Welcoming 9onF to 2nd Saturday Art Walk and Conferencing with the Mayor

Hey there Midtowners, Downtowners, and other Gridsters,

This 2nd Saturday launch of 9onF at 15th and F Streets was a total success. Kicked off with a press conference with Mayor Heather Fargo, developer, Jeremy Drucker, architect, Ron Vrilakas, and ECOS Executive Director, Graham Brownstein, Sacramento entered a new phase of inquiry as to what defines a green city and what it means to achieve sustainability through the lens of Green the Grid.

What is Green the Grid? Well, the Mayor is seen holding up a Walk the Grid t-shirt from midtowngrid.com and the question remains an open process to stimulating a conversation about what you and I can do to be green in our day-to-day.   As announced at the outset of our urban forrest and eco-building and business tour later in the day, we should expect that the answers to questions now will only lead us to better and better questions to examine our lives.

Tours of the 9onF units precede the walk and one is driven by the distintiveness of each space with sustainable wood floors and open windows on these carbon and energy neutral townhouses in the heart of our mixed use city amidst our urban forrest.   At least one unit is sold on this first day at market with another eco-activist considering the proposition.  

At least 28 people accompany us on our first ECOS-driven Green the Grid walking tour.     Led by local landscape architect, Edmonds Chandler of Loft Gardens and HLA Commercial Architecture, Brian Fischer of midtowngrid.com, Graham Brownstein of ECOS, and several staffers from the Tree Foundation, our group aims toward 5 discussion points starting and ending at 9onF.

Many buildings and businesses were discussed as shades of green and how green building intersects with an additional set of values and questions about how to drive our local economy and encourage adoption of new habits. 

It isn't easy for anyone to change a habit.  The idea is to build up a pragmatic idea like commuting to work on your bike.  How do you get there?  It might begin with a campaign to "Tune Up Your Body and Your Bike" in April so that you can ride that bike to work in May during international Bike Commute Month and as a city year over year, we can measure the impact of the miles traveled.   Some of the people who start riding in May might not stop because they find it easy, fun, and healthy as an activity.   

The walks are meditative and not fixed by any means as the city and the region continues to evolve.  If you have intimate knowledge about the local landscape and wish to lead an Eco-Walking Tour, we have room for your voice to help us Green the Grid.   Just send us your idea and we'll help you develop it with ECOS and the Tree Foundation.

We hope that you had a chance to explore 2nd Saturday galleries and shops as a whole.   It was a tremendous crowd as we head into the warmer spring months with thousands of people combing the streets.  

Rolling into the streets, our Sacred City Roller Derby Girls, the Blue District founders, Old Valley Midtown Home and Mortgage, and the rest of the street team aimed wide and worked the crowd to let people know about the new site and over $1,000 in prizes to small businesses that we have to give away for new registrants.

Let us know what you discovered out there and Express Yourself in blogs and reviews of any show or restaurants you went to over the weekend.

The Grid Guru