "restaurant and billiards club" but actually operates as a nightclub under a completely different name... The other place has a long history of drug-dealing and gang violence on the premises.
The bad news is, the nightclub that's the worse offender and the one that's closest to my building is apparently owned by a former cop, and the community liaison officer hemmed and hawed and offered a bunch of lame excuses about how hard it is to patrol all areas at all times, etc. (Try parking your car illegally for five minutes during the daytime, though.) In even worse news, another nightclub is scheduled to open up even closer to my building, and nobody at the community board had apparently been made aware of this.
When the new building next door finally opens up, I'm sure the people who bought those expensive condos will be thrilled to find out what they'll be putting up with every weekend... I suspect the police might actually take some action at that point.
I just had a dreadful thought... All last fall some guys were chopping up and replacing the concrete alley/areaway between my building and the building next door... The space where this new nightclub is going in opens directly out onto the new concrete surface. Fuck me if they're going to use that new concrete surface as some sort of outdoor lounge or beer garden area right below my window.... I may have to stock up on rotten eggs and water balloons this summer. I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one, as three 6-story apartment buildings -- plus the new building under construction -- all back up to this little alley space.
LIG dude you live in New York City, don't you. i don't know why you would expect life to be anything bu hard-core urban. or are you in a suburb somewhere?
I live in a predominantly middle-class residential neighborhood at the northern end of Manhattan.... Not all of NYC is like Midtown or Greenwich Village, and while some level of street noise is unavoidable, people in residential neighborhoods shouldn't be subjected to the type of noise and crime that's becoming more common in this part of the neighborhood.
As recently as a year ago the little strip of businesses on Broadway behind my building was mostly mom-and-pop grocery stores, hair salons, etc... Nothing terribly obnoxious, and one of the big draws of this part of the neighborhood was that it's significantly more quiet than many other parts of the city. Even the problem nightclub was relatively well-behaved at that point... Then, starting about a year ago, additional clubs (some of them illegal) have begun opening up in the area, and now they all seem to be trying to outdo each other in who can be the loudest and most obnoxious. As a result, what used to be a fairly sleepy business strip is now becoming an epicenter of noise, fighting, and gang activity, especially around 4 AM on weekends when these clubs let out.
I don't buy the whole "You're in NYC, noise is normal" line of argument... Some noise is normal, but when you have massive gang brawls breaking out on your block on a weekly basis, I think neighborhood residents have an obligation to organize and put pressure on the police and the club owners to resolve the problem. I wasn't around back in the 80's and 90's when NYC -- and this neighborhood in particular -- was overrun with gangs and drug violence, but many of my neighbors were. They worked very hard to clean up the neighborhood then, and I don't think anybody is being unreasonable by wanting to keep it clean.
rent car
drive to suburbs
buy pistola
drive back home
when noise is to loud open window
pop off a few rounds into the beautiful new york night
call cops report shots fired around the noisy club
cops come
sound of sirens and police drowned noise of club
congratulate self for a job well done.
Earplugs don't do much good when your apartment is literally shaking from the bass on people's car stereos as they're lined up outside the club for the after-hours street party.
i lived in Newark for 6 years - on campus mind you, but it's a distinction without a difference - i put up with gang violence, gun fire, sirens, air port traffic, highway traffic, drunken students, and humping students. ah, the memories.
i know it's early, and i'll soon be jacked up on the liquid crack, but one question; what happened to our court jester in chief, the garwondler? i miss the trunkiness...
I was texting while walking the dog this morning, and realized when I lived in Philly I never would have done that; in Philly, even with a bull terrier on the end of your lead, you never stop pointwalking (that's a term I learned recently, meaning scanning the area for danger constantly as you walk).
Oh, the burbs*. Not all bad.
* I'll point out we're in the inner ring streetcar-ish burbs, not the exurbs.
Beta i was just wondering the other day how someone gets on the local citizen planning, design etc boards. I have a friend of the family who is on one. I was going to ask him.
Do you have to run?
I ask because i was reading something the other day that made me realize it would probably be the quickest/easiest was to get involved in community on a design/urban planning level.
LB, I do know SU, and would help you if I can. No promises, and of course no charge either! I am also good friends with the KING OF SKETCH-UP if you are interested in corresponding with him, or taking lessons from him. I will forward an e-mail I have from him that has all sorts of links and suggestions.
I spent all day yesterday in SU doing a model of my upstairs bath remodel (see vado, I bet you didn't guess THAT was what I was doing (FB reference)). I find SU to be cumbersome, seems like it is really hard to edit anything, and some tasks which should be really simple, are a nightmare! But I am getting better.
