I am starting to write this post not even sure if I am going to post it. I don’t know if I can do this. It just feels so wrong to have to ever sit down and write this out….
I got a call this morning that Jason Presley passed away.
For those of you who don’t know Jason you most likely know his work. Jason is the one responsible for building the brand that is LJ Urban. Everything you see on this site from the videos to the beautiful writing and amazing ability to communicate are all him.
Jason partnered with me for the last 3+ years and in that time helped take LJ Urban from a scrappy land developer called Asante Homes and created what you see today. LJ Urban is in so many ways an representation of what Jason was, spirited, optimistic, free, gutsy, visionary, I could go on and on.
I just watched the videos he pulled together and it just makes me so sad to see him again, it has not really hit me yet that he is gone. Jason was a good friend and wonderful person.
I can honestly say I do not know another person more eternally optimistic and yet able to grasp what it was going to take to make things happen. He never saw the bad but only the opportunity.
Jason taught me so many things, things I will never forget. I can say one thing for sure, anyone who was privileged to spend any amount of time with Jason surely came away a better person.
I am sure later I will be able to say more about him, but for now I just want to say goodbye and thank you for teaching me to Dream Big, Live Small, and Do Good.
Levi
Update: If you get a chance grab a Sacramento Bee today (Saturday March 29th) and look in the Metro section. There is a great article about Jason Presley and the incredible things he accomplished in his 36 years. You can see it here.
Also I saw this today. Its a drive to get everyone to shut their lights off for an hour tonight. Jason would have been all over this. I say we all do it in honor of Jason.
It’s one of Sacramento’s best-kept secrets in the urban core right now. And we think it’s cool enough to pass on the invitation to be some of the first to see it.
Good Things Speak for Themselves
Awhile ago, Ron Vrilakas showed us his plans for a small, 10-unit project he was working on in Oak Park. We were really impressed with the fundamental principles he was drawing on to build the project because they aligned with our own eco-urban sensibilities.
Build it tight.
Minimize the impact of the car.
Create mixed-use opportunities.
Invest in an “emerging” neighborhood.
Add value to the community as it changes over time.
Design with relationships in mind.
Relate to the larger surrounding community both in scale and aesthetics.
Make the “standard package” truly remarkable. The units have only one upgrade: talk about making it simple and straightforward! What you see is what you get!
If that’s not enough, let’s just say 7 of the 10 units have the coolest back patio door we’ve ever seen. We’re also jazzed that he decided at the last minute to upgrade all of the units to tank-less water heaters. And there’s not a single square foot of floorspace with (cough, cough) carpet.
So now, the project, 4th Avenue Lofts in Oak Park, is completely built and on the market.
But most people don’t know this.
Why So Hush-Hush?
In order to keep the prices low enough for first-time home-buyers, Ron’s been discreet about “marketing” the project. In fact, he isn’t even using a traditional sales team. Instead, he’s taking a more authentic approach: inviting select groups to come and see the project and connect with him first-hand.
Urban Pioneering (and Pizza and Beer)
This Friday, he’s inviting us and subscribers to our blog and e-mail list (and their friends) to a casual gathering of urban pioneers. Ron’s going to share some of his vision for this burgeoning corner of Oak Park and has invited any and all to join in the dialog and discussion.
And, of course, there will be tours of the project. Not to mention pizza from Luigi’s and beer from Rubicon. And local art by Gale Hart, Bud Gordon and Jeremy Sykes
Pretty cool, huh!
5 units have already sold. We don’t think it’ll take much for the others to sell, so if you’d like to get a peek yourself, this is a good chance.
Date:Thursday, February 20, 2008 (Friday, February 22nd, 2008) Time: 5:30 to 7:30pm Address: 2901 35th Street
One block south of the Starbucks on Broadway.
No RSVP’s needed. Just show up. Tell others and bring your friends and colleagues.
We’ll be there, and we hope to see some of you as well.
If you can’t go, but would like more information about the project, you can call 442-7895 or visit the website.
We’ve been hinting for awhile about some new projects we’ve been working on. Today, we finally get to talk about it!
From Shoes to Burkina Faso
Awhile ago, we posted about Tom’s shoes…blog-wise, it was just a quick nod but we were pretty floored by the simplicity of the idea he had: buy a shoe, give a shoe. It just works.
Since then, we’ve been on a wild journey (at one point, all the way to Burkina Faso, West Africa) to figure out how we could do some good of our own for people in developing nations.
The Kind of Good That Just Makes Sense
We wanted the good to be real and tangible. We didn’t just want to throw money into some philanthropic pot and pat ourselves on the shoulder. We needed to be able to see, touch and feel it. We wanted to meet the people who would be affected by it and learn from them.
