This morning I completed another step in entering the “green” economy. After an excellent “Green Urban Design” course at Tufts that focused on LEED for Neighborhood Development and then two six-hour preparatory classes for the exam, I passed the Green Building Certification Institute’s LEED Green Associate exam. This can be added to the internship that I started last month at New Ecology, a sustainability consulting firm.

I had been feeling pretty good about taking the exam after the two courses. That feeling quickly left me this weekend when I decided to do a free practice exam online. It did not go well. A lot of the items that were in the practice exam were not covered in the prep classes and some were a lot more specific than I expected. It did prompt me to do a more thorough review of the material. Sitting down at the testing center, I found myself moving through the questions very quickly. Turns out, I did know the stuff.

The final piece to this puzzle will be to become an specialized accredited professional. I plan on sitting for the LEED for Neighborhood Development specialty exam. Of all the LEED concentrations, I feel that this one really considers a development full impact – not only the environment but also the surrounding neighborhood. I think I’ll wait until after I finish the masters program at Tufts before taking on this project.


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The topic around Easthampton is not whether there will be growth but what kind of growth. It’s a serious question that needs to be handled appropriately by the city and the community. This decision will affect the quality of life for the residents now and in the future.

There are two major elements to this discussion happening now:

  1. Smart Growth Overlay Districts
  2. Stop & Shop on Northampton St

The city Planning Department and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission have outlined three forms of Smart Growth Overlay Districts for the downtown area. These overlay districts will allow the property within them to be developed more densely, with mixed-uses, and be more walkable. It will help to focus development on these areas so that the outlying open space around the city can remain untouched. The city is holding a public meeting this Tuesday to discuss these proposed overlays. I urge the city and residents to approve these districts. They will help to preserve and enhance the quality of life in the city.

This past Wednesday, the Planning Board unanimously approved the permit by Stop & Shop to build a new store on Northampton Street. This approval is in direct contrast to the overlay district proposed for that same lot. Back in September, the board denied S&S’s request because the parking lot was located in the front. Present regulations (as well as the proposed overlay district) state that parking must be located to the side and/or back with the building structure located along the street. The new plan presented this past Wednesday is the same plan. The only changes are that a small building and gas station that were proposed in September to be at the street have been removed. S&S’s present plan still has a huge parking lot located in the front with the main structure located at the back of the property. The issue here is that the front parking lot increases driver visibility on Route 10 making them drive faster as well as decreases walkability as people will have to walk through a sea of blacktop to get to the store.

The city is making a great and well-thought move by proposing the Smart Growth Overlay Districts. The Planning Board on the other hand is just taking this backwards by approving Stop & Shop’s latest plan. I’m hoping that the “green” elements that S&S proposed in their plan are actually implemented and worth it for the city. That big parking lot is only going to give other developers reason to do the same.


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I have officially finished my first semester of the Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning grad program at Tufts. It was a bit intense, especially since I focused on taking my required classes all in the semester. I topped the semester off with a large project (paper, portfolio, and poster), reflection paper, and an Economics exam.

That now leaves me with about five weeks of break time. And now I find myself a bit lost. I was so used to being busy with reading, papers, and projects during the semester that I now have time that I don’t know how to use. I am working on a research project with one of the professors as well as putting together a new online resource website. There are also two urban planning competitions that I’ll be working on. It however feels weird but liberating not to be busy non-stop right now.

I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts.


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This weekend Boston played host to Rail~Volution 2009. The conference is a meeting of the minds: multimodal practitioners/engineers, politicos, citizens, and students; all of whom are interested in and/or focused on “Building Livable Communities with Transit.” Due to my course load and homework, I was only able to manage one day at the event – but it was certainly worthwhile.

The convention include mobile workshops that took part around metro Boston and evaluated options to create more livable communities in those locations (better transit and access which results in happier, healthier citizens that are in the end more willing to consumer). While there certainly is the capitalist self-interest of those vendors looking to “sell” the community on their method of transportation (streetcars, bike lanes, etc.), the public good is the front-and-center concern.

It was great to see so many people focused on this new movement, this new paradigm shift away from the mentality that life has to revolve around the automobile. As Americans, we are finally learning what our European and Japanese counterparts have long understood, mass transit benefits all and is environmentally and socially just. There is a lot of work to be done in order to complete this shift, but the cogs are moving and the convention was a great reflection on that movement.

