Community land trusts, like this scheme being tried in Oakland, are one way for the commonalty to help individuals assert an economic place-holding, on at least some portion of land, so that at least some economic activity is insulated from the pernicious effect of inflated, speculative land prices and phony real-estate booms.
Think what “community land trusts” would mean for theaters, for instance.
America’s Real Estate System Pushes Rents Up And People Out. There’s Another Way.
Visiting the Rancho San Rafael, in Glendale, on a very hot August afternoon. At least the verandah was breezy and cool.
Excellent public art installed on the grounds of the Rancho San Rafael Adobe in Glendale. It is especially arresting on the site because it is in the middle of a garden – but seeing what look like parking signs, we inevitably pay attention: the form draws our paranoid eyes to the art’s message.
Agave americana, with the characteristic wild patterns on the back of each blade. The blades grow pressed together in the middle, and when they lean back, they still retain the imprints of their former neighbors.
Traditionally, a jimador would hack the deadly blades away with a machete to get down to the juicy heart of this plant, to extract the water that makes tequila.
Agave also makes fine paper parchment – better than papyrus, I’m told.
It is also said, that some of the earliest records of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, in archives in Mexico City and Madrid, were written on agave paper, which to this day bears these amazing zig-zag patterns.
This specimen thrives in the garden of the Rancho San Rafael Adobe, in Glendale.
The Valley Village View 