Author Archive

September 17, 2014

Reclaiming Urban Space for People with the Picnic Blanket Effect

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Recently, fellow blogger Hart Noecker of Rebel Metropolis shared this photo from Shorpy with me: I was struck how these people managed to define a totally new space within this parking lot merely by taping down a bunch of butcher paper. It’s as if they were “drawing” a new space on a plan, but they did it in real life at full scale. I encountered another example of defining a new space merely by putting something on the ground this weekend at the Belmont Street Fair. At the intersection of SE 34th and Belmont, which is usually never…

September 05, 2014

Bicycling’s Racist, Sexist and Classist Beginnings and How They Impact Bicycling Today

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet In today’s world, we like to hail the bicycle as the instrument of freedom for the underprivileged, the poor and the oppressed. But bicycling began in the 1880s and 90s in a context of racism, sexism and classism and for the most part was reflective of that context. But that’s long gone history, right? Actually no, bicycling’s not-so-egalitarian beginnings still cast a shadow in today’s world of bicycling and bicycling advocacy and this is something we need to look out for. Did you know that… – In the late nineteenth century, there was anxiety over whether “white, nonimmigrant…

August 28, 2014

How Bike Moves Can Go Beyond Just Being Subversive to Actually Being Useful

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Similar to the notion of people who bike because they want to and people who bike because they have to, the person who is in the Bike Move #1 photo above is hauling stuff by bike because he has to. The person in Bike Move #2 photo is hauling stuff by bike because she wants to. The guy in Bike Move #1 would jump at an opportunity to move that stuff by car, but he’s moving it on his bike because he probably can’t afford a car. The person in Bike Move #2 has every opportunity to move that…

August 21, 2014

The Ranch Mine does Infill the Right Way in a Historic Phoenix Neighborhood with the LINK House

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet “We need to look at infill as a piece of an existing puzzle rather than trying to create your own identity within an existing neighborhood and disregarding what’s around you. A good infill project is one that takes in what’s existing and also adds to it,” says Cavin Costello, co-founder and designer at The Ranch Mine. Costello and his partner Claire Costello prove these principles with their new infill residential project for developer Evan Boxwell of Boxwell Southwest, the LINK house, in the historic Pierson Place neighborhood in uptown Phoenix. The LINK house got its name because it was…

August 20, 2014

The Power of Public Spaces

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Recently I’ve been awed by the power of public spaces. Summer in Portland draws everyone out into the public realm. So far this summer I’ve been to two festivals at Pioneer Square, a street festival, a movie at the park, Shakespeare at the park, several picnics and have enjoyed time by myself at different parks. And this is only a fraction of what’s available to do in Portland in the summer in public spaces. Here are 5 things I love about public spaces: 1. Public spaces are transcendent. They bring people together that normally would not sit next to…

August 12, 2014

Biking is not a race issue, or is it?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Some bicycling enthusiasts will insist that there are no barriers to entering the bicycling community and that it is open to anyone who wants to join. Just look at the comments on my post, Is Bicycling Only for Fit White People? And a lot of people will insist that there are certainly no racial barriers to bicycling. This may technically be true. Everyone is technically welcome to bicycling. But why is it, according to the research of Eve Bratman and Adam Jadhav, that “in some places, the people who ride are mostly wealthy and white?” There are two types…

August 08, 2014

The Portland Roots Festival is this Sunday!

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This Sunday, August 10, is the 2nd Annual Portland Roots Festival sponsored by the Portland Community Reinvestments Initiatives (PCRI). The African food festival will feature food and crafts vendors, educational activities, music, live performances and a keynote speech by chef Bryant Terry, author of Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine. The festival is out “to promote healthy living through nutrition and exercise by tapping into the rich and ancient sustainable food practices of the African people…[and] highlight the different yet similar avenues these cultures took through celebrating the food practices of African-American, Afro-Caribbean, Afro- Latin, and…

August 05, 2014

Is Biking Only for Fit White People?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Apparently. The biking community in Portland is overwhelmingly white and seems to be comprised of the ultra fit who routinely go on 300-mile bike camping trips or insist on biking long and hilly distances in town, scoffing at those who choose easier, multi-modal ways of getting around. Don’t get me wrong, this level of fitness and dedication is laudable, certainly. But it’s also very intimidating and unusual. The biking community in Portland, at least the biking community I have been exposed to, tends to skew heavily (or should I say muscularly?) toward fit and environmentally conscious white people. Granted,…

July 25, 2014

New Summer Exhibition and Opening at Frank Lloyd Wright’s the Gordon House

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The Gordon House, located in Silverton, Oregon, is the only Frank Lloyd Wright designed house in Oregon and the only Wright building in the Pacific Northwest open to the public. It was built in 1964 for Evelyn and Conrad Gordon in Wilsonville, OR and was saved from demolition in 2001 when it was disassembled and moved to Silverton, Oregon. Set in a serene environment next to the Oregon Garden, this Wright gem is a beautiful and unique home to look at inside and out. Guided tours of the house are available everyday except Tuesdays and start at noon, 1pm…

July 17, 2014

Why Some Modernist Homes Make Bad Neighbors

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I grew up as an architect loving modernism and its clean lines, its spartan rectilinear shapes and its honesty of materials. But now that I’ve gotten some distance from my modernism-centric education, I see how modernism can go wrong, especially on a residential scale in established neighborhoods. As I’ve written emphatically before, I don’t think the solution is to copy historic homes, but to create a new contemporary architecture that reflects the materials, sensibilities and values of today while still honoring timeless and universal principles of being neighborhood and people oriented. Historic homes celebrated the front porch, for example,…