"These Districts Work Better without All the Bureaucratic Attachment Parenting"

"What could be wrong with a district where nightclubs and galleries are encouraged to thrive? Nothing, necessarily; done right, a city can help foster these scenes with a gentle guiding hand. Constructing an entire milieu from whole cloth, however, is where cities get into trouble. 'The problem with these created-overnight districts is that you’re trying to create a culture as opposed to letting one grow,' says Nathaniel Hood, a Minneapolis-based transportation planner. 'You’re getting the culture that one developer or city council member thinks the city needs, as opposed to the ground-up culture that comes from multiple players.'"

Will Doig in Salon criticizes "urban entertainment districts."

"It Gives People Something to Look at in Our Flat State"

"'We didn’t have any blueprints or anything like that,' Mr. Richardson, a retired postman, said recently while standing in the middle of the span as it swayed under the steady assault of plains winds. 'We just used a postcard and tried to make it look like it should.'"

In The New York Times, A. G. Sulzburger visits a Kansas man who has built on his property a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Sound and Vision

The Los Angeles Times runs obits for record producer Jim Dickinson and Walt Disney's first star, Virginia Davis.