Parks Boost Economy

Check out this article in the Gotham Gazette about the effect parks can have on local economies.
Above is a photo of the High Line Park in NYC...built on an old elevated freight railway.

As the article points out, the establishment of the park is just the beginning...the cost of upkeep is often the harder part of the job.

After I read an article like this, I always try to ask myself what already exists here that might be a counterpart to that which is in the article...
Have you been to the Hoover Rec Center? I have walked through it, but I don't think I have really enjoyed the park that is just a short walk from my house.
If the Hoover Rec Center doesn't currently play a role in my life, what changes would make it more relevant?

-Sven

Mapping the Neighborhoods of LA

Here are two really fascinating sites that utilize GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to map parts of Los Angeles:

LA Times




Healthy City
You can search a zip code for various types of services (food banks, preschools, job assistance centers) as well as finding out demographic information for a city or zip.

New Post

I'm writing this post for three (3) reasons:

1. Because I can and there is minimal impact (positive or negative;)
2. Because I think you should listen to the song 'Signs' by BlocParty (in the '5 Fresh Songs' box on the left)
3. Because this blog has been pretty mundane/unused. If you want to read something slightly more interesting, head over to bicyclebread.org!


quote from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: Your friend Mr. Lincoln had his Taylors and Paines. So did every other man whoever tried to lift his thought up off the ground. Odds against 'em didn't stop those men. They were fools that way. All the good that ever came into this world came from fools with faith like that.

new favorite place

The Silverlake Reservoir has a lot going against: a tall, barb-wired fence encircling it, traces of bromate and a never-ending city project to build a running path around it. Nevertheless, it has become one of my favorite places to get some solitude in Los Angeles. There is something calming about staring out onto the blue waters.
I've been taking Tuesday mornings to be with God and I often try to get over to Silverlake. The key for me has been to leave my ipod and phone at home. just a Bible and a journal and nalgene. that's the life.

I've had quite a time figuring out yeast...first I killed it, then I overproofed it and let it go a bit too crazy...
As a result, I am freshly intrigued by all the parables in the Bible about yeast.
Thanks to some prayer and some handy advice from my mother (Queen of Wheat Bread) I got some good results tonight!

 

The slightly crunchy, golden brown crust is key.

 

 

Richard and me finished off one loaf right away...he is one of my official taste-testers.

Bread time!

I started baking at the church today and thought I would share some of the results;)

 

 

 

I am very excited to finally have an edible bread! It helps to have the right type of wheat. I finally got a co-op in Santa Monica that would order the Hard White Wheat...the fun part was taking public transit with a 50lb bag of wheat.

How Quaint Was My City

I was wikiing Hollywood and came across some old pictures they have posted. Can you imagine Hollywood as an agricultural area? (picture from 1885)



How Hollywood & Highland has changed... (picture from 1907)

Leaving College + Frost poem

Finals have ended and now I simply await the day of graduation. My grandparents and parents arrive tomorrow and I can't wait to share with them the city and community I've lived in for the past 4 years.
I'm excited they are coming.
I'm also wondering if I will soon be hit with the realization that college is over. It is underwhelming seeing everything come to a close. Retrospectively I try to add up my experiences and see if they all fit into a nice, cohesive picture. There are too many pieces;) I don't like thinking about regrets, but my mind seems to search for them at times like this. I can push them off by remembering that I'll soon be in Europe, soon be in the Rockies, and soon be on a new adventure.
I am about to leave one stage of life and enter a new one. There is so much unknown in the leaving.

Check out this poem by Robert Frost: Directive

I recently read a passage by Robert Greenleaf (author: Servant Leadership) where he responds to Frost's words:
To be on the journey one must have an attitude toward loss and being lost, a view of oneself in which powerful symbols like burned, dissolved, broken off – however painful their impact is seen to be - do not appear as senseless or destructive. Rather the losses they suggest are seen as opening the way for new creative acts, for receiving of priceless gifts. Loss, every loss the mind of man can conceive of, creates a vacuum into which will come (if allowed) something new and fresh and beautiful, something unforeseen – and the greatest of these is love.

What will come into this vacuum after graduation?
Hopefully "something new and fresh and beautiful, something unforeseen"


Song for your enjoyment: Damien Jurado- Denton, TX listen
p.s. Picture taken downtown LA, Golden Gopher

Coldplay's new single

Coldplay has released their newest single off their upcoming record, Viva La Vida. Check out Violet Hill here.
While I ponder the song (I really like it during its first 12 listens;), I thought I would list my favorite Coldplay songs of all time:

1. See You Soon - a beautiful acoustic guitar track off the Parachutes bonus cd. "
2. The Scientist - "Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry you dont know how lovely you are." The music video is beautiful and brings tears.
3. Sparks - Heard this for the first time at Greg and Julie's wedding back in August of 2005.
4. What If - I love the chorus. "How can you know it if you don't even try?"
5. Clocks and Yellow (Tie)- Clocks was the first Coldplay song I ever heard. It brings back many memories from a summer I spent working in Colorado at the YMCA of the Rockies. Yellow is just an amazing song.

Mobility in LA according to Wired

Check out this post on a Wired Blog: Los Angeles' Future in Mobility: Many Goals But Many Obstacles He talks about the future of the Rapid network and rail.
Here's MTA's dreamy site: Imagine. It has links to the MTA's 2008 Draft Long Range Transportation Plan.