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Cities old and new, large and small, east and west are working diligently to bring in the appropriate retailers to serve residents as well as those who work in the immediate area.
Many are successfully meeting the challenges posed by large regional malls where parking is plentiful and free, the climate is controlled, housing is nearby and big-name stores cluster like teens at a high school event.
But municipalities — and shoppers — are discovering there's something special about cities. They offer a sense of place. They often have rich, distinct histories and beautiful rivers. They have it all, from workplaces to entertainment centers to dwellings.
Older cities are learning how to make their environs clean, safe and attractive, and how to publicize those facts. Newer urban areas are learning to define themselves and their goals.
Once the demographics indicate the market is ripe, and the conditions are pleasing, and once a major national retailer is willing to commit, the scene is set.
Jim Stokas, a vice president with Trammell Crow Co. in Southfield, Mich., makes what sounds like a radical suggestion to municipalities. "If you have to give space away in order to attract a key retailer, it would be worth it," he says. "Would retailers who follow be upset about that? No, as long as they can reach their sales goals, they don't care. The first retailer is the one taking the biggest risk."
Stokas says he has not observed cities offering any kind of financial incentives as a way to attract retail. "Cities don't have that much to give," he says.
"It would help if they made it easier for developers to get approvals," Stokas adds.
There are basic requirements and there are intangibles that retailers must consider, says Michael Beyard, senior resident fellow with the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C.
"As a rule, retailers have limited resources and limited time, so they tend to pick the low-hanging fruit," Beyard says. Locations with the right demographics, population, growth outlook and household income potentials are the first picks.
"The quality of the developer, the developer's track record and existing anchors and competitors affect decisions as well," he says.
Beyard says customers want more than a place to consume. They are seeking someplace they want to go. And retailers, he says, like to distinguish themselves and create an image. This can be done by occupying interesting spaces, including beautiful, existing, older downtown buildings.
"Retail needs diversity, surprise," Beyard says.
Nevertheless, the area must meet certain basic demographic requirements and must be seen as a place that will meet the retailer's sales goal.
If an area does not, he says, "many department stores wouldn't come if you gave them the space."
Last summer a team from the Urban Land Institute paid a visit to San Jose, Calif. They weren't coming to soak in the sun or slip up to San Francisco to ride the famous trolleys.
The ULI reps spent their waking hours walking through parts of downtown San Jose, doing dozens of interviews and generally studying the composition of this city of close to 1 million people.
Their recommendations, the interest of Mayor Ron Gonzalez and proposals by the city's 33-member citizens downtown strategy task force already are having an impact.
"We've always had a strong office market," says Peggy Flynn, director of communications for San Jose Redevelopment. "In the last year, 1,700 new residential units were built. Improv and House of Blues have moved into downtown and serve as legitimate retail entertainment anchors."
The office market has been so successful here, though, that the task force supported a temporary ordinance restricting the use of ground floor space in designated areas to retail.
"The ground floor ordinance also keeps rents at levels attractive to retail," says Flynn. The temporary restriction may be extended past its current spring (2001) deadline and gain a permanent status.
Some 1.6 million sq. ft. of space in the downtown area has been designated for mixed-use development and redevelopment. The historic Montgomery Hotel is being renovated. There are plans for another historic structure to be turned into build-to-suit lofts atop a ground floor Italian restaurant and a sports bar.
"People are discovering San Jose has excellent places to live," Flynn says. "There now are condos and townhouses on the market for $300,000 to $400,000."
Ambitious new construction and renovation plans for the area extend to the onset of 2005.
River banks and wetlands
When Mary Mann drove into Red Bank, N.J., last year to interview for a position as executive director of the RiverCenter Special Improvement District (a BID), she knew almost immediately that she had to get the job. This town of 12,500 on the banks of the lovely Navesink River, with its late 19th-century Italianate storefronts along several streets, looked wonderful, even compared with the sophistication of downtown Philadelphia to which she was accustomed.
Red Bank continues to write its success story. Less than a decade ago it was an afterthought of a town. Today its 1.75 square miles are the destination of local consumers, weekend visitors and national and regional retailers. In the early 1990s, the vacancy rate for the shopping district stood at 35%. Today, retailers call Red Bank or RiverCenter to see if any space has opened up.
Parking is an ongoing problem, Mann says. As the area's popularity increases, so does the need for safe, convenient places to leave cars.
"The Borough is proposing a 570-car, four-level parking garage that should help alleviate a crushing need for additional parking," Mann says. Pending bonding approval, the structure will be erected on what is currently a parking lot. Mann said its design calls for a decorative brick façade that will complement surrounding buildings, plus 7,000 sq. ft. of retail space within the structure itself.
The New Jersey Transit has done its part to make travelers feel welcome here by adding lighting and improving pavement around the train station. There are plans to renovate the historic station house, Mann reports.
"Red Bank serves as the downtown for several communities in this area," she says. "While the Monmouth regional mall is just five miles away, we have both national retailers such as Restoration Hardware and Starbucks plus unique shops, from upscale boutiques to affordable variety stores.
During its rebuilding, Red Bank attracted retailers by providing matching grants to help pay for façade improvements. The grant money was the result of Special Improvement District assessments on area property taxes.
Streetscape projects including brick and granite sidewalks, benches and pedestrian-friendly decorative streetlights enhance stylish retail facades. "No more cracked cement, no more 30-foot lights and no more dangling utility lines," says Mann.
These elements improve the business environment, she says.
Anyone who has seen the award-winning HBO cable TV series The Sopranos feels like he or she has driven through parts of Essex County, N.J., including the state's largest city, Newark. Bridges, petroleum storage tanks, intersecting interstates, wetlands and lots of urban sprawl mark much of this area.
That sprawl includes the blight which accompanies aging communities, and Newark has had its fair share of that.
Two years ago the Newark Downtown District was launched with the intent of providing services "aimed at increasing the value of the commercial property base," while improving the overall quality of life in the downtown area. This Special Improvement District, under the interim care of Square Foot, a downtown and urban revitalization company, had an operating budget in 2000 of $1.3 million.
"Commercial properties in the SID area are assessed 5% on their commercial property taxes," says Newark Downtown District spokeswoman Hilary Michel. "Most of our budget comes from this assessment. There is some additional funding from the Newark Enterprise Zone."
A façades program in 2000 invited Newark businesses to submit proposals. There were grants in amounts of up to $33,000, and $5,000 available to help pay for facelifts. Winners were asked to match or exceed the grant monies.
"We had three businesses win the larger amounts and nine qualified for the smaller grants," Michel says. Their designs were completed earlier this year, and work — usually new lighting and signs, streetscaping such as benches and plantings, exterior painting and even tuck-pointing — begins this spring.
Some of Newark Downtown's successful retail promotions include the Twelve Days of Music concert series in December, attractive shopping bags bearing the Newark Downtown name and lots of coupons and shopping information.
"In the summer of 1999, we helped retailers put together their first sidewalk sale in two decades," says Michel. "We did another last summer, and it was so successful they begged us to do a back-to-school sidewalk sale, which we combined with the annual September Festival of People."
Newark Downtown assists retailers any way it can, she adds. "We can bring in window dressers to help smaller mom-and-pop businesses, we handle posters, pens and other give-aways."
Many hands make light work
Philadelphia's Center City District credits the impressive redevelopment of the birthplace of American independence to the involvement of many organizations.
"It has been a real joint effort," says Michelle Shannon, Center City director of marketing. "Things were happening concurrently."
In the last 10 years, the 100 square blocks which Center City serves has blossomed. Walnut Street is, more than ever, a restaurant row with establishments ranging from a five-star dining destination to informal spots to relax and nosh. National retailers have flagship stores in the area. The Pennsylvania Convention Center is a catalyst. Hospitality and tourism are growing. The Avenue of the Arts brings people in from the suburbs and keeps downtown residents from retreating to their apartments at day's end. "When we [Center City] were founded 10 years ago, our mission was to make our area clean and safe," Shannon says. "You can't throw a party if the house isn't clean."
This campaign was joined by a program in which businesses might win matching monies to improve their façades. "Bonds were issued and revenues helped pay for façades and for streetscaping," Shannon says. Some $26 million went into streetscaping in 1996 and 1997 that included 1,000 new pedestrian lights, new trees and sidewalk repairs. The practical result was a more walkable city and increased pedestrian traffic.
In 1992, Center City launched "Make It a Night," a retail promotion that encouraged downtown workers and residents to enjoy late shopping and dining.
"Wednesday was a traditional night in which stores stayed open," Shannon says. "We promoted it and began offering things like free metered parking." It caught on so well that it now has a life of its own and doesn't require special promotions.
Ad campaigns for retail continue to have an impact, she says. "We stay very involved in retail by providing comparative data, consulting in crime prevention and continually reminding people of what downtown has to offer," says Shannon.
Center City is so intent on improving the appearance of downtown buildings and streets that it published design standards and suggestions for façade improvements complete with "do" and "don't" photos, plus suggestions on improved lighting, signs, entrances, awnings, security grilles and enhancements of building ornamentation.
