1) FiDi's Shadow Drama: Free Park to Make Up for the Trouble: "I took a walk through these parks yesterday to see what the big deal was. I was shocked (shocked!) to find shadows everywhere! Many of them were being cast by large trees. Some people were even sitting in these shadows, unaware of their nefarious effect on their enjoyment of the park. Some of them even seemed to prefer the shadowy areas! My god, it was horrible."
2) Rethinking "Open Space": "Chicago's rooftop gardens are frozen solid four months out of the year though. And when visiting them you stand a good chance of being blown off the roof and landing in Iowa"
3) Tuesday PM Linkage: "Dive deep into the meaning of your art, or else it will just end up being an ad for the red car." ... "Or, heaven forbidden, the closed and forbidden Muni bus door."
4) It's Official: The Archirati's in Love With San Francisco: "i can't believe i'm actually going to defend l.a. -- but it's just not true that l.a. suffers from a lack of 'scenic' beauty. i agree that the sprawl is exactly what destroys the continuity of the beauty of the l.a. basin. ...
now back to sf. definitely a magical place in it's own right. the 'bones' of the city are already there. the logical next steps in the evolution of this city is MORE inspired contemporary architecture -- additional green spaces -- and reworking of the streetscape to include more trees/sidewalk gardens/pedestrian-only areas -- and MORE contemporary architecture and density, the way i see it. thankfully others do, too."
5) North Beach Library Landing, Mason Street in Peril: "I surprisingly don't hate the design. However, I don't see the benefit of closing that street. The space gained by getting rid of the existing library will create large enough of a a usable and contained park area for kids. This is a pretty vital little block for anybody that lives in North Beach and could knot traffic up even more. I know NB needs the green space, but parks of that size tend to go un-used. Didn't the Nimby Hill Dwellers that are opposing this also oppose the last development on that spot & got their lackey Peskin to claim immenent domain?"