Written by Claire Weston, Program Associate

Posted on October 17, 2019

Have you bought your ticket to LA yet? This year’s National Brownfields Conference (NBC) is shaping up to be informative, impactful, and inspiring. CCLR will have a strong presence at NBC, and an incredible line-up of panels and events!  

This blog was prepared by the author in his own individual capacities. The opinions expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not reflect the views of the Center for Creative Land Recycling, its Board or its staff.  

This blog was prepared by the authors in their own individual capacities. The opinions expressed in this blog are the authors' own and do not reflect the views of the Center for Creative Land Recycling, its Board or its staff.  

Modernism was meant to provide a fresh approach to the way in which we design our cities. Free from the constraints of historic precedent, design was no longer an aesthetic, it was function. With Modernism as their new tool, architects now had the ability to shape the life of those living between their walls. Suburbs sold Americans the promise of light, air, and space, but relocating required them to leave behind the community of the urban core. Austrian immigrant and architect Victor Gruen would introduce to America a cure for the social isolation caused by suburbia: the shopping mall. In 1956, the first mall of its kind opened in Southdale, Minnesota, promising community, commerce, and a palette of native California landscape. The idea spread like wildfire. By 1990, thousands of indoor shopping centers had sprouted up across the United States.  Prairies, forests, and wetlands were exchanged for asphalt parking lots and big box department stores. The need for community in suburbia was the bait for consumerism.  For the first time in history, the civic center of town would be under a privately owned roof and thus at the mercy of a capitalist system. The relationship was symbiotic, as the landlords provided a healthy tax base for the region in return for the subsidization of automobile infrastructure.

Ahora es momento para colaborar con el Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales de Puerto Rico (DNRA) en la creación de un inventario de Brownfields. Como proveedor de asistencia técnica para Brownfields, el Centro para el Reciclaje Creativo de Tierras (CCLR por su signas en inglés) ayudó al DNRA de Puerto Rico para diseñar una petición de propuestas cuyos objetivo fui reclutar un equipo para inventariar todos los Brownfields en los 78 municipios del país.  La mismo publicarán en la página del DNRA. En solo tres meses, el consultor autorizado de DNRA, Marlin Environmental, completó un inventario de 12 municipios: Aguadilla, Aguada, Cabo Rojo, Cayey, Cuamo, Guayama, Jayuya, Hatillo, Mayagüez, Ponce, San Germán y Yauco.

Retail is a notoriously complex component of real estate.  Boost your knowledge and demystify retail by joining CCLR for a free webinar on September 25 featuring David Greensfelder, retail expert, developer, and CCLR Board member.  Every redevelopment practitioner needs to know what questions to ask about retail, so don’t miss out – this is a unique opportunity to hear directly from an expert who regularly wrangles retail in tough redevelopment projects, including one of the toughest out there, a grocery store in a historically marginalized neighborhood.  Read on, and register here.

The US Environmental Protection Agency plans to release “Requests for APPLICATIONS” (RFA)  for brownfield assessment, cleanup and revolving loan fund grants in a few weeks. The intent is to have the grant application season completed before the National Brownfields Conference in Los Angeles beginning December 10.

On Friday, August 16, the Center for Creative Land Recycling joined forces with Los Angeles non-profit Mujeres de la Tierra to host an evening workshop to provide education and facilitate  discussion surrounding land reuse and the LA River Revitalization.  The workshop was followed by a bus tour of former brownfields-turned-parks on Saturday, August 17. 

El viernes 16 de agosto, el Centro para el Reciclaje Creativo de Tierras unió fuerzas con la organización sin fines de lucro Mujeres de la Tierra de Los Ángeles para organizar un taller nocturno con el propósito de brindar educación y facilitar la discusión sobre la reutilización de la tierra y la revitalización del río LA. El sábado 17 de agosto, después del taller, se hizo un recorrido en autobús por los antiguos brownfields convertidos en parques.

Written by Sarah Sieloff, Executive Director

Posted on August 5, 2019

Dust off your hat and saddle up, because the Redevelopment Rodeo rides again this December! The Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR) and partners New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Kansas State University (KSU) and Brownfield Listings are partnering to bring you another thundering herd of rough and ready brownfields.  This year’s theme: attracting private investment to your rowdy brownfields beasts.