Since we build homes for a living, we wanted the good to be about homes and about community.
Since we’re eco-urbanists, we wanted the good to be sustainable. Not just for the earth, but for the people as well.
Since doing good is a lot more fun (and effective) in collaboration, we wanted to invite others to get involved and participate.
A New Commitment.
We’re calling it our Do Some Good Now Commitment and you can read about it here.
This is a monumental step for us. But it’s not one we can do by ourselves, so consider this an open invitation to jump on board and help. If you’ve got any suggestions or ways to spread this, our ears are wide open.
Jason
Thanks to Rachel and Chinua Ford, we’ll be posting a steady stream of entries here (starting tomorrow), more photos on Flickr, and videos about the journey thus far and as we continue on. You can stay tuned via RSS or by subscribing to our e-mail list at the top.
Today, we’re jumping into new territory. For a while now, we’ve known that we’d outgrown the older format of our website, especially the blog (which we’ve now placed front and center on our home page). We needed something more dynamic and fluid. Something with more space to grow and stretch and share and congregate. We needed a playspace.
The Outcome: A site completely built on Wordpress.
More Swings, Slides, and Potlucks to Come…
Right now, we’ve got the basic layout of the playspace, but the nature of play is somewhat loose and open to imagination, so there’s a lot more to come…some we know of (like more videos, for starters) but a lot we don’t know yet. The internet is becoming more and more playful and community-oriented, especially with the newly emerging forms of interactive and creative dialogue.
Is There Something in my Teeth?
There’s likely to still be a few bugs we haven’t caught yet. If you see something that looks buggy or is simply broken, tell us. Don’t let us sit here with a big smile and a gob of lettuce stuck in our teeth.
I don’t usually go in for nostalgia, but just for fun and some visual history, I loaded a screen-shot of our former home page above.
Meet Rachel. We really like her for too many reasons to go into here. But so much so, that she’s going to be appearing frequently on this blog over the next month (or so), as a guest blogger (she’s got her own blog, journeymama.com).
Rachel’s been journeying with us (literally) for a season (as has her husband, Chinua), and we’re borrowing some of her writing and photography talents. You’ll find out more about what she’s been working on from her own posts, which will be forthcoming next week and will continue in a pretty steady stream until…well, until the season changes. In the meantime, I’ve asked her a few questions to introduce her:
When you aren’t blogging, what are you doing?
I’m a little- how do you say it? –insanely ambitious. So I’m always coming up with some kind of project, and lately it’s all about the latent domesticity. I think I’ve been involved in Administration and bookkeeping for too long, and now that I’m moving out of that line of work, I’m making a run in the crafting direction.
In other words, when I’m not blogging, I’m homeschooling, cooking, baking, taking photos, knitting, and I am turning a corner into sewing land, right now.
I’m also a reading addict. The kind who tells herself not to buy any more books because there are plenty of books in the library, but still feels drawn to the bookstore, where she walks through the aisles touching and smelling. So, that’s me.
You were in San Francisco and then way out in no-man’s land Northern California. Tell us a bit about that lifestyle change.
When we lived in San Francisco we were in a flat with several different people, on one of the busiest streets in the city. We lived above a coffee shop and a bar, and across the street from a club. It was crazy, and although I adore San Francisco, sometimes I felt like San Francisco didn’t adore me.
Moving to the Land was like a fairy-tale to me. Suddenly it was summer (unlike in San Francisco, where it is coldest in July) and I was hanging my colorful laundry on the clothesline, to dry by a sparkling river. I was spending time in the garden eating the sweetest strawberries I’ve ever had, I was outside all of the time, and I lived in a little cabin in the woods with my kids who were constantly rolling in the dirt. To get the dirt off we would swim in the river. The Land was a community, too, and we had meals together most days, and at least one a week during the summer we’d have a bonfire, and sit and drum and sing around the fire.
I missed San Francisco, in some ways, but I adjusted really well to life way out in the woods. The winters were the hard part, with flooding and water problems, and constant rain, but there is nothing like cuddling up beside a wood-burning stove.
What’s it been like to adjust to urban life again? Have you had any eco-urban “Aha’s’” since moving to Sacramento?
It hasn’t been completely easy to adjust to urban life. I’ve loved many things, like the convenience (at the Land we had to travel for an hour and a half just to get groceries) and being close to good friends, but I find it overwhelming at times. I think that the eco-urban concept has made a lot of sense to me at times when I’ve been reduced almost to tears by huge strip malls and big box stores.