California old and new
The Southern California community of Santee (pop. 58,000) was incorporated just two decades ago, in 1980. In contrast, at the northern edge of metropolitan Los Angeles, the city of San Fernando is home to one of the 21 missions established centuries ago by Spanish settlers. Between the two, just off Interstate 10, is Rancho Cucamonga, a city of 125,000 which, like Santee, is fairly young. It was incorporated in 1977. Each municipality is distinct, but all share the need to attract and retain a mix of retail that best serves the population.
The City of Rancho Cucamonga Redevelopment Agency is justly proud of its nearly unique website. The Internet format allows real estate, development and retail representatives to zero in on each of the city's shopping centers. For example, someone looking to lease 30,000 to 35,000 sq. ft. can type in those numbers, get an immediate list of which centers may have such openings and then find the centers, with good descriptions of major tenants, on a map.
There are similar searches available for office and industrial space. "This search potential is very helpful to retailers," says Mitch Slagerman, senior redevelopment analyst. "Our site has extensive demographic information about neighborhoods within various ranges of Rancho Cucamonga. Retailers can find out if this is a suitable market for them by looking at ages and incomes of residents."
Slagerman says plans for a 147-acre regional shopping center, a joint effort between Forest City Development and the Rancho Cucamonga Redevelopment Agency, are in the entitlement process. Work on the center may begin in spring 2002.
Back in the 1980s, he says, financial incentives were available for large developments. This is no longer the case in California.
End of line provides beginning
Santee, about 20 minutes from San Diego and La Jolla, benefits from being at the end of the San Diego trolley line. Its Trolley Square project lies adjacent to the station and turnaround point for this distinctive form of public transportation. Trolley Square Center, on a 50-acre parcel of land northeast of the station, will add new shopping to the developing area.
Pamela White, of Santee's Department of Economic Development and Housing, credits a building-block approach to development for the successes of the last 15 years. While only incorporated in 1980, the city by 1982 already had a redevelopment plan. "Back in 1985 the city worked to develop a prime 14-acre site downtown for Price Club," says White. Santee, the property owner and Price Club forged a three-way deal.
Once Price Club was in place (today it's a Costco), Wal-Mart moved in. By 1989, White says, there was a viable power center in this northwest quadrant of the city's 700-acre core. Home Depot is a third anchor here at present.
A new street providing better access to the center and sales rebate transactions were among the incentives offered by Santee to the retailers.
Based on these building blocks, Santee was ready to facilitate development of the northeast quadrant with Trolley Square — "a lifestyle center," says White, with apparel stores, electronics outlets and restaurants. The developer, Phoenix-based Vestar, is acquiring land for the project from the city of Santee.
Trolley Square is slated to have 440,000 sq. ft., says David Larcher, executive vice president of Vestar. Projected anchors include Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Old Navy and TJ Maxx.
"We hope to begin construction by November of this year," Larcher says.
"Without a successful power center, we could not have attracted a developer who could bring in the best retailers," White says. "Developers look for shopping centers nearby, and they love being near transit."
More good news is an emerging office and technical park north of the power center and Trolley Square.
"Santee used to be a bedroom community," says White. "We are trying to create more local employment centers. The new office-tech park may serve as an engine for that kind of development."
Families in San Fernando have been driving 25-minute commutes to do their shopping. This city of 25,000 mostly middle-class residents was once a rail center. Incorporated in 1911, it is struggling in 2001 to become a regional shopping destination, says Sarah M. Withers, economic development manager.
"We lack a lot of retail," Withers says. There is no Wal-Mart in town, for example. The San Fernando City Council is acting as the local redevelopment agency. One of the incentives in its tool bag is the ability to make two-year loan/grants to businesses seeking a location here. If the business stays past the two years, the "loan" is forgiven. Withers says the council is offering Starbucks a $125,000 loan/grant on its new $400,000 drive-through in San Fernando — "the first drive-through in the San Fernando Valley."
The agency is funded through property taxes from new developments. Zellman Retail Partners is the exclusive developer of 12 acres in the downtown area, which is slated to include a 135,000 sq. ft. big box, plus ancillary retail.
"We're underserved in many areas," Withers says. "People are going 10 miles to Northridge to shop at Sears and Macy's.
The City of Santee, Calif., has worked vigorously to attract retail to its 706-acre, masterplanned Town Center area. Santee built what is now the Santee Plaza power center, with Costco, Wal-Mart and Home Depot, by developing deal points with retailers it wanted available to its 58,000 residents.
In 1990, the city's Community Development Commission (CDC) rebated quarterly to Wal-Mart 50% of the retail sales tax revenue generated by the Santee store, up to a maximum of $2.1 million. The CDC also contributed $1.2 million toward payment of city development impact fees.
The 440,000 sq. ft. Santee Trolley Square Project currently under way involves an agreement between the CDC and Phoenix-based developer Vestar Development Co. in which Vestar will develop the Santee Trolley Square on 50 acres it is purchasing for $4.1 million from the CDC.
Vestar will pay for a full plan check and other fees including building permit fees estimated at $2.5 million. The city and its CDC will waive $1.2 million in traffic drainage and traffic signal impact fees.
The developer will pay $1.3 million in traffic impact fees, with a deferral for 18 months after the final certificate of occupancy for center anchor and major tenants. The CDC will make a reimbursement/subsidy payment of $2.3 million to reflect financial assistance toward the project and public improvements. The city also will reimburse Vestar for off-site public improvements.
"Santee Trolley Square retail-entertainment shopping center will provide enjoyable, approachable public spaces with the strong retail-entertainment identity that reflects the desires and vision of the community," says Pamela White, Santee director of Economic Development and Housing.
When New Jersey Transit adds the Midtown Direct to its train service out of Bloomfield, N.J., in a couple of years, this middle-class bedroom community of some 45,000 is likely to see the number of commuters using the train station more than double, to some 1,500 to 2,000 per work day.
That spells business opportunity for the home of Bloomfield College. "The area is suitable for mixed-use structures, including additional parking plus residential above office or retail space," says Marta Person, president of Square Foot, LLC, revitalization and development specialists with offices in Newark and Long Branch, N.J.
Requests for proposals from prospective developers are due the first of May.
"With household incomes averaging $48,000, 2,200 students and faculty at the college and many young families with children, there is a need for retail including athletic footwear, children's items, office and school supplies, computers and music and books," Person says.
Shreveport's Director of Economic Development Arlena Acree doesn't try to mask her enthusiasm when it comes to new retail in this Louisiana city of 200,000. "Our first Target is slated to open in July," Acree says. "It will be a Super Target and part of a new super center at Youree Drive and 70th Street."
The city is hoping to attract developers for both a new mall and an outlet center, she said. What makes this city up in the northwestern corner of the state attractive are its numbers.
"Our economic information is good," Acree says. "Construction is up, retail sales are up, tourism is up and General Motors is expanding its truck plant here."
This also is the ninth largest gambling market in the country, she says. Its five casinos have spawned hotels and are attracting enthusiasts from nearby Texas.
Weingarten Realty Management Co. of Houston is developing the new Target-anchored strip center. The REIT has had its eye on this site for well over a decade, says Patty Bender, vice president, leasing. "We've been waiting to buy the property at this intersection for about 15 years," Bender says.
Weingarten has long had a foothold in Louisiana, frequently with grocery store-anchored strips. University Place, the new super strip, features a 175,000 sq. ft. Target, plus 190,000 sq. ft. of additional retail space, all on 41 acres near the desirable neighborhood of University Terrace.
"University Place will also be home to the first Bed, Bath & Beyond and the first Best Buy stores in Shreveport," says Bender. Additional retailers include T.J. Maxx, Rack Room Shoes, Dress Barn and Eyemart Express.
Persistence is paying off for Shreveport. And for the growing city of Aurora, Ill., where the executive director of the economic development commission, Sherman Jenkins, has been involved in a marketing campaign.
"We have pursued an image campaign using print and broadcast media, telling people that Aurora is a great place to work and play," Jenkins says.
The payoff was heralded by the opening earlier this year of the city's first Home Depot. A 194,000 sq. ft. Meijer is under construction adjacent to it on the Orchard Road retail corridor, and a Hampton Inn & Suites is being built.
"We have a redevelopment project under way in our downtown area that eventually will include an arena and a convention center," Jenkins says.
New housing starts, the ongoing creation of new jobs and increased retail sales are attracting the attention of developers to Illinois' third largest city, about 40 miles outside Chicago.
Jenkins says Chelsea Property Groups of Roseland, N.J., plans to build a new 430,000 sq. ft. upscale, fashion-oriented manufacturers' outlet center on Aurora's Farnsworth corridor with some 100 stores. Scheduled to open in 2002, the outlet center will create about 800 jobs and more than $2.5 million in sales tax revenue for the city of Aurora, says Jenkins.
Farnsworth features excellent access, with a full interchange and visibility from the East-West Tollway (Interstate 88), he says.
"We have a population now of 140,000," Jenkins says. "If we continue our rate of growth, by 2010 we will be the second largest city in Illinois.
"Our image campaign, 'Aurora … the more you look, the brighter it gets,' and our efforts to market the city are working."


