#OldHat Dunedin bus system hard to use and unaffordable

Lynley Hood is a positive advocate for her area, no doubt – but hopefully she can think more widely than Corstorphine, to the provision of fair and equitable public transport for The Many, wherever they live in Dunedin, who struggle to pay standard fares or top up the ‘dumb’ Go Card —or who have no bus service to their streets at decent intervals with timely transfer options for necessary travel destinations [the currently ‘immovable’ ORC system].

Or thank god, there’s hail apps.

[Is Otago Regional Council up with the technology about to change public transport @ New Zealand —thereby cancelling any profit from the ill-thought diesel-breathing bus hub planned for Great King St in Central Dunedin.]

Black car service [uberinternal.com]

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When a new flexible bus ticketing system is introduced early next year in Dunedin and the Queenstown area, consideration would be given to introducing a lower $5 top-up for Go Cards for online payments. –ORC

### ODT Online Tue, 6 Jun 2017
Bus discounts asked of ORC
By John Gibb
Kew resident Lynley Hood is urging the Otago Regional Council to introduce a community services card bus discount to help “transport disadvantaged” people in Dunedin. “Public transport is important for all sorts of reasons, certainly for inclusiveness and giving everybody a chance,” Dr Hood said. If you’re going to proceed with education and get a job, you’ve got to have transport. It’s got to be attractive to everybody, so it works for the people who need it.” She often saw bus users checking their small change to see if they could afford to use the bus, and clearly not everyone could. She has been suggesting this extension of the bus discount system, and other improvements in the Corstorphine bus service, for several years, and made a detailed submission to the council in 2014. More Corstorphine residents would be encouraged to switch to Go Cards by providing the suggested discount for community services card holders, and cutting the minimum Go Card top-up payment from $10 to $5, she said.
Read more

Radiohead Published on Jun 2, 2017
Radiohead – I Promise
I Promise is one of 3 previously unreleased tracks from the album OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 – 2017.

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“Transportation companies compete for customers, and ultimately it is the consumer who makes the choice.” –Chicago’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection

“Were the old deemed to have a constitutional right to preclude the entry of the new into the markets of the old, economic progress might grind to a halt,” Judge Richard Posner wrote in the 7th Circuit decision. “Instead of taxis we might have horse and buggies; instead of the telephone, the telegraph; instead of computers, slide rules.”

### usatoday.com 4:47 p.m. ET 5 Jun 2017 | Updated
Chicago cabbies say industry is teetering toward collapse
By Aamer Madhani
CHICAGO — Operators of the nation’s second-biggest taxi fleet are now accelerating toward their long-rumoured extinction, edging towards becoming virtual dinosaurs in the era of ride-sharing monsters Uber and Lyft. Cabbies have long grumbled that the sky is falling as they lose ground to ride-sharing companies. Now, cabbies in Chicago are pointing to new data that suggests the decline could be speeding up. About 42% of Chicago’s taxi fleet was not operating in the month of March, and cabbies have seen their revenue slide for their long-beleaguered industry by nearly 40% over the last three years as riders are increasingly ditching cabs for ride-hailing apps Uber, Lyft and Via, according to a study released Monday by the Chicago cab drivers union. More than 2,900 of Chicago’s nearly 7,000 licensed taxis were inactive in March 2017 — meaning they had not picked up a fare in a month, according to the Cab Drivers United/AFSCME Local 2500 report. The average monthly income per active medallion — the permit that gives cabbies the exclusive right to pick up passengers who hail them on the street — has dipped from $5,276 in January 2014 to $3,206 this year. The number of riders in Chicago hailing cabs has also plummeted during that same period from 2.3 million monthly riders to about 1.1 million. Declining ridership for Chicago’s taxi industry comes as foreclosures are piling up for taxi medallion owners who aren’t generating enough fares to keep up with their loan payments and meet their expenses.
….Chicago cabbies aren’t alone in feeling the pinch. In New York, ridership in the city’s iconic yellow cabs has fallen about 30% over the last three years. Last year, San Francisco’s Yellow Cab — the city’s largest taxi company — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Los Angeles taxi ridership fell 43%, and revenue was down 24%, between 2013 and 2016.
Read more

█ Medallion Report (FINAL)

[watch video] Fox 32 : Chicago taxi drivers: Industry is teetering toward collapse
Posted: Jun 05 2017 09:50PM CDT | Updated

New York, the new normal….

