convulso

i hadn't been at all enthusiastic about the look of this project until seeing these renderings. now i can see the 'signature.' in the renderings, it's far less out of proportion with the rest of the skyline than i had previously thought. hope it turns out that way.

kyle whitmire lays some smack: http://www.bhamweekly.com/?article_id=96#article like you, GS, i have had a bad feeling about anything happening with any bham downtown project since the carol hatcher 'proposal' was announced a couple of days ago. everything seemed to have some kind of lurchy, fumbling momentum until this was announced, and it sounded so loony and calculated to shift the spotlight away from the more realistic proposals that it shocked me into realizing that nothing is going to happen...again. or, like kyle says, if it does, it will happen in spite of efforts to stall it - certainly not because of efforts to move it forward.

but...but...i thought that diamond had it all! wait...the current casino was built in 2001? and it's being demolished so a parking lot can go there? is wal-mart a part of this? "...now tribes are creating themselves as destination resorts..." - aside from this being a moronic thing to say (tribes 'creating themselves?' the whole self image of the tribe is that of a tourist attraction?), does anyone foresee that this will be true? are protected-lands casinos in AZ (or anywhere else) ever going to be seen as destinations for out-of-towners? since only one casino usually occupies a large space in these instances, i don't see it - i don't care how elaborate that casino is. i think the biggest regional draw is - and will continue to be - the concerts and similar events. but it's easy for me to go off on casinos. the 'south park' episode on indian casino gambling, along with the DVD commentary, pretty much sums up my feelings about it. i don't think i'd pay to see the smiths reunite if i had to go to a rez casino to do it.

i have totally forgotten the name of the little park where this waterfall is. i think it may be near the julia pfeiffer burns state park about an hour south of monterey. it's been nearly two years since we were there, and i'm just now getting around to sorting through all the hundreds of pics...so i may be posting more up and down the PCH:

what were the fireworks for? here's some tucson vice-style whatnot...got bored last summer at home, walked downstairs and pointed the camera upward:

funny about ajo - i drove down to arivaca yesterday (what an interesting mini-trail that mustang / arivaca creek trail is!) and came back on 286 and then ajo way, around 4:30 or so. the traffic on ajo is getting to be too much for the amount of growth that you're talking about on the southwest side. a lot of people actually turn onto kinney / gates pass to get into tucson, using the roads that cut through the mountain park as through routes. sidewinding up the face of the hills at 20 mph in a string of cars stretching for nearly a mile is not cool. i guess the answer will be to extend ajo's four-lane portion further west. and i agree - i think the tucson I-10 congestion that people are going to be worrying about in the near term is on the eastern side. like it or not, i see tucson to benson becoming pretty well developed over the next few years.

colin - unless my atlas is wrong, it's the tortillas i was referring to (the range bounded by 79 to the west, 77 to the east and 60 to the north). the tortolitas are just north of oro valley. but i admit, i was only familiar with the tortolitas until i looked up the tortillas before making my previous post - i know the tortolitas when i see them, but they aren't where these here 'tortillas' are on my atlas - they're south of the tortillas. trying to do my homework (maybe trying too hard)! . . . . . my point, matt, about rural change has nothing to do with tucson as an urban entity. the comparisons i could make with other situations in which the interests of town & country come into conflict would be appropriate. i agree with your point about tucson having an infrastructure outpaced by its growth - and that there is too much opposition to density-rich growth here - and that people often end up deserving what they get. but note that a new freeway that runs 30-50 miles north of tucson - and i mean 30-50 miles north of the last few outskirt suburban fringe tracts - could by definition not be 'infrastructure' for tucson. colin's point about tucson having avoided such growth in the past decades is right on, imho. a city can grow without following a boilerplate blueprint that every sprawl town in america unthinkingly emulates. it is easy for me to grouse about what is wrong in tucson (notice that i do it a lot), but it pays for me to remember how it could have gone even more wrong - and what happened, in the past, to make me so grateful that it didn't. i was merely addressing the possibility that a northern bypass could cut through areas so far removed from even sub-suburban life that the changes that would occur would be tragic - because they would be so needless. it would not help those areas, even if it did help phoenix and tucson. and that is a bad formula - hurting the remote rural areas to help the urban ones (hence my deep south and CAP comparisons...which i didn't even really make, for brevity's sake).

my apartment view in auburn is nothing but decent graffiti on the roof / facade walls of a neighboring building across the alleyway. kinda like it. http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=28646 there're a couple of photos somewhere in there. there's more graffitti than that; that's just what i can see without getting out on the balcony.

if it's lounge that you like...have you heard of goldfrapp? if not, you might like felt mountain. that album makes me feel like i'm trapped in a '40s movie every time i hear it. pure elegance. and yeah, she's commercial, sorta.