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Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division
Griffith's Studio
Historically, black workers had held monopolies on some skilled trades - brick making, carpentry, and shipbuilding, skills passed down from slavery. By the beginning of the twentieth century, this advantage was removed when jobs became mechanized and therefore less dirty. They were redefined as white jobs as was any traditional black job during a recession. But with high demand for workers during World War I, and the shortage of white workers, African Americans were heavily recruited by northern factories to fill some positions that had been reserved to whites.

subset: commoncrawl


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Headlines archive
Court interpreter training planned for Appleton
Madison, Wisconsin - February 16, 2012
The Director of State Courts Office is accepting applications for interpreter training to be held March 9-10 at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton.
While Spanish is the primary language requested by the courts, increased efforts are being made to recruit qualified interpreters for many other languages, particularly those spoken by incoming refugee populations. The state Department of Children and Families Refugee Assistance Services Program is offering a limited number of scholarships to qualified individuals fluent in languages such as Arabic, Burmese, Farsi, French, Khmer, Russian, Somali and Tibetan. Interpreters also are sought for more rare languages from Myanmar such as Chin, Karen, Karenni (Kayah), and Mon. In all, applicants fluent in English and almost 50 other languages, including American Sign Language, are being sought.
Training sessions are intended for individuals interested in learning the fundamentals of court interpreting and are designed to give participants an overview of the needs and expectations of the court with emphasis on ethical conduct, legal terminology, court procedure, and basic legal interpreting skills. Small group practice exercises will help to develop interpreter skills. This orientation is intended as an introduction to the complexities of court interpreting, rather than as an in-depth training. Faculty includes judges, attorneys, and certified court interpreters. A $160 fee covers the sessions, lunches, and materials. Each session will run 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on two consecutive days. The deadline for submitting an application is Feb. 24.
Applications are encouraged from individuals who are currently interpreting in court proceedings or administrative hearings. The court system also seeks applications from working interpreters in other fields who want to broaden their experience to include legal settings and to bilingual individuals who wish to learn more about the court interpreting profession. Participants who attend orientation and meet minimal testing other requirements will be placed on a public roster of interpreters used by courts, law enforcement, lawyers, and law-related agencies.
This training is part of the Director of State Courts Office Interpreter Program, which aims to improve interpretation and translation in the courts. For more information on these training sessions, and to register, visit the court system Web site. For more information contact Carmel Capati, Office of Court Operations at firstname.lastname@example.com or (608) 266-8635.


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A 16-year-old Pickerington boy was killed and his two passengers critically injured this morning when the car he was driving crashed into a pole and split in two, the State Highway Patrol said.
It�s every parent�s nightmare: a newly licensed teen driver killed in a car crash.
�It is, and it will be mine,� said State Highway Patrol Lt. Craig Cvetan, whose twin girls turn 15-1/2 on Saturday, the date they can take the written test for their learner�s permits.
Cvetan, commander of the Lancaster patrol post, is investigating this morning's crashthat killed 16-year-old Pickerington resident Jacob E. Jolly.
Jacob had just passed his driver�s license test early thismorning, only a few hours before the Chevrolet Cavalier he was driving hit a utility pole, Cvetan said.
Jacob was thrown from the car and died at the scene. His passengers � sisters who are Jacob�s cousins, Renee N. Farmer, 15, and Janay E. Farmer, 16, both of Columbus � also were thrown from the car.
Renee, who was in the rear seat of the car, was transported in critical condition to Grant Medical Center; Janay, who was in the front seat, was taken in serious condition to Grant, Cvetan said. Latetonight, both girls has been transported to Nationwide Children�s Hospital, where officials wouldn�t give their condition.
State law forbids drivers younger than 17 from having more than one person in the car who is not a family member, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. Cousins are not considered to be family members under the law.
Cvetan said that Janay was the the only one of the three who was wearing a seat belt, though her seat belt broke.
The crash was reported at 10:34 a.m. on Wright Road, west of School House Road, just outside of Pickerington.
Jacob was driving west on Wright Road when he lost control of the car. Cvetan said it appears that Jacob was driving too fast, but Cvetan didn�t know how fast.
The car went off the right side of the road and struck a utility pole so hard that it sheared off the front portion of the car, Cvetan said.
Cvetan said his heart goes out to Jacob�s family, but also said there are lessons to be learned.
�Parents need to spend time with their teens, talking about driving and about the responsibility,� he said. �Those conversations should be fairly regular once the teen begins to drive, and after they get their license.�
Parents should remind their teens to always wear seat belts and enforce the restriction placed on drivers younger than 17 to reduce distractions, he said. And parents need to model good behavior when driving themselves, and not text or talk on the phone, Cvetan said.
As word spread about today�s crash, Twitter posts made clear how beloved Jacob was among his classmates at Pickerington Central High School.
Angela Phettaphong, who recalled clowning around with him in middle school, wrote, �It�s so crazy to think that people you�ve shared laughs and conversations with are no longer here. RIP Jacob Jolly, you�re in my prayers.�
Phylicia Yvette wrote in a post that Jacob�s family was �the nicest you could ever meet.�
Car crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens in the United States each year, killing more than cancer, homicide and suicide combined, according to AAA. Based on miles driven, teens are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers, the organization�s website said.
A teen passenger faces the highest risk of death when driving with a teen driver � particularly at night. Wearing a seat belt greatly improves the odds of survival, the organization said.
AAA also notes that the number of teen-driver crashes increases significantly with the number of teen passengers in the car, from fewer than two crashes per 10,000 trips when no passengers are in the car to six per 10,000 trips when three or more teen passengers are in the vehicle.
Jacob was an outstanding student and a vital member of the choir and school community, Pickerington Central Principal Zack Howard wrote in an email sent to students and parents.
Counselors will be available at the high school from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Howard said.
For more information about safe teen driving, go to the website for Students Against Destructive Decision: www.sadd.org.
Dispatch Reporter Bill Bush contributed to this story.


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A prosecutor who grilled polo tycoon John Goodman in his vehicular homicide trial today tried to cast doubt on his claim that he was sober, that his car malfunctioned and that he didn't know what he had hit.
Prosecutor Ellen Roberts ended her questioning by reading from a transcript of Goodman's call to 911 about an hour after the accident.
"I must be in big trouble, huh," Roberts read out to the court, quoting Goodman. "I just didn't see that car coming."
Goodman, 48, crashed into Scott Wilson's Hyundai in February 2010, knocking the car into a canal where Wilson, 23, drowned.
The multi-millionaire is being tried on charges of DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a crash. He has pleaded not guilty, and faces up to 30 years in prison if he is convicted.
Goodman testified that he was sober at the time of the accident, but drank a lot of alcohol after the crash to alleviate the pain from a broken wrist, fracture chest and back injuries.
He and his attorneys have maintained that he was suffering from a concussion and did not know where he was or what happened, and didn't know what he had hit. He walked away from the accident to find a phone because his cell phone had died, he testified.
After a series of questions apparently meant to raise doubt about Goodman's version of events, Roberts asked, "Why didn't you just stay there?"
Goodman said he was looking for a phone to call for help.
Referring to the canal where Wilson drowned, she asked Goodman, "You knew that car was in there, didn't you?"
"Absolutely not," Goodman replied.
"What, did it just disappear?" she shot back.
The judge called a recess shortly after, but kept the attorneys in court and said that a court officer had been alerted that during the questioning of Goodman today "a state attorney keeps making faces at us."
"That's not true," Roberts quickly stated, but the judge told the lawyers such actions would be "unprofessional and will not be tolerated by me."
Defense lawyer Roy Black had made a similar complaint earlier in the day.
Earlier in the day Goodman testified that he went to two gatherings earlier that night with friends and had four drinks: a vodka tonic at the White Horse Tavern and then two shots of tequila and a shot of Grey Goose vodka at the Players Club.
His Players Club bill shows a tab for more than 10 tequilas and other drinks, but Goodman said he bought a round for friends.
When asked if he was impaired, the 6-foot-1 and 220 pound man said, "Absolutely not."
Goodman said he was on his way to a Wendy's restaurant about midnight for a late night frosty when the crash occurred.
"I was travelling down and I began to apply my brakes and the car did not seem to be stopping as easily as I was used to, and I slowed near a stop sign and I applied the brake," he testified.
"I took my foot off the brake and that was the last thing I remember," he said.
Goodman's $200,000 Bentley raced through the stop sign, slamming into Wilson's vehicle.
Goodman said that when he got out of the car he was dazed and didn't know where he was.
"I looked around and didn't see what I had hit.... I had a broken wrist and a fractured chest, my back was horrible, and I had a head injury. I was in pain," he said.
Goodman said he didn't see any other vehicles, and walked away, looking for a phone because his cell phone had died.
Wilson's Hyundai had landed upside down in a nearby canal with the engineering graduate still strapped into the driver's seat.
When asked by his attorney what he would have done if he knew a car had been knocked into the canal, Goodman replied, "If I knew there was another vehicle in the canal I would have gone in and done whatever I could."
Goodman said he wandered away from the accident in the dark, and came upon a barn with a light on. When no one answered his banging, he entered and went upstairs into a furnished office looking for a phone, he said.
