anti:freeze

I love the connections made here...the 'algorithm for wealth and luxury,' the repetitiveness, the innards of a computer...you're wowin' me again...

Great observations on the Pearl District.

I do like those buildings, though, once they are finished. Most of 'em, anyway. They are substantially nicer than those in the suburbs.

I must say that my heart sings a bit when I see a new crane on the horizon...

Yeah, they are nice. And definitely better than the suburbs . . .

I wonder what they will be like in ten years. Right now, with everything new, I get a strange feeling when I walk down its streets, like I've stumbled onto a movie set. Everything is new and clean - the sidewalks, the brick, the parks, even the people. The potted plants on the balconies look "too new." So does the furniture you see through the windows, all of it perfectly arranged. The place lacks what urban planning theorists call "memory," the collective unconcious of a place. The consciousness that exists inside a place, that makes it live . . . It will eventually gain one, and I wonder what mood it will project, how much more "real" it will seem.

I wonder if the new buildings are like new computers - everyone feels cheated by the mortgage they have, and now they want the newer, more popular address. I must admit, the idea of being jealous of the "new lofts" makes me smile. :)

And, of course, "niceness" does not justify "sameness." Nor does it justify creating district after district for only one economic class: the rich. Portland claims it is all about livabiltiy, but I often wonder, "Livability for who?" Even the streetcar was built as a justification for the high-cost, high-density housing in the Pearl. You don't see streetcar lines where people actually need them - i.e., where people can't afford to drive. Yes, the buses go there, but . . . When the best public transportation is built for the rich, there is a problem. And the few buildings relegated to income-restricted housing do not even begin to "fix" the problem. They are band-aids that barely cover the wounds. They certainly don't have anything for the struggling middle class, either.

My heart does not soar to see yet another construction crane. I am tired of the digging, the pounding, the constant noise pollution, the disappearing space, and building after building looking the same.

What soars is my rent, and my sense that I, too, will soon have to leave, like so many of my neighbors.

...right on....all things i never considered....buildings have memories?...how cool is that...maybe they have amygdalas too....which would be pretty heartbreaking when you think about it....