Will Cockrell Archives - 国产吃瓜黑料 Online /byline/will-cockrell/ Live Bravely Wed, 30 Jun 2021 14:58:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/favicon-194x194-1.png Will Cockrell Archives - 国产吃瓜黑料 Online /byline/will-cockrell/ 32 32 Way Off-Piste /outdoor-adventure/snow-sports/way-piste/ Thu, 27 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /uncategorized/way-piste/ Way Off-Piste

It only took one wrong turn for Kelsey Malin and her ski partner to find themselves 52 hours deep into the backcountry with no food, water, or way to get out.

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Way Off-Piste

I鈥檓 a ski instructor, but not a backcountry skier. This was my first time at Monarch. I was with a friend, and we spotted some powder at the edge of a run. At no point did we duck a rope. We skied for a long time before we realized that we were lost. I checked my phone, which had just enough battery life to show us how far we鈥檇 strayed. That was around 3 p.m. Instead of backtracking, we headed in the direction we thought would take us to the highway.

Just before dark I built a lean-to. It was a cold night. I had stepped in a creek, and my foot was wet. At one point, I went out to pee and fell over. I got up and started yelling, 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to move鈥攊f we stay here we鈥檒l die!鈥 I was crying. My friend calmed me down. He said that if we went wandering in the dark, we really would die. He was right.

In the morning, we retraced our tracks. We spent the day sidestepping and tripping through snow up to our thighs, encouraging each other not to give up. At dusk we reached a road and decided to follow it, each in a different direction. If either of us came upon some reason not to keep going, we鈥檇 turn around. We鈥檇 either meet up again or know that the other person was farther down the road. After a while I saw a sign: CURVES AHEAD NEXT 19 MILES. I threw my skis in frustration. I have a vivid memory of falling into a snowbank and feeling like I was wrapped in a warm blanket. I just wanted to sleep. But I thought about how it would affect my family and friends if I gave up. That pushed me to keep going, even though it meant turning back.

My friend had turned back, too, after he came upon a giant snowbank in the road. That night we made a snow cave. We were delirious. I had dreams of going to a 7-Eleven for taquitos and beer. I pissed myself. In the morning, I couldn鈥檛 take another step. My friend offered to scout and come back to make sure I was alive. He headed straight up the mountain until he collapsed. A backcountry skier had to jump over his body to avoid hitting him. Then my friend popped up and explained that we were lost and had been out for two nights. The skier sent him back to me with peppermint tea and granola bars and went to get help.

My friend returned, shouting, 鈥淚 have snacks! I have tea!鈥 I can鈥檛 describe the relief. When ski patrol reached us, my internal body temperature was near 80 degrees. I went into shock on the helicopter. Somehow the doctors saved my foot, except for a small piece of my big toe.

As told to Will Cockrell.

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A High Case of the Bends /outdoor-adventure/water-activities/high-case-bends/ Thu, 27 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /uncategorized/high-case-bends/ A High Case of the Bends

George Watson and Geoff Belter went diving in Peru. One of them was never found again.

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A High Case of the Bends

Our team was diving in Lake Sibinacocha, in Peru, which is at about 16,000 feet. We wanted to collect data on the effects of diving at altitude and also look for Incan artifacts. I鈥檇 been a rock climber and a diver most of my life, and I thought of the trip like a first ascent.

My dive partner on the third day was Geoff Belter. We were heading down to around 200 feet, with four tanks each and battery-powered scooters. At about 165 feet, my scooter died, which was a serious enough failure that the dive was essentially over and Geoff would have to tow me up. At about 110 feet, my first tank ran out of gas, so I switched to the other and it immediately ran out. That was a surprise. We weren鈥檛 supposed to get close to blowing through that much gas. We鈥檙e still not sure what happened with the tanks, and in any case it鈥檚 clear our judgement was compromised for some reason鈥攎ost likely we got too cold. Geoff tried to give me a hose so I could share his air, but I realized that his tank was empty, too. We immediately went up to 80 feet, where it was safe to switch to our remaining tanks, problem solved. I signed to Geoff to send a signal bag to the surface, where another diver, Umberto, was standing by in a kayak. But we were really unstable in a water column, suddenly oscillating up and down and away from each other. The last I remember seeing Geoff, he was holding the bag in his hand in a peculiar way that I鈥檒l never forget. Then . His body was never found.

