urban planning

This summer our vacation was short, but spectacular, full of Fourth of July fireworks, rich food, and Americana music. Rather than fly halfway across the country for a week in some Ecotopia we hopped a plane to Baltimore to see our son Rob's band The Belleville Outfit open for Lyle Lovett . The concert venue was downtown on the ritzy Inner Harbor, and once on the ground we tried to keep our carbon footprint local and low by riding the MTA light rail in from the airport.

When we landed in Anchorage it was near midnight, but it wasn't until we  walked out of the terminal that "land of the midnight sun" really  meant something to me. It was so light that we could see 20,000-foot Mount McKinley in the distance. Betsy pointed out that she could also see what looked like her worst far-north nightmare: a snowfall swirling in the air all around. Not snow, our Alaska friend Venable Vermont assured her, but millions of cottonwood seeds drifting on the summer breeze.

The Spartanburg Downtown Code, developed in partnership with the city by the Lawrence Group from Davidson, NC, will soon move from the charrette and public planning stage to a vote by city council.