Motherboard Published on May 27, 2016
Is Uber Killing the Yellow Taxi in New York City?
As Uber’s stranglehold over the taxi industry increases, some New York yellow cab dispatchers have found themselves in an unprecedented predicament: sitting on millions of dollars worth of medallion yellow cabs, but not enough drivers to drive them.

█ Wikipedia: Taxicab regulation

Related Post and Cimments
8.12.16 Our loss-making public bus system, as for the colours *spew
20.11.16 Dunedin Buses – Route planners don’t consider effects on local business
11.8.16 Tesla Motors to open new location every four days #electrictravel
21.3.16 Uber travel

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Lorde’s new release better in audio #screenplayAWFUL #BRATalert

AUCKLAND: from 9:30pm TONIGHT, i’ve organised a few more little glimpses at what’s coming. if you want to know more, consult the map.. ❇️ pic.twitter.com/IVMcksOS8M

— Lorde (@lorde) March 1, 2017

BREAKING: #Lorde reveal. New clip with vocals! @1NewsNZ @NewshubNZ @billboard @MTV

pic.twitter.com/EUtOwEeYFi

— Jamie Ensor (@JamieEnsor) March 1, 2017

auckland thank you so much for coming out last night.. pic.twitter.com/2AYtggOpGc

— Lorde (@lorde) March 1, 2017

Lorde’s new single

“Greenlight”

World Time Zone Release

Made by lordeisbravado IG

Wake up early Asia!! pic.twitter.com/RsL8JZiNxa

— Lorde WorldWideNet🌐 (@Lorde_WWN) March 2, 2017

TODAY. @lorde will be on @Beats1 for an interview + NEW SONG ‘Green Light’ LISTEN 11am LA // 2pm NYC // 7pm UK 👉🏼📲 https://t.co/B6JhK8co2l pic.twitter.com/CvV8FAGf6A

— Zane Lowe (@zanelowe) March 2, 2017

Lorde’s new single #GREENLIGHT!
❇️ apple music: https://t.co/s1lbBytUUJ
❇️ spotify: https://t.co/jpZDDFfthN
❇️ vevo: https://t.co/AvMRDlfWuH pic.twitter.com/PgViloKtZ4

— #GREENLIGHT (@LordeDaily) March 2, 2017

The Story Behind Lorde’s New Album Cover, From the Artist Who Created It https://t.co/GpQOLkRmgU

— #GREENLIGHT (@LordeNews) March 2, 2017

The Edge NZ Published on Mar 2, 2017
Lorde gets all emotional about the meaning behind Green Light
In an exclusive interview with The Edge, Lorde opened up about the meaning behind her new single, Green Light.

The Edge NZ Published on Mar 2, 2017
Lorde reveals what she spends her millions on
Lorde revealed in an exclusive interview with The Edge what she spends her millions on.

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LordeVEVO Published on Mar 2, 2017
Lorde – Green Light
Official video for ‘Green Light’, from the new album Melodrama.
Directed by Grant Singer | Produced by Saul Germaine | Executive Producer Nina Soriano | Director of Photography Steve Annis | Production Designer Page Buckner | Edited by Nate Gross | For Anonymous Content

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my favourite part of the video is the driver standing off to one side vaping and watching me lose my shit on top of his car lol pic.twitter.com/iNWry1BTJg

— Lorde (@lorde) March 2, 2017

### billboard.com
Lorde’s ‘Green Light’: A Brilliant Songwriter Enters Her Prime
By Jason Lipshutz 3 Feb 2017
Quick question: What’s the most impressive thing about Lorde?
Take a breath, because there’s really no wrong answer here. You could say it’s her prodigy status and how quickly and thoroughly she achieved her international success: when “Royals”, her debut single, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in October 2013, Ella Yelich-O’Connor was 16 years old, making her the youngest solo artist to reach the top of the chart since Tiffany in 1988.
You could nod to her singular style, previously a strain of dark pop defined by its sparseness, programmed beats, slower tempos and swirling hooks, all anchored by a voice that can rattle off details (“gold teeth, Grey Goose, trippin’ in the bathroom, bloodstains, ball gowns, trashin’ the hotel room”) and sprawl out in space (“And we’ll never be rooooyals”) with the same fortitude. Since her debut project Pure Heroine — which has sold 1.66 million copies to date, according to Nielsen Music — was released nearly four years ago, its sound has helped define top 40 thanks to smashes by The Weeknd, Alessia Cara and Tove Lo, among others.
Or maybe it’s her consistency: Pure Heroine remains a 10-track opus bursting with ideas about love, loneliness and lack of representation within modern music, while most of Lorde’s non-Heroine material — her Hunger Games single “Yellow Flicker Beat,” her Disclosure collaboration “Magnets” — is just as textured and carefully orchestrated. Some of Lorde’s songs are better than others, but they’re never phoned-in or forgettable.
So, again, really no wrong answer here. But with “Green Light,” a comeback single that barges into your heart on its first play, Lorde makes a good case that her songwriting, above all else, is her strongest asset.
Read more