I got pulled all the way back down to 110 feet. I hit a button on my drysuit to use air from my new tank to help me get back to a shallower depth. But I lost control and shot to the surface. I yelled to Umberto, who picked me up in the boat, put me on oxygen, and paddled me frantically to shore. Bubbles were forming in my body, and I was expecting to have a massive stroke. I was hypothermic and shivering violently, so the team put me in a winter sleeping bag. After an hour, I could feel my toes. A helicopter evacuation wasn鈥檛 an option, so they put me on a horse, but after 30 minutes I lost control of my abdominals and fell off. They carried me in an inflatable boat over a 17,000-foot pass, then drove me to a decompression chamber in Cusco. Back in the States, after rehab, I did my first dive in 2015. Last year, to Lake Sibinacocha and recovered an ancient artifact from the bottom. There鈥檚 now a memorial to Geoff in Florida鈥檚 Jackson Blue Springs Cave.

As told to Will Cockrell.

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How a 13-Year-Old Saved His Dad’s Life /outdoor-adventure/climbing/crashing-down/ Thu, 27 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /uncategorized/crashing-down/ How a 13-Year-Old Saved His Dad's Life

David Finlayson fell off the granite towers in Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. The only person who could save him? His 13-year-old son.

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How a 13-Year-Old Saved His Dad's Life

David Finlayson: I鈥檇 been taking Charlie into the backcountry since he was a baby. In 2015, when he was 13, we planned a trip to climb these granite towers about 13 miles into Frank Church鈥揜iver of No Return Wilderness, in Idaho. A week in, we were about 1,000 feet up a tower. There was loose rock, so I anchored Charlie off to a tree to belay me while I did some route finding. That鈥檚 when I heard the crack.

Charlie听Finlayson: I didn鈥檛 see the boulder hit him, but I saw the rock flake he was standing on come off the wall.

David: My left arm was above my head, and the boulder snapped it, crushed my helmet, and broke my back and my left leg. I ended up 40 feet below Charlie.

Charlie: I couldn鈥檛 see him, because there was this bush in the way, so I didn鈥檛 know if he was alive. He was silent for like five minutes. I kept shouting, asking if he could hear me.

David: I woke up and heard Charlie yelling. I told him I was OK but bleeding and needed the first aid kit. He lowered it down, then rappelled to me and lowered me another 20 feet to a ledge, where he helped me get bandaged. We were so far up the wall, I thought I might bleed out before we got down. But I just couldn鈥檛 say, 鈥淗ey, I might not make it.鈥 I told him that if I passed out, he should tie me off to the wall and go. It took us until nightfall to reach the bottom.

Charlie: There was one point where I knew he was delirious, because he said, 鈥淥K, you can scramble from here, it looks pretty flat.鈥 We were still 100 feet up.

David: Charlie went to our camp in the dark to get sleeping bags, water, and food. We stayed up all night talking. He鈥檇 doze off, then pop up to make sure I was awake. At first light, he got me moving very slowly back to camp. Many times I said, 鈥淐harlie, I can鈥檛 go any farther.鈥 He鈥檇 say, 鈥淟et me help you make it another inch.鈥 At camp, I told him he had to go get help.

Charlie: I said, 鈥淣o, I鈥檓 not going out by myself.鈥

David: That was emotional. I wasn鈥檛 too worried about him getting lost, but there might not be anybody at the trailhead. The next morning he was ready. He said, 鈥淚 guess I better get going.鈥 He gave me a big hug and left.

Charlie: About three miles from camp, I ran into a couple of hikers, who told me there was a big group behind them. I asked them to check on my dad, and I kept going. At first I didn鈥檛 see anyone else, so I blew my whistle. This guy ran up to me and then went to get a ranger. That鈥檚 when I knew that my dad was going to make it.

David: I had my final round of surgeries in December. I鈥檓 still recovering, but we did an all-day climb a couple of weeks ago.

As told to Will Cockrell.

