Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Critical violations are those factors leading to foodborne illness and must be corrected immediately. Noncritical violations relate to maintenance of food operations and cleanliness.

WASHINGTON COUNTY

Dec. 27

Colton's Steakhouse

642 E. Millsap Road, Fayetteville

Critical violations: Sanitizer spray bottle not labeled with contents.

Noncritical violations: Cardboard boxes of food items being stored directly on floor of dry storage area and walk-in cooler. Missing and loose tiles on main service line. Loose tile spaces holding water. Light shields not properly installed over expo area.

Domino's

1814 N. Crossover Road, Suite 1, Fayetteville

Critical violations: None

Noncritical violations: No CFM documentation available at time of inspection.

Lomok I

709 W. Emma Ave., Springdale

Critical violations: in refrigerator, packaged raw beef items are stored above packaged ready-to-eat food.

Noncritical violations: Food Manager Certification through an accredited program has not been attained. There is not verifiable document about employee has been informed about their responsibility to report health issues. Cleanup procedures for a bodily fluid event is not available at time of the inspection. Frozen chicken at room temperature. Refrigerator does not have a thermometer. At time of the inspection, cooks are frying on a stove, ventilation system is not available. Food permit is not posted in view of customers.

The Galley

3932 S. Thompson St., Springdale

Critical violations: Small steam table has meat balls at 119 degrees and chili beans at 112 degrees.

Noncritical violations: Clean up procedures for bodily fluid event is not available at time of the inspection. Food Manager Certification through an accredited program has not been attained. Test strips not available.

Dec. 28

Andy's Frozen Custard

1523 W. Martin Luther King Blvd., Fayetteville

Critical violations: None

Noncritical violations: No Certified Food Manager at the facility. Facility did not have a bodily fluid event cleanup procedure in place for employees. There is an accumulation of mold-like substance inside the ice machine. The facility is washing and reusing strawberry containers for storing other foods. The facility lacks an irreversible registering temperature indicator for the hot water sanitizing dish machine. Permit is valid but is not posted.

Arby's

1263 W. Martin Luther King Blvd., Fayetteville

Critical violations: The permit has expired 11/30/21.

Noncritical violations: There is an accumulation of dust on the air vents about the prep line. There is accumulation of grease on the wall and vent hood fixtures around the fryers.

Capi's

1891 Reed Ave., Springdale

Critical violations: None

Noncritical violations: Food Manager Certification through an accredited program has not been attained. Food permit expired in 2019.

E-Z Mart

1417 W. Martin Luther King Blvd., Fayetteville

Critical violations: There are no handwashing signs for the bathrooms or the front hand sink. There were boxes of eggs being stored over drinks. The creamer cold hold unit measured 59 degrees. Opened packages of hot dogs were not date marked.

Noncritical violations: There is an accumulation of dark mold-like substance inside the fountain drink nozzles. The boxes of single use cups were being stored on the floor in the back storage room. Facility lacks sanitizing test strips.

Foghorns

1545 W. 15th St., Suite 1, Fayetteville

Critical violations: A storage container of pineapple date marked 9/10/21 in the walk-in refrigerator has molded.

Noncritical violations: Handwashing sink drain pipe is leaking in food preparation area. One of the bar hand sinks and the food preparation handwashing sink lack employee handwashing notices posted. Back door to the food preparation area is propped open. The storage container for wrapped bread is cracked in the corner and duct taped. Circular floor fan lacks cleaning.

Green Submarine Sub Shop

1641 W. 15th St., Suite 1-3, Fayetteville

Critical violations: None

Noncritical violations: Employee manager lacks Food Manager Certification. Retail Food Permit expired 11/30/2021.

Mong Dynasty North

3101 N. College Ave., Fayetteville

Critical violations: Packaged raw eggs are stored above packaged tofu, container with raw chicken is stored above packaged carrots. Surfaces of shelves are not clean.

Noncritical violations: Food Manager Certification through an accredited program has not been attained. Cleanup procedures for bodily fluid event is not available.

Ohana Poke

1135 W. Martin Luther King Blvd., Fayetteville

Critical violations: The paper towel dispenser in the men's restroom was empty.

Noncritical violations: There is no Certified Food Manager at the facility. Facility lacks bodily fluid cleanup procedures. The rice spatulas are being stored in a bowl of water at room temperature and are only changed out every 24 hours. There are boxes of single-use items being stored on the floor.

Staybridge Inn and Suites

1577 W. 15th St.,

Critical violations: Food Fayetteville employee donning disposable gloves handled personal drink bottle and half-eaten cookie and then handled ready-to-eat leaf lettuce.

Noncritical violations: Three personal drinks in plastic bottles are stored in the bulk ice maker used for drinks. Food employee is wearing a wristwatch.

Wendy's

1473 W. Martin Luther King Blvd., Fayetteville

Critical violations: There were no handwashing signs posted in the bathrooms. There were no paper towels for the back hand washing sink.

