Check out this incredible project that clearly takes sustainability to a whole new level.

Thanks to Paul Dirksen for sending it to us.

We have not talked much on here about our new neighbors and I am not sure why that is, I guess I just forgot to mention it lately.  But we now have just about the coolest neighbors you could ask for.  Green Sacramento a sustainable building material retail store and GreenBuilt a sustainable home remodeler / construction company.  All together we are calling ourselves the Green Living Center.

Its really fun to have them so close we are all constantly working together to come up with new ways to build and design homes in a more sustainable way. I always like to get near like minded people, it seems we get sharper and better at what we do by working together.

Showing off

And what is all this cool synergy worth if you are not showing it all off a bit, right?   Well this Saturday we are going to be doing just that.  From Noon to 5pm all three companies are going to be wearing their Saturday best (old shorts and a T Shirt most likely) and giving a tour of the place.  We are going to have food drinks and judging by anything else we do lots of little kids running around having a good time.  Stop by if you happen to be taking a Saturday walk in Midtown and see us.

Levi

The Good

(First in a three part series)

This past week the drywall went up on our first home in “The Good Project” in West Sacramento. I was out there yesterday and it’s really starting to feel like something special. I always have a hard time getting the feel for a space without drywall on the walls and now that it’s up I can really see that our vision for small, well designed spaces was worth seeing through.

It seems like an eternity ago that we were standing on the newly purchased site dreaming about what to build. It’s a wonderful feeling to walk on the roads and stand out on the front porch and see the big oak trees we saved right in the middle of the neighborhood. I feel like its all worth it now, like we have actual proof that you really can dream big and do good at the same time.

There is something strange about finishing all this and not having Jason around to enjoy it. Jason had all these great ideas about grass roots marketing and ways to build community in a new neighborhood. It’s certainly going to be a challenge to do this without him. But we are going to try and do our best.

One of the ideas that Jason and I talked about before he passed away was to sell houses with no agent or middle man. The idea was to take out the commission from the sales price and do the selling ourselves. I think we are actually going to sell that way. Jason would have been so excited that we are able to make it happen. There is something very satisfying about taking out the middle man and selling directly to to the buyers. It just feels very… well, Eco-Urban…

Instead of having a office open with a sales person sitting there twiddling their thumbs all day wasting energy, we get to have fun events like the Scribble Fest or the Blogger Dinner we hosted last year. A bonus for us is that we get so spend more time with the Eco-Urbanists that are making a difference in Sacramento and get more ideas from everyone about our next projects. Meanwhile, we will be talking with those interested in moving in to the first Eco-Urban homes in the world. (I am sure that other homes would qualify, but Jason came up with the term Eco-Urban so I feel like we get to say that ours are the first…)

I will give tours of the homes myself to people who are interested in buying. People will be able to get something like an all-access pass tour of the project, and hear the passion right from us on what we set out to create in our Eco-Urban community. We figure that this alone will be able to save over 12,000 per house, and yeah, that goes directly to lower the price…

I always hate to hear that companies like Sprint pay an average of $400 per new customer in advertising. It’s just one of those things that I don’t want to be supporting when I buy something. So I get real excited when we are able to lower our prices and get to know the community better in the process. I, for one, think it will be a pretty good way to help a neighborhood get off to a good start. Everyone will have a first hand understanding of the years of love we have poured into building the best neighborhood in the country.

I am putting this out there partly to answer the questions we keep getting from people about how to go about buying one of our houses and also as a question: What do you think about this plan? Do you think we are going to lose buyers by not having a sales agent on site full time? Does this sound like a good way to educate people about our Eco-Urban homes? I really do want feedback.

We have built this company from the ground up on ideas we get from people reading this blog, just like you are right now. So don’t be shy, you just might become a part of shaping the urban core of Sacramento with one of your ideas!

Levi

I found this Boston company’s project very inspirational today. Steve forwarded it to me as an example of a developer who was able to take their project and add over 100 Smart cars as a car-share program for the residents. Very cool!

They seem to get eco-urbanism on many levels: they are reusing both old buildings and abandoned land to bring sustainable high density housing into an urban core with mass transit nearby. And the design seems to be community focused.

Its nice to know there are people out there that care!

Levi

As people, we need a way to quantify things. We need all the things in our life to fit in our basic little boxes and we are constantly simplifying complex things so that we can measure them dice them up and put them where we can understand them.

We take mortgages and narrow them down to the monthly payment when really we should be taking in to account things like, neighborhood trends, unemployment rates, gas prices, the real estate cycle and its timing, not to mention what the federal reserve board might decide to do next month.

We are, in effect, looking for a way to simply understand the complex.

Similarly, we do it with our health. We measure weight or body fat and then base important health decisions on things that more accurately affect our appearance than our health.

