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| FACTORY ON THE ROAD |
FARM HOUSING - FABRICASA
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| MOBILE FACTORY |
Years go by while everyone talks about what to do about hoUsing
farm workers. It's been about 25 yeas
since I designed a portable manufacturing plant for farm housing for the State
of California and noticed that it was immediately shelved as soon as we
finished the project. The concept was that a minimum of 25 units would be
produced whenever the plant was set up. These would all be of the same design
and size, some for small families, and some for dormitories for men and
women. It would seem that these units
would be financed by the Growers. I don't think anyone went any further into
just how they would actually be financed, as no grower would be able to handle
such a large amount . Also, each grower might only need two or three units for
his operation. The big problem is the seasonal workers, who come in to harvest the grapes for a few weeks.
What do you do with these units for the rest of the year? Naturally there is a
need for a few family units as the foremen and a few all year round workers
need a place to stay. Now they could rent these for a reduced rate that would
be commensurate with their income.
I won the contract to
design the factory due to my previous experience of designing about three
modular manufacturing plants in California, the initial one being with Ford
Motor Co., being involved with them during their brief sojourn into
manufactured housing. My mobile plant took inspiration from observing circus
workers cleverly packing of their various rides on truck trailers. My plant was
based on about four trailers that unfolded into the various aspects of the
plant line, jigs and such. Everything was set up in a large tent (Big Top!) and
various components and materials would feed into the main assembly line from
the sides. These would be sourced from local suppliers and tradesmen. When operational, output would easily be one
finished unit per day.
LOVE LOCKS
Built in 1804, this most beautiful bridge of Paris has fallen
into the deadly hands of Lovers’ Cadenas d’amour
(locks of love). It all began by some
idiot American tourist who was so removed from love, she clamped a lock to the
baluster in order to keep her super idiot boyfriend happy. The mob still riles.
Note the proliferation of "Love Locks”
in various spots of Paris. But probably will infect the entire world. The
human cattle & sheep swarmed over it until the
Behavior of Stupidity loaded the bridge with so many locks that
it was in danger of collapsing. Do the math. There were 800 locks per lineal
meter, adding about 300 kilos per meter or 205,207 pounds total to the bridge.
It was designed for pedestrians (Artists & lovers). Now the Paris
authorities are having to remove them all which is no easy task, they will
probably have to install new guardrails (Make them spiked, with razor wire if
you asked me!). Last time I visited the supposed site in Verona of Romeoa and
Juliets’ balcony, it too, was clothed in steel locks.
MINI-HOUSING
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| MY MINI HOUSING IN COTATI, 1975 |
the media is making noise again about how the mini house will
save the day and eliminate the homeless folks. They even went so far as to show
a rendering of several such tiny house on a large lot on a nice flat area.
Someone doesn't understand the process of any kind of housing as the site cost
and lot can be even more than the cost of the little house. Think about it, a tiny house for one person
will pay the same amount for the sewer hook-ups and rates as a large family in
a large house. The same thing goes for the rest of the utilities to a lesser
degree (Power, Water, Gas, Cable, etc). Someone better add in the costs of the
streets, storm drains, sidewalks, etc. as you don't think the authorities will
be able to just put in dirt roads do you?
Maybe we should approach the problem from a different direction,
like from the earning capacity of an individual. Lets see how far $15 an hour gets us. 15x 10
hrs = $150 a day x 6 days = $900 A WEEK X 4 weeks=$3600 12 months=
$43,200 A YEAR. That would be OK if no
taxes were taken out & no Health But then, you won’t be able
to deduct anything from ins. and Day Care
was free. Consider 1/3rd of that for
rent = $14000/12/3= $1200/mo. for rent
is possible.
So what is the official poverty level these4 days? Last time I looked,
it was about $10,000 a year, and that seemed fair to me.
But if both parents work, that puts them in a category where they
have to have deductions taken out of both earners as they would be out of the
Poverty Level Syndrome. . Can the State or Feds pay for operating Day Care
centers in order to allow the parents to work?
What is the threshold where a person is called “Poverty”
and doesn’t pay deductions? Is it against the law to allow our kids to
work , like mow your lawn?
. However, $40,000 is what I gross as an Architect, after four
years of college plus four years of apprenticeship plus a zillion years of
expertise in the field. I’ve noticed that the Mexican laborers
here in Graton are getting $15 an hour, so that means all other wage earners
will have to get an additional $5 on top of their earnings. I know Day Care
sounds like a Socialist scheme but lets’ face it, we are there already. The
Federal & State l Government owns 80% of the West and is still buying up
land for parks and such. If we had a Day Care
the kids parents could work and actually pay enough for rent.