Noncritical violations: There is accumulation of dark mold-like substance inside the ice machine and around the opening of the soft serve dispenser. Facility lacks refrigerator thermometer for the under-counter fridge, and the thermometer for the drive-through fridge is broken. The sanitizer test strips have become discolored and are no longer accurate. The permit is valid but is not posted.

Dec. 29

Graduate Hotel

70 N. East Ave., Fayetteville

Critical violations: Mechanical warewasher is not chlorine residual is at 0 ppm.

Noncritical violations: One of the two handwashing sinks in the food preparation area lacks employee handwashing notice posted.

Little Bread Company

116 N. Block, Fayetteville

Critical violations: None

Noncritical violations: Unable to verify Certified Food Manager employee. Handwashing sink in back food preparation area cold faucet handle is stripped. Food employee is wearing a bracelet. East side wall finish is damaged and lacks repair in food preparation/mechanical warewashing areas. Posted Retail Food Permit expired 10/31/2020.

On The Mark

2588 N. Gregg, Fayetteville

Critical violations: Tomatoes at 52 degrees and sliced cheese at 53 degrees in the prep table. Blue cheese dressing at 46 degrees in the prep table refrigerator.

Noncritical violations: At least one employee that has supervisory and management responsibility and the authority to direct and control food preparation and service shall be a certified food protection manager. One of the kitchen hand washing sinks does not have hot water. Restrooms lack handwashing signage. Several items in both freezer are not covered. The food slicer has a buildup of debris from the previous day. Bottles of cleaners were not labeled. Facility lacks refrigerator thermometer and prep table refrigerator thermometer. Ice scoop stored on top of the ice machine. A bowl was stored in the seasoning and a cup was stored in the breading. Dumpster lids were open upon arrival at facility.

Powerhouse Seafood and Grill

112 N. University Ave., Fayetteville

Critical violations: None

Noncritical violations: No documentation of a Certified Food Protection Manager. The tea station counter is missing the protective cover around the sink. The wood is flaking. Posted permit expired on 9/30/2021.

Sushi

522 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville

Critical violations: None

Noncritical violations: Rice dispensing utensils are stored in unheated containers between use. A cleanup procedure for bodily fluid events is not available. A three-compartment sink for manual warewashing, rinsing and sanitizing is not installed.

The Event Group Inc.

2418 N. Gregg, Suite 5, Fayetteville

Critical violations: None

Noncritical violations: Food Manager Certification through an accredited program has not been attained. Cleanup procedures for bodily fluid event is not available at time of the inspection. Floor around dishwashing machine lacks repair, it is not smooth and easy to clean. Wall and floor around dishwashing machine is not clean.

Dec. 30

Taqueria Mi Hacienda

1501 W. Sunset Ave., Suite B, Springdale

Critical violations: The handwashing sink drain is broken, and a bucket is being used to collect the water. No hand soap is available to wash hands in the handwashing sink. Foods in the reach in cooler lack covers.

Noncritical violations: At least one employee that has supervisory and management responsibility and the authority to direct and control food preparation and service shall be a certified food protection manager. A retail food establishment shall have procedures for employees to follow when responding to bodily fluid release events. The back of house area has a buildup of food residues on surfaces.

The following establishments had no violations this reporting period:

Dec. 27 -- Chili's, 772 E. Millsap Road, Fayetteville

Dec. 29 -- Crisis Brewing, LLC, 210 S. Archibald Yell Blvd., Fayetteville; Harp's Deli-Bakery, 1308 N. Thompson St., Springdale; Onyx Coffee Lab, 2418 N. Gregg, Fayetteville; Pearl's Books-Retail, 28 E. Center St., Suite 120, Fayetteville; Sunset Grill and BBQ, 3418 W. Sunset, Suite A, Springdale; Taqueria Bien Salsa, 1902 W. Huntsville Ave., Suite A, Springdale

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Washington County restaurant inspections - Arkansas Online

Last year was the deadliest in New York Citys jails since 2013, with 16 people dying after being held in custody. Their deaths came amid a sharp rise in absenteeism among correction officers which began in 2020 and has continued into this year. At a Board of Correction hearing on Tuesday, a staff member for Mr. Molina, who was appointed the citys Correction Commissioner in December, said that 2,300 of the close to 9,000 staff members are currently out sick.

The morale of our staff is at an all-time low, Mr. Molina said.

Christopher Boyle, a lawyer with the New York County Defender Services who represents some of the incarcerated people who are currently protesting, said in an interview that the situation at Rikers Island had deteriorated since last year.

This is an emergency situation, he said.

Michael Tatum, 51, said that he had already been in several fights since being arrested in October on a charge of third-degree burglary. Like a number of others interviewed, he expressed concern about Covid-19, which has surged at Rikers in recent weeks. Like other detainees, Mr. Tatum said that the beds in his dormitory were only a foot away from one another and that it was impossible to remain hygienic.

