concluding remarks
increase the tax on petroleum to the point where it begins to approximate what its actual costs are. In the Clinton administration they were able to pass some86
thing like a five cent per gallon increase. In every other jurisdiction that I’ve seen, including California—although California is a bit of an exception and I think they got closer to twenty cents a gallon—it’s a third rail politically to increase the tax on gasoline. I’ve yet to see the Obama administration make much headway on it, either. If we want to talk about the real issues, if we want to talk about policy and advocacy, I’m with you. But to do so as architects strikes me as the least effective way. You know the Italian theorist Tafuri made a distinction when he argued that we are much more effective actors and agents and advocates as citizens. As long as we occupy a culture in which we’ve collectively not decided to fund the public realm, to expect that architecture as one little sub-discipline, or one little profession, is somehow going to bear the weight of that responsibility… Tim Love The other way to frame that is, ‘What can architects or landscape architects do that an ordinary engaged citizen can’t do? What special skills do we have beyond being good citizens?” Bob Culver There is a real lack of what people in my job believe it is your job to produce—that is visions, ideas, and challenges about the things we’ve been talking about today. It’s not as if you even have to have a coherent single answer, but it’s that there has to be some profession—and I would hope it would be yours—that we could come to and say, “Help me think about this.” Marilyn Taylor I can weigh in on liking the subject of today’s conversation. I like the original structure you gave to it and we did slide away from it a little bit. I’d just like to offer an observation about why it was exciting to me and why it’s on the wrong track.