Sadly though, there are two recent items that I have noted that are in direct contradiction to the public’s desire to move away from the automobile. And those two items come directly from the auto industry itself:

1. Audi recently put out a new ad to promote their “clean diesel” A3 TDI. As they put it, it’s more “fun” to do your part (save the environment) by driving their car rather than using any alternative to the automobile. It’s quite funny how they show the negative aspects to alternative travel methods and not a single negative aspect to driving a car. Those would include but of course are not limited to (on the individual level): high cost to purchase the car, constant costs to maintain and insure the car, housing/parking for the car, safety concerns with the car, environmental impact to produce and deliver the car. But hey, it’s fun to drive a “clean diesel” car, right. It’s still a non-renewable resource.

2. Lexus is sponsoring the Parkitecture Design Competition. As Americans decide to use other transit options, the need for multiple cars within their family is shrinking. Lexus thinks otherwise. The competition promotes the concept of 1) a free-standing building (great use of land area) and 2) the need to store up to three autos (though they do not state this is for the hypothetical family but they also do not state that you should consider in the design the access by multiple families).

I myself am auto-free though we do have one car in the family, a car that is rarely ever used thanks to the awesome T and walkable neighborhoods here in Metro Boston. While I myself will not be sway by a fun car ad or made to think I really need a cool new garage, there are others that will be affected by these. These same individuals may have begun to sway to alternative methods. And its these same individuals that the auto industry is grasping for. A paradigm shift is inevitable, it will be exciting to see when it fully comes to fruition.


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This evening, the MA Chapter of the APA and MIT hosted a talk by Anthony Flint about his new book Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York’s Master Builder And Transformed The American City”. Attended by about 50 people, the group included professors, practitioners and students from across Massachusetts.

To begin with, Flint described the present focus on planning – infill, redevelopment, building off of and expanding public transit. As he noted, this stands in stark contrast to the actions happening in the 1960s – and it was these two pivotal people (Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs) who helped get us to where we are today.

It was interesting to hear how he compared the two. Generally, the planning field is (now) very critical of Robert Moses while many (especially the New Urbanists) praise Jane Jacobs. It turns out though that they had their similarities and weren’t wholly positive or negative.

One of the biggest issues facing planners these days is NIMBY-ism (Not-In-My-Back-Yard). Flint pointed out that it was Jacobs that really started this concept. Her efforts to protect New York’s neighborhoods from demolition for highway projects encouraged the public to protect their home and the area around it. He also noted that it was this same “protectionism” that she sponsored that saved homes in the West Village. That same neighborhood has gone through major gentrification, resulting in the displacement of the same people Jacobs wanted to save from highway displacement. It’s resulted in a new guerilla campaign More Jane Less Marc. Of course, he brand of public concern and action had a much greater positive effect – such as the great freeway revolts in Boston and San Francisco.

While Jacobs provided America with the concept of “human-scale neighborhoods,” Flint made the case for Moses’s concern and focus on infrastructure. We are at the cusp of an infrastructure meltdown. Sadly, the public backlash regarding Moses caused us to turn away from infrastructure rather than incorporate it equitably.

Flint closed his presentation with the question “How does a city reinvent itself?” Jacobs left us the owner’s manual for the city and neighborhood. Now we need to embrace density through proper design and scale, transit node focus, and distribution of parks.

Following his presentation, Flint opened the floor to questions and discussions. These included:


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On September 28th, the Planning Board of Easthampton, Mass, rejected retailer Stop & Shop’s plan to build a new grocery store in the city. The topic has been an outgoing item for the city and its residents for the past ten months since the application was submitted. It however has been weighing on residents’ minds for years when the site in question was sold to Stop & Shop.

Easthampton is my home town. I hold it close to my heart. As an urban planning graduate student, I also am quite interested in the Master Plan which Easthampton approved in 2008. The plan reflects the fact that the city is growing but that the growth must be done through smart growth functions. Developed with assistance from the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, the Master Plan incorporates elements to ensure the city is a community and not a strip development.

This brings us back to the topic of Stop & Shop. The residents of Easthampton have always shunned big box developments. While an effort to formalize the consent failed, the city has never approved a large retail development within its borders. A single grocery store, Big E’s, is in town – a mainstay for decades though significantly smaller than any grocery store of today. There are a few small specialty grocers in town, but Big E’s has been the only true grocery store. Big Y, based in Springfield, attempted to build a store in town back in the 1980s, however, that initiative failed and the company was forced to build in Southampton on the Easthampton border.