We talk constantly about the price of gas going up to its highest price ever, when adjusted for inflation the real peak happened sometime in the summer of 1981. Again, the number itself is more important that what it symbolizes.

We vote for a President based on whether or not we like the guy (or gal) and his ability to present himself, or often what marketing team he hired to make him into what we believe he is, when those might not even be the things that make a good president.

It seems the reason for this is our inability to compute more than a few variables at the same time. The human brain is simply unable handle all the processes, so we create ways of coping. We build for ourselves measurements and ways of counting and then we look to them to give us answers.

All of that is ok until you start oversimplifying and allowing unmeasured impacts to your actions.

Ok, so we all have this bent as people towards finding the simple math, the easy measure of progress, what we do with that is go towards the money. And why not? I know I do it all the time. It’s the easy way to know if what you are doing is successful or a complete failure. But the problem is when you do that, you leave out so many other factors.

Like, what resources am I using that my grandkids will no longer have because we used them all up? What other countries are allowing child labor or unfair pay to get this product into my hands? Further, what garbage am I allowing to be put into the air to get this product built? Or what am I doing to my health be using this product?

We assume that someone is making all these decisions for us and since it’s on the shelf it must be a good product.

The reality, however, is that the only thing the company who offered it to you is looking at is whether or not it made them money. And who can blame them? Its the only thing public companies are allowed to look at.

When Walmart™ decided to go “green” last year, they made all sorts of statements about their plans for energy consumption to be reduced and organic food to be offered in their supermarkets, etc… but before they could go that route, they had to first prove to shareholders that the plan would be economically viable. Or essentially, that the market would support these efforts with increased sales.

Again. Its always about the money. And though I applaud their move, I know that if the market were heading away from green technology, so would they.

The fact of the matter is, the current financial system in America promotes the simple measurement of the dollar alone and encourages the exploitation of people their quality of life. We have built a system that says the market is always right and that if people want it we have to give it to them.

I beg to disagree. I think in the end the reward will always go to the product that takes as many factors into account as possible, the company that tries its wholehearted best to bring a good product to its customers without a bunch of skeletons hiding in the closet.

How many things do you consume that you just don’t want to know how they are produced. How much of your lifestyle is subsidized by third world countries and if you really knew that answer could you continue living this way? I know that for myself I have no idea of the real effects of my lifestyle are.

Globalization has the ability to bring the quality of life up for so many developing countries that are desperate for it, but not before we start caring and taking on more responsibility for our actions. Globalization also has the ability to further widen the gap between the rich and poor by giving the tools to the rich countries to further exploit the developing ones.

I think we need a new currency, one that is based on more than its value in gold. One that has built in the true cost of a product. Every purchase made with the currency would also pay for mitigation of the effects created during production of the item. It could be global and internet based and give real value to everyone involved. I know there are a lot of problems with this idea, but it does get you thinking about a way to measure more than just money and its imperative that we figure out a measurement or we will just keep in the way we already do.

Because as long as we can prove on paper that the system is working we will keep going the same way, and when the only factor is money then the system works great.

I read a great post a few days back about the job of a marketer and how they are responsible for their actions.

So it is with the rest of us: we are responsible for our actions. However, I believe that until we have a way to quantify our impact, we will continue down the same path.

Blind enjoyment can be fun for a while, but eventually the truth catches up with you. It always catches up with you.

Levi

Yesterday, we had a session talking about the various “must-have” components to the Washington area in West Sacramento where a number of our projects are forthcoming.

A lot of the conversation stemmed around the notion of gathering spaces. If we’re creating eco-urban community, how and where people will congregate and interact is of utmost consideration.

Today, in response to this article in the Bee on neighborliness. The article cites a UC Irvine study that says that “Suburbanites make the best neighbors.” What do you think about this finding? I’m interested in reading the study.

We wrestled with it a bit today among our team, discussing the how the built environment impacts our neighboring instincts: whether or not you invite people over for dinner or wave and say “Hi” or ask to borrow stuff. A lot of us grew up in suburban neighborhoods and each had different experiences: some good, some bad. And even our experiences in urban neighborhoods has been mixed. The question boiled down to the nature of the people that live in a neighborhood–well-designed urban projects don’t automatically translate into neighborliness which is why thought has to be devoted to larger community concepts.

As we’re exploring the emerging community that we’re building in the Washington area, we’re aware that what we build will impact both who lives in the community and as well as how the people who live there will interact. So we’re trying to be deliberate about building it in a way that makes “urban” and “neighborly” a natural fit.

All this connects with one of the scribbles on the car I’ve been riffing on for our site.

Eco-Urban
Few things epitomize the high quality and interconnectivity of eco-urban life as strongly as a corner café. As social gathering places, they bring neighbors out of their homes and into the larger community. Familiar faces at these hang-outs translate into a stronger, safer neighborhood.