Suddenly simple living is almost like a battle. In the woods, things simply aren’t available. But when everything is at your fingertips, you are constantly making choices not to consume. And an urban dwelling place that has the warmth of a neighborhood is a necessity. Our identity shouldn’t be in our role as consumers.
“Journey” seems to be a life-theme for you. Tell us about that?
Well, let me just say that I’m a Canadian, living in Northern California with my husband who was raised in Detroit and asked me to marry him on a tropical island in India.
Really, I haven’t stopped moving during the course of my life. And in marrying a wandering minstrel, I have obliterated the need to quench the nomadic tendencies in my life. We plan to be in India this year, and from there? Who knows? Plus, the Journey is a bigger symbol, I am moving towards faith, drifting further into love, into rightness.
How ‘bout a few favorites?
Article of clothing: Any kind of cozy, thrifted, hand-knit sweater.
Films: Baraka, and Rivers and Tides about Andy Goldsworthy. Both of these bring me to tears.
Books: This list is huge, a few are: My name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok, Freddy and Fredericka, by Mark Helprin, Back When we were Grownups, by Anne Tyler. Those are just recent loves. I adore the entire Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery, like any good Canadian girl should, and for just fun, I love all of Robin McKinley’s fantasy books.
People: This one’s a no-brainer- the ones who bear my DNA and my last name, not to mention their father. Also, I tend to drift towards crazy visionary types who keep themselves and others at a run. They drive me insane, inspire me, and make me laugh, all at the same time.
Childhood memory: Once, when I was about twelve, my family traveled to Ontario and went to my grandmother’s cottage on one of the lakes there. My cousins and sister and I would take the canoe or rowboat out and just paddle around all day on this wild lake in Canada. There’s an Innocence Mission song that I love called Lakes of Canada, and I think it about captures the lovely wild beauty of those days.
Place on earth: British Columbia is my homeland. I adore Thailand. And the Redwoods feel like home, to me- I think I will always think of the far North of California when I think of home. I don’t know that I’ve ever been more content than when I was in West Africa. But I think I’ve yet to be in my favorite place on earth. I have a feeling it might be Goa, India, but I haven’t been yet, so it’s still just a premonition.
Time of day: Morning, morning, morning. Rolling out of bed and making an Americano. I love being out and about in the morning, too, when everyone is a bit sleepy. I loved this especially in India.
The last time you laughed so hard, you nearly peed was when…?
When we were in Burkina Faso and the Juiliba tried to speak English.
You’ve got kids and a husband. Tell us about them.
My husband captured my heart the first time I ever saw him. He’s a real, live Superstar, one who can juggle fire, play any instrument he picks up, write letters that sweep me off my feet, and make up songs off the top of his head to cheer me up. He’s put up with a lot from his wife of the artistic temperament. People often ask me, “Doesn’t it make you mad, how good Chinua is at everything?” But no, no it doesn’t, because I see how hard he works at everything he does.
Right now he’s working for LJUrban doing videography, something that, surprise surprise, he is excelling at as well.
Oh, the children that we were going to wait to have. (We didn’t wait, celebrating our first anniversary with a week-old baby) They are incredible: a boy who is five, a girl who is three, and a little boy who is almost two. My heart is captured by them. They are my biggest challenge, my sweetest work, and my closest friends. I cannot wait to see what comes out of these little ones. I also have our fourth nestled away in my belly, so, you know, can’t wait to meet the next one.
A few months ago, we brought on Cindy Kruschel to be our first “Customer Guide.”
We really like the idea of a customer guide rather than a sales person. First, because none of us like to be “sold” anything. Second, because it puts the “customer” as the focus and not the closing of the “sale.” And because a guide is someone who cares about people and their experience.
So, when we looked for someone to represent LJUrban in the “sales” area, we specifically wanted someone who was NOT a “sales-person,” someone who would listen and help, someone who cared about the customer experience and would be genuine and real and completely approachable.
And Cindy is just that.
Here she is in her own words…
You’ve worked here for a couple months now. How would you describe it?
Relational, connected, generous. I’m coming in pretty green, and I’m not referring to the environment. Everyone has been really helpful and full of info. for me.
How long have you lived in Sacramento? What brought you here?
My husband and I moved back to Calif. From Calgary Alberta, Canada. He couldn’t wait to be a Californian. I missed my family. So we settled here in Sacramento. Cause my mom was here at the time. It took me a little while, 20 years, to acclimate to Sacto. But now I love it. So much change and potential here.
Anything funny happen this week?
