Speer Boulevard and a Trolley

If I was dictator of Denver, here is what I would envision.

First, lets tunnel 1st Avenue in Cherry Creek and connect Cherry Creek Mall to Cherry Creek North. This is not because I love to shop, more because I despise the car and love bring people together in cool spaces.

Second, staying near CC, I would also bury Speer Boulevard from University all the way to the Pepsi Center. Now, I am first to tell you that this would cost a fortune, and anyway this is my pipe dream.

Third, I would run a street car from DU north along University to CC, then along the newly covered Speer Boulevard I would run it above the street all the way to the Highlands and Tennyson Street.

Again, this is just a pipe dream, but what a cool one it would be. What about you, what things would you do to the city if your were the dictator?

Schools, City Life and Future Business Owners

In my previous post I spoke about integrating our universities into a renewable energy center. To take that thought one step further, why not bring the universities to the table in our cities, our communities and into our businesses.

Many schools offer internships, but few companies are really able to maximize this resource. In my Utopian Denver all the schools and their students would have places to express their wares or services.

As an example we have some incredible schools and offerings in the Denver area, here are a couple of examples: i.e.:

The Colorado Art Institute: here is a school that has chefs, graphic designers and every type of artist. Yet, where are their tie-ins with the city, or Santa Fe Boulevard.

CU Denver, Metro and CCCU: The city and the school have done a good job of tying the campus to the city, but with the largest enrollment in the State you would think that there would be a bit more crossover into the local workforce.

These are just my thoughts on an under-utilized workforce and those are only two examples from a pool of Private, Public, Community and Faith-based schools.

What do think? Are schools and undervalued resource or do they serve a need and so be it?

Progressive Colorado (continued)? And a green liquor store?

Again, I am not bagging either Colorado or Denver, I am just always hoping for a bit more from our elected leaders and business owners.

First off, something truly progressive: a green liquor store, for Denver residents the Argonaut liquor store is building a new shop that will look really nice and be green to boot. Here is the story: (Argonaut Liquors goes Green)

Okay, so now lets talk renewable energy, yes the state has a mandate for 20% renewable by 2020. This is something that I truly applaud, but that is not the point. Lets take this one step further, here in Colorado we have some truly great facilities for renewable energy: NREL, School of Mines, CU, CSU and others. What I am envisioning is a facility that brings all of these entities together under one roof. This building would not only house aspects of these entities, but would also provide space for aspiring businesses, allow classes to take place here and also open the spaces for corresponding schools and businesses (i.e. organic restaurants, green manufacturing facilities, DU's environmental law department, Johnson & Wales' marketing department and students from the Colorado Institute of Art), really the list is only as small as the imagination of the people involved.

An addition to my above concept here is New Mexico working a similar concept dedicated to solar: Solar Program in New Mexico

On the architecture front, where is the innovation and creativity? The new buildings are all copies of ones built five years before in New York or LA. We have embraced TOD and New Urbanism, yet we continue to take other cities ideas and copy them, why not take it a step further and innovate or build something better. I know that there are communities and towns that are building other great things in Denver, and if you know of any please comment and let me know about them.

Lastly my question to Denver why have an architect redesign Civic Center Park and not a noted landscape architect it is a park not a museum?

Progressive Colorado?

Before I go any further, I want to preface this with the fact that I love Denver and Colorado and believe that both are doing great things.

That being said, where is the innovation, creativity and progressive features needed to take the city and state into a bold future? Where is the overarching commitment to sustainability, i.e. Seattle's 100 year plan (Open Space Seattle: 2100 ), Chicago's commitment to green roofs, or Philadelphia's huge investment in renewable energy.

Here in Denver metro we are building an expansive new transit system, yet the powers that be are balking at making it all that it can be. They are arguing over more things that I can cover in multiple posts, and my issue is not with these arguments it is more with the vision of what FasTracks can be and also RTD. Imagine if we were planning on running the trains off of bio-diesel and electricity received from solar and wind, or if their parking structures were built atop shopping centers and housing.

Or, let us talk about the lack of options in going to the mountains, here I will cede to another poster who already wrote about it better than I could: The Urban Brain. But, lets assume that the state has done this, and take it a step further. How about a gondola running from the dinosaur lots outside of Golden and running to Red Rocks. Or stops near the casinos for shuttles to pick up gamblers. And lastly, a huge transit stop in Silverthorn with shops, a movie theater, restaurants and whatever else.

So, transit today, architecture and renewable energy tomorrow.

Tax credits for carbon offsets

Change in tax law, offering tax credits for the offsetting of carbon emissions.

This program would be three-fold. First being the exchange of personal offsets in exchange for tax credits (both individual and business). The second would be the transfer of credits from the IRS to a carbon broker and lastly then the credits would be traded on the Chicago Climate Index. The third aspect of the program would take the revenue generated from the sale of the carbon credits and use the monies to fund public transportation throughout the US.

Phase 1: Throughout the year a person or company would accumulate their carbon offsets, these including:

• Solar panels
• Green roofs
• Transit, bus passes and trains
• Planting trees
• Wind turbines
• Green remodels

The credits could be managed on a website i.e. www.trackmyoffset.com, then when tax season came around said person could print out offsets and take them to the tax preparer. The individual would receive a percentage of the money back as a tax credit and the IRS would take the offsets.

Phase 2: The IRS would take the carbon offsets and transfer them to a carbon management company; they would organize them and then trade them on the Chicago Climate Index.

Phase 3: The monies generated from the sale of the offsets would be placed within a fund to create future transit projects throughout the US.