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Adrift at Sea /outdoor-adventure/water-activities/adrift/ Thu, 27 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /uncategorized/adrift/ Adrift at Sea

With no shore in sight, the only thing Matthew Bryce had to cling to was his surfboard and the hope that someone would find him.

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Adrift at Sea

When I first fell in love with surfing, I spent quite a while in France, working as a lifeguard in Biarritz. When I came back to Scotland, I would always go up to this beach in Westport. One morning, I headed there with just a short funboard and paddled out. There were six- or seven-foot swells. Conditions were great. I was the only person in the water, but that is perfectly normal for this beach. It鈥檚 one of the most isolated parts of Scotland.

I鈥檇 only caught about three waves before everything went wrong. I paddled out behind the break to rest. I鈥檇 really worn myself out climbing at an indoor gym two days before, and now my arm was cramping. I sat there for a couple of minutes catching my breath, but the wind began carrying me out. When I started trying to head back in, a cramp in my right shoulder made my paddling shockingly bad. So the wind just took over. By that time, there were a few people on the beach, and I tried signaling for help, but they were too far away. The wind became relentless. Instead of trying to paddle in, I decided to aim for the jut of land to the south, but the wind was still pushing me away from shore.

After several hours, the current switched and began carrying me north, so I tried to hit a different piece of land. But I was maybe three miles from shore at this point. By late afternoon, I ended up so far out, I no longer had any reference point to tell which way I was moving. Night fell and I was exhausted. I decided to count 30 seconds paddling, then stop and count 30, then paddle again. I was basically heading toward Ireland.

It was the middle of the night, I was freezing cold, and I was passing out. I was thinking I was going to die. I was paddling as often as possible to generate heat, but the board was so small, and I could only keep about half my body above water. The wind really started whipping up waves, which were going over me, causing me to cough and sputter. My feet were numb, my muscles were cramping.

At some points, I wanted to just pass out and slip into the water. I started saying goodbye to everyone in my head. Goodbye, I love you, I鈥檓 sorry.

When the sun began to rise, I immediately thought about how I was supposed to be at work that day, and figured they might contact my parents to find out where I was. I found out later that that鈥檚 when the search started. By about noon, I actually saw a helicopter searching in squares鈥攂ut it stopped a couple of squares away from me and flew away. I decided to try and stay in that area, but it never returned.

I was horribly, horribly dehydrated and a little bit delirious. The day was ending. I thought I鈥檇 done well to carry on this long, but I was done. I was ready to die. Then another helicopter came from the direction of the sunset. I could see the copilot looking. Even when they were getting ready to drop down and recover me, I still wasn鈥檛 convinced it was really happening. Once the line was in the water, the rescuer came up to me and said, 鈥淲ell done.鈥

As told to Peter Frick-Wright.

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Sink or Swim /outdoor-adventure/water-activities/sink-or-swim/ Thu, 27 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /uncategorized/sink-or-swim/ Sink or Swim

When two young pilots flew out over the Pacific together to log hours, they didn't plan on having to make a crash landing.

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Sink or Swim

Sydnie and I had never met, but that鈥檚 normal when you鈥檙e putting in hours. When we took off, all signs were normal. After we climbed to 2,000 feet, the plane started to rumble a bit, but it wasn鈥檛 enough of a concern to turn back. After about an hour in the air鈥攁t the widest part of the channel between Maui and Kona鈥攖he right engine went out. Sydnie got on the radio to tell air traffic control that we may need assistance. Then the left engine went. We declared emergency right away. We were basically gliding.

We weren鈥檛 that high鈥擨 think about 3,000 feet鈥攚hich doesn鈥檛 give you much time. I remember looking out at the ocean as we were descending鈥攊t just got bigger and bigger and bigger. I don鈥檛 know how we didn鈥檛 die on impact. We were probably approaching at 70, 80 miles per hour, and the plane only had lap belts, no shoulder straps. Sydnie said that she landed it like a regular plane on the ground. She did an amazing job.

As we were getting our bearings, the water was already halfway up the dashboard and gushing in the door. We exited onto the wing and next thing you know, the plane is gone. But I wasn鈥檛 really panicking yet, because I was thinking, We just survived a plane crash, and the Coast Guard knows where we went down.