In stark contrast to the single-use, utilitarian function of a strip mall chain restaurant, a corner café is a type of “indoor park” that serves diverse needs: a quiet retreat, a hangout spot, a romantic habit, a walking destination, a mid-morning coffee break, a wi-fi workspace, a neutral zone for conducting business, a place to read or write or a place pretend to read or write so you can people-watch. The idea of a single location meeting all these needs simultaneously translates into the same kinds of space, energy and resource efficiencies associated with mixed-use development (which corner cafes often are).

Add “locally owned” and “artisan-quality” into this mix and the corner café takes on the identity of a neighborhood icon that the entire community can celebrate.

LJUrban
For all these reasons and more, we’re designing a fully-operational corner café at the entrance to our Gallery in the Washington Area. And yes, housing will be on the second floor.

Jason

Talked with Tim Jordan at Old Soul a few days ago and he had joyous news. They had just that day received their retail permit. Wow. That was fast! Turned out to be a fairly easy thing to work through; they’ve got a few requirements to follow through with but the permit is in hand and their doors are open: same tasty offerings, same simply system, same hours (6:30 am – 2 pm) and same days (everyday).

My faith in Sac just got another hearty jolt.

Congrats to Tim and Jason and their wonderful crew!

Jason

About a year ago, we were in the throes of making arrangements to move to our location on J Street. Soon after, we started the process of outfitting the space with custom, eco-friendly cabinets, dividers, writing surfaces, etc.

A few weeks ago, we finally got some bookcases, which means we’re more or less settled… sort of…

Which also means (if you work with Levi) that its time to move.

None of us are really surprised; we actually built out this space with modular everything (carpet, dividers, cabinets), knowing that another move was more likely than not.

We’re growing. As Levi mentioned in his most recent entry, sometime in the next year, we’ll bring on more people, especially in the sales arena. And, as much as we like the team-centric open space we’ve created here on J Street, its just not going to be big enough.

Today, thanks to an Eco-Urban Hero Nomination from Mike, we went down to Old Soul and had some coffee and croissants. Their space is really, really cool, and we started talking about an alley-loaded, warehouse-converted workshop for our next space. The alleys in the urban-core are a great asset but need some help. We want to stay in this vicinity because we like walking/riding to work and we all love Midtown and Central City.

So, we haven’t begun looking around yet and thought it might be fun to give you all a heads up and see what comes our way. We need about 3000 sq. ft. of space; other than that, we don’t have too many requirements (we can lease or buy). We haven’t looked into any issues related to parking or anything, but we need some concrete locations to really dive into it first.

Let us know if you spot anything with potential…

Jason

Urban Loss
I just read in the Business Journal that a design college and culinary school is being planned for North Natomas and will occupy 1/2 of a 2-story 105,000 sq. ft. Buzz Oates building.

All I can say is “Arghh!”

While it will be nice to have something like this in the Sacramento region, I think the downtown/central city area is so much more fitting: put creative people in a creative, vibrant setting and all kinds of cool things happen. LivinginUrbanSac suggested the Kress building which I thought was a great idea.

I could be wrong about this, but the description of the school sounded like it would be along the lines of a “tech” school, in the same vein as the for-profit University of Arizona cropping up everywhere. If this turns out to be the case, it may not be the kind of cutting-edge/artsy school that would fit well in Downtown; however, it also would pretty much ensure that those schools don’t come in (i.e. market saturation and all that). So, either way, its lose-lose.

The Natomas “campus” is slated to have approx. 1000 design students and 450 culinary students.

The sad thing is that I’m sure the school will be marketed as located “minutes from downtown” or something like that…when we all know that Natomas is neither “minutes from” or anything like an offshoot of Downtown. Contrast it with the soon-to-be burgeoning “arts district” of lower Del Paso Boulevard where this kind of school really could fit in as an immediate extension of Downtown.

Urban Score
On a much nicer note, Midtown Guru gave me some really good news yesterday morning. The True Love Coffeehouse will re-open next week one block from our office. I was excited when Grind opened six months ago on 28th and J because I could walk to get a decaf cappuccino breve without going to Starbucks a block away (if you haven’t tried Grind’s panini’s, you’re missing out). Now I have an even closer option (for coffee at least).

So my thanks to the guru for speaking out on behalf of True Love.

The soul of a city can never be defined by ubiquity. Midtown is defined by its entrepreneurs, by small, locally owned businesses, by character, by risk, by eclectic offerings, by mixed use.

First Tamarind, now True Love. Midtown just gets better and better!

Jason

So, Vanessa was on Treehugger.com and saw a video that described the identical process (and conclusions) we went through to find/design our eco-friendly office cabinets. At one point, when they started talking about decisions regarding the interior, we thought, “They aren’t going to say, “wheat board” are they?”

And yes, they did.

The green world is a small one (for now).

Jason