live

We’re going to go paint the road and put up signs where they aren’t and need to be. We’re not waiting for the city anymore!

Who knew a little design was so important?

So I’m riding along on my moto. I come to sharply crested hill out in the countryside road. When I got to the top, there was a car partially in my lane headed towards me on the blind corner over the hill. I swerved to miss and went off the road into the mud and took out some blackberries.

I woke up with the EMT cutting my amour off & strapping me to a board for an ambulance ride.

A few months later, bugged and confused by what had happened, I went back to see the sight. I crested the hill to find a row of stopped cars and fire trucks, and another overturned motorcycle.

Cracky! I couldn’t believe my eyes! In the same exact spot, another crash. The fireman then told me this was the 12th crashes and one fatality in that same spot in the last year. Do you think they should put up curve ahead sign?? I don’t know? Seems like a good idea.

Turn out there’s been several petitions to get the county on the situation with little to no movement. My crash cost me $68,000 in hospital and moto expenses, and a broken bone. Times that by 12, then add the fatality. That’s just this year.

Hmmm. $20. Road sign, + $17.00 in paint.

The Moto club is going up to paint the road and put up signs this weekend!

Waist no time or time will waist you.

We finished research, we finished concept design, we presented it to the residents, we presented it to the City. Everyone loved it. Now we wait to see if we get enough city funding to help out this neighborhood. Man I hope so. That was a lot of work. We’ll get it to happen one way another, but it would be nice if it was sooner instead of later.

Realizing that “saving the world,” is kind of a thing of Biblical proportions, I like to think of saving my little corner or at least adding to the “good” as much as possible instead of adding to the bad. This includes being nice instead of being an asshole when the occasional conflict/contest arises. I think cultural and social foot prints are as important as ecological foot print.

Since entropy always increases in the direction of time.
doing nothing isn’t helping.

I guess its time to get out of bed.

I hope everyone has an awesome day however cheesy that sounds.

oi oi che stress. Its imaginable that in trying to save the world one might run into opposition. Its unimaginable the amount of opposition one meets from team-mates just not thinking about what they are doing…or not doing. Well meaning, but really off. Me too, everyone does it. Oops. che stress. Synthesis is pretty much done.

I can’t believe I got through that tonight. We worked until 9:45 until we got it Solid. Synthesis of the research is always hard core, I tell you.

I’ve seen who the many of the players are, and have gotten to know many of them. There are people in this neighborhood who have an inspiring amount of gusto for life and community. Its great to be around them. We’ve been trying to define what this community needs, and where exactly the challenges are coming from.

Others live in fear and make their choices based on that fear, dragging the community down with them. The other day 3 guys came up to me and kicked me and started threatening me – just because I wasn’t from their neighborhood. I just waited silently until some of their friends nearby who knew who I was told them. Then we all laughed, and I got to know them as well.

Someone took me on a bullet hole tour the other day. Gunfights break out amongst thugs who don’t even live here, they just come here to sell drugs and shoot at each other. Yesterday 50 Hunters Point drug dealers were indicted. None of which live near here! That is good news – A step in the right direction at least.

This place is crawling, clawing, its way back into life. There were 15 crack houses on one street, Now there are none. They need help, but they have to do it from within for it to stick. This has to be a sustainable project that has to grow on its own. While we play rescuers from the outside, we can only give them the tools to make the changes. They are doing it little by little.

We’ve really just scratched the surface of what is going on here, and who’s who. It doesn’t add up yet. there are many forces playing on these people tugging them in opposing directions and creating amazing amounts of confusion in their lives. Crack dealers, politicians, hungry real estate wolves, environmental nightmares, cops trying to sort it out by abusing EVERYONE, and this rap culture which is so good and so BAD at the same time. This is going to be quite a challenging project.

We’ve got a project. We chose a direction and we’re moving on it. My group is still forming its self however and new people coming in have been bring new talents, ideas etc, and also have been taking up A LOT of time and energy. I have to devise a way to get everyone on the same page fast and get their energies aligned to work on the same work.
To fight the same fight.
To get rid of the urban blight!

AFH is international. Projects are going from Sri Lanka to Biloxi, Mississippi. But there are 3rd world conditions right here in California. We chose as a first project, one that’s concentrated on urban blight in San Francisco.

This will not be the gentrification of the area!

