Nitt Witt Ridge

Discoveries: Is Nitt Witt Ridge folk art or junk-heap Hearst Castle?

CAMBRIA, CALIFORNIA – Dynastic pretensions reside 15 miles up the coast at the Hearst Castle, where that monument to capitalistic excess stands proudly amid the coastal mountain range.

Down here, where the proles dwell, lies a curious sight that many believe was constructed decades ago by the town crank as a snarky answer to the opulence on display at the mansion of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.

It, too, is on a hill.

It, too, has a fancy name.

It, too, is a state landmark.

Even without those official brown state landmark road signs to serve as a guide, you can't miss Nitt Witt Ridge, which is either Cambria's contribution to the nation's underappreciated folk-art movement or merely one man's junk-heap folly.

Click to read the full article.

Thanks to Mike Yui for contributing.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/07/5543812/discoveries-is-nitt-witt-ridge.html#storylink=cpy

Chicago Pension Problems

City Hall's pension spiral worsens

May 21, 2013

As Springfield remains stalemated over how to fix the state's underfunded pension funds, the condition of Chicago-area government pension funds is rapidly getting worse.

According to a report issued today by the Civic Federation, the unfunded liability in 10 local pension funds covering workers for the city, Chicago Public Schools, Cook County, the Chicago Transit Authority and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District rose 16.7 percent in fiscal 2011.

In round numbers, the 10 pension systems collectively are $32 billion short of the assets they'll need to pay promised benefits, up from $27.4 billion in last year's report and four times as much as a decade ago.

Put a different way, per capita pension debt for city residents — what each man, woman and child owes if the shortfall were divided evenly — now is $10,472. And the figure rises to a staggering $16,914 per person if debt on the state of Illinois' unfunded pension systems is included.

Click below to read more:

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20130521/BLOGS02/130529975/city-halls-pension-spiral-worsens#ixzz2ZWXPXaox

Suburban Malls

Victor Gruen Wanted to Make Our Suburbs More Urban. Instead, He Invented the Mall

MARK BYRNES

Victor Gruen, regarded by many as the American shopping center's pioneer, would have been 110 today.

Born in Austria, Gruen emigrated to the United States in 1938. In 1951, he founded his own firm "Victor Gruen Associates" out of Los Angeles. He hoped to bring his Vienna-like tastes in urbanism to rapidly suburbanizing America.

The firm quickly became one of the nation's busiest, providing master plans and shopping centers for municipalities around the country.

A 1968 urban renewal film presented by Victor Gruen and Associates titled "Fresno: A City Reborn"

His first mall, built in 1954 in suburban Detroit, was seen as the future of American shopping. Unlike so many of the fully enclosed malls that came after, the two-million square foot center included outdoor space (eventually removed), auditoriums, a bank, a post office, local retailers and a supermarket.

Click to read the rest of the story in The Atlantic Cities.

theatlanticcities.com

Gambling Cats

cosmicsolutions.org/health

Drop Manhattan Into The Grand Canyon

This Is What It Would Look Like If You Dropped Manhattan Into the Grand Canyon

MARK BYRNES

Click to read the article in The Atlantic Cities

Sister Cities Conference July 2013 in San Antonio

The Sister City International Conference is being held in San Antonio, Texas. Great conference, with attendees from all over the world.

sister-cities.org

Tom Halbert, Gayle Maxey, Ray Gossett, Beth Ruyle, and Craig Hullinger are attending from Sarasota Sister Cities. Ruyle and Hullinger have just returned from the Sarasota Sister City visit to Vladimir, Russia. vladimirsarasota.blogspot.com

The Riverwalk in San Antonio is one of the great urban spaces of the world. According to Wikipedia it was nearly paved over and replaced by a storm sewer. This plan was blocked.

"In San Antonio native and architect Robert Hugman submitted his plans for what would become the River Walk. The leadership of former mayor Jack White was instrumental in passage of a bond issue that raised funds to empower the 1938 “San Antonio River Beautification Project”.

The plan was controversial and took a long time to implement. Today it is a very special and popular place and the heart of San Antonio.

thesanantonioriverwalk.com

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Antonio_River_Walk

The Conference theme is "The Power of Exchange - Creating Sustainable Cities and Sustainable Relationships". The San Antonio River Walk is a great example of sustainable development.

Click for a Video of the River Walk.

Click for a Video of a Band on the River Walk

Bob Rivard is a San Antonio journalist who gave the Sister Cities Conference an excellent presentation on the use of media and on San Antonio. His excellent web site on San Antonio below:

therivardreport.com

Back From Russia

Back from Sister City Visit from Sarasota, Florida to Vladimir Russia. A fine time had by all.

The Sister City program was initiated by President Eisenhower. He reasoned that public visits and diplomacy among local citizens of various countries would help people know each other and avoid future wars. And it works.

Photos and scoop below:

russiaflorida.blogspot.com
sarasotavladimir.blogspot.com

plus.google.com/u/0/photos/105300085848069220062/albums

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