A number of those interviewed complained about the cold. Arian Medina, 26, said that he was wearing as many thermals, hats and other articles of clothing as he could to stave it off.

People are going crazy in here, Mr. Medina said. Theyre losing their minds.

Raheem Ford, 62, said that he had missed multiple court dates, and there were not enough staff members working to escort detainees to essential appointments. He described unsanitary conditions including black mold in the bathrooms and mildew on the carts that were used to serve food.

It should be taken over by another agency, he said.

Read more here:
Hundreds at Rikers Protest Conditions, Citing Covid and the Cold - The New York Times

###

Hemp,or Cannabis sativa L, was legalized for commercial production by theU.S. Farm Bill of 2018. To comply with federal law, the hemp musttest below .3 percent THC and must be cultivated by licensed growers.Since then, hemp production has exploded across the nation, as haveconversations about hemps usefulness in industrial applicationsand environmental remediation.

Infact, some argue that hemp can save the planet through carbonsequestration, phytoremediation of contaminated soils, biofuelproductionand the creation of earth-friendly consumer, industrialandfood products. Hemp is also used to produce cannabidiol or CBD, whichoffers many health benefits and will be discussed here in the comingweeks.

CarbonSequestration

Carbonsequestration refers to the process of capturing and storing carbondioxide from the atmosphere. Because carbon dioxide absorbs and emitsinfrared radiation, it is deemed to play a significant role in theEarths surface temperature. Simply put, more carbon dioxide in theatmosphere would lead to higher temperatures here on the third rock.Without politicizing the issue, it seems that reasonable people,based on this information alone, would want less carbon in theatmosphere.

Hempcan help. A lot. While it is estimated that a hectare of pine treescan absorb approximately 10 tons of carbon dioxide per year, thesame size hemp field can absorb up to 15 tons. In certain regionstwo hemp crops can be grown a year, thus doubling this figure. Inaddition, trees take a number of years before they begin capturingsignificant amounts of atmospheric carbon, while the hemp growthcycle is just 120 days.

Phytoremediation

Phytoremediationrefers to the use of plants to absorb contaminants in soil andgroundwater. Industrial activity, oil & gas spills, agriculturalchemicalsand buried waste materials contribute to soil andgroundwater contamination. Heavymetals, pharmaceutical compounds and other toxins are now a majorthreat to both soil and water quality around the world. Certainplants, called hyperaccumulators, can grow in contaminated soil orwater. They absorb the pollutants through their root system andcontaminants then concentrate in plant tissue over time. This processcleanses the soil and allows abandoned lands to be reclaimed forproductive use.

Phytoremediationhas been somewhat inefficient in the past as many hyperaccumulatorshave shallow roots and are smaller in size, thus limiting how manytoxins could be extracted and accumulated in the plants tissue.Hemp plants, on the other hand, have a deep taproot and can grow verylarge, allowing for much greater environmental benefits. Afterharvest, the contaminatedhemp biomass can be used in biofuel production, helping toovercome the economic constraint hampering the adoption ofphytoremediation more broadly.

Hemp,in the eyes of many, is a more environmentally responsible solutionto the very serious and increasing problem of soil and groundwatercontamination. Proponents argue that hemp cultivation is preferredover traditional methods of remediating contaminated land such asexcavation, incineration, or the use of chemical additives tostabilize contaminants. Additionally, hemp fields are known forbiodiversity friendliness.

Biofuel

Itis no mystery that fossil fuels are problematic. Resource wars,pollution and potential climate impacts are areas of controversy andheated debate. The hemp seed contains approximately 30 percent oil,and this oil can be transformed into biodiesel. Hemp can also be usedto produce methanol, ethanol and biogas. The hemp seed renders moreoil than other crops like soybean, sunflower or peanuts, making itsuse far more efficient as a source of biofuel. Hempbiodiesel is said to outperform conventional diesel in nearly allperformance areas.

IndustrialProducts

Hempfiber has been used for thousands of years and has been traced backto 8,000 BCE in ancient Mesopotamia where researchers found hempcloth. The long, straight hemp fibers have incredible strength andare currently used for paper products, textiles, insulation andcordage like twine, yarn, rope and string.

Interestingly,a waste product from hemp fiber production is hemp shives. Shiveswhen combined with lime and a binding agent form hempcrete, anon-load-bearing substitute for concrete. Hempcrete is strong, weighs90 percent less than concrete, is flame- and mold-resistant, andinsulates incredibly well. Hemp cellulose can be formed intobiodegradable plastics and high-strength plastics which are currentlybeing explored by automakers Porsche, BMW and others.

Food

Hempis also healthy for ones diet. Hemp seeds contain between 25-35percent fatty acid-rich oil and 20-25 percent protein.Theyare also high in fiber, magnesium and other nutrients. Hemp seed isprocessed into oil or milk or consumed as hemp hearts and added tothings like salad. Hemp oil is often used as a supplement and isinfused into beauty products, while hemp milk is non-dairy andreportedly non-allergenic.