We crashed at about 3:15 p.m. and saw the first rescue aircraft about an hour and a half later. There were a few planes circling, and then a couple of helicopters. But the water was really rough鈥攕ix-foot whitecaps鈥攕o they couldn鈥檛 see us. One plane flew right over us. After the sixth or seventh pass, I started to lose hope. Then the air cartridge on my life vest fell off and it deflated.

We realized we had to do this on our own. The good thing about the Big Island is that it鈥檚 got two large volcanoes, both nearly 14,000 feet. So even though we were about 25 miles away when we landed, we could see land. By the time we decided to swim it was dark, but we could see lights on the island. We just switched gears and agreed to keep each other positive.

After swimming for a while, I was getting to a point where I couldn鈥檛 even keep my head above water. This was my lowest moment. Then Sydnie noticed something on my vest鈥擨 hadn鈥檛 pulled the toggle to inflate one side. I was like, Holy shit, I鈥檓 back!

Then Sydnie swam into a massive jellyfish. She screamed in pain and rolled onto her back, her eyes closed. She was breathing heavily, and she wasn鈥檛 responding. She slowly came back, and then she just switched on. She said, 鈥淲e gotta get outta here.鈥

At first light, we got the sense of how far we鈥檇 swum. It was amazing. We even began talking about the first meal we were going to eat after we made it to shore. That鈥檚 when we saw the shark, about ten feet below us, probably six or seven feet long. It made a big slow circle around us, like you see in movies. It stuck around for about 30 minutes and then disappeared.

Eventually, we saw a Coast Guard helicopter, but it flew past. Then I heard one behind us and, without even looking, I knew it was coming for us. Once the guy got down to us, he said, 鈥淢an, we are so happy to see you.鈥

The crazy thing is, we were probably five miles from shore. We would have arrived around sunset, but we definitely would have made it on our own.

As told to Will Cockrell.

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How One Couple Survived the Tubbs Fire /outdoor-adventure/under-fire/ Thu, 27 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /uncategorized/under-fire/ How One Couple Survived the Tubbs Fire

Imagine opening your door to a fire. Now imagine there's no way out.

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How One Couple Survived the Tubbs Fire

We always knew fire was a possibility. When it came that day, there was no warning. We smelled smoke and that was disturbing, so we got on our phones and tried to find out what was going on. All five neighbors on the dead-end road where we lived had left. We decided to throw stuff into our cars and drive down to check our exit route鈥攂ut by then the fire had reached the end of the driveway. We could see it on the ridge coming toward us. I thought, This is not possible.

What actually saved our lives was a motorcycle trip we鈥檇 taken about six years earlier to Big Bear Lake, in Southern California. We鈥檇 stopped at a coffee shop and the guy who ran it told us how a fire had come through and he and his buddy had survived in a pool. After that, I always had that in the back of my mind as a last resort. Jan called 911 as we were running and told the dispatcher we were going to the neighbor鈥檚 pool. Luckily, it was only five feet deep, so we didn鈥檛 have to tread water. When the fire hit, the tree went up behind the pool, it got so hot. We were underwater holding our breaths and then coming up and sucking air, and then going back down. We did that for, I don鈥檛 know鈥攊t was timeless. There were ashes flying all over and the neighbor鈥檚 house was burning, so we moved as far away from it as possible.

Once the trees, the houses, everything was consumed, I thought, We鈥檙e going to be OK. Jan鈥檚 phone had melted on the pool deck, so we had no way of connecting with the outside world. We decided to get out of the pool and see if our house had survived. It hadn鈥檛. We stayed there, keeping warm by a burning railroad tie. I think it was 48 degrees that night. We huddled around that little thing until dawn, then walked three miles, barefoot, to the road at the bottom of our hill. We ran into a sheriff, who took us to a friend鈥檚 home. When I got out to thank him, he saluted me.

As told to Will Cockrell.

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Shocking Stories of Survival /outdoor-adventure/survival-stories/ Thu, 27 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /uncategorized/survival-stories/ Shocking Stories of Survival

How much until you break? For these adventure catastrophe survivors, there is no limit.