When he couldn't find a phone, he sat down on a couch, and spotted a bottle of alcohol, he testified.
"I grabbed a bottle of liquor, thinking it would help with my pain," he said. "I was in excruciating pain. I was in a lot of pain."
Goodman said he went outside and spotted a light on a trailer in the distance. It was there, at the home of Lisa Pembleton, where he called 911, nearly an hour after the accident. The medical examiner testified earlier in the trial, that that time was the difference between life and death for Scott Wilson.
Goodman, founder of the International Polo Club Palm Beach, has already settled a civil suit over the crash after adopting his 42-year-old girlfriend to help protect his estate.
The trial has drawn national attention. Throughout, jurors have heard from the elite in the world of polo, including the face of Ralph Lauren and international polo star Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras. Figueras saw Goodman earlier that night at a polo charity event, where the model was serving as a celebrity bartender.
"He looked fine. When he said he was leaving, I walked with him to the door," Figueras said. He testified that he did not smell any alcohol on Goodman. Other defense witnesses said the same.
Goodman's defense team says that the crash was not Goodman's fault, arguing that he was sober and that his Bentley malfunctioned, accelerating through the intersection.
His lawyers have said that Goodman hit his head when his Bentley's side air bag did not deploy, and that he had a concussion and was confused in the hours after the accident.


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City Council Meeting
City Council meetings may change, please click on the link below for full details.
|Location : City Hall
JEvents v3.1.19 Stable Copyright © 2006-2014
Mission Statement
The mission of Nibley City is to make life better for its citizens by fostering community cooperation so residents, businesses, and government work together to develop the City in harmony with its natural environment, historical surroundings, and in accordance with the values and vision of the community as set forth in the General Plan. The City will provide fiscally sound municipal services for a safe, attractive, creative, and viable community.


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Chicken with Plums opens in NY today! This gem won't be coming to SF/Bay Area until September. Sigh. NY, always ahead with their premieres…unless you saw it at SFIFF55 with Marjane Satrapi in person! Trump this NY:
Marjane Satrapi, codirector of Chicken with Plums, at the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival, April 30, 2012. Photo by Tommy Lau.


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WASHINGTON, April 16 (UPI) -- Republican U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has started fleshing out some of the policies he would pursue if elected.
Speaking to a crowd of private donors in Florida Sunday, the former Massachusetts governor outlined his plans to eliminate or consolidate federal agencies, win back Latino voters and reform the nation's tax code, should he take the GOP nomination as expected and go on to defeat Democratic incumbent Barack Obama in the general election in November, NBC reported.
"I'm going to take a lot of departments in Washington, and agencies, and combine them. Some eliminate, but I'm probably not going to lay out just exactly which ones are going to go," Romney said. "Things like Housing and Urban Development, which my dad was head of, that might not be around later. But I'm not going to actually go through these one by one. What I can tell you is, we've got far too many bureaucrats. I will send a lot of what happens in Washington back to the states."
When speaking about his tax proposal, which has been criticized by Democrats as favoring the wealthy, Romney identified specific loopholes and deductions for the wealthy that he would eliminate.
"I'm going to probably eliminate for high-income people the second home mortgage deduction," Romney said, adding he would also likely cut deductions for state income and property taxes.
"By virtue of doing that, we'll get the same tax revenue, but we'll have lower rates," Romney said. "The nice thing about lower rates is that small businesses not get to keep a larger share of what they're earning and plow it back in to hire more people and expand their business."
Romney also told his audience, "We have to get Hispanic voters to vote for our party," suggesting a "Republican DREAM Act," which would offer illegal immigrants a limited path to citizenship.


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December 10, 2008
LOS ANGELES - In its fourth quarterly report of 2008, the UCLA Anderson Forecast predicts that the current recession inflicting the national economy will feature four quarters of negative growth (followed by very tepid growth rates) and rising unemployment rates that last through 2010. The California forecast will share the national recession, with negative growth through the middle of next year and high unemployment until 2010 as well.
The National Forecast
"The news from the economy is bad," writes UCLA Anderson Forecast Senior Economist David Shulman in an essay entitled, "The Balance Sheet Recession." "The recession we had previously hoped to avoid is now with us in full gale force." The UCLA Anderson Forecast now expects that real Growth Domestic Product (GDP) will decline 4.1% in the current quarter, followed by respective declines of 3.4% and 0.8% in the first two quarters of 2009. In addition, the unemployment rate is forecast to rise from October 2008's 6.5% to 8.5% by late 2009/early 2010. Associated with the rising unemployment rate will be the loss of two million jobs over the next 12 months.
The forecast laid the blame for what it's calling a "nasty recession" on the financial crisis of 2007-2008, noting that the economic circumstances underlying current conditions differed significantly from past recessions. The research center also notes that the "global economy is in its first synchronized recession since the early 1990s," as Europe and Japan are also in recession while China and India are suffering growth slowdowns (which, in turn, negatively impact U.S. exports).
The California Forecast
California will join the nation in its recession, though its impact will be felt differently across the state. UCLA Anderson Senior Economist Jerry Nickelsburg writes that the "Inland Empire, Orange County, the East Bay and Central Valley will be hit hardest as the recession provides a double whammy with a generalized downturn in demand and a postponement of a recovery in residential construction." Coastal regions will be impacted by declining imports coming through California ports, while the global recession weakens demand for manufactured California exports.
The outlook for California calls for a very weak first three quarters of 2009, with the glimmer of a recovery in the fourth quarter. A key to look for will be a recovery in the rest of the country and in Asia, which will create demand for California goods and services. Unemployment is expected to contract by -0.7% in 2008 and -1.4% in 2009, before growing at a more-than-modest 0.3% in 2010. The unemployment rate is forecast to rise as high as 8.7% next year and remain at that level through 2010.
About UCLA Anderson Forecast
UCLA Anderson Forecast is one of the most widely watched and often-cited economic outlooks for California and the nation and was unique in predicting both the seriousness of the early-1990s downturn in California and the strength of the state's rebound since 1993. More recently, the Forecast was credited as the first major U.S. economic forecasting group to declare the recession of 2001. Visit UCLA Anderson Forecast on the Web at http://uclaforecast.com.
About UCLA Anderson School of Management
UCLA Anderson School of Management, established in 1935, is regarded among the very best business schools in the world. UCLA Anderson faculty are ranked #1 in "intellectual capital" by BusinessWeek and are renowned for their teaching excellence and research in advancing management thinking. Each year, UCLA Anderson provides management education to more than 1,600 students enrolled in MBA, Executive MBA, Fully-Employed MBA and doctoral programs, and to more than 2,000 professional managers through executive education programs. Combining highly selective admissions, varied and innovative learning programs, and a world-wide network of 35,000 alumni, UCLA Anderson develops and prepares global leaders.


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Arena Stage Presents Lookingglass's METAMORPHOSES, Now thru 3/17
Following its acclaimed 16-week run at the Lookingglass Theatre Company this fall, Metamorphoses brings the mythical tales of Ovid to life at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, 10 years after the Broadway premiere. Written and directed by Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman, Metamorphoses is based on David Slavitt's translation and marks the first time Zimmerman will direct the production since its Broadway run. This is also the first time Zimmerman will stage Metamorphoses in the round, and a custom set will be designed with the largest pool of water ever created for this production. Metamorphoses dives onto the Fichandler Stage tonight, February 8-March 17, 2013.
"Mary Zimmerman's work touches deep truths about what it means to be human. Her productions are visual and poetic and she is a master of unusual stagecraft," says Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith. "How exciting to build the muscular world of Metamorphoses in the Fichandler space."
Zimmerman originally created Metamorphoses with students at Northwestern University under the name Six Myths. Its first professional production was at Lookingglass in 1998, and what was originally a five-week run extended to nearly eight months, receiving vast critical acclaim and earning Jeff Awards for New Adaptation and Lighting Design. The production then toured to several regional theater companies and landed at New York's Second Stage Theatre in 2001, where Time magazine named it "Best Play of the Year" and Zimmerman received the Obie Award for Direction.
Metamorphoses opened on Broadway in 2002 at Circle in the Square Theatre and ran for nearly a year, earning Zimmerman the Tony Award for Best Direction. While in New York, Metamorphoses also won Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Music in a Play, as well as the Drama League Award for Best Play and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play. The production and its evolving journey was such a touchstone for many of the original artists involved that three marriages and four children have resulted from the creative relationships formed.
The Arena Stage cast features several actors who have been with Metamorphoses since its earliest stages. Chris Kipiniack (Cinyras) and Louise Lamson (Alcyon) first worked with Zimmerman on Metamorphoses at Northwestern and continued with it through its Broadway production. Raymond Fox (Midas), Doug Hara (Phaeton) and Lisa Tejero (Therapist) will also reprise their roles from Chicago and Broadway. Joining them are Ashleigh Lathrop (Myrrha), Lauren Orkus (Eurydice) and Tempe Thomas (Aphrodite) from the recent Chicago production. Joining the cast in D.C. are Geoff Packard (playing Ceyx, recently seen as the title role in Candide) and Derek Hasenstab (Hermes), who has been part of several Metamorphoses productions across the country.
