by Lee Stranahan
Barack Obama has named Shaun Donovan to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Donovan is a former Clinton aide, New York City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner and a Harvard-educated architect. He's known for affordable housing.
But it didn't take much research to find that he's helped implement sustainable, green affordable housing. I'm kind of an architecture and design geek and so this PDF about the South Bronx Morrisania Homes is neat to me, with it's stats about an 100% Energy Star Appliance rating.
It's always been frustrating seeing the rabbit hutches that were synonymous with 'public housing' for years because it's so obvious that it could be done so much better. So, also in my Donovan research I was glad to see another interest of mine - community gardens - were preserved. Inner-city gardens are f-cking awesome.
HPD worked together with Council Member Helen Foster and neighborhood organizations to preserve a community garden on the designated property, and to relocate two additional gardens to an alternative site.
That's who our President-Elect is putting in place. Architects at HUD. Scientists at the Department of Energy. Hot damn!