Stop by to see what we have done with part of our building at 1931 H Street. The Urban Hive is opening its doors this Second Saturday (that’s tomorrow) for a sneak peek and art show, starting at 4:30. After, our favorite local green building supplier, Green Sacramento, is graciously using their great open part of the building for live music, including Nevada Backwards’ Brian Ballentine’s new band, Boulevard Park (fitting, since this is where the space is located).

With the help of some amazing people, a new space has been created, with a great vibe along with some some really cool people. We mentioned repurposing some our space once we needed less of it, and we have done it (with lightning speed, I might add). The idea behind the coworking space is to create a great eco-urban work environment for independent professionals to collaborate and work with like-minded people who have similar values. Kind of like a really cool company culture without the company.

Okay, so the space still isn’t ready for prime time and The Urban Hive (as it is called) won’t be officially up and running until June, but they are already operating with a group of “beta” members (and welcoming more!). Still have no idea what coworking is? That’s okay, come any way. It will be a good time.

If you can’t make it and would like to talk more about coworking in Sacramento, feel free to call Brandon at 916-524-9047, or email him at BrandonKWeber at Gmail dot com.

After getting back from Africa I have been noticing more and more of the differences in our culture and the way we build community. One thing that sticks out to me is the way they seem to arrange their day around people and relationships and here in America we lean more towards the timing and structure of our day. For instance we say that we have meetings today at 1 and 3 and they would talk more about the people they are meeting and the time they will spend together. Everywhere we went people would talk about Africa time…Meaning that if we were waiting for an African they would be a few hours late. It’s because they were spending time with someone else and did not want to leave before they were through.

This all has me thinking about community in our lives and where we find it. I want to get a discussion going on the topic, so help me out by thinking about this question and commenting on it. Where do you find true community in your life? Is it at work or the park or maybe on the sidewalk outside your home?

Levi

Another good thing that came out of the neighborhood meeting on Monday night was meeting Harry. He lives nearby on E Street and is starting up a community garden of sorts along the side of his apartment complex. He already has an area mulched and has space for several more gardeners to join in! If you live over at Harriet Lane, RiversSide, Metro Place or even Good and would be interested give Harry a call at 821-5748. It’s always fun meeting people who are jumping a little outside the norm and working to bring some changes (and good food) to the neighborhood around them!

Steve

We had a community meeting Monday night to review our design guidelines we have prepared for the Habitat and Simple projects in the Washington Neighborhood. It went pretty well I think. We got some questions about parking which I hope we answered. We got some questions about why the City couldn’t provide streetlights for the neighborhood surrounding our proposed projects. We told them the lights would come with the development but that we would like to decrease their frequency from those in other developments due to the light pollution.

People asked about the historic character of the neighborhood and how we would rate our projects “integrity” to that character. Kind of a nebulous question, but one every architect and developer is faced with. We described how our guidelines would help ensure that historical themes would be carried through our projects but not necessarily replication of exact Victorian architecture.

But the question of the night had to be about OSB. What is OSB you ask,well I am sure you can Google it just like I did and find out the good and the bad about it. I wanted to throw it up here to show that it has advantages and disadvantages but I was just as interested in proving that we are building quality housing while using it. Below is a list of its advantages in comparison to conventional plywood. [Read more →]

Now here is a good idea for making good use of your garden…Bill Maynard with the Sacramento Area Community Garden Coalition is putting together a Crop Swap. The idea is as simple as it sounds you bring your excess crops from your garden and trade them for something else. It does not get much easier than that.

The group is putting together a few meetings to discuss forming neighborhood crop swaps that will be held Tuesday, March 3, 2009 and Tuesday, April 7, 2009 at 6:30 pm at the Sheppard Garden and Arts Center located at 3330 McKinley Ave.

You can contact Bill at sacgc@ulink.net or by phone at (916) 508-6025 for more information.

We have been talking about putting together a class where we can learn a little about what plants grow well in Sacramento and when to plant them. It’s getting to be that time of year to do it…..Come back for more info on when we are going to host that.

Levi Benkert

Simone Weil:

The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say, “What are you going through?”

Its not nearly as easy as Simone Weil makes it sound. To go out and ask a neighbor what they are facing today makes my knees weak. It’s like you are inviting them to spill it all out and you never know what you are going to get. I think I have a fear inside me that makes it hard for me to want to know, I think its because I am too focused on the progress I am making in my day and the realness of the question and possibility of the answer feels like a diversion. But I know I need to get over it.

