Living space for fish. Test mobile blogging.

Is owning or renting more green?

Living close to the land, having solar access and being self reliant. Living in community, producing energy, and depending on each other. It is the great divide between Sarah Palin and Tina Fey. We don't understand each other. Common sense as a opposed to being smart. Single family home vs high rise apartment. If we look rightly we see that it is different paths to the same goal.
Sustainability-living the best you can. Not taking more than can be replenished. Living in harmony and balance. Being a steward of our resources. We may not understand the difference between the rural and urban stewardship.
Killing a wolf from a helicopter may seem appalling to an urban dweller, yet it is vital to restore the balance to nature. Living in polluted overcrowded cities is unbelievable to rural people but it allows us to produce products to conserve and harness clean energy.
Ownership is merely a financial arrangement or is it? Security, personalizing and making your own decisions are empowering. Owners can make green choices. Renters can make choices only inside their walls. Or can they? Co-op gardens and food co-ops can be very empowering to members. Choice is green while ownership gives more choice renters can make green choices as well. Co-op can even present more green options than sole ownership.
So be green in your own way, be sustainable and make good choices no matter where you live.

More Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Salvage yards

•The Habitat Store
805 East Trent Ave. ; (509) 535-9517
•Brown Building Materials
112 N. Erie Street; 509-535-0112
•Forget-Me-Not Gifts & Antiques
1402 N. 4th St., Coeur d'Alene; (208) 765-9493
•Salvage Warehouse
2121 E. Broadway, Spokane; (509) 533-1903

Message to the Canidates

One of the mile posts on the road to prosperity in our country is ownership. Converting renters to owners is the long term solution for our economy. Prosperous families mean a prosperous economy.

Families should not be placed in jeopardy by predatory lending schemes that take advantage of families. It makes me sick that we are bailing out the predators while lenders are foreclosing on families.

Our cities lack good starter houses. Governmental zoning regulations have limited opportunities for starter homes.

Developers then put up super-sized homes to fill the lots required by zoning. The average sized house has increased in size from 1200 square feet (sf) to over 2000 sf. We should not be putting federal money into super-sized houses but right sized houses. Cottages, bungalows, townhouses and even high rise condominiums are all good solutions. Then we can help more people with same amount of money. Ownership happens in half the time. These owners then have money to upgrade their home or invest in our economy.

Joe the Plumber needs a house

Joe the plumber, Linda the waitress, Alex the office worker and Mindy the factory worker all need affordable housing. What are the presidential candidates plans for turning renters into owners? Promoting a country of owners changes the financial future of the nation. It is what is best for the country.

Americans need a leg up not a handout. Affordable starter homes and condominiums for families, singles, retirees and young couples will fire up the economy. Stretching small budgets over big fluffy houses is irresponsible. Warehousing people in projects is not the answer either. Right sizing housing is the answer. In the 40's and 50's starter homes communities thrived and prospered. This lead to the most productive and prosperous era in the world. We need to learn from history and do the things that work.

What needs to change? Zoning and development has been short sighted in not providing new starter home neighborhoods and provisions in existing neighborhoods for smaller lots or higher density cottages. Developers say that there is not the demand for the smaller homes. Consumers want the most for their dollar. Real estate listing often stress quantity over quality. Banks have been making high risk loans and not educating borrowers about realistic housing budgets. Thoughtful and responsive development not a boom or bust roller coaster ride the housing and the economy riding on.

How can the presidential candidates address these housing and economic issues? We need McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden's economic plans to put housing "first" and "change" the future of this country. We need to increase the size of the middle class. Home ownership is the key to building our middle class. Our middle class is the heart of our economy. Workers like Joe, Linda, Alex and Mindy need a hand-up. They are the future of this country. Let America believe in them as they have believed in America.

Eero's my Hero

Eero Saarineen's architectural work is a one of a kind response to each individual program. A sculptural, new creative vision, a fresh page every time. Inventive forms, technology and dynamic application of common material. Not a kit of parts perfected over time or a specific approach or ideology applied to a era. Architecture over and over again. Every time different defying a comfortable label for a critic to say this is Eero. The unpredictable nature of a man influenced by his surroundings, purpose and expression. Yet the common man says this is architecture this is Eero.

May your thoughts be ever new, ever inspired and ever you.