To Nullify Lead, Add a Bunch of Fish Bones

This might be of interest, given the (never ending) cleanup work at Alameda Point.

The principle is straightforward, said Victor R. Johnson, an engineer with Civil & Environmental Consultants Inc. “The fish bones are full of calcium phosphate,” he said. “As they degrade, the phosphates migrate into the soil.” The lead in the soil, deposited by car exhaust from the decades when gasoline contained lead or from lead-based paint residue, binds with the phosphate and transforms into pyromorphite, a crystalline mineral that will not harm anyone even if consumed.

 

Irking drivers is urban policy

In Europe (naturally!). It is unclear if the concept would ever catch on here at home.

While American cities are synchronizing green lights to improve traffic flow and offering apps to help drivers find parking, many European cities are doing the opposite: creating environments openly hostile to cars. The methods vary, but the mission is clear — to make car use expensive and just plain miserable enough to tilt drivers toward more environmentally friendly modes of transportation.

Perhaps something to think about if (and when) we ever get around to developing Alameda Point.

 

While Alameda gently sleeps …

Our friends across the bay have just approved a new neighborhood proposed for Treasure Island.

The plan, almost 15 years in the making, calls for 19,000 new residents to live in a new neighborhood wrapped in open space and dotted with high-rises, one as tall as 450 feet. Residential units would be within walking distance of shops, a grocery store, a school and new ferry terminal.

Over the next 20 to 30 years, they intend to morph the island from an aging former Navy base into a state-of-the-art neighborhood with a mix of affordable and market-rate homes, all designed to save water and energy.

The comparisons between Alameda Point and Treasure Island might not be fair (due to all the cleanups etc that we’ve been saddled with), but the fact remains that we’re still lacking a coherent vision on how to move forward, 14 years after the base was closed.

Hello Ithaca!

Today’s NYT has an article on how Ithaca is considering deploying the very same pod cars that are under consideration for Alameda Point. Perhaps SunCal might want to exchange notes with the folks at Ithaca.

Tidbits on Toxicity, via the web

Perhaps they (or somebody else) can produce a similar listing for Alameda Point!

HAVE you ever wondered about health hazards lurking underground near your home, your workplace or a property that you are thinking of buying or renting? For locations in New York State, there is now an easy way to find out, without resorting to costly testing of groundwater and soil core samples.

Alameda Point and Measure A

The city hosted Measure A forum today. I’ll leave it to the experts (Lauren and JKW) for a commentary on the proceedings. While the (seemingly endless) Measure A debate rages on, today’s NYT had an article that is somewhat relevant to the issue at hand: low vs. high density at Alameda Point.

Titled “Suburbia’s March to Oblivion”:

“Signs of physical and social disorder are spreading” thro’gh cul-de-sac suburbia, he writes in the March issue of The Atlantic. And it is not just because of the mortgage mess. A “structural change” is occurring in the housing market — a “major shift in the way many Americans want to live and work,” moving social problems out of the city and into the suburban fringe.

Mr. Leinberger cites the work of Arthur C. Nelson, the director of Virginia Tech’s Metropolitan Institute, who has predicted that, by 2025, there will be a surplus of 22 million large-lot homes (those built on at least one-sixth of an acre). This, Mr. Leinberger writes, is a result of “the pendulum swinging back toward urban living,” thanks to a set of economic, social, and demographic trends.

The result, he says, could be that low-density suburbs “may become what inner cities became in the 1960’s and 1970’s — slums characterized by poverty, crime, and decay.”

Meanwhile, he writes, demand for “urban living” will continue apace. Although the mortgage squeeze may slow development of lofts and condominiums in the central cities and “walkable” towns and suburbs, “it will surely continue.”

Alameda NAS Slideshow

Ben Peoples (a photographer from Alameda) has a collection of photographs depicting the architecture of Alameda NAS, in preparation for a documentary. He is soliciting feedback and comments on his portfolio.

Alameda Point Trail

Construction is to begin in the Fall on the Alameda Point trail. As the Chronicle reports:

The trail – with its spectacular views of the bay – also will begin what officials hope will be a 7-mile loop around Alameda Point, the mostly shuttered and rundown old base that the Navy closed in 1997. The loop in turn would complete a missing part of the San Francisco Bay Trail, a grand network of trails along shorelines around the entire bay.

Can Lennar be trusted?

As is well known by now, the city has selected Lennar and Catellus as joint developers for Alameda Point. However, two recent reports in the local press do not inspire confidence in Lennar’s capabilities.

In March, the Chronicle reported a lawsuit against Lennar:

A development firm building 1,600 new homes at the old Hunters Point Naval Shipyard has allowed clouds of toxic construction dust to escape from the site, exposing neighbors and schoolchildren to potentially harmful, airborne asbestos, two company executives say.

The allegations are particularly troubling, given that Alameda Point has its own share of toxic materials that need cleaning up before any construction activitiy can commence.

Solar Panels

With the decision of the city council to have Catellus and Lennar work in tandem on developing Alameda Point, the developers have a great opportunity to incorporate some green building techniques. As the Chronicle points out, Lennar already includes solar power as a standard feature in some of their new subdivisions.

The largest developer of residential properties in the East Bay, Lennar Bay Area Homebuilding, recently completed the first community of new homes in the Bay Area built with a roof-integrated solar electric system. Located in Danville, the 77 homes range in size from 3,673 to 4,243 square feet and are priced at about $1.3 million. The company is building an additional 250 homes equipped with solar power systems, priced at $900,000, in San Ramon.