I like to be comfortable. Sometimes that means no shoes, even at the office. I was following the contractor around getting info. On some of our green features when I heard a voice say, “Cindy, this is Mathew and Alex from Portland. Cindy is in our customer connections area.” I could feel all eyes on my bare feet. I felt like crawling under the table. Which probably would have been a much funnier story. Instead I just smiled and shook hands.
Who inspires you. Why?
People who are not afraid to think outside of the box. Well, actually people who will get rid of the box all together and just create from their core. I love that! And if they can also welcome others in to join them then that’s amazing stuff. That’s actually one of the reasons I so love being here. There’s inspiration all around!
You’ve got family. We love families. Tell us about them.
I love families too. My husband Kerry and I have 3 teenagers. We all get along really well with very few arguments (until it’s time to do the dishes.) ☺
What are you into these days?
I mentioned enjoying creative people. So in order to be around some a few friends and I have created a space for them to come hang out with us. We have a place we call Vox. And we invite artists and musicians to come do their thing. It’s a great way to encourage what I enjoy.
Which of our core values do you have the strongest connection with. Why?
Wow, I really resonate with all of them. Some of the words that are used in the core values really excite and motivate me; Vibrant, healthy, social change, sustainable, faith, integrity, generosity, life, thrive, creativity. Those are some powerful words.
What gets you excited about creating eco-urban community? Why is this personally important to you?
Anything that will help create a healthy, thriving life is important to me. It just makes sense to take care of your environment and the people around you.
Anything in your personal life that you are doing (or working on) to try and make the world a better place?
It’s a big task, isn’t it, trying to make the world a better place? I try to be generous with what I have and who I am. I have taken up walking to things, if possible, rather than driving. Since I am not in walking distance to LJUrban I take the bus. Small things for sure, but steps nonetheless.
None of us do this perfectly. Got any eco-urban confessions?
I have way too much garbage. I buy too many prepackaged foods. I still drive an Explorer when I’m not walking or taking the bus. I love fried foods and hot dogs. (squirm, squirm)
Green used to be for the hippies: going off the grid and living small was largely seen as a political statement, a protest.
Then it seemed that Green disappeared, perhaps supplanted by widespread hope that the technology boom of the 80’s and 90’s would resolve the issues. Collectively, we simply geeked out for a good spell.
Then, the tech-glitter began to settle in the new Millennium. People began to see that not all technology actually improved our quality of life; some was just downright oppressive and a lot of Tech had some rather distasteful environmental implications. Green emerged again–this time, with a more affirming and empowering message: you can live conscientiously and also enjoy a better quality of life. A subset of Green– GreenTech–became buzz-worthy and was proclaimed the dawn of a new industrial revolution. Green was chic. Green was cool. Green was hot. Green was cutting edge.
And while this message resonated with a lot more people, the solutions were rarely designed for widespread adoption and some of the purported GreenTech solutions were ecologically questionable.
And that’s really where we’re at today.
But, already this is beginning to shift, as the video above demonstrates. It’s people like the brilliant designers behind the Solio, people trying to make Green accessible for everyone, everywhere who will be the real leaders of the Green Industrial Revolution.
We’ve still got ground to cover to demonstrate that Green represents a higher quality of life and there’s still work to be done to encourage lifestyles that value living conscientiously, but we can’t forget that the Big Daddy hurdle is accessibility for everyone, everywhere. That’s when the big shifts will start to happen. Everything up until then is momentum-building…
Today is our last “official” work-day for 2007. We’re all taking next week to be with our families and loved ones over the holidays, so we won’t be posting again until after break (unless we just can’t help ourselves!).
But we’ve got some cool stuff to share with you in the first month of the new year, so do stay tuned…
In the meantime, have you heard that Santa’s runway is at risk?…
Its true. See for yourself and then click here to see the end of the story…
So, I’m usually pretty suspect of celebrities aligning themselves with social causes, but there are always a few that seem to be genuinely acting out of their passions. This only becomes clear when their actions match their words, as is the case with Bono’s work in and for Africa and now I’m beginning to think pretty highly of Brad Pitt’s involvement in eco-urban projects.
He’s put his own money ($5 million) into this project here, and is involved with some of the key thinkers and change agents for the green-building and green-design community.
But what I like most about this particular project is that it allows everyday people like you and I to have a direct means of doing some real and tangible good for the real needs of people in New Orleans.
I have always been skeptical about advertising and its affect on our thinking. But this I must say is a new low.
As if the fact that this building being covered in a billboard is not bad enough they have to go and add radio-waves that get translated into sounds when they hit your skull.
Think of it… riding along on your bike and, wham….. You want to watch this show…. You really want to watch this show…..
I do not think I am the only one saying “Leave me alone”.