This will be taking a area riddled with crack houses and broken civil service, broken culture, broken infrastructure, half broken people, and making it a good place to live for the people who live there now. One step at a time. One street at a time. We went to meet the people who live there and they are full of fight. Some are raring to go. Some are clever enough to have taken advantage of government grants and got solar panels put on their falling down houses. Now they sell electricity to the city not the other way around. Nice!

Next we’re getting to know them and this area well. We’re going to base our design largely on what they teach us about them and their way of life in that area. We’re going to find out what they need and help them make it happen. I think there will be a few who will work hard at first and hopefully a few more later as things get rolling. Its largely up to them.

This is not about putting pretty trees on a street and calling it good. This is about instilling the tools a community needs to be a community and take care of its self.

This is sustainability.

It can’t be sucking energy from outside. It has to grow on its own with local means. When that happens everything good happens. They want it. I have a lot of faith in them.

Last night I went to another AFH meeting. After the brain storm I lead last time, we picked a project. This is very exciting. We have a direction now. ‘Low/No income housing in San Francisco’ in a blight ridden area. Its going to be very very cool when its done.

Any how, the head architect liked my input and pulled me aside to tell me I was a very valuable asset, and was really glad I was there. Then she told me that I should be on the core team that’s going organize this. Phew.

You know when you spend about 8 years in college, and then you’re done, and you wonder about people like Steve Jobs who were smart enough to drop out of college and start Apple computer. And you look at your loan payments that are about the same as a really nice house mortgage. Well. You wonder sometimes. Was it all worth it?

Then someone takes a second to tell you that when you decided to assert yourself it was good. And they need that. Its not as good as being asked out on a date by someone amazing, but its close.

I’m so excited. E-mails went bouncing about, they got back to me I got back to them. There are papers to fill out and resumes’... Time is ticking fast and time costs.(I’m renting) So I just called the president of AFH. We talked. I’m going to his office I think tomorrow if schedules meet. We’re getting to work NOW.

I’m putting in to get down south to the land Hurricane Katrina blew up after the bike races with Lance. They need a lot of hands down there. They say its part Design and Architecture and part knee deep in mud swinging hammers with masks & hardhats in +90F degree weather and sleeping in tents. Sounds like a party. Its my next goal if Cameron doesn’t need too much help next week up here. I hope I can be a help to get him going up here. I’d just be giddy if I could work with that guy. He blows me away. I mean I spoke with him 5 minutes amongst a dizzied audience after his first speech on the west coast. I call him up and he says, ”...ya come over, lets do some work,” just so matter of fact. He just moves without questioning too much its so amazing. I guess it comes from moving a hundred miles an hour every day with no time to spare.

Shit I hope this all works out.

I’m finally feeling it

I have struggled all Summer with what I “should” be doing next. The phone has been ringing off the hook about jobs this jobs that what are you going to do next on & on. I’m supposed to be in Bulgaria right now on a project… whatever. Its just been stressing me out and I haven’t moved on anything.

Someone bought me a vacation at a resort to “any where in the world.” Its been 2 months and I haven’t booked anything yet. What does that tell me?

I listened to this Australian guy, at my school speak about the same thing my professors have been talking about for years. Except he was screaming it from the bottom of his soul. He spoke calmly but you could see in his eyes as clear as day he was pounding his fist until his fingers bleed.

You could see the faces of unshakable mega-famous designers/architects and CEO’s of huge silicone valley companies in the room go a bit white listening to him. It was chilling.

Design matters. Design affects the whole world. Coka Cola sells ONE BILLION bottles of coke a DAY world wide. Just let that sink in for a second. Empty bottles * go where? No, really, where? A tiny percent get recycled.

Architecture for Humanity is a group of working Designers and Architects that have vowed to ‘Design like you give a damn!’ I joined. We met the other day after work hours to work some more for free for who ever needs it. We’re looking into the homeless in california; Sri Lanka housing for the poor; Housing for Hurricane Katrina victims… there are so many in need.

The idea is to get business and “doing what’s right” alined. It CAN BE THE SAME THING IT HAS TO BE THE SAME THING!* Donating endless hours on top of impossibly busy schedules can only last so long. There has to be a way to do this and keep it going. I think its about taking the first step and just doing. I feel it. I have to do it. Its in my head night and day. I don’t know where the money is going to come from and for some reason I don’t care. I have to find a new place to live and this and that and whatever, and I don’t care. I have to do this.