Challenges

Likemost things, hemp production has a couple of downsides. While hempcan be grown with less water, nutrients, and pesticides than othercommercial crops, farming it at scale will put some strain on naturalresources. That said, hemp production is said to be carbon negative,meaning the crop will sequester or absorb more carbon than emitted bythe equipment used to grow, process, and transport it. A more naturalor regenerative approach to hemp farming would be advised to furtherbenefit the environment.

Additionally,infrastructure in terms of processing plants would need to beconstructed to allow the mass commercialization of hemp. As we know,commercial developments are generally disruptive to the naturalenvironment. The hope would be that over time, the environmentalbenefits of more sustainable products would outweigh the initialenvironmental costs.

Hempfarming has also created enforcement issues as some hemp farms are afacade masking enormous illicit cannabis grows. As we know from ourneighbors to the north, many of Oregons hemp operations arebeing raided by law enforcement as they are actually growing high THCvarietals destined for the unregulated market. Because CBD hemp looksessentially like traditional cannabis, illicit operators aresubstituting THC plants for their hemp in attempts to score big.

Finally,hemp crops subject traditional cannabis operations tocross-pollination risk. Hemp pollen can travel many miles and seedout neighboring gardens. Given such risks, Humboldt County banned itsproduction altogether and I support that move for our region.

Despitehaving some hurdles to overcome, industrial and environmental hempapplications offer both economic and ecological promise. I expect thecoming years to show further developments and advancements in theworld of hemp. While not a panacea for all evils, perhaps hemp can bepart of a broader solution to save the world we live in.

###

Jesse Duncan is a lifelong Humboldt County resident, a father of six, a retired financial advisor, and a full-time commercial cannabis grower. He is also the creator of NorCal Financial and Cannabis Consulting, a no-cost platform that helps small farmers improve their cultivation, business, and financial skills. Pleasecheck out his blogat, his Instagram at jesse_duncann, and connect with him on Linkedin.

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THE CANNABIS CONVERSATION: Can Industrial Hemp Save the Planet? - Lost Coast Outpost

Simply put, cast iron pans aren't maintained the same way as other pans. For example, it's not common to use soap to clean them, though you're free to reach for the soap with other styles of pans. Also, you should never store them wet, and you'll want to build up a coating of oil-based seasoning on cast iron over time. These differences can lead to a misconception that they're finicky and delicate to work with.

The idea that cast iron pans are delicate is just not true. If it was, we wouldn't be able to find decades-old pans at thrift shops and garage sales or passed down over generations.Though, that said, you should be careful handling cast iron pans. That's because they're heavy and solid enough to damage your stovetop, countertop, or kitchen floors not the other way around. However, just stay mindful of where and how you're moving that big cast iron pan and you should be perfectly fine.

According to Serious Eats, these metal pans are about as tough and resilient as you can get in cookware. And if you've chipped off the pan's seasoning, you can always build up more over time as you cook. Found some rust? No problem. Just buff it out with steel wool and cover it with oil. Compare that to a non-stick pan that has to be pampered and tossed at the first sign of a surface scratch. Not so delicate now, is it?

Read more:
The Truth About Cast Iron Pans - Tasting Table

Okej Studio founders Emmie and Mitchell Brower also dont see curvy shapes going anywhere anytime soon. We can see a variety of interior design styles experimenting a little and becoming more eclectic, Emmie says. One might see more minimalist interiors embrace complex shapes and really add those standout pieces that you normally wouldnt find in those environments. Well see a lot more classic and simple design that has been enhanced through interesting patterns and textures.

From the point of view of Bougie Woogies Jazmin and Matias, wiggly and squiggly shapes are expanding into two new directionsthe central piece, which is an accent that calms down the wiggle frenzy to clean the visual information and brings balance without losing the fun, and the passage from 2D squiggle to 3D swirl. The couple cites Vivid Wu and Aden Wangs home as a prime example of a space where the balance between classic minimalism and retro-style wiggly shapes and colors make the space feel modern with a touch of nostalgia. (They also point to the Home Union and Pieces collaboration as a reference.) On a similar note, the architectural designer Lula Galeano also thinks that spiral patterns will be huge in 2022. Perhaps its a sign that we are on our way toward the upward spiral?

Jeanette Reza is a hopeless romantic at heart so when she was conceptualizing the shape of her Jiu Jie cushions back in 2018, she wanted them not only to provide squishy comfort, but also to be viewed as objects of desire. The Mexican designer sees her knotty creations as a labyrinth that takes us into this alternative universe where all our fantasies and desires become true. Cushions molded like this serve as transitional pieces that make you feel connected to something on a deeper emotional level.

Now that everything is happening within one space, Jeanette also thinks that modular multiuse products will be an even bigger design trend because more people want things that you can play with that have multifunctionality. She says, It has to be something a little more special that has a story and meaning behind it, not just a decoration purpose.

Wiggle Room's signature coffee table with a purple Sophie Lou Jacobsen pitcher full of flowers.