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Shocking Stories of Survival

It takes some of the most extreme situations to test our desperate desire to live.

How a 13-Year-Old Saved His Dad鈥檚 Life

(/)

Charlie Finlayson was on the ultimate climbing adventure with his dad, David, when a loose boulder forced him to make a daunting rescue.听


Adrift at Sea

(Jeremy Bishop/Unsplash)

With no shore in sight, the only thing Matthew Bryce had to cling to was his surfboard and the hope that someone would find him.听


Way Off-Piste

It only took one wrong turn for Kelsey Malin and her ski partner to find themselves 52 hours deep into the backcountry with no food, water, or way to get out.


A High Case of the Bends

George Watson and Geoff Belter went diving in Peru. One of them was never found again.听


Sink or Swim

(Li Yang/Unsplash)

When two young pilots flew out over the Pacific together to log hours, they didn't plan on having to make a crash landing.听


How One Couple Survived the Tubbs Fire

(George Rose/Getty Images)

Imagine opening your door to a fire. Now imagine there鈥檚 no way out.听

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How to Create the Perfect Waterfront /adventure-travel/destinations/north-america/create-perfect-waterfront/ Wed, 15 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /uncategorized/create-perfect-waterfront/ How to Create the Perfect Waterfront

We looked at a few of the country鈥檚 most successful projects and broke down how to create the perfect waterfront.

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How to Create the Perfect Waterfront

Few civic projects transform a city like a rejuvenated shoreline. But competing visions often doom these ventures before they even start, says Alex Krieger, a professor of urban design at Harvard and contributor to the book Remaking the Urban Waterfront. Should it be a nature preserve? An office park and shopping center? Something more residential? Deciding what to do can be harder than actually doing it.

鈥淭hat situation exists almost everywhere,鈥 Krieger says. 鈥淭he solution is to remember that rivers are long. People actually want diversity, so create different segments鈥攕ome that draw people and development, others that make sure development stays away. Find ways to make each bank different from the one opposite it.鈥

Using this as our guiding principle, we looked at a few of the country鈥檚 most successful projects and broke down how to create the perfect waterfront.

Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn, New York (Seth Mourra/Stocksy)

Step 1: Invite Diversity

Design element: Accessible public space.

Case study: East River, .

Gentrification is a common pitfall when polishing up decayed waterfronts. 鈥淚t can actually prevent those who need access the most from spending time there,鈥 Krieger says. But the parks by the Brooklyn Bridge along the East River draw a diverse group of users from across the city with amenity-filled public spaces that include basketball courts, walking trails, and picnicking areas.

Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky (John Gollings/Hargreaves Associa)

Step 2: Plan Perpendiculars

Design element: Streets and bike paths that connect outlying communities to the water.

Case study: Ohio River, .

Many cities have roads that run parallel to their water feature. But without spur paths that connect to inland areas, some residents can be left without ready access. One solution is to build perpendicular routes, like those in Louisville, where many of the city鈥檚 bike lanes and 鈥渘eighborways鈥濃攍ow-volume streets optimized for cyclists鈥攍ink with a multi-use trail along the Ohio River.

Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn, New York (Raymond Forbes/Stocksy)

Step 3: Make It Livable

Design element: Mixed development.

Case study: The Water颅front, .

鈥淧eople attract other people,鈥 Krieger says. 鈥淚f your waterfront is just a place to work, there won鈥檛 be anyone there in the evenings or on weekends.鈥 The Waterfront鈥檚 designers set aside more than a third of the square footage for housing and vowed that the former industrial area won鈥檛 feel like an office park once the project is completed, sometime 听in the next decade.

Boston, Massachusetts
Boston, Massachusetts

Step 4: Reinterpret the Space

Design element: Replace heavy industry with civic institutions.

Case study: .

Post-industrial cleanups are common for waterfronts, but truly transforming these tarnished areas requires a bold vision. Krieger suggest going all in with museums, galleries, and other cultural landmarks. 鈥淧ut your best stuff out there,鈥 he says. 鈥淏oston built its impressive New England Aquarium and the Institute of Contemporary Art right on the harbor. These draw a large, diverse audience.鈥

James River, Richmond
James River, Richmond (Dean Hoffmeyer)

Step 5: Leave Some of It Alone

Design element: Protected habitat.