Discussions regarding big box developers in town have come up a number of times. Previously they were seen as a potential opportunity for economic invigoration during the town’s recessive years in the 1980s and early 1990s. Those days have since been replaced by the economic “boom” that Easthampton saw in the 1990s and 2000s, starting with the establishment of a lively artist community. People now regularly walk and shop throughout town, something we certainly did not see in the 1980s.

The latest Master Plan builds off that ideal. It focuses on strengthening the business core of the city, establishing a highway business district along Northampton St – all with a walkable community in mind.

Stop & Shop filed for development under “planned business development”. Under this type, a development must place its parking at the side or rear of the building. A number of studies have been done to show the negative impact of front-located parking lots. Easthampton has deemed this type of parking lot out of favor. Stop & Shop’s submitted development plan clearly placed its parking lot in front of the structure (though behind two minor streetside-located buildings).

It was this blatant disregard for Easthampton’s approved parking guidelines that caused Stop & Shop’s plan to be rejected. The Planning Board was not rejecting the development on the basis it was big box or that the town does not need business development. It was rejected on the terms that the public good must prevail. The city had created specific design guidelines that the public desired. Those businesses that desire to work and grow in the town must respect the desire of the public.

Unlike board chairman, Jason Duda, I too would have rejected the plan. The citizens of the town shot down a no-big-box ordinance. The Planning Board must therefore approve big box development. Those developments must adhere to the public’s design guidelines. If Stop & Shop revises their plans in accordance to town regulation, I’m all for supporting this business. The town is growing and does need additional food sources. The town however must ensure that those food sources are established with the public good and concern in mind.

Jason Duda clearly had some self interest weighing on his shoulders when he stated he supported the development. For him, the board should approve the plan (with conditions). This just leaves the door open to interpretation and additional issues with future developments. By requiring the builder to adhere to the guidelines BEFORE approval, the Board has solidified and qualified those standards. Jason Duda needs to be reminded of his duties as a board member – those duties state he is serving the public, not Stop & Shop.

Thank you Ann M. Parizo, Harry E. Schumann and Chester H. Seklecki Jr for supporting Easthampton’s desire to be a true community, in spirit and physical development.


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This afternoon the No One Leaves Campaign kicked off its fall efforts by canvasing a number of foreclosed homes in the Dorchester area of Boston. With about 30 people from Harvard Law, BU Law, and Tufts, we broke into small groups to cover the recent foreclosed properties.

One of the first things we came to realize is the transit access inequity that exists in Boston. Each of the volunteers come from academic centers in the area that are all well-serviced by the MBTA. This resulted in the fact that only a few of us had cars to help get students around to each of the houses. While we are used to get around much of Cambridge, Boston, and Brighton with the T, we realized that doing so in Dorchester would not be as possible. Economically, Dorchester is not as wealthy as the rest of the city. I’m wondering if the lower value is due to the lacking public service or does the city not provide the service due to the lower value. It’s an interesting and difficult topic which we have discussed in our studies in urban planning and one that we directly faced today.

Aside from the transit issue, my group of six volunteers decided we would use the Red Line to at least get us to our general canvasing area and then walk around to the houses. The group of six (made up of myself and two other Tuft students, two BU Law students, and a Harvard Law student) then broke down to two groups of three. This was done so as not to scary or oppress the resident who came to the door and saw a number of people at the stairs.

This turned out to be a moot point. My group had four houses on our list of foreclosures to visit. Each house (except for two) had three units in it. It was our task to determine if the residents still lived at the house and if so, assist them by providing information about their legal right to remain in the unit as well as the community effort to buy back the property. Out of the eight doors that we went to, we only spoke with one resident (who actually did not speak any English). Another one of the homes had since been vacated, leaving us to be concerned that the bank may have wrongfully persuaded the tenant out of the building. We did leave information at all residences (except the vacated one) in hopes that the tenants would look it over either when they got home or after we left – we had a feeling people were at some of their homes when we came but chose not to answer the door.

While it was a bit of a letdown to not actually interact with a majority of the residents, we did what we could on this trip to inform them. Thankfully, we do redouble our efforts for residents who do not get a direct interaction so we (or another volunteer) may be back to try to help them out. Our biggest concern is that they don’t move out of their home unless they are fully aware of their rights and truly want to do so.

I’m still pumped and ready for the next canvasing event. Until next time…


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Former President Bill Clinton made an exciting and surprising statement yesterday – he now supports gay marriage. After a presidency that was marked by mixed support for sexual orientation equality, one of the country’s greatest presidents ever has finally acknowledged that equality should be all-inclusive.