----
You know what? In Denver, NO ONE bumps their car stereo. I thought that was so weird when I first moved here. And I live in the ghetto (sort of, there isn't really a ghetto here). Enjoyable, but weird.
Anyways, this image sums up my stereotype of Jersey.
Wow, Strawbeary, that is one crazy outfit. Do you have a special occasion to wear it to in the future?
Actually, I cant decide if its a prom dress or a wedding dress. Either way, well, nevermind.
I didnt know that Beyonce had an all girl band; interesting.
LB, Until you explained it, I thought Point-walking was picking a point and walking directly to it, like you would do in a crowd. Interesting.
We live in the, well, it once was a small town, but has become more burb-y. Last evening, there was this kid skulking around our back fence, peering through, and Husband went out to see what was up. Scared the kid, but was polite. It was still strange. Kid said he was chasing a rabit - and there was one - but still.
considering that humans are adaptable enough to live in caves or unders palm trees, i'm of the opinion that nearly all architecture is excessive...ergo the hypocrisy of green or sustainable architecture.
architects don't need the earth because we are building the deathstar (the artificial planet of "star wars" movie fame).
uhmm wow. Interesting image... not sure how to take that one. Anyway the budget is being revealed this afternoon, and predictions don't look good. I suspect more people will be bicycling or walking to work
That's one nice thing about living in the 190's... The B&T crowd usually stays well south of 59th Street, and they think anything above 86th Street is upstate New York.
Thread Central
Now there's a mental image for Earth Day. :)
I find myself ambivalent about the whole LEED thing... We're under a lot of pressure at my office to take the exam (and I think the office is chipping in something for the fee), and I have nothing against those who have chosen to become LEED-certified, but I also share Beta's and Vado's concerns. From what I've heard about the exam and from my experience working on some LEED-certified projects, it seems to be more about checking off boxes, memorizing figures, and filling out reams of paperwork than it is about thinking about "green" design on a holistic level.... I reminds me of the kid we all knew in high school who got the top score on the SAT's, but who still gets lost pulling out of his own driveway.
I'm not sure what's going on with the construction site next door... They're still doing work, but they're certainly not in any rush to complete the project. It's a 6-story retail/condo development that began construction before the economy crashed, but I don't think I've ever seen more than three or four workers on the site at any given time. It's been under construction for about a year now, and they're still doing foundation work. The noise usually doesn't bother me because I'm usually at work during the daytime, but it becomes a nuisance whenever I'm home sick or if they're working on a Saturday... Thankfully it hasn't been too bad today, but I couldn't even hear my own TV back when they were doing major excavation work.
Apparently the co-op board in my building is suing the developers and the construction company, because the excavation work was causing some major cracking of the masonry walls and foundation. Now they've bolted these huge steel frames to the outside of the building on the side facing the construction site, and they've set up some devices throughout the building to monitor the cracks. The problem isn't as bad in my wing of the building, but I still feel compelled to stay current on my renters insurance... And I'm glad I'm merely a renter here, rather than a shareholder in the co-op.
suing the contractor due to cracks in an adjacent building... hmm I'd love to hear the evidence provided in justifying that one because the damage could easily be caused by something else. It is like the humming bird that causes the hurricane by flapping it's wings.
Completely taking cues from both Cameron and Frank I've decided to cash in on this architecture of excess by starting my own flickr group that bears the name... welcome architecture of excess. And to further give my nod to archinect/Thread Central I've added only one image from my collection - a picture taken en route to a bar with Vado & Liberty Bell. Please guys take a look, join the group and add your own images. Especially you treekiller...
aw, man. that's not necessarily an architecture of excess. that makes it sound bad - or at least overly decadent.
like graves or not, that building was HUGE in making downtown louisville begin to thrive in the late-80s and it's held up well over the last two+ decades. it's well-made, yes, and of rich materials. but excess?!
i think of stuff like BMW Welt the Mercedes museum - buildings with no purpose but flash/PR.
lb,, you really do not need anyone to teach you sketch up,, i have seen senior people at work relatively comfortable with it, and those guys cannot use their email. Find the time to just play a little with it,,, i picked it up in one day, but i had prior modelling experience in more "complex" programs, it could take you a month for all you care, if you have any specific issues, im sure someone here will help you
fays, I do play with it, and produce drawings, but I totally can't get a handle on how one line, for example, will suddenly become a part of a plane, when all I want is a line, and then how to un-couple those objects.