Jenny Kaplan, cofounder of Pieces, has been gravitating toward new shapes that have never been shown before. As a brand that looks to push the boundaries of modernizing our designs with innovative forms, Pieces is constantly thinking about what areas have yet to be explored within the design landscape. I am feeling lots of print and organic silhouettes for 2022, Jenny says. We are currently working on a new collection based on the study of patterns from the 20th century with a focus on the 80s and 90s.

Gustaf Westman is interested in what the wiggle will evolve into. Lately, the designer has noticed a shift in color palettes from pastels to deeper hues so he expects to see a new wave of color combinations in the mix. I think we are going to see an increased mix in materials, colors, and shapes, he says. I think that the wiggly and bulky styles will be seen a lot in raw materials like wood and metal The shapes [might] come after harder materials and straight lines.

Original post:
What's Next After the Wiggle Trend? We Asked 9 Designers for Their Predictions - Architectural Digest

The origin story of Americas national parks goes like this: during the Lincoln administration, fearing that the recently discovered wonders of Yosemite Valley would be defiled as Niagara Falls had been, and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove logged, federal legislation created what would eventually become Yosemite National Park, though as author Dennis Drabelle notes, the word park never appeared in the law.

The reserve was conveyed to the state of California.

A mysterious and spectacular landscape, mostly in Wyoming Territory, similarly threatened by entrepreneurs who sought to profit from access to it and possibly make it into a carnival like Niagara Falls, resulted in the first national park because Yellowstone was federal land and there was no state to which to grant it.

John Muir and others campaigned to make the land around Yosemite Valley and the nearby giant sequoias a national park, which they achieved, and Yosemite Valley was ceded back to the federal government and became the Yosemite National Park we know and love today. So, there you have it, a simple and straightforward progression.

The actual origin story is, however, neither simple nor straightforward, stretching over half a century and involving many players, some well known to the park-loving public today, and most not.

In The Power of Scenery, Dennis Drabelle traces the early evolution of the national park idea and its realization. His account moves from British statesman and political philosopher Edmund Burke, who wrote of the aesthetic that stirred the national park movement, to early American artist George Catlin, who envisioned a nations park, and then to Henry David Thoreau, who also floated the idea.

Drabelle describes how U.S. Senator John Conness of California shepherded the initial Yosemite legislation to passage by Congress and the signature of Abraham Lincoln, and then to a lengthy discussion of how Frederick Law Olmsted influenced the national park movement. Others in the story include journalist Samuel Bowles; Americas first landscape architect, Andrew Jackson Downing; scientist and survey leader Ferdinand Hayden; photographer William Henry Jackson; entrepreneur Nathaniel Langford; Congressman John Lacey; and financier Jay Cooke. While these and other philosophers, legislators, writers, journalists, photographers, early scientists, and explorers all play their parts, Drabelle makes Olmsted the focal point in his account of the evolutionary process that resulted in the National Park System we know today.

Why Olmsted? Because, as Drabelle explains, the power of Olmsteds ideas about parks influenced the course of national park history more than any other single person, and that might be a surprising claim to those who give the accolade to John Muir.

After reviewing the contributions of Olmsteds predecessors who contributed ideas that influenced the park movement, Drabelle summarizes Olmsteds early life and his many ventures as an apprentice seaman, farmer, journalist and, most importantly, superintendent and landscape designer of New Yorks Central Park, the historic role for which he is especially remembered. With architect Calvert Vaux he designed and oversaw early construction of this historic park. Then he served as a United States Sanitary Commission member and leader during the Civil War, and as manager of the Mariposa Estate in California, which placed him where he could make his primary contribution to national park history.

Drabelle opens The Power of Scenery in 1865 with Olmsted in a smoke- and beard-filled room presenting a lengthy report to his colleagues on the Yosemite Commission on how the new Yosemite park should be managed. The Commission and its charge were required by the conveyance of Yosemite Valley from federal to state ownership and Olmsted, with his Central Park management and design experience, had become its de facto leader.

Drabelle writes, Olmsted applied to Yosemite the first principle behind his great New York project: a park should belong to and be useable by everyone. At the time, this was a radical proposal, as Drabelle goes to some length to explain using the example of Niagara Falls where everyone could only enjoy it at considerable financial expense.

And then came a recommendation tailored specifically to this, the first public park in the wilds: leave it in its natural state, permitting only such minor additions as a road or two for better access and a handful of rustic structures to accommodate visitors, continues Drabelle. This, too, was a radical idea as, driven by the idea of manifest destiny and other motives for taming and conquering nature, Americans at the time were bent on extracting every cent possible from the land, modifying it to fit their ambitions.

Several of his fellow commissioners decided for various reasons that Olmsteds visionary blueprint for the park was too radical and expensive and managed to have his report quashed, but for decades it percolated in the background as the national park movement got underway.

