Housing Challenge

It is my belief that the challenge levelled by Makabusi to the local architects and designers couldn't have been more timely about low cost (cheap) housing. The need for it in Los Angeles is apparent. But in Bakersfield?

Build It - We Are Already Here

Paper outlines the Los Angeles, CA, business and development community's strategies to solve the affordable housing crisis at all levels: affordable housing, workforce housing and homeownership.

Contributed by Walter Kunz

"Our goal is to enhance a development environment that will both accomplish the goal of building the 60,000 housing units that the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) have identified as the need for Los Angeles in the next five years, encourage and save the dwindling middle class in Los Angeles, and preserve our job base as we head into recession." Full story: Downtown Los Angeles - Affordable Housing

Then after attending the GRC of the Bakersfield Chamber this morning and listening to Mr Olscheid's presentation of the proposed "Entertainment Center" I was heartened to hear some of the changes toward urban design. We have all been waitng a long time for this project to evolve favorably and it appears that it might be coming together at last . (Two and one half years!)

There is no doubt in one's mind that the following news about Bakersfield will be heartening to the Bakersfield Chamber, BIA and Real Estate Developers. The one element missing for downtown is still housing -- that is "market apartments and mixed use. " To capture the promises of being the only single recommended City on the west coast for cheap housing is that one wishes there was another word for cheap! One wonders also whether this article is credible as it suggests a remarkable air quality standard in our community.

The 10 Cheapest Places to Live

Homestore publishes it's ranking of the ten cheapest places in the U.S. to live -- from housing to transportation.

This is a must read for all architects, urban planners and artists in this community. It reminds me of Cornell West's Reader. In his chapter on Race and Architecture, to quote: "The future of architectural criticism rests on the development of a refined and revisionist architectural historiography that creatively fuses social histories of technology in light of sophisticated interpretations of the present cultural crisis." (pp462)

Herbert Muschamp presents an excellent and exceptional article in this framework.

Power, Imagination and New York's Future

Herbert Muschamp comments on the efforts to rebuild Lower Manhattan in New York and discusses the architectural culture of the city.