Wednesday, May 23, 2012

2012 Sustainable Backyard Tour

Coming up on Sunday, June 24, is the 2012 Sustainable Backyard Tour, a project initiated by Home Eco located on Macklind in the city's Southampton neighborhood. The tour is free and self-guided. Online registration is available here

A website with more information about the event and how to get involved can be visited here.

Building a more sustainable St. Louis starts in our own homes and yards and with the choices we make every day. Thanks to the tour organizers, now in its second sustainable year!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Sustainability and Bending the Cost Curve

St. Louis is blessed with a rich heritage of historic buildings. It's also challenged by low property values and high construction costs.

It's the perfect storm. Great buildings and historic neighborhoods are resources worthy of preservation. But low values and high costs make that work more challenging; and, the lower the property values in certain areas, the harder the challenges are to overcome.

As part of the effort to create a sustainable St. Louis, planners, architects, contractors, developers, and government are tasked with finding ways to bend the cost curve into a more affordable range.

Do you have ideas on how to do it? Now would be a good time to start offering those ideas.