I can use it badly, but I'd like to figure out how to use it properly.
I've find that the key to using it properly is grouping and components. Assume that every line wants to be a part of any and every surface it touches. The only exception to this is when the surface is part of a group (or component) and the line is not part of that group. Also remember than nothing wants to be an object. So the way I work around these two things simultaneously is that I use groups when I want to have objects.
the trick is to group every element as soon as you make it. and to work faster, create a shortcut for the grouping option, ideally the button G. if you want a line, draw it, group it, even if it is one thing. grouped objects do not become one once u place them next to each other. when u choose a group, a bounding box will appear around it, as opposed to non-grouped components. if you want to edit them, just double click and will have the option to isolate the objects and edit them either in isolation or while the whole model is in view, but greyed out. i dont remember the exact name for that option, as i created a shortcut for it, but ill let you know tomorrow.
draw-group-draw-group-draw-group. thats the trick. try it.
the trick is to group every element as soon as you make it. and to work faster, create a shortcut for the grouping option, ideally the button G. if you want a line, draw it, group it, even if it is one thing. grouped objects do not become one once u place them next to each other. when u choose a group, a bounding box will appear around it, as opposed to non-grouped components. if you want to edit them, just double click and will have the option to isolate the objects and edit them either in isolation or while the whole model is in view, but greyed out. i dont remember the exact name for that option, as i created a shortcut for it, but ill let you know tomorrow.
draw-group-draw-group-draw-group. thats the trick. try it.
rationalist! you beat me!
lb, it seems that that is the way to do it
Wow, that actually helps me understand the logic of SU a lot! Thank you rationalist and fays.panda!
Liberty....I still have my training wheels on my sketch-up! I play with it as well. I find it really takes to much time to generate what I'm looking for so I do a quick cubic model then I go "Kirby" with it. Now alot of people will not understand, "Going Kirby", but I know you do.
It does help me in a primative kind of way....makes my brain start working again.
I "go Kirby" all the time, snook!
I'm actually headed to Tucson next weekend, a favorite professor is retiring and my gang of friends is taking her out to say thank you. I sense I won't even recognize the city or campus AND I cannot wait to feel that hot desert air!
i'd nominate anything by zaha as having no purpose beyond her and her client's ego.
to make me feel better, a green infrastructure gallery
I got my hair cut today at a combination salon/art gallery called Alchemy. It was quite enjoyable as my new stylist was perky and gave great shampoo. The haircut is good too. There was a painting(actually it was a work on paper of mixed media and wash) that I really liked. It was called CouchFuck.
Hey Indianastan is according to Forbes ranks 49th in Greenness! Awesome as usual.
Now is the time for municipalities to amend their codes to require basic green and sustainable techniques, other wise it will never get done because greenfield developers will argue against it. it's not the starchitects that are impacting the world its the sprawl and the consequences associated with it. but hell i'm 50 and will be dead in no time.
amen, vado, amen. that is exactly what i am calling for. the impact of that minor effort - minor cause most citizens won't have a clue - could change the nature of our profession, and direct an assload of work in our direction....
Feeling slightly less hopeless now than earlier. My mind is all mixed up though.
Oh and I must not have been paying attention the first time I met her, but my diaganol across the hall neighbor is totally hot!
thanks for that link treekiller. it was very interesting. i agree with both guys. i get the feeling someone is trying to make this into a binary question but don't feel the need for zealotry myself.
speaking of zealotry, i was taking a trip through my brain of architectural associations and couldn't help wonder about the architecture of excess from the past, which led me down the path to exhibition design like paxton's crystal palace . is it eco, because it lasted fairly long, was demountable, and even redesigned to incorporate a tree or two...? or is it disaster, because it was made for money (fucking capitalists!), made with iron that was made with coal that was unfiltered and sooti-licious, and probably taken from the ground by people working too hard for little pay (fucking capitalists!)?
or going back just a wee bit further, there is nothing more excessive than a cathedral (fucking capitalists!oh no, that's not right is it?)...but actually, there is a pretty big difference in the sense that people who lived around a cathedral were at least allowed a sense of ownership. not because they actually owned the place (yeah right, as if), or cuz materials were local (in spite of mythology not all ancient buildings were made of local materials - many were built from materials shipped from far off, hence the excess appellation), but at least because they got to see it as part of their community. not like a museum or office building at all...and maybe that is the difference? cuz otherwise i don't see much of a dif at all. in that sense cameron is sort of comparing apples to coconuts and i don't see why, except because he can, and because it draws attention...
