Housing Bubble, credit bubble, public planning, land use, zoning and transportation in the exurban environment. Specific criticism of smart growth, neotradtional, forms based, new urbanism and other top down planner schemes to increase urban extent and density. Ventura County, California specific examples.
It's at the Grand Canyon. The Hualapi (sp.) Indians are building a glass enclosed walkway as a tourist attraction. The walkway will give users the sensation and feeling of "walking on air" above the canyon.
Anyway, the Hualapi community is extremely impoverished; they believe that this project may gain them some economic empowerment.
"Upon completion, the Glass Bridge will be suspended 4,000 feet above the Colorado River on the very edge of the Grand Canyon. On May 2005, the final test was conducted and the stucture passed engineering requirements by 400 percent, enabling it to withstand the weight of 71 fully loaded Boeing 747 airplanes (more than 71 million pounds). The bridge will be able to sustain winds in excess of 100 miles per hour from 8 different directions, as well as an 8.0 magnitude earthquake within 50 miles. More than one million pounds of steel will go into the construction of the Grand Canyon Skywalk."
bob dawg, where did you see the pricing info for the bridge? It's not on the bridge's website.
As for the merits of the bridge, I think its a great thing. It's certaintly cheaper than taking a helicoptor ride or a plane ride over the canyon, and you get the same visuals.
Cost was about $30 mill, put up by a private investor. Entry fee is $25/head. Said investor gets a share of the profits.
Not only is it cheaper than plane/chopper - It's much quieter and impacts the experience far less.
I've led groups into the Havasupai canyon three times now. With a group of thirty paying $50-60 each for camping fees, plus mule rental we can make a positive impact on the impoverished communities.
However, you don't need a compass or GPS to navigate - just follow the helicopter which runs north/south every 10 minutes.
I used to be a program officer/grant monitor for a health care research grant; I've worked with grantees in both the Hualapai and Havasupai tribes. The tourist trade isn't that great for the Havasupai health care system. They live at the bottom of the canyon, if you're pregnant and you need to deliver, if you can't foot the $200 for a helicopter ride, you have to go up by mule. Our grant helped the Havasupai to establish a community health worker program to help the pregnant women and new moms access to health care. It was a cool thing.
So keep doing those tours...they could use the money. And those tours look interesting. I'd love to go, myself.
BTW, why does everyone say Casey is gay? Plenty of heterosexual men put organic wax and highlights in their hair, carry a purse and polish their fingernails to a glossy sheen.
And every shack in the village has a satellite TV dish.
This is probably OT. My email involves wagga (an outback city in Australia) at comcast (an ISP in California) dot net. I have a lot of photos (and good memories) of my havasupai trips. Feel free to contact me.
God damn is Nigel condescending. This was posted by a reader responding to his inaccuracies:
"With rates dropping, mortgage applications went up. More of those three trillion in ARM resets are being refinanced into fixed rate loans.
Mortgage applications are one of the worst barometers of direction in this market. The majority of borrowers who are out there cannot refinance out of their 80/20 or option arm to save their life let alone their house. Just becuase there are more people trying to put square pegs in round holes, doesn't mean any of them will have any success.
Nigel is too lazy to even wipe his ass, let alone actually read something that may enlighten him. He seems to believe that everyone out here in bloggsville is falling all over themselves to run to his website for his "stimulating" "brain wracking" "intelligent but polite" commentary. He will do the same thing with data that Casey does with his countrywide loan "hmmm, this could be bad for me, hence I don't believe it, and so it must not exist!" Frankly I don't know who I hate more at this point, Casey the scamster, or Nigel the scamsters' crotch appendage.
Things I dislike: obstruction of justice. Things I like: unobstructed justice. Things I love: truth Things I hate: lies. Things I don't know what else to do with: everything else.
This afternoon I got really bored so I sat out on my front lawn and started chewing on the garden hose. After a while I went back inside to check IAFF.
“A Santa Rosa man was convicted Thursday of defrauding two mortgage companies and a title company in an effort to eliminate a $240,000 home mortgage. Robison said he learned the mortgage elimination process through books and seminars, and doesn’t believe it’s illegal.”
(Excerpt from a Press Democrat article posted on Ben's Housing Bubble blog earlier today)
I'm sure the difference is, Casey intended to pay every penny BACK, and I don't think this guy did. Er, that's what I assume anyway. Hey is it illegal to have 80 pot plants growing in my house? Not that it matters - when the cops bust down my door I'd simply tell them I didn't know it was illegal and that I will gladly dispose of them.
Oh they are going to bust a LOT of people. Just a matter of time...
"He says he is not facing criminal or civil charges"
"The charge? $330/pedestrian mile. Any questions?"