Olmsted became nationally prominent as a landscape architect and found many ways to put his ideas before the public and decision-makers. Drabelle notes that In 1903, the year of Olmsteds death, President Theodore Roosevelt gazed out over the Grand Canyon and implored his audience to leave it as it is. You cannot improve upon it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it. Almost 40 years earlier, Olmsted has reached the same conclusion about Yosemite and, by extension, every American national park to follow.

Olmsteds thinking had reached the pinnacle of political power with lasting consequences for the American landscape and its national parks, the Grand Canyon of course destined to be one of them. Olmsteds 1865 report may have been quashed for a time, but Drabelle writes that it was Buried but influential all the same.

According to Drabelle, Olmsteds genius lay in peering into the heart of each landscape he came across and finding ways to bring out its best. Yosemite Valley struck him as an entirely different case than Manhattan Island, in that Yosemites best had already been brought out, as agents such as the glacier grinding away at its granite, and he fashioned his report accordingly.

Olmsted left California after four years of trying unsuccessfully to right the sinking Mariposa Estate and commenced his career as the most influential landscape architect in American history. He designed parks all over the United States and established the profession to which he had been introduced by Andrew Jackson Downing, a profession that would be most influential in the future National Park System.

Following in his fathers footsteps, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. was the principal draftsman of the National Park Service Organic Act of 1916 in which, as Drabelle writes, he might have simply cut and pasted the principle laid down by his father in the 1865 Yosemite report.

His father had reaffirmed the [Yosemite] reports central recommendation that managers of a wilderness park should keep improvements to the bare minimum periodically throughout his career, including in the report for Niagara Falls he coauthored with Vaux. But cutting and pasting was of course impossible. Olmsted Jr. had to state the principle differently because in 1916 there were national parks, and Congress was finally getting around to creating an agency to manage them, authorizing it to enforce rules in them, police powers that even the U.S. Army had lacked in its decades-long efforts to protect early parks.

The Organic Act famously stated, in part, The service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments, and reservations, which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.

Father and son set the National Park Service up for a big challenge provide for enjoyment but leave unimpaired which the agency has struggled to manage since its inception.

The Power of Scenery covers historical ground extensively explored by many other writers in both popular and scholarly ways. Drabelle puts Frederick Law Olmsteds role in national park history into context, explaining how and why he was able to be so important to that history in the late 19th century and even to the present.

Drabelles style and approach make for a compelling read for anyone with a shred of interest in Americas national park history. For instance, he explains how Olmsted seemed unimpressed by the sublime qualities of Yosemite Valley that so captured John Muir and many others yet saw the great value of Yosemite Valley. Olmsted subscribed to a different aesthetic even though Drabelle goes to considerable length to describe the nature and influence of the sublime aesthetic that was so important to the rise of the national park idea. Describing the new California reservation soon after its passage in a letter to his father, Olmsted portrayed the valley as awfully grand, but . . . not frightful or fearful . . . . The valley is as sweet & peaceful as the meadows of Avon, and the sides are in many parts lovely with foliage and color.

Drabelle writes,

While saying nothing specifically about Half Dome or El Capitan or Yosemite Falls, he compared the Merced River to the bucolic Avon and preferred ferns and rushes to chasms. When it came to natures extravagances, Olmsted had a blind spot. Toward the end of his career, in 1893, he admitted as much, mentioning his susceptibility to natural beauty but adding a qualification. Not so much grand or sensational scenery as scenery of a more domestic order. Scenery to be looked upon contemplatively and which is provocative of musing moods. It all went back, he thought, to the enjoyment which my father and mother (step-mother) took in loitering journeys; in afternoon drives on the Connecticut meadows. As for all things craggy, they struck him as anything but tranquilizing. Mountains, he said, suggest effort.

This passage illustrates Drabelles readable style and approach and his occasional touch of humor. Asides, such as his account of Truman Everts getting lost in Yellowstone when traveling that wild landscape as part of the famous Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition of 1870, provide entertaining tales that enliven the story of how the national parks got their start.

Scholars of national park history, who are not the audience for this book, might be put off by some obvious errors that will jump out at them. Perusing the small collection of photos in the book they will note that in photo #9 the caption reads, Yellowstone superintendent Horace Albright (left) with explorer Charlie Cook in 1922, at the fiftieth-anniversary celebration of the parks establishment. Courtesy of Wikimedia.

Unfortunately, NPS Director Stephen Mather is listening to Charlie in the photo, not Albright, who was present but not in this image.

In another error, Drabelle has the Yosemite National Park superintendent responding to a letter from George Grinnell that the superintendents boss, Stephen Mather had passed along for comment. He has the wrong Grinnell here. George Bird Grinnell indeed played a role in national park history, but the Grinnell writing to the Yosemite Superintendent was Joseph Grinnell, the director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the University of California at Berkeley, whom Yosemite Park historian Al Runte (cited by Drabelle as his source here) describes as an indefatigable champion of park protection and research.