because lets face it cameron is talking about shelter for the masses, something which architects have never had a role in, except when connected with totalitarian states...so it is a bit hard to know what an architect is supposed to do. there is not a model for it in the past, and whatever we do now is going to be a new thing entirely...
which makes me wish, rather fervently that cameron would leave the excess alone and talk about architecture of success instead. why is it that his vision can only be understood by standing on the pissed-on grave of the near past? that seems rather wasteful to me. it also puts him in the business of attacking when he should be praising, of tearing-down when he should be building.
i am exaggerating, but these are the things that leave me feeling a bit cold about AFH's new line of attack. what AFH does i am totally behind, but what they [b]say[b]? i feel slightly uneasy about. if gehry is irrelevant then why talk about him at all? fuck that shit lets get to the important stuff. seriously.
unless of course frank is actually relevant, in which case maybe we could ask for his help instead of spitting in his coffee...
Very nice and thoughtful take on the whole topic, jump. Thank you for taking the time to put it all down on virtual paper for us.
Just finished a day of long meetings after a late night working. All clients are happy and optimistic - yay! This job really is worth it all on days like today, though yesterday I doubted.
Now, Im going to have a beer or a glass of wine and collapse.
I just got back from the community board meeting about the noise issues on the block. About 20 people showed up, including about a half-dozen from my own building. The board and the police liaison officer got an earful from everybody.
The good news is, a couple of problem establishments will probably be losing their liquor licenses pretty soon. One applied for a license as a "restaurant and billiards club" but actually operates as a nightclub under a completely different name... The other place has a long history of drug-dealing and gang violence on the premises.
The bad news is, the nightclub that's the worse offender and the one that's closest to my building is apparently owned by a former cop, and the community liaison officer hemmed and hawed and offered a bunch of lame excuses about how hard it is to patrol all areas at all times, etc. (Try parking your car illegally for five minutes during the daytime, though.) In even worse news, another nightclub is scheduled to open up even closer to my building, and nobody at the community board had apparently been made aware of this.
When the new building next door finally opens up, I'm sure the people who bought those expensive condos will be thrilled to find out what they'll be putting up with every weekend... I suspect the police might actually take some action at that point.
i just got elected to a 2 year term as a community rep for my community council's board. hehe, they have no idea.
I just had a dreadful thought... All last fall some guys were chopping up and replacing the concrete alley/areaway between my building and the building next door... The space where this new nightclub is going in opens directly out onto the new concrete surface. Fuck me if they're going to use that new concrete surface as some sort of outdoor lounge or beer garden area right below my window.... I may have to stock up on rotten eggs and water balloons this summer. I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one, as three 6-story apartment buildings -- plus the new building under construction -- all back up to this little alley space.
beta, you're going to have some fun with them, aren't you?
I'm 1/2 way through getting signatures for associate membership into the local institute of architects - yeah!!
LIG dude you live in New York City, don't you. i don't know why you would expect life to be anything bu hard-core urban. or are you in a suburb somewhere?
dubK, hehehe....
I live in a predominantly middle-class residential neighborhood at the northern end of Manhattan.... Not all of NYC is like Midtown or Greenwich Village, and while some level of street noise is unavoidable, people in residential neighborhoods shouldn't be subjected to the type of noise and crime that's becoming more common in this part of the neighborhood.
As recently as a year ago the little strip of businesses on Broadway behind my building was mostly mom-and-pop grocery stores, hair salons, etc... Nothing terribly obnoxious, and one of the big draws of this part of the neighborhood was that it's significantly more quiet than many other parts of the city. Even the problem nightclub was relatively well-behaved at that point... Then, starting about a year ago, additional clubs (some of them illegal) have begun opening up in the area, and now they all seem to be trying to outdo each other in who can be the loudest and most obnoxious. As a result, what used to be a fairly sleepy business strip is now becoming an epicenter of noise, fighting, and gang activity, especially around 4 AM on weekends when these clubs let out.
I don't buy the whole "You're in NYC, noise is normal" line of argument... Some noise is normal, but when you have massive gang brawls breaking out on your block on a weekly basis, I think neighborhood residents have an obligation to organize and put pressure on the police and the club owners to resolve the problem. I wasn't around back in the 80's and 90's when NYC -- and this neighborhood in particular -- was overrun with gangs and drug violence, but many of my neighbors were. They worked very hard to clean up the neighborhood then, and I don't think anybody is being unreasonable by wanting to keep it clean.