Case study: James River, .

Riverfronts can help prevent population loss by providing much needed access to nature for recovering suburbanites who have returned to the city and people who are thinking of relocating to less populated areas, Krieger says. Richmond鈥檚 James River is dotted with 600 acres of scattered parkland, and it鈥檚 the only urban river in America with Class IV whitewater downtown.

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Affordable Housing Is the Key to a Thriving City /adventure-travel/destinations/north-america/affordable-housing-thriving-cities/ Wed, 15 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /uncategorized/affordable-housing-thriving-cities/ Affordable Housing Is the Key to a Thriving City

Building the middle class just takes a little bit of urban planning.

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Affordable Housing Is the Key to a Thriving City

Almost as long as there have been cities, there have been efforts to revamp their downtowns. But philosophies about how to do that are constantly evolving. In this era of gentrification, income inequality, and climate change, some of the most innovative ideas are coming from a surprising place鈥斺攚ith help from a 45-year-old real estate developer named Ron Beit. His flagship projects鈥攖he smartly designed , which provides middle-income housing and curated retail for a community of educators in the city center, and , home to , the largest indoor aeroponic farm in the world鈥攅mbody his belief that development should celebrate diversity and high-quality design while being affordable. We talked with Beit about where the fight to reinvent America鈥檚 cities has been, and where he sees it going.

New Jersey developer Ron Beit
New Jersey developer Ron Beit (Mark Peterson/Redux)

鈥淩eal estate developer鈥 really undersells what you and your company do. Perhaps you should come up with something cooler, like developer-activist or urbanization guru.
We are sort of an oddball. There are affordable-housing developers, and there are traditional real estate developers that know how to put private capital together. But there鈥檚 a middle ground, where you need to combine both skills. When someone asks me what I do, I describe my work as community-oriented, social-impact development.

Is this the future of development in downtown cores?
One hundred percent. Not only is your end user going to demand that kind of social impact, but it鈥檚 good for business. Real estate developers are tripping over themselves for assets right now. The only way they are going to make money is to go into tougher and tougher communities and actually help rebuild them in a way where both the community and the investors benefit.

How do you keep both investors and social activists happy?
I started as a property manager in New York City, and I always got the most troubled buildings, usually fractured condominiums and co-op boards where no one could get along. I built my career on bridging that gap. With every project, we have a differential between motivations, incentives, and goals, and it鈥檚 a balancing act. It takes a true understanding of each side鈥檚 position, and sometimes it takes getting people to move slightly off their position. Usually, that requires a very strong idea鈥攍ike Teachers Village or Makers Village.

Teachers Village
Teachers Village (Scott Frances/Otto)

Why was Teachers Village such a good project for Newark?
We knew that if we set the bar high, other developers after us would follow suit. If you build one of these projects poorly and mess up a street, you鈥檝e messed up the street for 100 years. Richard Meier, a world-renowned architect, designed three of the six buildings. People couldn鈥檛 believe we got him to do this in Newark, for New Jersey prices.

What lessons can other cities take from your successes?
In this country, we build a lot of expensive luxury housing, and we build affordable housing. But middle-income housing stock has been sorely lacking for decades. Providing housing for teachers, for instance, leads to the vibrancy of a city. Not to mention it helps recruit the best teachers to a com颅munity. We are currently constructing a second Teachers Village in . Our third one will break ground by the end of the year in , and we鈥檙e looking at , , , and .

AeroFarms
AeroFarms (Bryan Anselm/Redux)

Where do urban farms like the one at Makers Village fit into this?
We鈥檙e just the landlords and builders on that project, but we see it as a huge solution for everything from food shortage to water issues, as it uses 95 percent less water than a traditional farm. And then, of course, there鈥檚 the real estate end of it. The project was done in response to the community in an industrial area of the city saying, 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want the trucks and all the noxious odors that we had in the past.鈥 This was a green solution for an industrial property.

