‘Eyes on the street’

‘Eyes on the street’.  Coined by the legendary urban sociologist, Jane Jacobs in her landmark book, Death and Life of Great American Cities, these are probably four of the most fundamental words when it comes to public safety.

The term is used by neighborhood watch programs across the country and familiar to law enforcement officials as well.  In Jane’s words:

“There must be eyes on the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the

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Balancing affordability with safety

While affordability is the biggest issue when finding a place in New York City (our field of study this week), it’s usually balanced against what’s an even larger concern - safety.  The less safe the neighborhood, the more affordable the housing is.

Neighborhoods with high crime rates; where one doesn’t feel safe walking at night, are usually where poverty is most prevalent.  It’s important to empathize that poverty is a natural, harmless condition

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Cool and affordable in NYC

Based on yesterday’s post that affordability is more important than anything in NYC, where does one look for homes that won’t cause sticker shock?  Perhaps something like at the Toy Factory Lofts in Brooklyn that started at $270K last year?  Remember, this is NYC we’re talking about, it’s all relative!

Here’s some advice from a NY native and urban expert, Kristin Russell, PP, AICP:

“I think Astoria, Long Island City, and DUMBO are defiantly “hip” and

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In NYC, affordability comes first

I just spent some time studying Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, and I have to admit it’s a great laboratory for creative, urban living, working and entertainment trends that either reflect or predict what’s happening elsewhere.  So… what’s the buzz in NYC?

Affordability, affordability, affordability.

“How much?“  It’s the question when it comes to finding a residence in a progressive New York City neighborhood.  The young creatives and

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The beer garden in Queens (Astoria)

Hundreds of people, relaxing, conversing, laughing, with a cold beer, chicken wings and potato dumplings, under a breezy canopy of mature trees under a black sky (sorry, no starry skies in New York City.)  That was my evening (minus the wings and dumplings) in New York City’s only outdoor beer garden, the aptly name Bohemian Hall.

By day it’s welcome for kids and parents with a full Czech restaurant menu, and by night it’s abuzz with gen xers and yers,

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Keys to Brooklyn’s rise

As posted yesterday, affordability and transportation/convenience were long-time Brooklyn assets that did little for economic rejunevation until safety began to improve.  But how and why did these neighborhoods become safer?

As is more than well known by now, it was just a matter of time before the artists began moving in.  The number of designers increased 2.5 times from 1980 to 2000, while authors/writers more than doubled from 1990 to 2000.  Williamsburg, a

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The new Brooklyn

Brooklyn is no mere neighborhood in size.  The fourth largest city in the U.S. with a population of 2.5 million, it’s bigger than San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta and St. Louis combined, a statistic from this past Sunday’s New York Times focusing on the borough’s renaissance:  The New Brooklyns: The Great Awakening.  Check out Brooklyn visually from three residents’ points of view in the accompanying slide show.

How did a veritable city that was completely overshadowed by

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The previous entry  illustrated the elements a city needs to attract job-creating creatives.  Here’s some of the evidence...

This photo is what’s happening on the floor above The Diner featured yesterday.  As the story goes, a group of entrepreneurs, moving from another creative mecca, New York City, were drawn by the active scene surrounding this now locally-famous 24-hour hot spot, a decision made much easier when the floor above it became available. It was more space than they needed, so

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A typical neighborhood scene at 2 am?

Depends on where you are.  This photo was taken at 2 am, last week Wednesday night/Thursday morning at The Diner in Adams Morgan, Washington DC.

Since evidence shows that the creative class drives the economy...

Question: Is your city attracting creatives?

Answer:

- Does it have a place like The Diner that looks like this at 2 am on a typical late Wednesday night?
- Is that venue an independent restaurant like this one, and not a Denny’s, IHop, or

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Much of the plan for San Francisco’s Treasure Island, a 403-acre man-made former military base below the Bay Bridge, is already laid out.  However, what if the progressive idea of the beta community; future residents and tenants visioning their own neighborhood into reality in partnership with developers and investors, was in full motion today?

We’d perhaps get the proposal for Treasure Island similar to that of urban design students at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design - 20,000

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The downtown WiFi… controversy?

Continuing yesterday’s Small towns that ‘get’ it...

Any city that wants to attract the creative class, knowledge workers, young professionals and enterpreneurs needs to support a free WiFi downtown.  Period.  The aforementioned group views a WiFi network as the previous generation does for a highway network - comprehensive and free... and guess what, it’s a helluva lot cheaper.  The City of Alexandria, VA is the latest city to sponsor free WiFi downtown, and

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Have WiFi, will prosper

To the next generation, a downtown just isn’t complete without free WiFi, as highlighted yesterday.  So where are these cities?