Unseen promotional photo for ‘Team’ music video by Phil Knott pic.twitter.com/cUcqdz7zQR

— Lorde World (@LordeWorldRU) February 1, 2017

Hate the fake tan in the vid.

But I hear sounds in my mind
Brand new sounds in my mind

Sometimes I wake up in a different bedroom
I whisper things, the city sings ’em back to you

THAT WAS FAR TOO MUCH OF THE SPOILTCRASS THAT IS LORDE
Signing off…….

I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Helen Clark resigns from UN position

[bbci.co.uk]

### NZ Herald Online 2:16 PM Thursday Jan 26, 2017
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark stepping down from her position at UN
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark has told the UN she will step down as head of the UNDP when her term ends in April. Clark sent a letter to staff this morning to advise them of her decision not to seek another term … Clark was appointed in April 2009 and her role was renewed in 2013 for a second four year term. Clark unsuccessfully ran to be Secretary General of the UN earlier this year – but Portuguese politician Antonio Guterres was selected for the role instead. In her time as head of the UNDP, Clark oversaw a major restructure which ruffled feathers internally but pleased some of the donor countries to the UNDP, such as the United States, which had criticised the UN for ineffective use of money … Her departure coincides with the election of US President Donald Trump who is reportedly considering executive orders to drastically cut US funding to the United Nations.
Read more

Helen Clark’s letter reads:

“Dear colleagues,
I am writing to advise all staff that I have informed the Secretary General that I am preparing to leave my position as Administrator at the end of my second term on 19 April.
This will allow the Secretary General to appoint a new Administrator as soon as possible. I stand ready to support the transition to the new leader of the organisation. I have full confidence in our Associate Administrator, Tege Gettu, to act as Administrator if there is a gap between my departure and the arrival of the next Administrator.
This is not my final message to staff – there is much to be done between now and 19 April. There is, for example, a timetable for tabling the draft of the next Strategic Plan to enable it to be discussed at the Executive Board’s Annual Meeting on 31 May. It is my desire to see all aspects of the organization in a strong and sustainable state when the next Administrator assumes office.
These are times of change across the UN system. There are post-QCPR reviews being commissioned which may impact on UNDP. While these processes are unfolding, I urge you all to continue to deliver to the high standards for which UNDP is known. Making progress on the SDGs and on supporting national development achievements must continue unabated.
It has been a privilege and an honour for me to lead UNDP for eight years. Our staff are our greatest strength, and I will miss you all. I will offer my thanks and gratitude more fully nearer to my departure.”

Helen’s political timeline
• 1981:Elected to Parliament in Mt Albert
• 1984 – 90: Minister in Labour Government, including Health and Housing, deputy Prime Minister in 1989.
• December 1993: Rolls Mike Moore as Labour leader after National formed Government after a close-run 1993 election.
• 1996: Low polling prompts Labour MPs including Annette King, Michael Cullen and Phil Goff to ask Clark to stand down. Clark refuses.
• 1999: Labour wins election, Clark becomes Prime Minister.
• 2001: Refuses to send troops to Iraq for US-led war after September 11 bombings. Clark deploys SAS troops to Afghanistan and in 2003 sends the reconstruction team to Bamiyan province, visiting them later that year.
• 2008: National wins election, Clark stands down as Labour leader on election night.
• March 2009: Clark is confirmed as Administrator for the UN Development Programme.
• April 2014: Clark is renewed for a second four-year term at UNDP
• 2016: Clark campaigns to be UN Secretary General but the role goes to Antonio Guterres.
–NZ Herald

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Al Jazeera English Uploaded on Oct 2, 2010
One on One – Helen Clark
New Zealand’s former prime minister and the first woman to lead the UNDP talks about her career.