During Clinton’s leadership, he enacted the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy as a method to open military positions to homosexual citizens. Prior to this policy, the military restricted its ranks to only heterosexuals. While the intent was noble, it has had its issues. The first of which is that be establishing the policy, Clinton simply created a bandaid to hide the military’s discrimination. The policy doesn’t actually allow you to serve if you are not heterosexual. It simply forbids officials to inquire about your orientation. If a serviceman/woman is found to be homosexual, they can be discharged. The policy did not correct and abolish the discrimination.

This was all too clear as demonstrated in the story of Private Barry Winchell. The film, Soldier’s Girl, is about Winchell who falls in love with a transgendered woman, while he is training for the military. One of his squadmates becomes enraged by the idea that Winchell may be gay and decides to get rid of the issue. After the ruthless murder of Winchell, Clinton requested a review of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Sadly, nothing came of it.

While many may praise Clinton for bringing some equality with the DADT policy, this was completely overshadowed in 1996 when he wrote into federal law the Defense of Marriage Act – a truly bigoted article that still stands today. This legislation states that the federal government of the US only recognizes marriage between a man and a woman. It goes on to state that no state is required to recognize a same-sex relationship as marriage even if it is considered a marriage in another state. The act laid the potential foundation for a federal ban on same-sex marriage. It has been used as rationale for many states in the country to actually restrict marriages to only heterosexual.

In Clinton’s statement yesterday, he acknowledged that it is not the federal government’s place to step into the marriage discussion and that each state is free to decide on marriage rights within their own borders. While I’m glad he’s finally had this insight, it does nothing for the country that still has the Defense of Marriage Act on the books.

In the past few years, we’ve seen nearly all of New England (Maine and New Hampshire are in the works, Connecticut does not) as well as Iowa stand up for equal rights. These six states have pledged to their residents the open freedom to wed their partner, whether same or opposite sex. While this equality struggle has some great news, it is overshadowed by the 29 states that have constitutional bans on gay marriage – the biggest shock was California which repealed the gay marriage right in 2008. Over 18,000 same-sex couples were married in those five months of freedom in California.

It’s difficult to tell where the marriage equality road will lead us. Sadly, many people have allowed their religious beliefs to blind them. I know that it’s been used before, but it’s so relevant – if we allowed religious beliefs to dictate our legal rights, African-Americans and women today would not have the right to vote or own property. Regardless of whether a person believes homosexuality is a choice or genetic/natural, the fact remains that there are homosexuals. We live and breath just like everyone else. We obey the law and pay our taxes just like everyone else. And we harm no one by living our lives as who we are. If the thought of same-sex couples causes you mental distress, that is born out of your own inner workings. The oppressors have no idea what it’s like until they’ve put on the oppresseds’ shoes.

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller


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Last night I went to a training session for the No One Leaves program. Started by the Harvard Law School and the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, this is an outreach program that helps to let residents of foreclosed homes learn about their legal rights. The home foreclosure crisis has hit the majority of the nation very hard. No One Leaves intends to make sure that these residents do not suffer any longer.

Thanks to Massachusetts law, residents are provided security with regard to their homes. While many banks are taking possession to private homes and apartment buildings due to foreclosures, the residents have the ability to remain in their home until they receive a fair hearing in court. Many homeowners and renters however are unaware of these rights.

Myself and at least 50 other undergraduate and graduate students attended the training session last night at Harvard. Coming from Harvard, Harvard Law, Tufts, Suffolk Law, and Northeastern, each student was certainly inspired by the stories and the potential to help. While we will not be giving legal advice, we go to the foreclosed homes to provide information for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau.

The foreclosure crisis, brought on by faulty and poorly conceived mortgages, has blindsided both homeowners and renters. The banks then make the situation worse by illegally telling residents they need to move out immediately. Thankfully, we will be able to help make sure they don’t have to actually leave. I’ll be sure to update the blog after each outreach session.


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Admittedly I came to the Twitter game kind of late. I’d heard plenty about the service through friends, television news, and tons of magazine writeups (I’m pretty sure some Mac|Life employees do double-duty at Twitter). I kept my distance, having only joined Facebook in March ’08. It seemed to me that they were pretty much one in the same, so why should I complicate my online-self. Needless to say, I broke down and set up a Twitter account this past April and haven’t looked back.

I’m sure I don’t need to extol the advantages of Twitter – from simple informational postings to cross promotion to immense and timely news – it’s really an unbelievable platform. While I’ve fine tuned the consistency between my website, blog and Twitter presences, I’ve also played around with a number of Twitter clients. There are numerous reviews for these applications, so I won’t bore you with a running evaluation of each one. I do however want to reflect on my one true Twitter love – Tweetie.