And finally, Drabelle places the first official American wilderness area, within the Gila National Forest in Arizona. That wilderness is in New Mexico. Errors like this will not detract from the value of this book for the average reader, who can learn much from Drabelles study of Frederick Law Olmsteds role in national park history, but it will annoy some who hold authors writing history, even for popular audiences, to a high standard of accuracy.

In this book, Dennis Drabelle makes a compelling case that Frederick Law Olmsted deserves the prominent place he holds in the pantheon of shapers of the National Park System we enjoy in the 21st century. Visitors may be awed by the monumental scenery, experiencing the sublime qualities of Yosemite, Yellowstone, and other parks. Or they may enjoy the sweet and peaceful meadows and wildflowers as Olmsted did. They will enjoy, without knowing of it, the work of landscape architects as they have sought to fashion park development that does not intrude upon the scenery, part of Olmsteds legacy.

While today we recognize that national parks have many more values than scenery, the power of scenery in the history of national parks is an important and entertaining story.

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Review | The Power Of Scenery: Frederick Law Olmsted And The Origin Of National Parks - National Parks Traveler

Died: December 18, 2021.

RICHARD Rogers, Lord Rogers of Riverside, who has died aged 88, was an architect of towering ambition, whose creations transformed urban landscapes in major cities across the world.

His buildings include the Pompidou Centre in Paris, designed with Italian architect Renzo Piano, which opened in 1977; the Lloyds of London building, completed in 1986; and the Millennium Dome, the symbol of New Labour triumphalism that opened to the public on New Years Day 2000, and which evolved into the O2 venue.

Other key buildings by Rogers included the Leadenhall Building (2013), across the street from Lloyds, which became known as the Cheesegrater. He also designed the law courts in Bordeaux (1998) and Antwerp (2005), the National Assembly in Wales (2005), and Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport (2008). This was eventually built following a labyrinthine public inquiry and associated objections and protests, and took 19 years to come to fruition.

Rogers also designed the first Maggies Centre for cancer care in London, which opened at Charing Cross hospital in 2009. The building won Rogers his second Stirling Prize for architectural excellence. The first was for Barajas Airport, Madrid, in 2006.

Rogers buildings used glass, steel and other industrial materials to create shiny structures that attempted to open up inner cities with space and light. At times there were contradictions in his vision. As an advocate of social housing and public space for all, he also created expensive apartment blocks and helped open the door to an era of regeneration that sometimes sidelined existing communities. The expansive scale of his creations nevertheless became symbols of upwardly mobile communion on a grand scale.

Richard George Rogers was born in Florence, Italy, to Nino, a doctor, and Dada (ne Geiringer) Rogers. His father was the son of a British migr, and his artist mother was the daughter of an architect and engineer, and had once been taught by James Joyce. The family lived in an apartment that had a view of the Duomo, before fleeing to England in 1939 from rising fascism. They lived in one room in a Bayswater boarding house, where, as Rogers later put it, life switched from colour to black and white.

He was sent to boarding school at Kingswood House in Epsom, where he took up boxing after being bullied. He went to St Johns school in Leatherhead, but left without A-levels. He later discovered he was dyslexic.

He did his national service in Trieste, and while on leave worked in the office of his cousin, Ernesto Rogers, who had designed the Torre Velasca building in Milan. Back in London, this inspired him to enrol as a student at the Architectural Association School. With his first wife, Su Brumwell, he went to Yale University on a Fulbright scholarship. While in America he met his contemporary, Norman Foster.

A brief period working in a San Francisco architects office made Rogers realise that working in someone elses practice wasnt for him. Collaboration became key to his ethos ever after. Returning to the UK, Rogers, Brumwell, Foster, and Fosters wife Wendy Cheesman, set up the Team 4 practice.

They began by designing Creek Vean, a house in Cornwall for Brumwells parents. Six years in the making, the experience was a baptism of fire, with Rogers and Foster brought before the Architects Registration Council for practicing without a licence. Rogers learnt his lesson, even if his proposed ZipUp House, an affordable factory-assembled construction for modern living, never took off.

Winning the competition to design the Pompidou Centre put him on the map, even if some of its more epic plans were scaled back in the face of budget cuts and public scepticism. In the end, the building was deemed a success, and was the beginning of his re-imagining of cities at a global level.

This was done primarily through the Richard Rogers Partnership, later Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, founded by Rogers in 1977.

In the 1980s, he became a public advocate of radical modernism in London and beyond, and clashed with Prince Charless sense of traditionalism, with the monarch-in-waiting describing Rogerss proposed extension to the National Gallery in London as a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved friend.

At the turn of the century, Rogers led the new Greater London Authoritys Architecture and Urbanism Unit, with support from the citys first mayor, Ken Livingstone. Plans for more public spaces in London were quickly overturned by Livingstones successor, Boris Johnson.