TEDx Talks Published on Aug 20, 2013
Yes she can: Helen Clark at TEDxAuckland
Helen Clark is Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) — the first woman to lead the organization — and Chair of the United Nations Development Group. Prior to joining the UNDP Helen served as Prime Minister of New Zealand for three terms, during which time she was widely engaged in policy development and advocacy across international, economic, social and cultural spheres. Now living in New York, Helen is a passionate supporter of the arts as evidenced by her promotion of the arts, culture and heritage portfolio during her time as Prime Minister.

APEC Published on Jun 4, 2014
Interview with Helen Clark, Administrator, UN Development Programme
Helen Clark shares her perspectives on the occasion of APEC’s 25th Anniversary

UNDP Youth Published on Feb 6, 2016
Helen Clark: Remarks at 2016 ECOSOC Youth Forum
Closing Remarks by Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator at the 2016 ECOSOC Youth Forum (1-2 February, 2016). Full text: http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/speeches/2016/02/02/helen-clark-closing-remarks-to-2016-ecosoc-youth-forum-.html

█ Twitter: Helen Clark @HelenClarkUNDP

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Dezeen: W57 —West 57th Residential Building by BIG

Durst Fetner Residential commissioned Copenhagen based BIG in the spring of 2010 to introduce a new residential typology to Manhattan.

sltube7 Uploaded on Feb 10, 2011
Jacob Slevin Bjarke Ingels Is BIG in New York City with W57
(by Designer Pages)

GlessnerGroup Uploaded on Feb 15, 2011
W57 – West 57th Residential Building [no audio]
W57 is a hybrid between the European perimeter block and a traditional Manhattan high-rise, West 57th has a unique shape which combines the advantages of both: the compactness and efficiency of a courtyard building providing density, a sense of intimacy and security, with the airiness and the expansive views of a skyscraper.
©Glessner Group, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)

Construction is due for completion in 2016.

█ Architect: Bjarke Ingels Group

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### dezeen.com Tue, 8 Feb 2011 at 12:41 pm
West 57th by BIG
By Catherine Warmann
Durst Fetner Residential (DFR) today announced the design of West 57, a 600-unit 80/20 residential building on West 57th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues. The building is designed by renowned Danish Architect firm BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and is their inaugural North American project. The building’s program consists of over 600 residential units of different scales situated on a podium with a cultural and commercial program. The building will strive for LEED Gold Certification.

“It’s extraordinarily exciting to build a building whose architecture will attract visitors from around the globe,” said Hal Fetner, CEO of Durst Fetner Residential. “BIG’s design is innovative, evocative and unique and the building’s beauty is matched only by its efficient and functional design that preserves existing view corridors while maximizing the new building’s access to natural light and views of the Hudson River. West 57th will establish a new standard for architectural excellence and its creative design, sustainable-construction and operations, breathtaking views and distinctive amenities will make it New York’s most sought after residential address.”

“New York is rapidly becoming an increasingly green and livable city. The transformation of the Hudson River waterfront and the Highline into green parks, the ongoing effort to plant a million trees, the pedestrianisation of Broadway and the creation of more miles of bicycle lanes than the entire city of my native Copenhagen are all evidence of urban oases appearing all over the city. With West 57th we attempt to continue this transformation into the heart of the city fabric – into the centre of a city block,” Bjarke Ingels, Founder, BIG.

“The building is conceived as a cross breed between the Copenhagen courtyard and the New York skyscraper. The communal intimacy of the central urban oasis meets the efficiency, density and panoramic views of the tall tower in a new hybrid typology. The courtyard is to architecture what Central Park is to urbanism: a giant green garden surrounded by a dense wall of spaces for living.”
Read more + Images

[view full screen]

BIG from DRKHRSE (posted 4 months ago)
An aerial view of Bjarke Ingel’s newest building in NYC, at W57

█ Drone Photography: Darkhorse

### dezeen.com Wed, 16 Sept 2015 at 11:10 am
Drone video shows progress on New York “courtscraper” by BIG
By Jenna McKnight
Communications firm Darkhorse has used a camera mounted to a drone to capture footage of Via 57 West, the residential building by Bjarke Ingels Group that is now rising in New York. Construction is underway on the tetrahedron-shaped building, which is located on West 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The design is pulled up at one corner, to create a 467-foot-tall (142-metre) structure. It topped out several months ago, with the addition of the final structural beam, and work is now continuing on the building’s facades. The unofficial movie by Darkhorse shows images of Via’s sloped exterior, which is punctuated with south-facing terraces that look toward the Hudson River.

