Pedaling to Prosperity

Pedaling to Prosperity

One of the truly encouraging trends we've seen the past few years is the gradual uptick in urban cycling around Sarasota. Many new bicycle parking racks have been installed and people are slowly catching on to the fact that the bike may just be the best way to get...

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Critics’ Choices: America’s Best Public Spaces

Okay, so—in a follow up to our last post—here are some critics' choices for the US of A's best public spaces. The article quoted is from Planetizen, a wonderful clearinghouse-style site of urban-themed articles. Do you agree with the critics? Disagree? Any nominees...

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America’s 100 Favorite Public Spaces

...and Sarasota's nowhere on the list! What about Island Park? No Arlington Park? Payne Park got snubbed? Well, it should probably be noted that this ranking was assembled by Planetizen and Project for Public Spaces largely through crowdsourcing, meaning that the...

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I ♥ SRQ: The Perfect Saturday Morning

The morning sun wakes me. It is warm but no longer carries the burn of summer; the orange light is pleasant, inviting. I wake gradually, as does the dog. The cat is stretched out on the wood floor in a bath of warm light. He half opens a single eye to watch me walk...

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Sustainable Sarasota: Sell a Car, Buy a Bike (part two)

A couple weeks ago I posted about merits of replacing a second car (or even a first car) with a bicycle. Bicycles are big right now in the worlds of urban planning and placemaking, for many good reasons. As mentioned before: bikes are affordable, they don't add to...

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Sustainable Sarasota: Sell a Car, Buy a Bike (part one)

   {image source} Anyone who's read this blog from its inception knows that we at Laurel Park Management are big supporters of bicycles and the folks who ride them. To clear up a quick issue of nomenclature, I tend to use cycling when I mean higher speeds, longer...

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Sustainable Sarasota: Going Green by Going Back to Basics

{image source} We at Laurel Park Management aren't out to save the world. We know that task is a little tall for a rental management company. Like most of you, we're trying to do our jobs well and support our families. But that doesn't mean we can't be conscious of...

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New Year’s Resolutions to Improve Your Neighborhood

{photo source} There's a Greek proverb that says, "A city grows great when men plant trees under whose shade they will never sit." The idea, of course, is that for future generations to thrive present generations must be proactive. If done right, change in cities...

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