I need to put this blog on the shelf for awhile. As one of the Triumvirate, I seem to be spending all my discretionary computer time blogging over on Locally Grown, and many of my posts there have to do with planning and development.
December 29, 2007
Mothballed
August 08, 2007
Cool Google Mashup - Northfield's "Walkability" Score
A couple of our recent posts and comment threads have alluded to walkability, pedestrian-friendliness and multi-modal transportation in Northfield. I just found a nifty new site that utilizes the power of Google to rate how walkable different cities (and neighborhoods) are. It's a cool example of the kind of mutation that can happen when cross planning geeks with web developers and cross-pollinate with a few eco-Nazis. I like it.
According to the authors, some features that make an area walkable are:
- A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a discernable center, whether it's a shopping district, a main street, or a public space.
- Mixed income, mixed use: Housing is provided for everyone who works in the neighborhood: young and old, singles and families, rich and poor. Businesses and residences are located near each other.
- Parks and public space: There are plenty of public places to gather and play.
- Well connected, speed controlled streets: Streets form a connected grid that improves traffic by providing many routes to any destination. Streets are narrow to control speed, and shaded by trees to protect pedestrians.
- Pedestrian-centric design: Buildings are placed close to the street to cater to foot traffic, with parking lots relegated to the back.
- Close schools and workplaces: Schools and workplaces are close enough that most residents can walk from their homes.
I played around with the walk score and came up with the following results. As expected my downtown office location scored highly (94 out of 100). My house wasn't so bad either, scoring 72. My previous residence was slightly lower at 63. I tried a couple of friends' addresses, one near Sibley Swale and the other on Mayflower Hill; those didn't do so well (scores of 8 and 3, respectively). My mother's old address in Apple Valley scored 43. I guess it just shows that Apple Valley really does kick Northfield's butt.
Caveat: I don't believe the mashup takes true connectivity into account (i.e., sidewalks, pathways, etc.) so it's basing its scores purely on distance away from certain features or amenties that are cataloged by Google (grocery stores, parks, movie houses...) I blogged this mostly for fun.
Plus I wanted to show that I know how to handle its and it's.
June 14, 2007
Podcasting the Northfield Planning Commission?
I'm experimenting with my newest gadget. Since my preferred learning modality is so overwhelmingly visual, it's taken me awhile to get into this audio thing; but having purchased a digital audio recorder for other, non-blogging reasons, I thought I'd take it with me to yesterday's Planning Commission meeting with the consultants from ACP to test it out. In addition to being a relatively successful test of the recorder's technical abilities in being able to pick up a roomful of discussion, I'm able to share some interesting material which was presented at the meeting.
As a teaser, here's a two-minute clip of consultant Randy Gross of Randall Gross/Development Economics talking about some of his findings related to the housing market in the Northfield area. This got my attention because it was an economic development argument I hadn't really considered before.
Our Nielson ratings indicate that the Planning Commission meetings on NTV have quite a following, but I like having options, and some may prefer the ability to listen to the meetings while doing something else that's actually productive at the same time. If you're a masochist, you can download and listen to the whole darned almost-three-hour thing here.
March 31, 2007
Commissioner Prepares for Camel-Racing Competition
Made you look. 
Made you look. The Planning Commission and City staff have a big week ahead of us. The consultants from ACP Visioning and Planning will be in town most of the week, and some of us are involved in meetings Monday night, Tuesday morning, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, and Thursday morning (whew!). Check out the official schedule on NorthfieldPlan.org.
Note: The photo above is of planning commissioner Alice Thomas, taken today in Oman. She may be jet-lagged for next week's series of meetings, but she appears to have a good shot at being relaxed and happy.
March 27, 2007
This Whole Blogging Thing... I Dunno
Upon Griff's urging, I'm experimenting with using Zoundry to try to manage my blogs. It really is important to be posting regularly, and I find that there are both technical and psychological obstacles that prevent me from posting as frequently as I'd like. On the technical side, I manage or contribute to five blogs, and the different publishing platforms, while fairly easy to use, each require their own learning curve and interface. Since I have my notebook computer with me almost all the time, it makes sense to use desktop tools like Zoundry. If I get into the habit of using Zoundry as my daily blogging journal and post to the appropriate blogs, then all I have to deal with is the psychological issue. That has something to do with a mental block that kicks my perfectionist tendencies into gear whenever I do something that displays in print (psychological obstacle #1).
Here's where I'm blogging from today - my "morning room" just off the kitchen. The window's open and I'm listening to the cardinals doing their spring concert. It's pretty awesome.
(The above paragraph was brought to you courtesy of "overcoming psychological obstacle #2", which isn't comfortable revealing much about my private life. I've always had a sneaking suspicion that bloggers are either megalomaniacs or exhibitionists or both, but I'm trying to reconcile myself to the spirit of Web 2.0 and the whole social networking phenomenon.)