Encompassing 861,00 square feet (80,000 square metres), the building will contain 709 residential units and a large central courtyard. The project also calls for retail space totalling 45,000 square feet (4,180 square metres).

“We call it a courtscraper,” Ingels told Dezeen in an interview last year. “It’s a combination of a skyscraper and a courtyard building. One side is the height of a handrail and the other side is the height of a high-rise.”

The project is being constructed in an area with a mix of building types. W57 is sandwiched between a power plant, a sanitation garage and a highway. The building’s amenities will include a pool, fitness centre, basketball court, golf simulator, library and screening room. Residents will also be able to reserve “living rooms” for entertaining that feature fireplaces, chef’s kitchens, dining rooms and large terraces.
Read more + Images

█ Other residential projects now underway in New York include 152 Elizabeth Street by Tadao Ando in the Nolita neighbourhood, 520 West 28th Street by Zaha Hadid near the High Line, and a luxury condo building by Alvaro Siza that is slated to rise near BIG’s Via 57 West.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Small apartments —then !! New York by Gehry #2011nuclear

### design-milk.com 13 Jun 2014
Tiny 100-Square-Foot Apartment Virtually Transforms Throughout Day
Posted by Gregory Han
When it comes to forecasting the future, there are two schools of thought: one that sees our planetary cup still half full, the other alarmingly half empty. You can cast Bernardo Schorr, MFA candidate in Parsons’ Design and Technology program and Creative Technologist, with the camp predicting a gloomy dystopian future…. a future where a great many of the world’s population will have to live in much smaller dwellings out of necessity, “in windowless apartments with areas limited to 100 square feet.”

But not all is lost! Schorr also believes digital technologies can be engineered to allow occupants of these micro-apartments to escape the sensation of being confined within prison cells by projecting immersive virtual environments to “expand” the walls far beyond their true dimensional boundaries. Offered as an “utopian solution for a dystopian scenario”, Schorr’s “Mixed Reality Living Spaces” project serves as an experiment for a future when windows will have become a luxury and our circadian rhythms regulating sleep and activity will be cued increasingly by a pixel perfect simulacrum of the world outside.
Read more + Photos

Bernardo Schorr Published on May 15, 2014

Mixed Reality Living Spaces
[Conceptual only, what would 3D printers make for body hugging multi-use furniture, here we don’t find out – but the design principle is worthy. -Eds] Mixed Reality Living Spaces is an imagination of how current and near-future technologies will help us cope with issues of space scarcity and confinement that will derive from urban development.

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### design-milk.com 16 Apr 2014
Transforming Apartment Maximizes Small Space
Posted by Caroline Williamson

With 60 square metres (approximately 645 square feet) to work with, Russian designer Vlad Mishin designed the Transformer Apartment which contains several transforming elements. The apartment is separated lengthwise by a massive, faceted wall structure that is made up of black metal framework and plywood that hides away various household functions.
Read more + Photos

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New York by Gehry at Eight Spruce Street

█ Video + Slideshows (floor plans and more) http://www.newyorkbygehry.com/
█ ArchRecordTV Frank Gehry’s Beekman Tower on design and construction
█ Videos at Youtube for Beekman Tower and 8 Spruce Street

Overview via Wikipedia:
8 Spruce Street, originally known as Beekman Tower and currently marketed as New York by Gehry, is a 76-story skyscraper designed by architect Frank Gehry in the New York City borough of Manhattan at 8 Spruce Street, between William and Nassau Streets, in Lower Manhattan, just south of City Hall Park and the Brooklyn Bridge.

8 Spruce Street is one of the tallest residential towers in the world, and the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere at the time of completion in February 2011. The building was developed by Forest City Ratner, designed by Frank Gehry Architects and WSP Cantor Seinuk Structural Engineers, and constructed by Kreisler Borg Florman. It contains a public elementary school owned by the Department of Education. Above that and grade-level retail, the tower contains only residential rental units (898 in total), a rarity in New York’s Financial District. The skyscraper’s structural frame is made of reinforced concrete, and form-wise it falls within the architectural style of Deconstructivism together with the begun later and completed earlier Aqua skyscraper in Chicago.