At first glance the cost would seem prohibitive, I believe our ancestors would beg to differ.
Due to the aforementioned contraption's remote location, would the cost per pedestrian mile include imbedded costs such as travel to and from the canyon in a hummer with gasoline at the surprising yet credible potential price of ten bucks per US gal.?
The town is called Wagga Wagga - pronounced Wogga-Wogga. Not super outback-y - i.e. not like Alice Springs or anywhere in the desert. We used to stop there when driving to Sydney for vacations.
Excellet for base jumping, that was my original thought. The canyon is 4000' deep at that spot - higher than the Sears tower, higher than Taipei 101 or Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. It's freaking deep.
Looks like Zewg is gonna own his ass for a little while lest those pics of Galina find their way back. Wonder what else he gave them in exchange for hosting? I wonder how long the Zewg splash plage sits there.
The charge? $330/pedestrian mile. Any questions?
46 comments:
Yes. Where is it? I want to get there first.
Having been to the Grand Canyon - not sue I like that new bridge.
It's at the Grand Canyon. The Hualapi (sp.) Indians are building a glass enclosed walkway as a tourist attraction. The walkway will give users the sensation and feeling of "walking on air" above the canyon.
Anyway, the Hualapi community is extremely impoverished; they believe that this project may gain them some economic empowerment.
Are their billion dollar casino's not working for them?
Just looked this up"
"Upon completion, the Glass Bridge will be suspended 4,000 feet above the Colorado River on the very edge of the Grand Canyon. On May 2005, the final test was conducted and the stucture passed engineering requirements by 400 percent, enabling it to withstand the weight of 71 fully loaded Boeing 747 airplanes (more than 71 million pounds). The bridge will be able to sustain winds in excess of 100 miles per hour from 8 different directions, as well as an 8.0 magnitude earthquake within 50 miles. More than one million pounds of steel will go into the construction of the Grand Canyon Skywalk."
It will open March 28.
http://www.destinationgrandcanyon.com/skywalk.html
@ Original Kev
Not all tribes can, or are allowed to have casinos.
The Hualapi operate casinos. Still a fairly neat bridge.
Actually, I am stupid and if I'd bothered to RTFM I would have known that their attempts at running a gambling op failed in 1995. Mea culpa.
The costs to build a tourist attraction at the Grand Canyon have zero bearing on whether or not urbanism is good.
I'll pass on that gimmick. Ugh, I can't deal with any place that's chockablock with annoying tourists.
Maybe I meet Casey there and throw him off. That would be sweet.
Well in that case, maybe it *is* worth the ten Bajillion dollars it cost to construct.
So is it nearly finished? The 'official' site has a broken linked image on it and nothing else.
bob dawg, where did you see the pricing info for the bridge? It's not on the bridge's website.
As for the merits of the bridge, I think its a great thing. It's certaintly cheaper than taking a helicoptor ride or a plane ride over the canyon, and you get the same visuals.
$25 per the website.
Cost was about $30 mill, put up by a private investor. Entry fee is $25/head. Said investor gets a share of the profits.
Not only is it cheaper than plane/chopper - It's much quieter and impacts the experience far less.
I've led groups into the Havasupai canyon three times now. With a group of thirty paying $50-60 each for camping fees, plus mule rental we can make a positive impact on the impoverished communities.
However, you don't need a compass or GPS to navigate - just follow the helicopter which runs north/south every 10 minutes.
Looks like Casey has stolen StephJ's picture:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sercasey/414342923/
He claims "somebody" found it floating "out there".
Fucking snowflake has no shame.
@Anon 4:36
Assuming a 4000' free fall, CS would have about 16 seconds to:
a) Contemplate his sins
b) Find religion
c) Say FUCK! about 100 times
d) Do one more sweet deal
@Jean Val Jean
Would that be the same type of floating one would feel walking on that Grand Canyon bridge?
@Sir Isaac
e) Learn to fly
@ Jean Val Jean
Yeah, he ripped off mine too. Claimed it was made by somebody...
ME, dammit! And he knows it. Sheesh.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sercasey/407429516/in/set-72157594541002979/
@ sierra club outings
I used to be a program officer/grant monitor for a health care research grant; I've worked with grantees in both the Hualapai and Havasupai tribes. The tourist trade isn't that great for the Havasupai health care system. They live at the bottom of the canyon, if you're pregnant and you need to deliver, if you can't foot the $200 for a helicopter ride, you have to go up by mule. Our grant helped the Havasupai to establish a community health worker program to help the pregnant women and new moms access to health care. It was a cool thing.
So keep doing those tours...they could use the money. And those tours look interesting. I'd love to go, myself.
Looks cool to me. I plan on walking it.