"Whenever and wherever we have done this show, audiences immediately connect to the stories because metamorphoses-change, unlooked for and often unwanted-is an inescapable fact of our lives; it binds us together," remarks Zimmerman. "These myths give a kind of comfort in that they assert that it was ever thus-that change is the only constant-and yet, out of any destruction, something new is born. And aside from all this, the stories are gripping because they have a kind of wit, an unexpected humor that is born from both their strangeness and their familiarity. I'm really looking forward to revisiting the production after all these years."
The creative team of Metamorphoses who will remount their work in the round includes Set Designer Dan Ostling, Costume Designer Mara Blumenfeld, Lighting Designer T.J. Gerckens, Sound Designer Andre Pluess, Original Music Composer Willy Schwarz, Stage Manager Cynthia Cahill and Assistant Stage Manager Marne Anderson.
About Metamorphoses: Returning to D.C. for the first time since her smash hit productions of The Arabian Nights and Candide in 2011, MacArthur "Genius" Mary Zimmerman returns with Metamorphoses. Zimmerman's magical interpretation of Ovid's Metamorphoses proves myths about romance, family, loss and redemption never go out of style. Through lyrical storytelling and stunning imagery, Zimmerman conjures the force of Ovid's ancient myths into a wondrous world where gods and mortals interact in a giant pool on our famous in-the-round stage. These timeless stories ripple through the depths of imagination, reminding audiences of the transformative power of theater.
Mary Zimmerman (Director and Writer)'s work was first seen at Arena Stage in 2011 with The Arabian Nights, which was, like Metamorphoses, originally produced by Lookingglass Theatre of Chicago. Other D.C. work includes Candide (Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding Director, Resident Musical), Pericles (Helen Hayes nomination, Outstanding Director, Resident Play) and Argonautika at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Metamorphoses appeared on Broadway in 2001-2002 and was nominated for Tony Awards for Best Production, Design and Direction-which Mary won. Other works of Mary's, including The Odyssey, Journey to the West, Eleven Rooms of Proust, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci and The Secret in the Wings originated in Chicago and have been performed all over the country and internationally. She has directed three operas at the Metropolitan Opera. Her most recent work, The White Snake, developed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and just finished a run at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Mary received the MacArthur Fellowship in 1998 and is a Professor of Performance Studies at Northwestern.
The Cast of Metamorphoses (in alphabetical order)Raymond Fox (Midas and others) makes his Arena Stage debut. He returns to Metamorphoses having appeared in the original Broadway (Circle in the Square) and Off-Broadway (Second Stage) casts as well as in numerous regional productions. His notable regional appearances include Edward Voysey in The Voysey Inheritance (Remy Bumppo Theatre), Prince Hal in Henry IV (Court Theatre) and Valentine Coverly in Arcadia (Meadow Brook Theatre). Raymond is an ensemble member of Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Company where he co-adapted The Old Curiosity Shop with Laura Eason and Heidi Stillman (shared 2006 Joseph Award for New Adaptation). Raymond was a member of the Young Company of the Stratford Festival (Ontario) in 1996. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and the A.R.T. Institute at Harvard University.
Doug Hara (Phaeton and others) was part of the original Chicago, Off-Broadway and Broadway casts (Lookingglass, Second Stage and Circle in the Square) of Metamorphoses, as well as regional productions at Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep and Mark Taper Forum. He is an Ensemble Member of Lookingglass Theatre Company where he has participated in 16 productions since 1991 including West, The Arabian Nights, Up Against It, The Master and Margarita, Lookingglass Hamlet, Lookingglass Alice and The Brothers Karamazov. Goodman Theatre productions include Journey to the West and The Odyssey. Arden Theatre productions include A Prayer for Owen Meany, Something Intangible, Threepenny Opera and Cyrano. Two River Theater Productions include Our Town, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Charlotte's Web, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and HONK! Broadway credits: The Boys of Winter and Metamorphoses. Off-Broadway: The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci and Lookingglass Alice. Doug has performed at many regional theatres including About Face Theatre, Jellyeye Drum Opera, Huntington Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep, Mark Taper Forum, The ALLIANCE THEATRE, Syracuse Stage, Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Brooklyn Academy Of Music and Joyce Theatre.
Derek Hasenstab (Hermes and others) performed as Zazu in the Broadway National Tour of The Lion King. Chicago credits include: Iago in Disney's Aladdin, Franz/Dennis in Sunday in the Park with George and Peter Quince in Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Oedipus Complex (Goodman Theatre); A Home at the End of the World, Cloud Nine (After Dark Award, About Face Theatre); Dealer's Choice, Phyro Giants!, Was, Ecstasy (RoadWorks Productions); The Buddy Holly Story, A Christmas Carol, I Hate Hamlet, The Foreigner (After Dark Award, Drury Lane Oakbrook). Other regional credits include: Tom in The Glass Menagerie (Kansas City Rep) and Metamorphoses (Mark Taper Forum).
Chris Kipiniak (Cinyras and others)'s Broadway credits include Metamorphoses (Circle in the Square). Off-broadway: Kit Marlowe (Public Theater), Nora (Marvell Repertory) and Charles Winn Speaks... (Living Image Arts). London: How To Act Around Cops (Soho Theatre, also New York and Edinburgh International Fringe Festivals). Chicago: The Odyssey and Wit (Goodman Theatre). Film/TV: "Delocated," "Law & Order," "The Good Wife," the feature "The Poker Club" and the short "Trying" (also writer, director). Playwriting: Stalled (Horse Trade Theater Group and Hangar Theatre Lab), Save the World (Roundtable Ensemble), Change the Be and IIIINSAAAAAAAANE!!!! (Horse Trade Theater Group). Other writing: Nightcrawler, Amazing Fantasy and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man for Marvel Comics.
Louise Lamson (Alcyon and others) appeared in an early version of Metamorphoses entitled Six Myths, while still a student at Northwestern in 1996, and was also part of the original Chicago, Off-Broadway and Broadway casts, as well as regional productions at the Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep and Mark Taper Forum. She is an Artistic Associate at Lookingglass and her credits include The Idiot, Hard Times, The Secret in the Wings, Manuscript Found in Saragossa, The Wooden Breeks, Icarus (at the Getty Villa, L.A.), The Brothers Karamazov, Our Town and The Arabian Nights. Some Chicago credits include About Face Theatre's Bash (After Dark award and Jeff nomination), The Odyssey (Goodman) and The Adventures of Herculina (Next Theatre). New York credits include The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (Second Stage).
Ashleigh Lathrop (Myrrha and others)'s Chicago credits include Short Shakespeare! The Comedy of Errors (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), FML: How Carson McCullers Saved My Life (Steppenwolf Theatre), The Twins Would Like to Say (Dog & Pony Theatre Co.) and Sharee in Cooperstown (Theatre Seven). Other credits include Taming of the Shrew, The Critic, The Cure at Troy, As You Like It, All's Well That Ends Well and Major Barbara (American Players Theatre); Ophelia in Hamlet and I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).
Lauren Orkus (Eurydice and others) most recently performed in Metamorphoses with the Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago. NY credits include: My Sweet Charlie (Abingdon Theatre), End's Eve (NY Fringe Festival), Ivanov (Gene Frankel) and Hollow (Dixon Place). Regional credits include: The Snow Queen (Portland Stage Company); The Comedy of Errors, Two Noble Kinsmen (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival); The Diary of Anne Frank (St. Louis Rep); Doubt (Weston Playhouse); Night of the Iguana (Berkshire Theatre Festival); The House in Hydesville (Geva Theatre); Arms and the Man (Orlando Shakespeare Theater); A Christmas Carol (Am. Drama Group Europe- German Tour); The Crucible, The Diary of Anne Frank (Asolo Repertory Theatre). She has an MFA in Acting from the FSU/Asolo Theatre Conservatory and a BA in Theater from Penn State University.
Geoff Packard (Ceyx and others)'s Broadway credits include Rock of Ages and The Phantom of the Opera. National tours: Wicked and The Phantom of the Opera. Regional credits include: Candide at Goodman Theatre (Jeff Award), Shakespeare Theatre Company (Helen Hayes Award) and Huntington Theatre; Angels in America (Court Theater); LiberTy Smith and Shenandoah (Ford's Theatre); Winesburg, Ohio (Kansas City Rep); Where's Charley? (Goodspeed Opera House) and Violet (CCM's Hot Summer Nights). TV: Guiding Light.
Lisa Tejero (Therapist and others) appeared on and Off-Broadway in Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses. Regional credits include: Henry V and The White Snake (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); A Christmas Carol, Ghostwritten, Mirror of the Invisible World, Silk, The Odyssey, As You Like It, Journey to the West, Skin of Our Teeth, Winter's Tale (Goodman Theatre); Ethan Frome, Fedra: Queen of Haiti, Argonautika, Old Curiosity Shop, 1984, S/M (Lookingglass Theatre Company); Kafka on the Shore (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Lady Macbeth (Oak Park Shakespeare). Also: Victory Gardens, Court Theatre, Huntington Theatre, Cincinnati Repertory, St. Louis Repertory, Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Rep, Berkeley Rep, Missouri Rep and Milwaukee Rep. Film: Medicine Show, Chain Reaction, Above the Law, Deevolution of Ethan Chadwick. TV: All My Children, A Man's Woman, Angel Street, Mississippi. She received a 2002 Drama League Distinguished Performance nomination for Metamorphoses and After Dark Awards for Shanghai Gesture and M. Butterfly.