Are cities planning for growth the right way these days? What could they be doing better?
and , are doing great with housing across the board, but other cities need to implement strategies similar to the affordable-housing tax credit to promote middle-income development. We also need to promote small business more. In order to truly make yourself a destination, you have to curate a unique retail experience.

You once said that it starts at the heart and moves out through the arteries.
It鈥檚 important to create the greatest amount of economic impact by focusing on large-scale development in a centralized location. In past revitalization attempts, Newark had one project going on over here, another over there. Creating a cluster or a nucleus of activity creates momentum.

Describe the downtown of the future鈥攁nd don鈥檛 feel constrained by existing technology.
Lots of small businesses, vibrant walkable streets. No parking lots and garages鈥攚e won鈥檛 need them anymore, because we鈥檒l have superaccessible mass transit. In the next few decades, green construction will be so efficient that buildings will actually clean the environment.

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How Outdoor Rec Transformed These Towns /adventure-travel/destinations/north-america/outdoor-rec-transformed-towns/ Wed, 15 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000 /uncategorized/outdoor-rec-transformed-towns/ How Outdoor Rec Transformed These Towns

Taking tourists outside makes for a bigger return on investment.

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How Outdoor Rec Transformed These Towns

It鈥檚 not often that you meet someone who wants to share their hidden stash of powder, whitewater, or singletrack. But for Brendan Quirk, cycling program director for , a community-development organization in , sharing is in his job description. 鈥淚 would compare the density of trails here to what you might find in a place like Park City, Utah,鈥 he says with the enthusiasm of a kid who can鈥檛 keep a secret. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e very flowy, with a nice mix of rolling hills and technical sections.鈥

Why does a small Ozark mountain town (population 49,298) need a cycling czar? And why have the Waltons, the town鈥檚 patrons and heirs to the massive Walmart fortune, donated nearly $20 million over the past three years to build 78 miles of off-road trails and 35 miles of greenway? As it turns out, Bentonville is just one of dozens of communities across the U.S. that have crunched the numbers and are actively trying to rebrand themselves as adventure hubs as a way to bolster or resurrect their economies. 颅Nationally, outdoor recreation鈥斅璱ncluding gear sales and tourism鈥攁ccounts for $887 billion of the American economy and supports 7.6 million jobs, according to a . At the local level, one University of Tennessee at Chattanooga economic study found that nearby crags, like Stone Fort and Tennessee Wall, drive a regional climbing-tourism industry worth more than $10 million annually, and whitewater parks, long a popular option for cost-effective economic development, generate millions of dollars per year in places like ; ; and . Even existing tourism hot spots are looking to draw in younger crowds by expanding their adventure offerings. In 2014, identified not only mountain biking but also horseback riding as potential growth industries, due to the region鈥檚 year-round riding season and undeveloped open space.

Perhaps more important for towns like , embracing adventure recreation has paid off in areas besides the bottom line. While the 25 miles of trails that opened in 2011 just outside this former mining center in the state鈥檚 Iron Range draw nearly 30,000 cyclists and add close to $2 million to the local economy each year, one of the biggest benefits was the change in lifestyle. On the mountain bikers鈥 heels came a slew of new bars, caf茅s, and a wood-fired pizza joint.

鈥淭he area鈥檚 major employer is a hospital, and they are loving it,鈥 says Minnesotan Aaron Hautala, former president of , which maintains the trails. 鈥淭here are all these new businesses that recruiters can show the doctors. With the best downtown, restaurants, and outdoor recreation, at some point it will be pretty hard not to move here.鈥 And the town is planning to expand its adventure offerings. 鈥淏iking is just one anchor tenant,鈥 Hautala says. 鈥淲ith the nearby lakes, we feel like kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding could be others. The diversity will lead to sustainability.鈥

Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico (Jen Judge)

Meanwhile, Bentonville is expanding beyond adventure attractions. There are breweries, farm-to-table bistros, a boutique hotel, and a world-class American-art museum right off the town square. But mountain biking remains at the heart of the revival. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be the major differentiator, the thing that makes northwest Arkansas a compelling place to visit and even relocate to,鈥 says Quirk. 鈥淵ou can ride 360 days a year here. If you are deeply in love with mountain biking, that鈥檚 a really big deal.鈥

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