~Led Zeppelin

New York City. Manhattan. Times Square's famous 42nd Street circa....1980 something.
It was a cesspool. Sure, you could find naked girls, throwing stars, at least two stores that advertised fake ID's - 42nd Street was a fourteen year old boys wet dream, but Disney it wasn't.


This was no small feat. They'd been trying to turn this street around since before the Koch Administration. And in the "credit where credit is due" department, it was then Mayor Rudy Giuliani that finally made it happen.
But ag


Belief. That's a hard thing to hold on to when you're looking down the barrel of the Midnight Cowboy set and trying to imagine Mary Poppins finding a home here, but they did.
And it worked.
I bring up 42nd Street because to many, it seemed like the impossible dream. I also bring it up because I watched it happen over the course of years; this amazing metamorphosis from bedraggled caterpillar to neon bejeweled butterfly. And I believe that this can be more of a common occurrence and less of a metropolitan miracle...if we believe that it can be.
There are once-great cities all over America that are dying a slow death. They decay and burn away; they rot and collapse before our eyes and take the dreams of generations with them. Meanwhile, the bottom lines dictate that we ship more jobs away, that we take more opportunity from our own citizens and ship them overseas because it helps a shareholder who is probably also overseas. I know it's easy for some to look at these dying cities and rationalize it away by saying that it's progress - that it's Darwin's Law applied to industry - only the strong survive. And that's always an easy thing for the strong to say. The problem is, if we continue down this path, it won't be long before other countries are looking at the whole of the United States of America, a dying country that shipped most of it's lifeblood overseas for a better bottom line, now struggling to keep itself alive. Do you think those strong will show us mercy? Will they lend us a hand? Or will they let us perish, as we ourselves let the weak perish before us? What happens if the USA is one day no longer "Too big to fail"?
Whether that could ever happen is, of course, debatable, but it is not my intent to sit and debate as the ancient Greeks, or the ancient Romans, or the Mayans or any other former superpower may have debated before they realized they were no longer top of the food chain. I come here not to argue; I come instead with ideas. Are they all good? Of course not. Are some of them impractical? Probably. That used to bother me. I used to care wayyyy too much about what other people thought, so I wouldn't offer my opinions or my thoughts for fear they weren't good enough. But I gotta tell ya - I've been looking at eight weeks of spewing oil that the best and the brightest haven't figured out a way to stop. One of their "best" ideas so far? Shove garbage and golf balls into it. Yeah...next to that brain trust, I don't have any problem presenting my crazy ideas on how to fix things.
That said, here's Crazy Daddy Idea Number One!

Oooooh...shiny!

We could make it better than it was before. Better...Stronger...Faster. And yes, while I have gone a bit "Six Million Dollar Man", the idea still has merit.

The Motor City. The birthplace of Motown. Much has been said about Detroit - much of it derisive. Honestly, I myself have never been to the city, but I still know a fallen giant when I see one. And I know that giant can stand once more. The city I envision would be a technological breakthrough, showcasing all the best of renewable 21st century living. All of it's energy needs would come from solar, wind and water power. Hydroponics and organic gardening would supply it's food needs. New residential centers would be constructed that would do away with the need for cars, thereby greatly reducing emissions. People would come to New Detroit to study and participate in ongoing Research and Development in an effort to further streamline and improve renewable energies with the goal of making them a part of every community.
Now, most of my friends will have no trouble telling you - that Daddy, he's a dreamer! Oh man, head in the clouds, that silly Daddy. And I guess they'd be right. Except, in this case, I'm in good company; the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi is dreaming my dream as well. In researching for this entry, I came across a blog entry on poptech.org from about a year ago, written by Cordelia Newlin de Rojas. Check it;
There will be no flying cars or food replicators in the city of the future, nor any cheese-wheel shaped homes perched atop nimble legs. But don’t despair, for the city of the future is being built as we speak – behold the apple of my eye, the pearl of my oyster, where I live in my dreams: Masdar.
In America, you can make your dreams come true. That's always been the mantra. But lately, if your American Dream revolves around getting off of fossil fuels, or making sure that you and your fellow citizens have decent health care, or leading the world in long term technology and advancement instead of short term greed and avarice, well - there's a big part of today's America that's gonna tell you you're an idiot. That your American Dream is stupid and that it can't happen. Well, I'll tell you what; you watch this video, and you take a good look at what the future looks like. That can be our future too; all we truly need is the belief that it can actually be done.
Believe.
***2013 Update***
I had to fix a broken link for the video above and in doing so, found a video for Masdar City 2013. It's not just a pie in the sky dream - they're making it happen. Watch...