Tweetie offers a clean and unobtrusive interface. The user window is compact and definitely Mac. The beauty in the product is in its seemingly simple and straight-forward design. Like Seesmic and TweetDeck, Tweetie offers the ability to view “columns.” Seesmic and TweetDeck however take up enormous screen space to truly utilize them. Tweetie on the other hand places the “columns” on the left side via beautiful access buttons. You can add a number of additional columns (saved searches). Also like other Twitter clients, Tweetie can manage multiple Twitter accounts. I haven’t gone down that route just yet, but it’s nice to know that I won’t have to switch software (again).

If you tweet from a Mac, I would definitely suggest checking out Tweetie. The software is free (ad-version) and is also available for the iPhone. I haven’t bought into their iPhone version (I’m really not into the blue/grey iPhone email design they use) and will stick with TweetDeck for iPhone for now. Happy tweeting!

UPDATE

Yesterday (Sept 27) I went all-Tweetie. I decided to try out the Tweetie iPhone app and surprisingly love it. I wasn’t as excited about it due to its design (looks just like the blue/grey iPhone email app). The application however acts so smoothly, just like Tweetie for Mac. I’m sticking with Tweetie for both my laptop and iPhone going forward – and just in time.


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So last night, we went to see U2 at Foxboro Stadium (Gillette) in Foxboro, MA – the first of their show dates in MA for the 360 tour. I had seen U2 a few years ago in Boston at the Garden and was ready to see another great show. I was not expecting the transportation nightmare.

As Gillette Stadium is out in no-man’s land (Foxboro), we had to drive out to the concert. We had given ourselves plenty of time to get there and deal with about an hour of haggling for parking. Sadly, the tie-up to get to the stadium started about 7 miles before the Rt 1 exit off of I-95. That was then followed by more than 3 miles to get from the exit to the stadium. The cause of this horrible bottom neck – the system set up for the stadium allows for only two points of entry to the parking. Parking is located off of one long street (Rt 1). The entire crowd is herded along the road and passed into the next available lot. Considering the size of Gillette, this means A LOT of people are being forced into this restrictive path.

In the end, it took us 3.5 hours (yes) to finally get a parking space – a parking space managed by Gillette and costing $40. That required a 20-minute walk to finally get to the gates. By the time we got to the field (we had general admission tickets), Snow Patrol was LONG gone and U2 had been on stage for 45 minutes.

The experience for the remainder of the show was excellent. The lighting, the open stage format, the song selections – all right on. The performance was certainly no letdown. The overall time though was completely mired by the location selection.

I hope for U2′s sake (and another other major performer) that they think twice about having a show at Gillette. While it can hold nearly 70,000 in the seats, quantity is a horrible tradeoff for quality. The fans would much prefer a smaller experience if it can be accessed more easily. PLEASE USE THE GARDEN NEXT TIME.


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It seems there’s a battle-of-the-board games heating up. While this type of entertainment has certainly seen better days (pre-video games), there’s new life brewing and being stirred up in the board game world.

Wired Magazine recently covered the growing popularity of Settlers of Catan. For those of you who may not have played this game yet, it’s a German board game that deals with land speculation and resources. The game has been around for two decades now, but it is catching on very recently in the U.S. (we actually have the game at home). Wired’s focus on the game however is whether it will surpass the popularity of Monopoly.

Oddly enough, this month Google and Hasbro released Monopoly City Streets. This brand new take on the game provides world-wide interaction and the use of the OpenStreetMap project. The rules have been modified as have the objectives (the oddest change is that creating a “monopoly” is nearly impossible) and the game will effectively close in January 2010. These changes however have created a stir – the system completed crashed the day Google launched. Google and Hasbro had to completely reset the game (after hardware and software updates were made) about a week later. Just look at the constant chatter about it on Twitter.

So what does this all mean? Settlers of Catan is certainly bringing new life back to the board game “platform.” While I have played it, it’s not my cup of tea. The game moves somewhat slow and is pretty confusing at first. The concept and execution are excellent though (I wish the game board didn’t fall apart so easily). Hasbro may have taken its game from the board to the internet, but this is nothing new. Monopoly exists on nearly all gaming platforms. The concept behind using other platforms is to peek interest and thereby increase the likelihood players will also use the board game platform.

I don’t really think it’s fair to say that Settlers will “beat” Monopoly. Board games will live on for quite a while. These games (and their reincarnations) are proof. I’m sure anyone out there would take a board game night over video games.


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