Privacy for Superman
Tags: amtrak, ck choi building, density, green inc., historical preservation, irvington, land use law prof blog, max, north protland, oregon, paul boudreaux, payphone, portland, seattle, stephen rees, ubc, union station, Vancouver
So my cell phone contract expired about a month ago now, and I thought I’d give life a shot minus the long arm of AT&T. I purchased a Skype number, so as not to fall entirely incommunicado, but my days are largely spent without the luxury of instant telecommunication. Overall, things have gone smoothly, but my lack of a phone has led to a series of revelations. Most apparent is the lack of payphones in Portland, which had me walking all the way to Union Station to make a phone call (a fair walk from where I was located). Perhaps it’s my unhealthy love of noir detective stories, but the death of the payphone is troubling to me.
Sure, wifi will soon make even cell phones irrelevant, so bemoaning the loss of the payphone is a little like denying the extinction of the pterodactyl. Still, there are issues of equitable access to communication to be addressed. Maybe public libraries will have to provide phone services along with basic internet access. Looks like Clark Kent will have to find a new changing room.
I’m not the only one who’s noticing. Fortunately, somebody’s documenting the remaining payphones. Now if only they’d map them…
Density v. History:
Paul Boudreaux of the Land Use Prof Blog nails down the competition between historical preservation and density, specifically referring to a proposed development in the stately Portland neighborhood of Irvington. I have my own views on this issue, but what is certainly clear is that history and density are not always complements. History is completely subjective and, as any planner will tell you, people love density… in someone else’s neighborhood.
The same conflict between density and historical preservation surrounds a proposed development in North Portland, which is far less well-off than Irvington. It’ll be interesting to monitor how these issues unwind side-by-side.
Better News:
Folks are excited about the opening of the MAX Green Line here in Portland, and understandably so. I’m more excited about Amtrak’s extended service to BC from Seattle (thanks for the info, Stephen Rees). Maybe it’ll finally be possible to catch a train from Portland to Vancouver.
Green Inc. wrote about the rising interest in composting toilets. If you want to see one in action, check out the bathrooms CK Choi building at UBC.
Red frog said:
Jul 08, 09 at 10:34 amComing from from Southwestern France where any town called Villeneuve de (New town of..) means that it was built in the 13th or 14th century, the debate history vs density does puzzle me as pretty much all ancient places, from villages to major towns like Paris, London etc. have both a high density and a majority of old buildings, quite a few going back to several centuries.
Mind you old houses weren’t kept because of their beauty or historical value, but because there were so many wars and such low incomes that whoever had a house, old as it was, was happy to have it. I had a client whose family built a “new wing” in 1789 and could only finish it in the late 1960s.. I now live in a suburb of Vancouver and the windows of my low-rise apartment overlook “old houses” from the 1950s, with big lots. I love these houses because they symbolize the USA modern times full of so many promises but they are threatened. Not by density, as one house is replaced by one house but because people here like monster plywood houses in a fake French style. I do think that the unused big front yards are a waste of space and so are the wide streets. It would be possible to cut back the front yards drastically (the back yards are good size too) and have a narrow street close to the houses, then use the space now taken by the wide street to build townhouses. But of course 99% of the homeowners would refuse even though the property taxes on these sterile front yards are skyrocketing…