i thought this was an interesting thread: http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=35898 i did not feel that it smacked of boosterism - as we all know painfully well, people have an ability to steer almost any topic in that direction if so inclined. i do note that this posting comprised merely a re-hashed list with no accompanying comments, so i know there was sound basis, rule-wise, to close the thread. i understand the futility of threads that result in a stream of 'way to go (_____your fave place here_____)'-type responses, but sometimes an appropriate news article can inform people or engender a fruitful discussion without the need for a leading comment to direct or color any forthcoming discussion. i have no way of knowing whether this particular thread would have done that, but it seemed to have more substance than mere boosterism - especially since: a) the list was the result of a poll sponsored by a third party, and not merely an editorially subjective 'list from a magazine'; and b) the list included many other places outside the subforum's region and might have spurred some interesting talk about local and regional trends in industrial development. i do think that this thread would have generated some discussion - i was about to hit 'reply' when i saw that it had been closed. my interest specifically was in how certain regions (the deep south, in this case) seem to be 'progressing' in terms of attracting specific types of heavy industry, such as automotive manufacturing plants and parts suppliers; yet these same regions may not be making similar inroads in other types of sought-after investment (say, tech R&D or finance). also, i thought it interesting that the general perception of a city's aggressiveness in courting such developments may not have a basis in hard facts, and, if so, that such perceptions take on a life of their own (why is that? is it ultimately a good thing that feeds the beast, or a bad house of cards scenario, etc?) some media articles need very few words to explain their significance to a discussion board. i posted a couple of articles the other day with almost no qualifying explanation (this was before i had read the guidelines in this post, however.) upon reflection, i do feel that i (and others) often start these types of topic threads on the lazy assumption that only locals or people with prior interest and knowledge will read them; therefore we are not always as clear in our introductions to the topics as newcomers to our specific areas of interest might appreciate. for the sake of fair play, here's the link - please close it if it is out of line: http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=35609 i confess that i lack the sophistication of thought - in this arena, at any rate - that comes from having moderated for many months (or years) on a board like UP that deals with highly focused areas of interest. i suppose i'm just seeking some clarification on the philosophy behind some of these regulations. i really mean that; not trying to sound trite or falsely self-effacing. moderating these boards is a job that requires a measure of sensitvity that comes primarily with experience and an unfolding succesion of precedents in making judgment calls. lacking that, i can't follow the logic of how a post like the one made by HSVTiger could, in spirit, be transgressive (though i certainly see how it transgressed the 'letter' of the guidelines listed above). would it be possible to perhaps either a) look at some of these types of posts on a case-by-case basis - or at least see what initial direction any follow-up discussion takes before deciding to close them; or b) just having a once-for-all sticky that tersely explains the logic behind some of the guidelines, so that anyone who violates them will have no excuses such as 'i meant it in this way, not that way,' etc? i think this would be especially helpful in the subforums, since not all of them share the same set of rules for posting. either of those options above is labor-intensive for mods (especially the 'a' suggestion), so i totally understand why mods would oppose it. and on that note - true thanks for the tedious asspain that you mods repeatedly put yourselves through to keep this board running as faithfully to its mission as it does. i wouldn't keep coming back to UP if you guys weren't good at what you do, because it would have descended into junior high nyah-nyah hijinks a long time ago. years since its modest inception, and UP is still growing and extending its appeal to thoughtful people from all over - and that is pretty much 100 per cent a debt to the work of skilled moderators who keep this place stimulating and not sensational. i hope this all came across as i intended - not a complaint, but a desire to understand the logic of the rules. if i understand that logic, i (for one) am far less likely to start a doomed topic or fuel a misguided discussion. and if i didn't emphasize it enough - sincere thanks to the good mods at UP.

i'm thinking of taking a collection and buying a sympathy card and bouquet for tucson developers, if anyone's interested in contributing.

nearly a billion dollars? do you know what shape this development is supposed to take (cul-de-sac suburb; new urbanist community; condos & townhouses; lake mansions, etc...)? is it mixed-use w/ some retail or 'dega tourist attraction-type stuff? that's a lot of money just for dwellings alone. but wow - sounds like it could make a huge footprint.

it had never occurred to me until i looked at the shreveport pics above, but SBC's amsouth tower looks like the prettier sibling of the unisource energy tower here in tucson - the differences are minor (the amsouth has 'stairstep' notches in the tapering corners of its upper stories, and has the contrasting masonry facade that juts out from the glass), but they make the amsouth look appealing and fresh; whereas the unisource looks drab and much older: http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=unisou...r-tucson-az-usa the amsouth is 10 meters taller. both buildings went up in 1986, according to emporis. amazing how they look like they represent different design eras. can't find architect info on the amsouth - but i don't believe the same firm designed both buildings. i always admire the amsouth tower (and the shreveport skyline in general) every time i pass through. one day i hope to detour off I-20 and spend some time downtown. nice pics.

love that last photo. reminds me of flower in LA.

same here - thanks for passing it along. in addition to all the benefits you named, it's also a nice step for an area that is ripe for rejuvenation one small, modest business at a time. green springs is perfect as an attractor of hungry, les well-heeled retailers / restaurateurs who want a chance to succeed but lack the funds to give their vision a shot in a more expensive part of town. could eventually become a less bombed-out corridor and actually have a little injection of character in the process. wouldn't that make for a nice connecting corridor from UAB to lakeshore?

looks like you made a rather comprehensive round for a brief trip. wonderful pics. just drove through nogales today (en route to somewhere else - ended up in globe - don't ask.) actually left a note on an AL car in globe whose owner apparently was from the same small county in AL as i (according to the tag number...) - weird. if you have more, post! these are great.

here's a homosexual retort i found a few days ago to the gay bathroom scarysex story - it pissed a lot of gay people off (or pissed off a few vocal gay people). i agree that it's a ploy to get viewers, especially since kgun is in third place. it seemed needy, if you watched the piece - as in, 'please - we need viewers!' ...and damn - no more destry jetton! http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2007/02/02/206

finally - the local tv news can stop repeating itself and start a new cycle they can get a lot of mileage from: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070208/ap_on_...mmigrants_slain the star will start trying to win some awards using this as a springboard as well.