Tempe Thomas (Aphrodite and others) makes her Arena Stage debut in Metamorphoses. She last performed locally as the Queen of El Dorado in Mary Zimmerman's Candide (Shakespeare Theatre Company). Regional credits include Candide (Goodman, Huntington), Gertrude in Seussical (Marriott, Drury Lane), Betty Jean in Marvelous Wonderettes (Northlight, Capitol Repertory Theatre), Little Edie in the Chicagoland premiere of Grey Gardens (Northlight), Maria Elena in Buddy Holly (Drury Lane), Marty in Grease (Marriott), Brooke in Water Coolers (Lakeshore Theatre, Riverfront Theatre) and Percy in Spitfire Grill (Provision Theatre). New York credits include Bessie 1 in the TAM award-winning production of River's End (NYMF) and Carol in ...Tales of the 8th Grade! (NYC Fringe). She has toured with Classical Kids Live! in their production of Tchaikovsky Discovers America.
Tickets for Metamorphoses are $40-$85, subject to change and based on availability, plus applicable fees. For information on savings programs such as student discounts, Southwest Nights, Pay-Your-Age tickets, HOTTIX and Hero's Discounts, visit arenastage.org/shows-tickets/single-tickets/savings-programs. Tickets may be purchased online at arenastage.org, by phone at 202-488-3300 or at the Sales Office at 1101 Sixth St., SW, D.C.
The show runs Sunday, Tuesday & Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Friday & Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday & Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and weekday matinees at noon on 2/26, 2/27 & 3/6. Full calendar HERE.
Open-captioned performances: 2/20 at 7:30 p.m., 2/21 at 8:00 p.m.
Audio-described performance: 3/16 at 2:00 p.m.
Post-show discussions: 2/26, 2/27 & 3/6 following the noon performance; 3/5 & 3/14 following the evening performance.
METRO: Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is only one block from the Waterfront-SEU Metro station (Green Line). When exiting the station, walk west on M Street toward Sixth Street, and the main entrance to the Mead Center is on the right.
PARKING: Parking is available in Arena Stage's on-site garage. Subscribers may purchase parking in advance for $16. Single ticket buyers may purchase parking in advance for $18 or on the day of the performance for $20 on a first-come, first-served basis. Limited handicapped parking is available by reservation. Advanced parking must be reserved by calling 202-488-3300. The entrance to the Mead Center garage is on Maine Avenue between Sixth and Seventh streets, and the garage closes one hour after the day's last performance ends. Patrons can also park at the Public Parking Garage at 1101 Fourth Street, one block from the Mead Center, for $11. Street parking is also available along Maine Avenue and Water Street.
VALET PARKING: Arena Stage offers valet service at no additional cost to patrons with accessibility needs who call 202-488-3300 in advance to request valet parking. On days when valet parking is being used for accessibility, it is also available to general patrons one hour prior to show time for $25, based on availability. To use valet parking, pull up to the main entrance on Sixth Street.
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is a national center dedicated to the production, presentation, development and study of American theater. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Director Edgar Dobie, Arena Stage is the largest company in the country dedicated to American plays and playwrights. Arena Stage produces huge plays of all that is passionate, exuberant, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit, and presents diverse and ground-breaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Arena Stage is committed to commissioning and developing new plays through the American Voices New Play Institute. Now in its seventh decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000.
Photo Credit: Liz Lauren


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Bright Bits of Sunshine from My Four Legged Furball
Sometimes I feel like I'm part of a cosmic joke that I can't get or understand. It's kinda like these lines in the song The Show:
I'm just a little girl lost in the moment
I'm so scared but I don't show it
I can't figure it out, it's bringing me down
I know I've got to let it go and just enjoy the show
But but but….sometimes it's a show I don't enjoy thank you very much. Can't it be something more simple and easy??? Then again, I suppose it's the twists and turns and not-so-perfect things that come along that makes it "life" right???
So…as I try to open my teeny-tiny puffy eyes this morning (it was a stressful night after all), I will try to hold on to my bright bit of sunshine…Bubba. As I tried to sleep last night (try being the operative word here), he did what he usually does when I'm not at my best…he snuggled in close to me and just lay there sharing my space. And when I'd wake up, unlike the usual where he would have moved to his bed, he was still there beside me. More so, when I'd open my eyes, he'd nuzzle me with his head a bit, as if giving me a hug. Oh I just sooo soooo love this little furball of mine.
Much as I hated the fact that my sister left Bubba to me when she left for the states, I realize now he is the greatest gift she had given me. Love, I tell ya.. truly ties that bind 🙂 Much as this morning I still feel a wee bit sad and selfish because I find myself wanting more in terms of the love department, I will hold on to my bright bit of four legged sunshine.


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Getting the hottest looks straight off fall's runways is easy as pie. You just need access to a computer or fashion-forward store and a huge credit limit. No problem, right? But what if you — being the smart, stylish Refinery29 reader that you are — wanted to capture all the color, texture, and creativity of the fall collections on your nails? Well, for that, you're going to need us and the nail lacquer gurus at OPI.
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The Accessibility Services Office, located in the Parker Student Union, provides and coordinates services to students with disabilities, promotes equal educational opportunities, and provides equal access to all institutional programs and services. Accommodations are provided on an individualized, as-needed basis as outlined in the Accommodations Handbook. Students requesting accommodations must provide current documentation regarding the nature of his or her disability and the need for accommodation. Examples of accommodations include exam accommodations, note-taking, sign language interpreting, and the use of special equipment.
Hutchinson Community College encourages students to be as independent as possible on campus and to use those services which help maximize learning. So that services are in place on the first class day, early contact with the Accessibility Services Office for students with disabilities is encouraged.


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C Board
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A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
> do we neeed open GL?
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do we neeed open GL?
can we create graphics without open gl or direct x funtions? and creat our own or something?
if u mean making 3d graphics u probably could do it, it would be very hard and time consuming. the chip vendors (ATi, nvidia....) write the functions for each API functions be it openGL or dx. All the very hard work is done. To be honest, unless ur creating some other kind of 3d graphics (eg pov-ray) u'd be kinda crazy to try and make 3d graphics on ur own that rival that of opengl or dx.
thats what i think anyway.
If you're only talking about real time animation or games, I agree. (I recognize that you mentioned pov-ray) ;)
However, the world of 3d graphics does not stop at quake. many software packages must render accurately. OpenGL is about speed, not accuracy.
so nerdyneo, you can just set pixels on a bitmap in memory and then display that bitmap on the screen when you're done. That's how rendering should be done. But yes, you'll have to know quite a lot about 3d math, texture mapping, shading, lighting, etc...
You can get DirectX to act as a framework for your own 3D graphics. Simply do not use Direct3D and get a pointer to your surface in DirectX.
Then treat the surface like you would in the old DOS graphics days. Make functions to draw lines, plot points, fill polies, texture polies, light polies, etc., etc. But it won't be as fast as D3D. Direct3D calls the HAL which in turn calls the driver - which is basically just a bunch of functions that activate circuits on the video board to do what you want. Hence the software equivalent will never be as fast as the accelerated one.
If you know about assembly and the principles behind it then you also realize that all a video GPU is, is a bunch of hard-coded assembly functions like bilinear filtering, polygon scan converting, etc., etc. Much like when you activate circuits in the CPU via opcodes, the same is true when the video driver interacts with the GPU.
This is the model for Direct3D
D3D -> HAL -> video driver -> output
The HAL holds the prototypes for all the standard DirectX library functions and the video driver is basically the body of the code - written by the GPU manufacturer. Microsoft defines the functions and the standard...and each vendor writes the body of the code for the standard functions. Hence that is why drivers are so important and also why DirectX will work with any card that supports it. Support meaning any vendor that has coded a driver that is designed to be used with DirectX.
This is the model for DirectX
DX -> HEL or user code-> output
So the DirectX equiv of 3D graphics will use the Hardware Emulation Layer or it will use your code...neither of which are gonna be faster than the video driver/GPU itself.
The difference between DX and D3D has now been glossed over a bit because it is all called DirectGraphics and they are closely meshed together. DirectX as it was is almost non-existent. Nearly everything is Direct3D.
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Of course it is. Mass Effect 3 is the worst ending ever. The original one, before Extended Cut and Leviathan, that came completely out of left field with 0 foreshadowing and 0 explanation.
I'm going to get the fudge out of here now before I get the game spoiled for me byeeeee!
I don't get the too violent argument, if the executions are the only thing that are making people question the use of violence than just don't do the executions. You don't have to do them, and in all actuality, you're pretty vulnerable when you go out of your way to do them.
I think a lot of people need to replay Bioshock 1 to remember exactly what a shitty ending is.
