Con-graduations to our new alums!

Graduation weekend was great. While our first MLA graduate last year, our first full class of MLA I students graduated this weekend. Looking great guys!

The SEBS ceremony had a great turnout from students and faculty...and sunshine.

Defining the Midwest

Bill Rankin looked at 100 different maps that purported to show which states (and provinces) were or were not part of the Midwest to make his own map of the North American Midwest.

Can planning be outsourced?

Salt Lake City's Granary District says yes. Tim Halbur explains on PlaNetizen.

Verboten places

Slate has a feature today on this unusual 1955 map showing areas of the US which were off-limits to visitors from the USSR. It not only gives some insight into general cold war mentalities, but also raises other interesting questions about what appears as contradictory thinking. Areas of limits included much of Indiana, but Soviet visitors could travel freely throughout all of North Carolina. Almost all of Georgia was open but Atlanta was closed. Almost all of Tennessee was closed but Knoxville, Nashville and Chatanooga were open.

I am sure that there were facilities that are no longer secret that seemed sensitive at the time. I can even guess some. But, it is still puzzling to see some of the representations on the map.

Building more dunes ain't easy

A privileged class of Shore homeowners, a NJ Supreme Court case and Governor Christie's policies are all contributing to ongoing conflicts over sand dune reconstruction at the Jersey Shore, just months after hurricane Sandy's devastation. NJ Spotlightgives a brief overview in a new article called, "What's the Going Price for a Dune on the Jersey Shore?"

NewsWorksNJ says it pits neighbor against neighbor.  Long Beach has posted a list of the names of homeowners fighting against dunes.

But these issues aren't terribly new. The NY Times had a piece on a fairly similar disagreement in Destin, Florida a few years ago. That unneighborly dispute required a US Supreme Court decision to resolve things. (It is worth noting that the details appear different on a few substantive points, so attorneys can probably fairly claim that the law is not completely clear on these disputes. Of course, the law is never completely clear, or the judicial system could downsize.)

UPDATE: The Star-Ledger has an update on the NJ Supreme Court's hearing.

Community mapping in Tom's River

Community mapping is being employed down at the Jersey Shore to help identify storm damage not on the municipality's list.

Riverview Park Visitor Service Building I

The next time I am in Kentucky I hope to check this out: Riverview Park Visitor Service Building I.