28.11.11 New York Times – The Appraisal
Living in a 76-Story Work of Art, and a Symbol of Rebirth

The school is sheathed in reddish-tan brick, and covers 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of the first five floors of the building. It will host over 600 students enrolled in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade classes. A fourth floor roof deck will hold 5,000 square feet (460 m2) of outdoor play space. Above the elementary school is an 898-unit luxury residential tower clad in stainless steel. The apartments range from 500 square feet (46 m2) to 1,600 square feet (150 m2), and consist of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units. All units are priced at market-rate, with no low or moderate income-restricted apartments. It does not contain any units for purchase.

The building also includes space for New York Downtown Hospital. The hospital will take up 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2), and will have public parking below ground. There are public plazas on both the east and west sides of the building, one 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2) and the other somewhat smaller. Street-level retail, totalling approximately 1,300 to 2,500 square feet (120 to 230 m2), is included as part of the project.

30.3.11 Architectural Review
Eight Spruce Street by Frank Gehry, New York, USA

Early reviews of the 8 Spruce Street tower have been favourable. The building was also heavily criticized for “appearing as a nuclear meltdown”, for being the most expensive per square foot residential tower in Manhattan and for receiving $204 million in federal bonds for its $875 million construction cost. In The New York Times, architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff praised the building’s design as a welcome addition to the skyline of New York, calling it: “the finest skyscraper to rise in New York since Eero Saarinen’s CBS building went up 46 years ago”. New Yorker magazine’s Paul Goldberger described it as “one of the most beautiful towers downtown”. Comparing Gehry’s tower to the nearby Woolworth Building, completed in 1913, Goldberger said “it is the first thing built downtown since then that actually deserves to stand beside it”. CityRealty architecture critic Carter Horsely hailed the project, saying “the building would have been an unquestioned architectural masterpiece if the south facade had continued the crinkling and if the base had continued the stainless-steel cladding. Even so, it is as majestic as its cross-town rival, the great neo-Gothic Woolworth Building designed by Cass Gilbert at 233 Broadway on the other side of City Hall Park.” Gehry designed both the exterior, interiors and amenities spaces, along with all 20 model apartments.

█ Frank Gehry is perhaps the most celebrated practicing architect in the world today. He has been the recipient of dozens of awards recognizing excellence in architecture including the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which honours “significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture”. Over the past five decades, under Gehry’s creative direction, Gehry Partners, LLP has designed public and private buildings in North America, Europe, and Asia. Hallmarks of Gehry’s work include a particular focus on creating spaces that are comfortable to the people who use them, and that exist well within the larger context and culture of their location. The firm’s approach to design is one in which the client becomes fully engaged in the process, making each project a true collaboration.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: New York by Gehry at Eight Spruce Street (from top) businessinsider.com, urbanedgeny.com, architectural-review.com, en.wikipedia.org

Ngai Tahu featured in Wall Street Journal (12.3.14)

### ODT Online Mon, 17 Mar 2014
Ngai Tahu’s financial acumen praised
By Hamish McNeilly
The economic foresight of Ngai Tahu has won the praise of the influential Wall St Journal. The article, published last week, noted the iwi had gone from being ”impoverished, virtually landless” to one of New Zealand’s wealthiest tribes with group assets totalling $1.03 billion. Following the $170 million treaty settlement the iwi took part in a series of ”astute investments”, enabling it to restore marae and support health and education programmes for its 50,000 members.
Read more

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Source:
New Zealand Tribe’s Bet Transforms Its Fortunes: The Ngāi Tahu See Their Investments Pay Off
Original article published by The Wall Street Journal; March 12, 2014
online.wsj.com – this is a paysite. You can read the whole article by Lucy Cramer of WSJ for free at USNZcouncil.org

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“If you look at 15 years since settlement, this entity has done really well,” said Trevor Burt, a former executive board member of German chemicals giant Linde Group who the tribe tapped four years ago to run its investment arm. Over the past four years, the fund’s average total annual return, based on comprehensive income, was 14 per cent, beating the average 12.9 per cent annual return by the benchmark share index. –Lucy Craymer, WSJ
New Zealand tribe’s bet transforms its fortunes – posted by david at the United States New Zealand Council blogsite
March 12, 2014 Link

While you squabble, Ngai Tahu is worth more than a billion dollars, is making hundreds of millions of dollars in well placed investments, and is even outperforming well known philanthropic funds like the ones owned by Yale and Harvard. –Cameron Slater, Whale Oil Beef Hooked
Wall Street Journal praises tribe: Are you watching up north?
March 13, 2014 at 5:30pm Link

Twitter accounts:
Ngai Tahu @NgaiTahu
Wall Street Journal @WSJ

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

#Occupy #OWS Good guy! US Marine Sgt Shamar Thomas

1 Marine vs. 30 Cops at Occupy Times Square

This is an amazing confrontation caught on camera at the Occupy Times Square protest recently in New York.