Rogerss achievements were recognised both in the UK and Europe. In France, he was awarded the Legion dHonneur in 1966, and was knighted in 1991. Tony Blair made him made a Labour peer in 1996, and he became Lord Rogers of Riverside. His autobiography, A Place for All People: Life, Architecture and Social Responsibility, was published in 2017 by Edinburgh publishing house, Canongate. He retired from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners in 2020, closing the door on more than half a century of his modernist vision being at the heart of city living around the world.

He is survived by his second wife, Ruth Rogers, and five children; Ben, Dad and Ab, from his first marriage to Su Brumwell; and Roo, to Rogers. Their youngest son, Bo, predeceased him in 2011. He is also survived by 13 grandchildren, and his younger brother, Peter.

Original post:
Obituary: Richard Rogers, pioneering architect who re-imagined the urban landscape - HeraldScotland

A rose to all those who sacrificed a part of their Christmas Day to serve the public. While Christmas is a day off to enjoy family and friends for most of us, there are many who work on the holiday to provide essential (and non-essential) services law enforcement, firefighters, emergency service workers, utility company employees, hospital and urgent care clinic employees to name a few. We thank you for the important work you do and for the sacrifices you are sometimes called to make for our benefit. Merry Christmas!

A rose to Columbus Mayor Keith Gaskin for his decision to bury a time capsule on New Years Eve and inviting the public to contribute items that will be unearthed in 2072, the citys 250th anniversary. We believe time capsules have a value that goes beyond the curiosity and anticipation that increases as the time goes by until the time capsules are reopened. Now, its an opportunity for us to reflect on who we are, what we believe to be important and how we want to be remembered. For those who are around when the time capsule is retrieved in 50 years, its a chance to reconnect with those who preceded them, tying the past together with the future. We encourage citizens to carefully consider contributing items that tell our story to those who follow.

A rose to the city of Starkville, which announced its masterplan for a $16 million upgrade for the citys parks. Based on recommendations from a landscape architect firm, the plan includes many renovations at all city park facilities. Of particular note, the plan creates more walking paths and green spaces that can serve a wide variety of uses. The old lets build a ballfield and call it a day approach has been abandoned to create a diverse offering of recreational opportunities while creating opportunities to adapt to new trends as they emerge. Its clear careful thought was given to both the current recreational needs of the community as well as future possibilities for facilities that have yet to emerge. Its a practical, flexible, forward-focused plan.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.

Excerpt from:
Roses and thorns 12-26-21 - The Commercial Dispatch

As we were closing this issue, I came across a video on Twitter of a highway just outside Vancouver, submerged in water. It wasnt the only one. The densely populated urban heart of British Columbia was cut off from the rest of Canada by flooding and mudslides after an atmospheric river barreled through. The countrys busiest port lost access to rail service, stranding containers. Hundreds of motorists had to be rescued from slide-isolated highways on military helicopters. The only way to get to the rest of the country by road was to detour through the United States.

The deluge followed a hot, dry summer that saw the numerous cities throughout the region blast through long-standing temperature records as a heat dome blanketed much of the Pacific Northwest. By the end of August, drought had settled in across the province. Vancouver Island, home to old-growth temperate rainforests, hit level 5 drought conditions, British Columbias most severe categorization. Hundreds of wildfires left the region covered in ash and the city itself choking in smoke. The charred landscape left by the summers drought made the falls floods that much worse. Watching that video of a highway covered in brown, muddy water, it occurred to me that I was viewing a sad microcosm of the premise of this issue: The way very many of us will initially experience climate change will be through watereither too much of it or not enough. We will flood. Or burn. Or both. This issue brings you stories of the way changes to the water cycle are playing out all over the world as we begin to experience climate change.

More here:
Most of us will first experience climate change through water - MIT Technology Review

Ronny MichelHearts in Touch

I did something that, for me, was not the better part of wisdom. I tried to remember my 2021 New Years Resolutions. The one goal I remembered will be carried into next year. The other long forgotten and likely broken ones are written somewhere, but I will let them rest in peace.

C.S. Lewis wrote,Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past rest, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ. Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.

Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed Central Park, was tasked with turning 80,000 acres of bare land into a forest surrounding the Biltmore Estate. Three million trees and plants from all over the world took root in the soil of the Estate, and more than 100 years later, tourists enjoy the scenic reality of Olmsteds vision.

The Approach Road to the Biltmore mansion is a three-mile winding road and that, too, was part of Olmsteds plan. He didnt want a straight path. He wanted guests to enjoy every twist and turn of the ride that took 45 minutes by carriage. With every bend of the road, Olmsted wanted the landscape to be a different experience, like turning the page of a book.

Im going to think of that whenever life takes a twist. Im going to trust that God just wants me to appreciate a different view or learn a new lesson and just enjoy the ride. As I approach 2022, Ive already been praying for clear vision for everyone who reads these words. May the new decade usher in deeper trust that the Grand Architect has planned every detail of the landscape of our lives.

Ronny can be reached atrmmichel@rtconline.com.

See more here:
FAITH: Hearts in Touch - When life takes a twist - Orange Leader - Orange Leader