Free Speech in public. Buffalo, New York

Downtown in Dollars

Travelling from one city to the other it's the downtowns
that I am most curious about, first.
There seems to be an obvious indicator about the appreciation
of downtowns, the conditions that they are in
or even the whole city.
It is the price for parking on a guarded lot in downtown.
Chicago: $10-12, if I'm right.
Buffalo, NY it's $4.
Came through Youngstown, Ohio recently.
One of the well known shrinking cities of the U.S.
Price for parking there was 75 cent.
A day.
That's not fair.

I assume that 3 market forces come into play regarding parking
in downtown: weak demand for space that was freed by
torn down buildings. weak demand for parking by
people driving into downtown, keeps the price for parking
low. And: weak ideas about how to use free space that is
generated by demolition. the most common idea obviously:
parking lots. cheap, low in maintenance, generate some bucks.
I read an estimate about the Buffalo, NY downtown recently,
whereas about 50% of the total space of downtown is used for
parking lots.
I would prefer pocket parks, bicycle parking, space for arts,
places to rest and conservation of unused buildings,
that are assets to downtown.

3 Liquids that matter

Gas prices are on display at many places throughout the city and along roads. Wherever people are, there are cars to be fed, so there are these numbers high on display. So is the price of another liquid. Milk. Though not related to our beloved engines, it's diplayed quite similar. Suggesting scarcity, a bargain, importance. I can imagine that kind of signage for a third liquid in the future: drinking water.















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Parking plants

Found this plant close to a parking lot in a very urban part of town in Berlin. Could be a "Lunaria" plant. The appearence of specific plants in specific locations gives information about the soil, the local climate and much more. Only that I can't read this plant.
Fascinating nonetheless.














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cars on fire, preventing

Berlin Chief of police recently recommended owners of luxury cars like Porsche, Mercedes S, should not park their vehicles in districts of the city where most torchings occur, which is Kreuzberg and Prenzlauer Berg. Torchers prefer those cars. Still I don't know whether their acts are meant to be a class struggle - opposing gentrification - or a push for the environment - no further high doses of CO2 emitted by a burnt gas guzzler. Chief has been critizied by the conservative opposition in the city parliament to accept "no drive areas" for Porsches. I guess luxury car manufacturers in the past did not invest sufficiently into luxury car toys for toddlers, kindergarten, school system to pass on the luxury car magic to further generations. If kids are left behind by those longterm marketing efforts, they might choose a bicycle. Btw., Porsche and Mercedes sell branded bicycles in their show rooms (never saw one ont the street though). I wonder whether parking such a bike in Kreuzberg would be safe... And I wonder whether this is the future market for those companies: emission free mobility. To add Porsche subways, Mercedes light rail, Ferrari high speed trains.

Cars on fire, counting

Berlin 2007: 113 cars torched in the city of a total of 1.3m vehicles.
Berlin 2008: 59 cars so far.

Political reasons assumed, but the message still puzzling.

cars on fire, talking

Cars on fire
are becoming a common phenomenon in major cities
like Berlin, Paris, Detroit and where else.
Setting cars on fire keeps me thinking about the story
behind the act. May it be a form of political expression,
free speech - talking fire.
Sociologists, politicians engage to translate into more
common languages, police try to identify the talking
heads for an interview.
May it be a form of art - Nevada's Burning Man in the
urban sphere of public space. Adoring two key elements
of our civilization, fire and cars, combined.
Or the cremation of our true companions:
"the inner city itself becomes a car graveyard, vehicles
coming home from across the country to die incinerated."
Though until cars start losing fire (when dying - or
becoming e-cars) those vehicles always contain, control
and utilize those magic flames.
They are always on fire, the difference is
visibility
translation
the law
the smell

Get connected

got our ears placed at the outside of our buildings,
listening to whispering planets.
media planets. planet hollywood.
stars above. blue lights, flickering, within.

Broken glass theory

Another broken glass theory:
from urban form to beauty on the sidewalk.
shining diamonds in sunlight.
but as I assume that glass gets crashed at night,
it must be the sound of breaking glass that
thrills. I stick with the light.
(clinging in my ears: Grandmaster Flash...)
(click click)

Expression

expression of whatever you wish in public space.
publication on mobile walls in real environments.
the real stuff against the ww-web.
property rights over graffiti bans.
in case you own such a mobile display.
I'm not sure in this case though.

micro lakes...

on city streets full of interesting objects and views.
Berlin has rivers and canals, but its micro lakes
are much more impressive. in some way.

(click click)

Plants or Bricks on display

Coexistence of bricks and plants on a central business
district square in Berlin. Off picture: in walking distance
a big store offers Apple's i-machines. No plants in there.
guess I could ask for some from the hard drives,
to be displayed on LCD.