The Deleted Scenes - New and Old #58
After writing that Sarasota County, Florida is a poster child for America’s overbuilt and unproductive suburban development pattern, Herriges raises a plan that has gotten the county a lot of positive attention. But:
The plan is supposed to create New Urbanist-style “villages,” but, as you might expect, the actual, on-the-ground results bear little resemblance to that ideal. I often talk about the spread-out nature of suburbia, so this paragraph stuck out to me:
Read the whole thing. But if you don’t, read this extremely important paragraph:
It’s funny how Americans travel to Europe and gush about the sidewalk cafes, yet many of the same people see trying to create that here as inconvenient or suspicious. I’m not sure what explains that—maybe, for some people, the association of outdoor dining with taking COVID too seriously? Maybe the idea that that sort of leisure is just for vacation? It reminds me of James Howard Kunstler’s remark that what Americans really like about Disneyland is that it has no cars. I like this bit, which speaks to how ordinary and seemingly meaningless things can take on the weight of custom and identity:
Timms writes, “The shed’s reimagining of public space represents one of the pandemic’s more surprising legacies.” Maybe that’s part of it too—the perception that these pandemic-era stopgaps are turning into first steps in a revolution. Well, making streets calmer, safer, and livelier—inherently at odds with making them convenient for motorists—should not be revolutionary at all, in my opinion. In Praise of Small Menus, Grub Street, Rachel Sugar, June 1, 2021
I remember watching Gordon Ramsay on Kitchen Nightmares years ago, and one of his frequent critiques of restaurants was that their menus were too big. A sprawling menu means more ingredients to stock (and go bad), more recipes to remember (or execute poorly), etc. Diners often like the variety and sense of choice. A small menu means trusting the restaurant, in a way. But there’s also a COVID economic factor here, in the seeming trend towards smaller menus:
It’s interesting how restaurants combine tough commercial imperatives—a need to generate profits while facing notoriously thin margins—with real skill, craft, and artistry. As I try to remember to say every time I write about restaurants, it’s a very, very tough business. This is a really interesting article about upgrading and modernizing the old Soviet-era MiG fighter jets. I came across this in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I had not known, actually, that there were any former Soviet/Eastern Bloc weapons still in use in NATO. I guess I assumed they switched to Western weapons systems, but obviously doing that all at once would have been incredibly expensive, especially given the economic tumult of the transition to capitalism. The immediate takeaway from this piece is that for something as expensive and complicated as a fighter jet, repairing or upgrading is still cheaper than replacing. Related Reading: Thanks for reading! Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to help support this newsletter. You’ll get a weekend subscribers-only post, plus full access to the archive of over 300 posts and growing—more than one full year! And you’ll help ensure more material like this! You’re a free subscriber to The Deleted Scenes. For the full experience, become a paid subscriber. |
Older messages
No Housing Please, We're a Community
Thursday, May 19, 2022
But NIMBYs might instinctively grasp something very important
Board for Books
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
What Do You Think You're Looking At? #58
Culture, Nostalgia, Cuisines as Living Things
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
More thoughts on "concept" restaurants
Funerals for Buildings
Monday, May 16, 2022
Revisiting my first urbanist piece from 2017
The Transition is the Hard Part
Saturday, May 14, 2022
Densifying a city is like growing a beard
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