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Six Million Dollar Man
Six Million Dollar Man
Will County Forest Preserve District
The first plan I ever worked on was the Will County Forest Preserve Land Acquisition Plan. Will County was and is a rapidly growing County south of Chicago. The team leader of the planning process was Don Eibling. Marla Uttech Gursh and I assisted. We mapped potential open space throughout the County, with an emphasis on wetland and floodplain where most of the wooded property was located. The plan was initiated in 1973 and largely completed in 1974 and became part of the Will County General Plan adopted in 1976. I used to kid Eibling that he put any property in the County with floodplain and a tree on it in the plan. It was an excellent plan, especially considering that it was the first plan any of us had written.
Tom Murphy was the Executive Director of the Will County Regional Planning Commission and our boss. He was an aggressive and fearless individual who was passionate about planning and open space. But he irritated many County Board members for a variety of reasons.
There was a faction on the County Board who wanted to buy open space and supported Murphy. There was another contingent that did not care about open space but wanted flood control for Joliet that would be provided by flood reservoirs to be developed in Forest Preserves on Hickory and Spring Creeks. And there was a third faction that did not care about either but wanted to get Murphy.
Mary Lou Marzuki was the citizen who led the political fight to get the County to pass a bond issue to start buying open space. She led a small committee, but it was mostly her who met with the County Board frequently, quietly convincing them that the County needed to purchase open space. We provided good technical support, but she was vital to building political support. We of course supported her. I watched her single handedly convince a number of County Board members that they should pass a major bond issue.
And so the County Board made the political deal. In exchange for passing the 6 million dollar bond issue for open space acquisition, Murphy was fired. And so Tom Murphy became the six million dollar man.
Superblocks
Nowadays, grand master plans and visions for spatial development are less common than in the 20th century heyday of new towns and planned cities. Perhaps closest to a grand vision is the Barcelona-born concept of “superblocks,” an idea which seeks to reverse car-centric urban development. First implemented in 2016, superblocks limit car traffic to the perimeter of three-by-three block areas, allowing for transportation to be easily accessible to residents while creating oases for pedestrian, recreational and economic activity. At the heart of this idea is the desire to rebalance access to and use of public spaces, reduce air pollution and improve livability. Other cities in the Americas and Europe are watching and learning as Barcelona aims to convert over 70% of the city into 500 distinct superblocks, with a few already implemented and more underway.
Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain. Photo by peresanz/iStock
Click to read more
https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/07/4-emerging-concepts-could-transform-cities
Covid-19 Impacts
Even Barbie is letting herself go...COME-ON-MAN IS NOTHING SACRED?So true onfortunately.Love these cookies...and they are fat free too!
Your Info Online
Your Info On Line
You can publish your information on line for free. Social Marketing is a low cost and effective way to market your organization, business or yourself. You can:
1. Publicize your business
2. Promote your organization
3. Write your family history
4. Publish the great American novel
5. Tell the world about anything you would like to tell.
All for FREE!!
There are many different ways to use the internet and social marketing to promote your business and organization. The following is one way.
1. Publicize your business
2. Promote your organization
3. Write your family history
4. Publish the great American novel
5. Tell the world about anything you would like to tell.
All for FREE!!
There are many different ways to use the internet and social marketing to promote your business and organization. The following is one way.
You try to make your blog interesting to your intended reader. You can just have entries originated by you, but it will probably be more interesting if you add content from other similar web sites. It takes a little time to figure how to do it, but essentially you are linking other similar web sites, blogs, twitter, facebook, linkedin and other sites to your blog. As they write new content it appears on your site. My examples below:
First step? Create your Blog. For blogging I prefer blogger.com which is free and part of google, but there are numerous other free and low cost services. You can get up and blogging in a few minutes, although it will take some time to learn the tricks. Click on:
First step? Create your Blog. For blogging I prefer blogger.com which is free and part of google, but there are numerous other free and low cost services. You can get up and blogging in a few minutes, although it will take some time to learn the tricks. Click on:
Start slow and easy - the blog below is my simple one entry blog.
You can write many blogs if you wish. You may wish to have one that is just your resume or brochure that does not change very often. My example is:
The address of the blog is a little long. You can purchase a .com address to make the address easier to remember, and have it automatically forward to your blog. This costs about $75 for ten years from GoDaddy or Google or other sources. Examples below:
The address of the blog is a little long. You can purchase a .com address to make the address easier to remember, and have it automatically forward to your blog. This costs about $75 for ten years from GoDaddy or Google or other sources. Examples below:
After you have your blog up and running you will want to join other social networks which will compliment your blog. There are many different social networks. These are the ones I use.
pinterest.com
facebook.com
linkedin.com
twitter.com
Use the same or very similar name for all the systems. If you are marketing a company or yourself use the name of the company or your name.
After you have your blog working, write a short blast on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin, directing people to the blog. Update them each time you write a new entry.
You will want to reach out and find others in your group and link with them. You want to let them know what you are doing without becoming obnoxious about it.
Use the blog as the main focus - Put information on the blog that your target audience will find interesting. I use the other services to point people to the blog.
My Examples - And I am older then dirt.
If I can do it - you can.
facebook.com/craighullinger
Pictures are worth a 1,000 words. A photo of yourself can be used. If you look like me, a distant fuzzy shot is best. I am a city planner, hence the map.
You can also use direct email to your contacts. I usually just send a link to my blog to my contacts so if they are interested they can go to the blog, or if not, just delete the email. You should send the email to an undisclosed@list.com with the actual addresses to a bcc address - that way spammers won't pick up the addresses and harass your email contacts.
It is your choice whether you use a simple email format or one with an attractive photo or letterhead - the attractive letter head looks nice but takes longer to open and will not work on everyone's computer.
Social marketing is evolving rapidly, but you can get underway quickly with no cost and a little effort. It takes a reasonably computer savvy person a couple of hours to get all this up and running, and then some time to develop a little skill.
The buttons at the bottom of the entry make it easy for people to send your blog address to their friends on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.
The buttons at the bottom of the entry make it easy for people to send your blog address to their friends on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.
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This blog was created to Plan the Planet. It is a work in progress - please click here if you wish to propose changes or additions or ask q...
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This blog was created to Plan the Planet. It is a work in progress - please click here if you wish to propose changes or additions or ask q...
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Pete Pointner FAICP, ALA, ITE is publishing a new blog. A wealth of material for planners. Click to view the blog: www.petepointner.com NEED... -
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