Angry at having seen his unarmed fellow citizens being abused by the police, US Marine Sgt Shamar Thomas gives the NYPD an ear full.

Sometimes the right person with the right words and motivation can make a difference. Watch this video and if you can appreciate the message and the passion with which it is conveyed, make sure his words are spread far and wide.

Please share Brasscheck TV e-mails and videos with friends and colleagues. That’s how we grow. Thanks.

Brasscheck TV
2380 California St
San Francisco, CA 94115
www.brasschecktv.com

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Sgt Shamar Thomas from Roosevelt (NY) is an activist in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Thomas is a 24-year-old Marine Veteran (two tours in Iraq), he currently plays amateur football and is in college. He comes from a long line of people who sacrifice for their country: Mother, Army Veteran (Iraq), Step father, Army, active duty (Afghanistan), Grand father, Air Force veteran (Vietnam), Great Grand Father Navy veteran (World War II).

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Audacious idea: New Zealand X-Prize Environmental and Energy

Kea “New Zealand, New Thinking” event, New York

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00 22/05/2011
$1b prize plan for NZ’s future
By Rob O’Neill – Sunday Star Times
The Government is being urged to invest in new strategies to lift the country out of the economic mire, with one successful entrepreneur suggesting it invest $1 billion in future energy technologies through an audacious prize.
New Zealand needs to build a country around the promises of tomorrow, not the legacies of yesterday, Hyperfactory founder Derek Handley told expatriate Kiwis in New York last week as the government announced the partial sale of many state-owned energy assets.

Handley said $1b is less than a tenth of what the current government has committed to infrastructure projects in the next few years and about the same amount spent bailing out South Canterbury Finance investors. It is also “about twice as much as the amount we hope to lose by hosting the Rugby World Cup”, he said and about the same as our bill for six weeks of imported oil.

Read more

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Post by Elizabeth Kerr

New York rescue

Xmas is a good time to THINK. Thanks to Treehugger’s big apple alert…

Every day, New York City residents waste 270,000 pounds of food. Want to know what that looks like? Here’s an unforgettable way to imagine it – fill up a subway train with the equivalent amount of apples, and release it onto the people waiting on the platform.

Viralmente 25 November 2009

“New York’s City Harvest food bank created this commercial to illustrate the point that as thousands of pounds of food is wasted daily, thousands of residents don’t have enough to eat. In other words, our food distribution processes bite – not just in the US, but worldwide. City Harvest works to change that on a local level. This year alone, the group will “rescue” and deliver more than 25 million pounds of quality food that would otherwise go to waste. Like the Robin Hoods of freeganism. Sort of.”

“And no, 270,000 pounds of apples weren’t used to make the point.”
This is the video on how they created the video:

MotionographerDotCom 01 December 2009

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Meanwhile at new Yankee Stadium…

The new Yankee Stadium was one of the city’s signature construction projects. The design work on the stadium, including on the ramps, was performed by Populous, a company in Kansas City, Missouri.

### ODT Online October 23, 2009
Cracks Emerge in Ramps at New Yankee Stadium
By William K Rashbaum and Ken Belson

The concrete pedestrian ramps at the brand-new $1.5 billion city-subsidized Yankee Stadium have been troubled by cracks, and the team is seeking to determine whether the problems were caused by the installation, the design, the concrete or other factors, according to several people briefed on the problems. The ramps were built by a company accused of having links to the mob, and the concrete mix was designed and tested by a company under indictment on charges that it failed to perform some tests and falsified the results of others. But it is unclear whether work performed by either firm contributed to the deteriorating conditions of the ramps.
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David Waldstein contributed reporting.

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

The power of sport: RIP Yankee Stadium

If anyone ever needed a reminder of the ability of sport to create powerful emotions, try watching a replay of the last ever game at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York, NY.

Yankee Stadium (NY Times)