The Handbuilt City

Weekend Project: Working with Weathered, Reclaimed Lumber

September 19, 2022September 19, 2022 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments capillary action, douglas fir, drying oil, fir, freeze-thaw, hardwood, how to work with reclaimed lumber, linseed oil, natural, natural finishes, natural wood finishes, old wood, orbital sander, pine, polymerized linseed oil, random orbital sander, reclaimed lumber, ron desantis, sandpaper, softwood, trees, tried and true, tried and true wood finish, varnish, varnish oil, weathered lumber, wood, wood finishing, woodworking, working with old wood, xylem

Many moons ago, when we renovated the third floor, we ended up removing a bunch of (non-structural) walls and ceiling

Urban Planning

Want To Municipalize Your Utility? I Mean, Really?

August 31, 2022August 31, 2022 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments climate change, detroit edison, distribution, DTE, DTE Energy, feeder, feeder lines, flooding, generation mix, grid, jerry norcia, miso, miso grid, municipalization, power generation, power grid, public utility, renewables, severe weather, southeast michigan, storms, thunderstorms, transmission, underground utility lines, undergrounding, undergrounding utilities, weather and utilities

DTE Energy is a disaster, as evidenced by its continued embrace of fossil fuels and its apocalypse-level outages. That doesn’t mean that a public option could do better. But there are some options for improving.

Urban Planning

Getting Rid Of Your Car Could Make You Happier

August 30, 2022August 30, 2022 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ann-kathrin hess, beck's depression inventory, bicycle, bike, bike infrastructure, biking, car culture, car shedding, cars, cars and happiness, cost of car ownership, Density, honda fit, infrastructure, jeff speck, non-motorized infrastructure, non-motorized transportation, Porsche Taycan, public transit, transportation infrastructure, walking

A new research paper assesses the perceived happiness of households that have gotten rid of their car. Turns out that it might actually be good for your brain! There is a catch, though, and it’s not going to work for everyone.

Policy Urban Planning Mobility Parking Government

Ann Arbor Axes Parking Minimums. In Michigan, That’s Huge.

August 17, 2022August 17, 2022 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ann arbor, Density, detroiters for parking reform, donald shoup, far, parking, parking garage, parking lots, parking policy, parking policy reform, parking policy reform network, parking pricing, parking space, parking spaces, parking structures, property tax revenue, shoupista, street parking, strongtowns, tax revenue, the high cost of free parking, urban heat island, which cities have eliminated parking minimums

The city of Ann Arbor officially abolished parking minimums yesterday with the passage of an amendment to the city’s development

Urban Planning

Oakland County Approves Universal SMART Millage For Fall Ballot

August 15, 2022August 16, 2022 Guest 0 Comments advocacy, auburn hills, brooks patterson, calley wang, dave coulter, DDOT, detroit department of transportation, DTE, GM, kevin mcdaniel, l brooks patterson, livonia, megan owens, metro detroit, michael gingell, mikal goodman, mobility, mobility organizing, motor city freedom riders, opt-out, people mover, quicken, rochester hills, RTA, RTA opt-out, RTA opt-out communities, SMART, suburbia, suburbs, transit, transit justice, transportation riders united, troy michigan, trumplandia, walking man, why is transit in detroit so bad

It’s official: Oakland County will have an opportunity to vote on transit investment in the fall! Such was the determination

Urban Planning

End of an Era: Fall of the Last Holdout Against the Little Caesars Arena

August 9, 2022August 9, 2022 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments amy fisher price, cass corridor, Detroit, ilitch family, little caesars, Little Caesars Arena, midtown, mike illitch, olympia, olympia development, scheherazade, shell companies, terrible illitches

A “mysterious” fire gutted what was perhaps the last holdout against a parking lot empire on which the sun will never set.

chicago-cta-station-train-subway-underground-infrastructure-transit

Urban Planning Mobility Michigan Midwest

Infrastructure: Think Outside The Smartphone-Driven Profit Motive

July 1, 2022July 1, 2022 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments autonomous vehicles, CASE, chip shortage, connected autonomous shared electric, effects of covid on transit, effects of covid19 on transit, Electric cars, elon musk, farebox recovery ratio, Ford, ford f-150, Ford F150, ford motor company, FRR, future of mobility, general motors, GM, mary barra, MEDC, midwest, new mobility, semiconductor shortage, smart cities, smart city, smartcities, smartcitiesworld, Tesla, transit, trevor pawl, triple zero, zero emissions vehicles

One of Michigan’s most visible mobility spokespeople recently said in a webinar that smartphone ownership and profitable markets were the two hindrances to developing sustainable mobility solutions in the state. It’s a politically horrific, functionally dubious, but baffling thing to say.