Urban Life

The Green Remodel Workshop in Phoenix

The folks at Green Street are putting on two Green Remodeling workshops in the Phoenix area. The first of the two workshops is being offered on April 1st for the first 24 people who sign up. 

The workshop is targeted for licensed professionals, including Architects, Contractors, Designers, Specifiers, Municipalities, Code Enforcers, Builders, Students, and anyone interested in revitalizing and making aging housing stock green and more energy efficient and they say it is not intended for the general public.

Below is an except of the Green Remodeling workshop description.

“The greenest building is the existing one”
The federal tax credits for green remodeling end energy efficient improvements have tripled to 30%. Industry research suggests that remodeling and retrofitting the nation’s older homes will have a more significant effect on reducing residential energy consumption than meeting even the most aggressive efficiency goals for new homes. Help your clients take advantage of government incentives and tax credits.

Upon completion of this session, you will be able to overcome common objections to going green, including the myth that green is too expensive, green is not durable, green is a gimmick, green materials are not easily available, and green does not make sense. The featured case study is Arizona’s first LEED certified single-family remodel, providing strong support for green remodeling. Attendees will learn common mistakes to avoid, best practices, how to design green, the cost and return on energy efficient improvements including solar, the latest in government incentives for green remodeling, green material sourcing, recycle and reuse guides, and an introduction to green rating systems including LEED and NAHB.

For more information on these workshops, visit the Green Street website at: http://www.greenstreetdev.com/green-remodel-workshop/

If you go, please send us an email about the event so we can post it to our friends here at Urban Life.

Happy St. Patty's to all...

Gene Urban
The Urban Team at Realty Executives
602-234-5777

 

Jane's Walk -- Downtown Phoenix Celebrates Urban Activist Jane Jacobs

Our good friend and downtown activist, Yuri Artibise, is coordinating a downtown Phoenix walking tour to honor Jane Jacobs.  We asked him to write an article on Jane's Walk so we could post here on Urban Life. It sound like it is going to be a fun morning.  Read on to learn more.

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Downtown Phoenix will be home to the city‟s inaugural Jane‟s Walk on Saturday, May 2, 2009. The free walking tour -- part of an international annual event commemorating the birthday of renowned urban activist Jane Jacobs, who died in 2006 -- will take place between 9:00 and 11:00 am. It will start, and end, at Portland Park on First Avenue and Portland Street (next to the Roosevelt light rail station).  Jane‟s Walk is a “street-level celebration” of Jacobs‟ legacy and ideas, combining the simple act of walking with personal observations, urban history and local lore as a means of knitting people together into a strong and resourceful community through bottom-up approaches and neighborhood involvement.

Jacobs was an urbanist and activist whose writings championed a fresh, community-based approach to city building. She had no formal training as a planner, yet wrote what many consider to be the "bible" of urban planning. Her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, introduced groundbreaking ideas about how cities function, evolve and fail -- concepts that are now common sense to generations of architects, planners, politicians and activists. Jacobs championed the interests and knowledge of local residents and pedestrians over a centralized, car-centered approach to planning. She also promoted refurbishing old buildings instead of tearing them down and building new ones, and demonstrated the desirability of increasing the density of cities instead of sprawling endlessly outward. 

You don‟t have to be familiar with Jacobs‟ work to walk. The event is intended to be fun and participatory – everyone has a story and they‟re usually keen to share it. Whether you‟re a local activist, resident, business owner, politician, preservationist, or simply a citizen who loves your community, participating in Jane‟s Walk Phoenix is a great way to celebrate the reemergence of Downtown Phoenix as a vital urban hub, and to honor Jacobs‟ legacy.

To become involved or get more information, please contact Yuri Artibise, coordinator of Jane‟s Walk Phoenix at janeswalkphx@gmail.com or visit http://janeswalkphx.wordpress.com. You can also follow us on http://Twitter.com/janeswalkphx.

Radiate Phoenix Meets at Maizie's and Talks Urban Gardens With Greg Peterson

It was a glorious green evening for the Radiate Phx gang last night. We met up on the patio at Maizie's Cafe on Central.  The evening began with a bit of social time, chilled beers, fine wine and a chance to say hi to old and new friends who love downtown Phoenix.

Claudia Bullmore took the helm, welcomed us to the Radiate Phoenix gathering and had each of us introduce ourselves and tell the group whether or not we had a personal garden. Why the garden question... because  our speaker for the evening was Greg Peterson, the Urban Farm guy.

Greg is a passionate sustainable living guru who has great credentials and lives his speak. Decked out in a garden inspired shirt, Greg talked the ins and outs of creating and maintaining an Urban Garden, reducing home energy costs and living a sustainable lifestyle.  He knows from which he speaks as the owner, planter, harvester of one of the country's best known urban gardens... The Urban Farm.

We learned a great deal last night. Greg talked about the variety of fruits and vegetables one is able to grow in our desert. The key, we learned, is both water and good soil amends. It seem, our environment simply sucks the nutrients out of the soil at a rapid rate so keeping the ground well fed is a must.

Several sources were provided as we explore planting our own gardens. Books like "Lasagna Gardening" and local gardening classes from the Phoenix Permaculture Guild and the Desert Botanical Gardens will help the home gardener thrive, enjoy and eat well.

If you would like to receive Greg's email series on living a green lifestyle, go to www.yourguidetogreen.com and sign up.  To keep informed about future Radiate Phoenix meetings, just check in with us at Urban Life and we'll keep you informed or you can join our group at Meetup.com.

Special thanks to Claudia Bullmore and Catrina Knoebl for putting together another fine program.

Gene Urban
The Urban Team at Realty Executives
602-234-5777

Downtown Phoenix Tree Planting a Success for Phoenix, SRP and Valley Forward

Yesterday, Mayor Gordon was joined by downtown residents, SRP, Valley Forward, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and others, like me, who just wanted to help make the Valley a better place to call home.

Valley Forward registered the 120 or so people who wanted to get their hands dirty and Mayor Gordon was brought to the stage... actually a bit of grass in front of a hole soon to be filled by one of the 40 trees slated to be planted.  Gordon thanked the various people who made this event possible: SRP, Enterprise, Valley Forward, Phoenix Fire Department, Roosevelt District folks, Girl Scout Troop 436, City of Phoenix employees and more.  Gordon has a goal to make Phoenix the Country's greenest city. One cost effective way is to plant trees. It also gives us much welcomed shade.

The 40 trees were donated by SRP and Enterprise Rent-A-Car while the gathered masses donated time and muscle planing them. Much to our delight, the city had brought in a back-hoe that dug the holes for us; my back liked that a lot!  In addition, property owners signed agreements to water and care for the new trees planted in front of their places. This means no tax dollars will be spent maintaining these trees... pretty creative partnering in my humble opinion.

Richard Adkins, the City's forestry supervisor and certified arborist gave us a quick lesson on planting trees. Did you know you should take a knife and make a light cut on the roots at the bottom and side where the container bound them?

The volunteers, already divided into groups, went to work leveling out the holes, taking trees out of their containers, cutting the roots and adding dirt to fill the holes. Phoenix Fire brought in a couple trucks, providing water as we filled each hole. Before we knew it, 40 Chinese elms were in the ground, dirt leveled, trash picked up and proud faces smiling.

Here is a little video of the event. Hope to see you at the next one; I'll be sure and announce it here on Urban Life... your blog for downtown Phoenix.

Gene Urban
The Urban Team at Realty Executives
602-234-5777