Trace One

social security and medicare are easily sustainable if the pols would stop protecting their own and raise taxes a quintillionth on over 250,000 incomes – it is ridiculous that Social Security is keyed to not increase in contributions past an income of 110,000 – ridiculous..
We need single payer health plan, only way to go, any ‘voucher’ system…[Read more]

I agree, Obama’s war in Yemen that he is escalating totally beyond presidential authority to do so, should be absolutely a red signal for any citizen…It is our tax dollars..There are almost  no politicians willing to stand up aganst the war – Russ Feingold, Al Franken, Bernie Saunders, just a few..
I feel the best I can do is support others to…[Read more]

Bush was honest about who he was? You ARE kidding, arent’ you? Torture implemented, CIA officers outed for political gain, a war started with the ‘facts fixed around the policy” (Downing Street Memo), – I mean come ON john..and not to speak of his personal hypocracy – so  he’s living at his “Ranch in Crawford” now, right? Oh, he bought that “…[Read more]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcrdo4xMKD4
i’ll try this 
 
there’s the link – that one works, I think..worth a watch, in my opinion..previous link did  not work..

Thanks for post, Jason!

I mean Lafayette Park, not L’enfant Plaza..as an example of a NASTY  place in the eighties..

I just don’t have the same absolute condemnation for sleeping in public parks, having done it all over Europe myself, that you have Jason…..Sometimes ya just got to, and it is not the worst thing in the world..If JKK rowlings didn’t get a couple of years in sleeping in parks, we may not have Harry Potter now..
and I really don’t know where in…[Read more]

Jason, you may be right about Central, but you are wrong about Prospect Park. First, it is a myth  how dangerous the eighties were – I was there, every day, dog cocktail parties every day, and it was about the same danger level as it is now..
Secondly, people use to SLEEP IN these parks, if you know your New York history – you could  see droves o…[Read more]

wow, Thomas, incredibly cynical..Olmsted (sp?) specifically wanted his parks to provide access to nature that only rich people could previously afford – he specifically cited democratic (in the universal sense, not the party sense) values, in his design of the parks..And man, if you have ever lived next to a great park, the values promoted are…[Read more]

Thomas, haven’t you ever gone backpacking ?- one always ends up spending time in some park; backpacking is a time when a lot of us experience a low level of  homelessness…How does the cop differentiate between the backpacker and the itinerant homeless person? Wouldn’t one want to err on the side of less police state, rather than batons and…[Read more]

wow..what a heartless bunch..there but for the grace of god go I, as far as I am concerned – we could all be homeless with a small turn of fate…JK Rowlings was homeless…
I always give money to every homeless person I see, and have many experiences and stories about giving to homeless  – they often don’t want your help..I also designed…[Read more]

thanks, Andrew, that was so sweet!

Heather, dear, like I wrote,  it is by community generally – I picked up one site plan requirement from a google search for the entire state.
Big atlanta suburbs also have minimal, i mean site boundaries and the check, end of story, type requirements..The ordinance, as arrived at, is political, historical, depends on citizen involvement..
And t…[Read more]

ever been to Vancouver? check out their ordinance..landscape ordinance I mean..very beautiful city..interesting  ordinance – graphic based..
nothing is perfect..sorry your experience is so bad. And LA’s do a l ot of things in planning o ffices, for the $35,000 a  year they m ake – I am sure you know that! I think the long-range planners are way m…[Read more]

probably depends on the community, Andrew – I just picked up the first form that came up googling Idaho site Plan Review..Idaho has some cities doesn’t it? It’s all flyover land to me…

I think, Jason, that despite your unfortunate experience, Jason, the rule in the US tends towards no regulation and no enforcement, way more often than the overzealous nazi types – we don’t have many of them in the planning departments..
all zoning ordinances are subject to public comment and review all the time – I am sure you go to all the…[Read more]

It’s a long story, Jordan, that started, in recent history, with the locked doors of the Triangle Shirtwaiste Factory in Manhattan, where hundreds of young women jumped out of windows to their deaths in front of thousands of traumatized citizens..
And it is a long path from there, with many twists and turns..
‘Commercial Site Plan Review’ as this…[Read more]

I also think ‘revenue’ the typical war-cry of the Sarah Palin types, “The Revenoo-ers!!” is pretty unlikely, altho I agreed with thought at first..At absolultley NO time in my four years as a zoning administrator did revenue EVER come into the calculations – it is extremely hard to get convictions, you have to go through the court battle, it can’t…[Read more]

so there is no ‘commercial site plan review’ in Idaho, Heather? just curious..

gack. shopping mall crepe myrtles on the ugly church lot..
1.sounds to me like the process was eminently reasonable – lots of options for the church.
2. they probably have an approved site plan showing the lagers, that likely were chosen by height and bulk requirement. They are required to know that – new pastor, maybe?
3. There was  probably a c…[Read more]