BTW, why does everyone say Casey is gay? Plenty of heterosexual men put organic wax and highlights in their hair, carry a purse and polish their fingernails to a glossy sheen.
Casey has been posting his next business deal on Craigslist.
http://stlouis.craigslist.org/rnr/290917358.html
@Katie
And every shack in the village has a satellite TV dish.
This is probably OT. My email involves wagga (an outback city in Australia) at comcast (an ISP in California) dot net. I have a lot of photos (and good memories) of my havasupai trips. Feel free to contact me.
@katie
And every shack has a satellite dish.
This is probably OT. I have lots of photos and fond memories.
This is probably OT. Please feel free to contact me at wagga (a city in outback Australia) at Comcast (an ISP in California) dot net.
Nice selection of Men's Purses.....or Murses as we call them here.
http://shopping.yahoo.com/s:Bags%20&%20Wallets:4347-Style=Purses:4601-Gender=Men's
Check out the Purse Money Box....reckon Casey would go for the feather trim to match his famouse blue shirt?
Anon 7:59 has murse envy.
True story.
T, definitely agree on the murse envy. Still streamlining my tin hat, though.
God damn is Nigel condescending. This was posted by a reader responding to his inaccuracies:
"With rates dropping, mortgage applications went up. More of those three trillion in ARM resets are being refinanced into fixed rate loans.
Mortgage applications are one of the worst barometers of direction in this market. The majority of borrowers who are out there cannot refinance out of their 80/20 or option arm to save their life let alone their house. Just becuase there are more people trying to put square pegs in round holes, doesn't mean any of them will have any success.
Then Nigel posts:
Data please
----------------
What a freaking idiot.
Nigel is too lazy to even wipe his ass, let alone actually read something that may enlighten him. He seems to believe that everyone out here in bloggsville is falling all over themselves to run to his website for his
"stimulating" "brain wracking" "intelligent but polite" commentary.
He will do the same thing with data that Casey does with his countrywide loan "hmmm, this could be bad for me, hence I don't believe it, and so it must not exist!"
Frankly I don't know who I hate more at this point, Casey the scamster, or Nigel the scamsters' crotch appendage.
There is a certain beauty in a properly constructed tin hat, isn't there?
I am currently tuning into mine. However, I must just be another 300 lb looser dyke who has nothing better to do on a Friday night.
Things I dislike: obstruction of justice.
Things I like: unobstructed justice.
Things I love: truth
Things I hate: lies.
Things I don't know what else to do with: everything else.
This afternoon I got really bored so I sat out on my front lawn and started chewing on the garden hose. After a while I went back inside to check IAFF.
The hose was more interesting.
OT but....
“A Santa Rosa man was convicted Thursday of defrauding two mortgage companies and a title company in an effort to eliminate a $240,000 home mortgage. Robison said he learned the mortgage elimination process through books and seminars, and doesn’t believe it’s illegal.”
(Excerpt from a Press Democrat article posted on Ben's Housing Bubble blog earlier today)
Hmm...where have I heard that before?
I'm sure the difference is, Casey intended to pay every penny BACK, and I don't think this guy did. Er, that's what I assume anyway. Hey is it illegal to have 80 pot plants growing in my house? Not that it matters - when the cops bust down my door I'd simply tell them I didn't know it was illegal and that I will gladly dispose of them.
Oh they are going to bust a LOT of people. Just a matter of time...
"He says he is not facing criminal or civil charges"
Hahahahahahaha!
Those evil mortgage brokers made me do it!
"The charge? $330/pedestrian mile. Any questions?"
At first glance the cost would seem prohibitive, I believe our ancestors would beg to differ.
Due to the aforementioned contraption's remote location, would the cost per pedestrian mile include imbedded costs such as travel to and from the canyon in a hummer with gasoline at the surprising yet credible potential price of ten bucks per US gal.?
anyone find it funny that casey got free hosting, and now his site is a zweg splash page...
has he been taken for a ride again?
@ Sierra Club
The town is called Wagga Wagga - pronounced Wogga-Wogga. Not super outback-y - i.e. not like Alice Springs or anywhere in the desert. We used to stop there when driving to Sydney for vacations.
Base jumping, anyone?
Eth real
Excellet for base jumping, that was my original thought. The canyon is 4000' deep at that spot - higher than the Sears tower, higher than Taipei 101 or Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. It's freaking deep.
Not sure how you get out though when you're done!
Ahahahaha!
Looks like Zewg is gonna own his ass for a little while lest those pics of Galina find their way back. Wonder what else he gave them in exchange for hosting? I wonder how long the Zewg splash plage sits there.
Way to set up another sweet deal Casey!
Homey's back! See the 8:08 AM post on the Casey Wars: Episode I thread.
@TK
Perhaps base jumping mules??
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