See I disagree that the few horrific things don't work because Columbia's inhabitants are "cartoons", the one thing I do find horrific in this setting is knowing that there really are people just like that in the world despite how cartoony they feel.
Except that Lutece never racked up his gambling debt. Also, who is he going to sell his baby to?
Or maybe they're really just the same person from alternate universes who only differ one gene or something like that.
No, as someone who has played it, I would say that this claim is legitimate. It's less of being tactless and it's more like a hard truth. You see, as opposed to the first Bioshock, this ending doesn't stem from a gameplay issue. It's more of a story thing. And I think it's very hard to come up with legitimate arguments as to why the story has "the worst ending ever".
P.S. A thread about the ending of Bioshock is a pretty dangerous place to be, if you don't like massive spoilers and by massive I mean: spoilers of a galactic proportions.
P.P.S. Play the game. It's pretty much the best thing that will come out this year.
Ending is fine although troubled by a couple of plot holes and inconsistencies. The only thing I find really disappointing is the fact that focus on Elizabeth basically prevented them from in-depth exploration of some of the issues they mention in the game (slavery, class conflicts, racism etc.).
The Lutece brother never racked up his debt! That was Booker's own gambling and drinking that brought him to that state!
Remember what the Lutece said. In exchange for PAYING OFF your debts you would give us the girl.
The Lutece was the one who paid of his debt in exchange for the girl. Now if you have to ask me who wants a young baby girl the answer is quite obvious. The guy Booker still owes the debt when the Lutece doesn't pay it off. You see we return to the point where Booker is STILL indebted nobody is there to pay it off for him now.
Oh, I don't think anyone is saying it's original, but it's still far from being conventional. Also, there's the bonus of this meaning that there is a version of reality where Bioshock 2 never existed and now we can just accept that as being canon. :)
as someone who unfortunately lives in the republican south i can attest that there ARE some people THAT fucking stupid as to make that connection and claim offense to it
It depends on the Booker-Build you go for there are outfits(to replace your tonics) that give you bonuses on the in your face stuff i hade two or three that gave me increased damage increased range and health absorption.
The ultimate point of them though was to showcase Booker as being Unhinged and barely sane in battle situations due to his Massive PTSD and guilt over Wounded Knee, it also helps that Elizabeth Freaks out a bit every time you Murder a dude with the executions but for the most part just takes them as Necessary evils to get away from the hell of the tower and what Comstock has planned for her. which is why she runs off as many times as she does to get away from you(Booker) and the situation at hand that may or may not have been caused by Booker or a decision Booker made that affected them both.
Well, basically you're just arguing semantics now (and the Luteces had something to say about that as well). Just because Comstock paid off the debt, doesn't mean it wasn't fabricated by the Luteces in the first place. By the way, I do like how you refer to the Luteces as being one person (although we differ semantically on that as well).
Not so fast. Because he "died", there is no one to go buy the daughter off of him. Most people generally are not predisposed to buy people's babies. It isn't a happy life ahead (alcoholism, debts, guilt broken abusive family) but it's probably better than a racist super city that ends up either destroying everything, or getting blown to bits.
You do know it was just the Brother that interacted with Booker right?
That is why I say The LUTECE. Because it's just one. Before the timey-wimey-essence-scattery accident with the rift machine the sister never interacted with Booker.
Also it's not really semantics as it is quite literally stated as being as such. The ONLY thing that has been absolutely confirmed is that they offered to relieve him of that debt. Now the debt has a symbolic meaning later on but that is besides the point.
Why do I think the Luteces didn't fabricate the debt? Because they could have just Kidnapped the girl never tipping off Booker. Why go back in time, make sure Booker is in debt, then offer to relieve him of that debt by selling his daughter? You know that makes no sense. Just open a rift in the office or wait until Booker goes to get milk for his kid, remember dead wife and I don't think Booker is the kind of man to start lactating, then snatch the kid.
It's convoluted hoop jumping for no reason besides an attempt to be deep and failing at it because the much easier solution is right there.
The thing is, those issues are fairly simple and transparent in and of themselves. As an audience, we know that racism and slavery is bad, and that's really all there is to say on the subject. Oh, and that prolonged racism can produce violent extremists amongst its victims. This is different from Objectivism, which is more nuanced, complicated in concept, and actually holds some appeal for certain people.
I wish they went into quack science and supernaturalism more. The creepiest moment for me in the entire game is when you stumble across Elizabeth's menarche. I didn't even know what that word meant, but I knew immediately what I was looking at...shudder. I found it fairly plausible that turn of the century pseudo-science would resort to that kind of perverse, idiotic research. Hell, there could be this whole story about a leader who depends on exploiting people's fear of the supernatural, whilst there is an ongoing process to figure if it really exists - the effects and appeal of superstition, and the science of a real afterlife and magic.
Nice to know Yahtzee/Movie Bob and many others really liked this game's ending.
And that got me thinking, this game could end in a huge number of other ways: Perhaps Booker took Elizabeth to Paris, got her that puppy she always wanted, danced with her at the beach when she asked, ect. ect.
Different universes, with different outcomes all satisfying everyone's and even the character's wants and desires, all because one man's choice and personal redemption in the very end.
The possibilities with this ballsy ending we got are ENDLESS. And that why I love this game's ending. And if you don't like it "To each their own" I say...
OT: At least this game took the time to explain its ending, unlike... other... Bioware related endings... PLEASE GOD NO ONE REPLY TO THIS!
You do know people sell babies all the time? Right?
I mean right now some baby somewhere is sold to someone. It is also questionable about what is best or better. I don't think you know exactly how bad an alcoholic gambling broke dad can be. Neither do I but you seem to be SERIOUSLY down playing it.
Sure she was stuck up in the city but she had everything she wanted. Essentially the Bird and the Cage argument here, but in my opinion she was better off in the Cage physically speaking and we don't KNOW if Comstock would have gone through with it in THAT dimension. Remember multiple universes? For all we know the universe she was in had a Comstock that would eventually mellow down, you see we don't actually know in which universe we are at the end. The Comstock we kill might not have been the first Comstock, after all the Comstock killing happens after I think about... 3-4 different universe changes?
Oh sure old Elizabeth sends you back to A universe where she was captured but you don't know if it was the same you started in.
So really all we know is that one of the Elizabeths in one of the Universes destroys the world for sure. The rest is up in the sky (ha pun!).
Well, if you actually only meant the one, physical, male Lucete, you can't call him "the Lutece" without qualifying his name some how, i.e. twin, brother, twin-brother, male or something like that.
P.S. Actually, hang on, I just thought of something. The multiple-worlds interpretation means that we're both right, because both eventualities happen in two different universes. That way I get my symbolic interpretation of events and you get your hard-line, empirical interpretation.
So wait, you accept the possibility that there is a universe where Comstock will see the error of his ways and not blow the living daylights out of the world below (despite building the entire apparatus and trapping Lizzy to do so), but we're not going to consider the possibility that Booker won't sell his baby, now that no one is going to come straight to his door, asking to buy his baby? Hell, he was reluctant enough the first time round, when someone put the idea to him in the first place.
I don't mean to brag and all, but I figured she was Booker's daughter almost straight away. Someone calls her Annabel (the name Booker keeps saying), and Booker makes a specific point of saying he totally did not have a baby. Yes, this thing was going Old Boy on our ass. I wonder how many people didn't see it coming, and ended up getting pissed off when it became clear that Elizabeth was a no go (only an hour after her revealing, re-dressing scene).
People have said that Infinite's ending was the worst ending ever? Really? Okay, I miss my happy ending that I got from BioShock and BioShock 2, but I thought Infinite's ending was fine. It took me a second to wrap my head around, but I got it--once I started viewing it through a comic-book-reality pair of lenses. Like the multiverse that's always showing up in DC.
I'm glad Yahtzee pointed out the fact that no one else was using Vigors. I found that strange. What I found even stranger was the upgrade for the Possession vigor. After you posses a human, they kill themselves after a short time. Who...who thought that was a good idea? Think about that for a moment: You are walking down the street, someone hits you with a green mist, and a few moments later you are compelled to kill yourself. And it's not like this was a secret version of Possession. This upgrade was available at any Viny-Vigor machine. That's insane, because Possession now serves no purpose beyond murdering someone.
I Despised infinite's ending.
You finally figured out the real story of Bioshock Infinite.
Nothing matters because everything has happened!
Welcome brother. To the realm of insignificance through omni-existence.
Though why would convenience be an argument AGAINST just kidnapping the kid? It is the most convenient one? Or are you saying they deliberately did not pick the most convenient of all solutions?
Oh of course there is one. But there is also one where he WILL do it. In fact there WAS already a universe where Booker didn't become Comstock and also didn't sell his daughter, cleaned up his act and became a good father...
So the entire story is just pointless because of the multiverse.
You see when you really think about it in the grand scheme of things Booker accepting his mistakes really isn't that important because an alternate reality Booker already did.
Also the first time around? This is an all new Booker right? Or is it the same Booker with the memories from Columbia? How would that work when Columbia literally never existed? Stop scratching at the paint mate, you're untangling the story :D
Please continue picking at the logistics of the multiverse. I can't wait till it all unravels.
double post.
