That’s ‘ugly’ in terms of design and craftsmanship, not so much style, which I’m sure many of you may be partial to.

When nonprofit developer Mercy Housing completed its 96-unit SRO (single-room occupancy) building for very low income residents in the Near North neighborhood of Chicago, president Richard Banks reiterated the group’s vision that the building would be “a statement that affordable housing doesn’t have to be ugly or look like a warehouse.“

Essentially, if very low income

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What does a thriving music scene have to do with a city’s economic growth? According to economist Richard Florida in his recent study, “It signals the rise of regional ecosystems that are not only open to new sounds and new ideas, but have the size, scale and commercial oomph to retain key talent and turn their ideas into global commercial successes. Once music scenes of this scale get going, they produce a logic and momentum of their own and signal that more entrepreneurship is on the