Once I was doing an interview with a woman we were considering hiring and stopped in the middle to ask her what her life was like. She was shocked but felt instantly comfortable and began to share some incredibly intense stuff she was dealing with in her life. It was almost like no one had ventured to ask her about her life ever and she was relieved to let it out. People are like that, we want to know someone cares and that we matter. What we all need is to get over ourselves and start to learn how to ask the simple questions that show we care. It’s not just about getting to know your neighbor or even about getting something from your neighbor, it’s about tearing down the wall we build around ourselves to protect who we are. We put it there so that we would not get hurt and made it so tall that we are unable to be real with anyone. [Read more →]

Eugine V. Debs in a speech given in 1908

Now my friends, I am opposed to the system of society in which we live today, not because I lack the natural equipment to do for myself but because I am not satisfied to make myself comfortable knowing that there are thousands of my fellow men who suffer for the barest necessities of life. We were taught under the old ethic that man’s business on this earth was to look out for himself. That was the ethic of the jungle; the ethic of the wild beast. Take care of yourself, no matter what may become of your fellow man. Thousands of years ago the question was asked; ”Am I my brother’s keeper?” That question has never yet been answered in a way that is satisfactory to civilized society.

Yes, I am my brother’s keeper. I am under a moral obligation to him that is inspired, not by any maudlin sentimentality but by the higher duty I owe myself. What would you think me if I were capable of seating myself at a table and gorging myself with food and saw about me the children of my fellow beings starving to death.
— Lyndon B. Johnson

The American city should be a collection of communities where every member has a right to belong. It should be a place where every man feels safe on his streets and in the house of his friends. It should be a place where each individual’s dignity and self-respect is strengthened by the respect and affection of his neighbors. It should be a place where each of us can find the satisfaction and warmth which comes from being a member of the community of man. This is what man sought at the dawn of civilization. It is what we seek today.

Sitting on the top right of this page for the last year or so, our little mini bio has been a sort of first glance sign to new visitors that this is something different. Its a way for us to tell people that yeah we sell houses and develop property but not like anything you have seen before. We are here because we believe in a better way to do things and that basically what got us to where we are today as a society will not get us to where we need to go tomorrow. We see our projects as a sort of test model for the way things are going to be in the future. Green, small, well designed, smart… Its the anti-suburb, a new vision for life.

So with that in mind we always want to look at everything we do in a new way, things like advertising just don’t feel like a fit for a company such as ours. This blog has been our answer to that feeling, it’s relevant, and more importantly honest and transparent. Recently we have been having another thought that I wanted to throw your way to see what you think. And you have to promise to be honest with your reply. Got it? Promise? Ok.

We are in the early stages of planning an event at the Good project in March. We are thinking its going to be called “What Makes Good.” It’s going to be an inside look at all the components that went into the Good project, with several tours on different topics given by our consultants. People will be able to hear about our marketing program from the folks at EMRL and all about the LEED ND certification and what all we had to do to be certified, also our friends from GreenBuilt will be there talking about what a green construction site looks like and how it works.

Anyway, we have been thinking of ways to let people know about the event and were wondering if you all might want to help out. This is just a thought at this point but I wanted to throw it out there right away and see what you all think. So that is my question. Want to help spread the word? We would provide downloadable flyers and links for your blog maybe even emails to send out. It’s sort of a guerilla marketing campaign at the most grass roots level. Thoughts…..?

Levi Benkert

Warning! This image may not be suitable for some viewers.

So about 18 months ago Jason dreamed up this campaign called “Sit Here and Dream Big”. It took a while to build the signs and have the rocks delivered to all of the sites, but we did it. We did it because we wanted to inspire a community. We wanted to get people to think about things a little deeper than just the common stuff that occupies so many of us so much of the time. It didn’t take long to show up to one of the sites and find the above sign broken off of its supports and laying on the ground with the message you see scribbled on it.

Now, at the time, this was very troubling to some of us at LJ Urban. I think when the sign was kicked over it was a little disconcerting, “Oh crap, what have we gotten into over in this neighborhood?” We were having town-hall type meeting with the residents where we invited everyone in the neighborhood to come eat Sal’s Tacos and converse with us about our plans for the community. We had questions and answers but everyone was pretty civil and supportive. Then there was this abuse of our ideals, violence against private property, passive aggressive rejection of our plans and dreams. I know I sound a little melodramatic here but I am trying to dig deeper into what these public interactions mean and show the feelings that were buried behind them.

So we got over it but we never did get rid of the sign, or put another one up in its place actually. We have kept it turned around facing the wall because of its offensive nature but I went and turned it around to face out the other day. I think I just wanted some inspiration. It’s also funny and gets laughs from whoever sees it now. I think what I understand now is that we never can tell how an action, we perceive as helpful or uplifting, might be digested, or barfed back up as the case may be, by the ones we intend to encourage.  All in all I think this sign and all of its deeper meaning are just what I needed yesterday to keep on fighting.

Micah Baginski

Don’t know if you noticed but we have a pretty neat little calendar widget on the right of your screen where you can find out about upcoming events. Some are things that we are doing like open houses and such and others are things that we heard about and think you might want to go see. If you find anything interesting send it our way, our goal is to have the calendar stocked full of local happenings and we need your eyes to help spot the cool events.

Levi Benkert