Again LIG - might I suggest some earplugs?
rent car
drive to suburbs
buy pistola
drive back home
when noise is to loud open window
pop off a few rounds into the beautiful new york night
call cops report shots fired around the noisy club
cops come
sound of sirens and police drowned noise of club
congratulate self for a job well done.
Earplugs don't do much good when your apartment is literally shaking from the bass on people's car stereos as they're lined up outside the club for the after-hours street party.
i lived in Newark for 6 years - on campus mind you, but it's a distinction without a difference - i put up with gang violence, gun fire, sirens, air port traffic, highway traffic, drunken students, and humping students. ah, the memories.
...believe me, it could be worse; you could suffer the hell that is living in Mankato.
i know it's early, and i'll soon be jacked up on the liquid crack, but one question; what happened to our court jester in chief, the garwondler? i miss the trunkiness...
I was texting while walking the dog this morning, and realized when I lived in Philly I never would have done that; in Philly, even with a bull terrier on the end of your lead, you never stop pointwalking (that's a term I learned recently, meaning scanning the area for danger constantly as you walk).
Oh, the burbs*. Not all bad.
* I'll point out we're in the inner ring streetcar-ish burbs, not the exurbs.
Vado's post is like a Haiku, it is poetic....
Beta i was just wondering the other day how someone gets on the local citizen planning, design etc boards. I have a friend of the family who is on one. I was going to ask him.
Do you have to run?
I ask because i was reading something the other day that made me realize it would probably be the quickest/easiest was to get involved in community on a design/urban planning level.
Oh, I forgot: Yay for you beta becoming involved! And so quickly, wasn't this your first meeting?
LB, I do know SU, and would help you if I can. No promises, and of course no charge either! I am also good friends with the KING OF SKETCH-UP if you are interested in corresponding with him, or taking lessons from him. I will forward an e-mail I have from him that has all sorts of links and suggestions.
I spent all day yesterday in SU doing a model of my upstairs bath remodel (see vado, I bet you didn't guess THAT was what I was doing (FB reference)). I find SU to be cumbersome, seems like it is really hard to edit anything, and some tasks which should be really simple, are a nightmare! But I am getting better.
----
You know what? In Denver, NO ONE bumps their car stereo. I thought that was so weird when I first moved here. And I live in the ghetto (sort of, there isn't really a ghetto here). Enjoyable, but weird.
Anyways, this image sums up my stereotype of Jersey.
Liberty Bell, look for that e-mail from me. I just sent it to your gmail account.
Wow, Strawbeary, that is one crazy outfit. Do you have a special occasion to wear it to in the future?
Actually, I cant decide if its a prom dress or a wedding dress. Either way, well, nevermind.
I didnt know that Beyonce had an all girl band; interesting.
LB, Until you explained it, I thought Point-walking was picking a point and walking directly to it, like you would do in a crowd. Interesting.
We live in the, well, it once was a small town, but has become more burb-y. Last evening, there was this kid skulking around our back fence, peering through, and Husband went out to see what was up. Scared the kid, but was polite. It was still strange. Kid said he was chasing a rabit - and there was one - but still.
SH, that is beta's cousin on her prom night.
i don't have any cousins.
"...the nightclub that's the worse offender and the one that's closest to my building is apparently owned by a former cop..."
LIG is living in "we own the night"
sorry, I goofed. That was beta's prom date, but not thank goodness it wasn't his baby!
(fully expects beta to post something about midwesterners losing their virginity to chickens, which is really only true of one guy I know)
(NOT isn't supposed to be in above sentence. Need more or less coffee, which is it?)
considering that humans are adaptable enough to live in caves or unders palm trees, i'm of the opinion that nearly all architecture is excessive...ergo the hypocrisy of green or sustainable architecture.
architects don't need the earth because we are building the deathstar (the artificial planet of "star wars" movie fame).
uhmm wow. Interesting image... not sure how to take that one. Anyway the budget is being revealed this afternoon, and predictions don't look good. I suspect more people will be bicycling or walking to work
Beary,
That is funny because my idea of a New Jersey(ite) always pictured these classic bridge and tunnel(ers)....
nam, those are my nephews and niece.
That's one nice thing about living in the 190's... The B&T crowd usually stays well south of 59th Street, and they think anything above 86th Street is upstate New York.
wow...people really have some unfortunate ideas about new jersey (a rathr nice place). and i thought detroit got some bad p.r.
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