Intel has put together a nice list - here’s their Most Unwired Cities.

1. Seattle Metro, WA (pictured)
2. San Francisco Bay Area, CA
3. Austin Metro, TX
4. Portland, OR
5. Toledo, OH
6. Atlanta, GA
7. Denver, CO
8. Raleigh-Durham Metro, NC
9. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
10. Orange County, CA
11. San Diego, CA
12. Chicago, IL
13. Boston, MA

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Small towns that ‘get’ the creative class

Some small towns that are looking to boost sagging economies and abandoned downtowns have committed to attracting the creatives. The results have been more than positive, as this on New York’s progressive small towns illustrates.

Within 10 years, Hudson’s neglected downtown Warren Street became a vibrant destination by establishing 19 galleries, and 40 restaurants and shops focused on the arts community. Since 2001, home value increased

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It’s not how far you commute, but how long it takes

To best understand the nature of commuting, it’s best to first introduce:

Larry Tesler’s Law of Conservation of Complexity: The complexity of a business process is like energy - it cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be moved around. There is a base level of complexity that can’t be simplified any further. This is related to the adage, “The more things change the more they stay the same” and is the basis for…

Tog’s Law of

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Manhattan’s smallest, coolest apartments

What better way to learn how to design and live in a tiny living space than through a first annual smallest, coolest apartment contest for Manhattanites, hosted by Apartment Therapy.  Apartment Therapy, the brainchild of interior designer Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, is an hourly (yes, hourly) updated website on all things innovative and inspirational when it comes to Manhattan apartment decor.

The apartment square footages of the five finalists?  250,

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As covered in yesterday’s story, working professionals value their workplaces at home.  However, because they tend to spend less time cooking or entertaining at home, they opt for smaller kitchens to save costs - sometimes at the same size as their workplaces. Here’s a look at when small becomes tiny when one is willing to sacrifice square footage to live in the best (i.e. most expensive) neighborhood.

This is the kitchen armoire.  It’s an armoire when you’re not preparing/cooking, and a

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The workplace alcove

The workplace alcove is becoming more of a standard feature in new urban homes, as reported yesterday.  Younger people simply can’t afford a separate room just for an office, so alcoves are the next best thing. It also better fits the modern open-plan layout, and the coffeeshop mentality as well.

Architect/author Sarah Susanka began popularizing the idea in her Not So Big House book in 1998, and Neal Zimmerman and Associates AIA is one of the leading resources for

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As we shift to a society where only 1 out of 5 households is ‘married with children’ (see yesterday’s story, our homes will change as well.

Many young professionals will go with smaller kitchens since they ‘prepare’ rather than cook meals (have microwave oven, will survive) and entertain out of the house. In exchange, they’ll opt for a larger living room or bedroom that can accommodate a workplace alcove, one in each when there are at least two household members.  These kitchens will also

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‘Married with kids’ less than 20% of net growth

Singles living alone, together or with kids; and married couples without children will account for 90% of the net new household growth in this decade, according to U.S. Census figures.  In 15 years, married couples with kids will represent only 1 out of every 5 households.

No, the country isn’t going dysfunctional.  Boomers are aging, turning into ‘nexers‘ (boomer empty nesters) and ‘never nesters’ (childless couples who both are working

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Intown Living: A Different American Dream

Intown Living: A Different American Dream is one of the latest books focused on the urban migration.

While many boomers writing on the subject attribute the move back to cities to the baby boomer/empty nester generation, the boomerish authors conclude that it’s young people, and by a predominant margin (backed by Census data). The median age of the people in the ‘intowns’ covered in the book is generally around 30.

Most of the book consists of

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$70K lofts in Minneapolis?

Now this is the best solution to gentrification - beautiful housing at prices for people at 50% below the median income, like a $70K loft in the recently completed Lofts on Art Avenue in downtown Minneapolis, which also happens to be a star creative class city.

How’d it happen?  A strong sense of community.  The Stevens Square Community Organization, a local nonprofit focused on the best interests of the Stevens Square neighborhood, agreed that attainable

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The little known catch 22 of gentrification

Gentrification: The restoration and upgrading of deteriorated urban property by middle-class or affluent people, often resulting in displacement of lower-income people.

With a dictionary definition like that, what good is there in a bunch of rich people pricing a bunch of poor people out of their neighborhood?  In a place like Harlem where only 10% of all residences are owner-occupied (average in New York City is 30%, nationally it’s 67%), not

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