CoolTown Forums

Los Angeles neighborhood creates Time Bank.

2008-08-06T11:48:49-05:00

Seems like something many places could adopt that would prove popular and useful.

The concept is simple: Members create an online profile that includes a list of the work they’ll do free, or “offers,” along with a list of services, or “requests,” they want in exchange. Dog walking, housesitting, guitar lessons, baby-sitting, help with Photoshop—almost any intangible is allowed. Members don’t exchange services directly with one another—they trade with the bank. So the person who picked up apples and artichokes for you at the farmers market isn’t waiting for you to return the favor.

http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-timebank27-2008jul27,0,292160.story

S.F. needs a Beta Community, stat!

2008-08-06T11:44:51-05:00

The Tenderloin neighborhood has been struggling to get a grocery store:

It seems like the simplest of necessities: a full-service grocery store. But things are never simple at the corner of Eddy and Taylor streets in the heart of the Tenderloin, San Francisco’s densest neighborhood and one of its most notorious.

A local nonprofit has been working with city officials for two years to open a grocery store here, an area more known for drug dealers and prostitution than for its thousands of children and families. That admittedly well-deserved reputation, combined with the neighborhood’s poor residents, security concerns and a lack of parking and financing, has made it nearly impossible.

[snip]

“It’s so important to have, but it’s one of those things that most of us live our lives without being aware of - except for the people who have to hop onto Muni and lug back their groceries,” said Don Falk, executive director of the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp., which owns a parking lot at Eddy and Taylor streets. The nonprofit housing company hopes to develop the land into a 14-story residential tower for low-income families, with a grocery store on the ground floor.

But after several studies, a lot of outreach and a few close calls, Falk and Mayor Gavin Newsom, who has met with grocers, aren’t much closer than they were two years ago.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/27/BARD11TSUL.DTL

Crowdsourcing with Google Maps

2008-07-09T00:12:59-05:00

The Cooltown post on crowdsourcing the places you want was great- i just wanted to add Google now lets anyone edit/add features like businesses, parks, schools.

Not every country, but places such as Vietnam and Iceland. Being that I want to visit those places and would probably use Google Maps it’s cool “people in the know” will be able to provide pertinent info.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_map_maker.php

- luke

Adams Morgan Works, Washington DC

2008-07-08T16:34:00-05:00

Every major city nowadays has a coworking space, but what about a coworking district? That’s the plan with the nascent Adams Morgan Works program.

With 30 million people and counting working at home as we transition to a knowledge-based economy, coffeehouses and coworking sites are becoming increasingly popular, most of which thrive in natural cultural districts. Thus in Adams Morgan, Washington DC’s preeminent natural cultural district, a movement is underway to transform a rather dead day scene into one as vibrant and active as the central business district.

Given evidence of a dayworking population of customers via beta communities, Adams Morgan merchants will agree to open their businesses during the day based on the beta community’s needs. The neighborhood will benefit from a virtual dayworking community that is manifested in the physical world by the area’s existing and crowdsourced coffeehouses, cafes and restaurants, spurred by dayworking happy hours and work events around like-minded work circles.

Check out the targeted Adams Morgan dayworking vibe in this Affinity Lab-produced video.

Elements Green Vegetarian Restaurant, Washington DC

2008-07-07T12:07:49-05:00

Elements is a green, vegetarian restaurant being crowdsourced in downtown Washington DC in a natural cultural district. The sponsoring business owner, Linda Welch, is negotiating a building lease. Elements currently has nearly 400 future customers organized as a beta community, which crafted the following manifesto:

What is Elements?

We are Elements. At the heart of the Elements experience is community: a “third place” between home and work for people of all ages, preferences and backgrounds to meet and nourish themselves, the people around them, and the planet. Our growing Elements family embraces authenticity, diversity, conscious living, and fun. This family has crowdsourced Elements from day one, and our continued participation will ensure it stays fresh and progressive. As Elements evolves, we are guided by a few simple ideas:

We encourage balance in life. All of life is interconnected, thus our actions can have a great impact. We balance our needs - health, enjoyment - with the needs of others and the Earth. As an independent local business, Elements endorses the triple bottom line: we measure success in not only economic, but environmental and social terms as well. We support balance in our community by serving organic vegetarian food grown our own garden in a building that exceeds environmental standards. We support balance globally by cutting our waste, composting, and recycling, and by neutralizing our carbon output with offsets and green energy.

We nurture growth in our community. As important to our lives as the four elements is an essential fifth: people. Look around you; friends, neighbors, and visitors meet here to share ideas, spark new friendships, and renew old ones. We nourish the local economy by partnering with local growers, vintners, brewers, artists, musicians, and community groups. We offer classes and lectures to foster exploration and discovery, and sponsor events to nurture sharing and collaboration.

We are dedicated to stimulating all five senses. Taste our fresh seasonal dishes. Smell our organic fair-trade coffee. Hear talented musicians perform every day. See the work of area artists. Feel the afternoon sun. Hug a friend. Be alive.

Read the Washington Business Journal article here.