Part of the reason everything was so cartoonishly shiny was to juxtapose the buck-toothed, saw-bladed psychotic violence with it. In fact, I felt that it was right at home. Creepy horror has been done a hundred times before, but it's not often that you get to appreciate how at home this level of violence can be amongst the shiny lights of a big city. It makes it more unnerving in my mind. I remember you mentioning in your Dead Space 2 review that you had never seen a ripped-apart space station that looked like it had ever been a nice place to live. Well, this is the sort of thing we get when we mash the two up. And, before you paint the cultists as cartoonish, religious zealots, remember that we have those people in our world. They're real people without the real sort of power the characters had in the game. I agree with you about the ending, and even the Vigors, to a degree, but I would say that Comstock could go to an alternate reality where he had succeeded, but then he wouldn't be there to get there in the first place, so that reality wouldn't have had him getting there. He probably has done that in a lot of other places. Also, remember that this rift technology hasn't fully proliferated and seemed to be in the hands of the upper class and the scientists that used it. Lastly, yes, there are unnecessary things in the game, but I'd hate to complain about that. It sends the wrong message to the industry. Technically, games like this are unnecessary, because we could churn out the same washed-out shooters over and over without a thought to story and they'd still sell. Mario has been making the same game for. Ever. Besides, would you have wanted a BioShock game without vigors? I liked the way it tied the worlds together/apart. Sort of fit, really, especially considering the meta-narrative bits about sequels. This game exists on several levels and I'd hate to say that we need one, but that the other was silly.
Booker could rush in and wrestle her out of their hands.* It's simply easier for the Luteces to get their hands on her if Booker agrees to it, but it also puts their minds at rest that Booker did this voluntarily.
*And yes, Booker would always try to wrestle the girl away from them, because you never, ever leave a baby alone. Just... remember that, OK?
You actually have to leave a baby alone quite often. For example when you put it in the crib. It's in a separate room. He leaves her alone in a room most of the day. They could literally have Comstock knock on the door, then have the brother Lutece rift into the crib room and steal the baby whilst Booker is distracted :D
If they scowered universes for the poor Booker.... why not scower the universe for the drunk passed out Booker? Then go in to steal the baby. You see when you give us an infinite amount of universes, with time over space time then there really is no reason WHY they HAD to lure him into a debt :D
I'm sure you want your explanation to be correct, I'm not saying it isn't. I'm saying it is stupid. It is needlessly complex to find a universe where Booker lost, lost big and was willing to sell his daughter rather than doing a simple distraction.
Actually, I think it was explicitly stated by Elizabeth that in every universe where it comes up, Booker sells the baby, but only in some universes does he accept the baptism to become Comstock. It is these Comstock's that are ruining it for everyone, because they go into the other universes and (with apparently 100% success) convince the non-baptised Booker's to hand over their babies.
To break this inevitable cycle, Booker needs to take a third route and die, before he can become either a non-baptised or baptised Booker in later life. If he lives, he'll become either one guy in the process. By being dead, he can't become a Comstock, and convince a corresponding Booker to hand over the baby. Doing this leaves an odd Booker (coz I guess there are an even number of infinite dimensions). In this case, there is now a situation where one Booker does not get asked to hand over his baby, Columbia goes uncreated, and nothing bad happens.
But then that is what happened in the context of the game. Are you saying it's a plot hole? Because then I definitely agree. Although I can still buy the argument that the Luteces simply wanted Booker to be at peace with losing his child (at least in this universe; in the other one they don't care).
not to mention the evil you from another universe has been done several times before. it was even done in video games in Infamous.
i also wrote in another topic on this that the ending ignores its own use a multiverse. the drowning of Booker cant do anything (since time splinters at every choice), thus is insignificant.
That is allot of wishful thinking you are doing there sir. Sadly dreams don't make cities fly :)
After all there is now only ONE Booker that matters. You see you have the Booker that would have refused the baptism... and nothing else. There have been NO OTHER CHOICES yet. Right now there exists only ONE Booker with the option to sell his daughter. In other words... the Booker that sold his daughter.
If we accept that the only way to stop this was to kill Comstock Booker than we accept that the only timeline that matters is that one with the baptism decision. After all like someone else pointed out you could have stopped Booker from going to Wounded Knee, sabotaged his military application form, whatever. Meaning there is now only ONE Booker timeline left. This Booker still has a debt and will still have to make a choice on what to sell. Now mind you by the same logic as the rest of the multiverse, at least one universe now exists with Booker with a fistful of a cash and an empty crib.
Tell me, have you watched the Big Picture episode about this game yet? If you haven't, would you do me a favour and watch it? It adds interesting dimension to the debate.
Yes it is a plothole, those should not be excused. Finding an extra contriving way, which you btw are NOT sure of because they NEVER explicitly mention HOW they did it, is BAD.
Also he'd probably just leave her in her crib and go to the local drugstore. This is 1912 New York, they have stores on the corner of almost every street. He'd be gone for 5 minutes, but that is all an inter-dimensional kidnapper would need.
How old are you? Are you serious? No game EVER had a better story than Bioshock Infinite? Seriously? No game had a better story than a plothole riddled mess of a halfassed multiverse sci-fi disaster that is about a guy accepting his past mistakes?
I know I'm laying it on rather thick here but seriously? You want to claim Bioshock Infinite as the BEST?! You did play games before 2013 right?
Of the top of my head.
Planescape: Torment
Fuck even BIOSHOCK is better story wise than this game in my opinion. It had better characters, more world building and it tied itself better to the themes it wanted to explore. Bioshock created a world around the themes it explored and made you experience it.
Now of course I respect your opinion but to claim it as fact and to ask someone to PROVE you wrong like it is even remotely possible to PROVE an opinion in any way is just ludicrous. You will also get smacked with an entire list of suggestions of games to enrich your palate.
Seriously go play Grim Fandango. It's basically free to pirate because nobody sells it anymore. Then come back and tell me Bioshock is still the bestest ever.
Two things: Firstly, I figure Booker only sold his kid in the first place because Comstock (knowing himself intimately) knew how exactly to talk him into handing it over, and via dimensional travel, knew exactly when was the most effective time to ask Booker. Presumably, most people do not approach debtors and, apropos of nothing, offer to buy their children. Even if they did, they'd struggle to be quite as appealing as a doppelganger who knows exactly what best to say.
Secondly, even if Booker does choose to sell his kid, it would have to be to someone who isn't Comstock, now that Comstock no longer exists. That would be tragic, but it still wouldn't lead to the fiery Armageddon.
As for why they went with this scheme, and not say, intervene with Booker before Wounded Knee? Eh, fiction I guess. The twins had gone through dozens and dozens of schemes with many different Bookers in many Columbias, and they had all previously failed to prevent the Armageddon. So perhaps they did indeed try it those ways, only to find them not working. Why would that be the case? Who knows and who cares, it's just a story, and it is far more cathartic for Booker to have his moment of realisation and accept being drowned.
Oh sure you can suppose... but you don't know. That's the problem. All you do is speculate on things. Oh I like to thing... Oh he might not... There could be... these are all the wrong words my friend. If you use these then there is a possibility that he also might still do it.
Actually in the olden days it was quite normal to sell your kids, it's even going on today. The argument that people don't easily sell children is invalid because it does happen. Booker is that person who WOULD sell his own kid. There is no argument there. He IS capable of it.
You can't wave the fiction flag when you run head first into a plothole. That's LAZY and goes against the supposed high brow story of the game. If it wants to be cerebral it has to cement those holes shut, not tell the player to just ignore it. It can't have it's cake and eat it saying it's just a game for fun whenever the plotholes creep up and then at the same time want to be taken completely seriously all the rest.
My problem with the ending to Bioshock Infinite is that all the Shyamalan Twists serve to wrest the character focus away from Elizabeth (whose journey we had, to that point, been watching as she experiences the world for the first time, and discovers where her ideals might lead her) and on to Booker.
The problem with that is that Booker isn't really a character, he's got a backstory but the fact that he was deliberately rendered a blank slate so that the player could experience Columbia without him colouring the experience by having opinions on things means that he doesn't get to be a person, he's just an objective marker following robot (in this way the fantastic setting actually detracted from the story, setting Infinite in a location familiar enough to the player that Booker could have expressed himself would have allowed it to be a stronger tale).
That means that he can't carry the focus of the story, why should I care that Comstock is an alternate possible Booker, if Booker isn't a person? Why should I care that Elizabeth is Booker's daughter if Booker isn't a person? How can you effectively tell a story about how a man faces the sins of his own past if the man is a hollow void bereft of person?
Without Booker as an established character there's no way to contrast any of the alternate "could have been" Bookers (Comstock, martyr of the Vox, whatever) with the one we drive around, and so there's no point them being there. The whole alternate dimension part of the plot, which hinges on these "could have beens" means nothing because there's no "is".
It means that the story, at the end of the day, isn't about anything, there's no human element to the plot, just a bunch of narrative where the take-home suggestion is "going back in time and killing your father before you were born is an awesome way to solve your problems".
And that's just silly.
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