"Green", "natural", or "organic" dry cleaning; if you live in TriBeCa or have visited an affluent neighborhood recently, you may have noticed this trend. Elizabeth A. Harris looks at the new sign that "your rent is about to rise."
"Dry cleaners in the United States first began to avoid traditional chemicals and embrace words like 'green,' 'natural' and 'organic' about 15 years ago, and they have since blanketed the affluent sections of Manhattan, from the Upper East Side down to TriBeCa," notes Harris. "In recent years, they have crept farther afield, up to Harlem and out to places like Greenpoint and Bushwick in Brooklyn, joining the head-to-tail butchers and the boutique bike shops as an unofficial marker of gentrification in New York."
“'We’ve gone way beyond organic food, and Starbucks is passé,' Mitchell Moss, a professor of urban policy and planning at New York University, said of two prototypical signposts that your rent is about to rise. 'Organic cleaners have become a barometer.'”
"And though a dry cleaner may be more environmentally friendly than his brethren, industry experts say that popular buzzwords like organic' and 'natural' do not tell you anything specific about what is going on your clothes."
“'It’s not coming from the ground,' Alan Spielvogel, the technical director of the National Cleaners Association, said of any alternative solvent that is described as natural. 'It’s a chemical.'”
FULL STORY: Eco-Friendly Dry Cleaners as a Barometer of Gentrification

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

Amtrak Rolls Out New Orleans to Alabama “Mardi Gras” Train
The new service will operate morning and evening departures between Mobile and New Orleans.

The Subversive Car-Free Guide to Trump's Great American Road Trip
Car-free ways to access Chicagoland’s best tourist attractions.

San Antonio and Austin are Fusing Into one Massive Megaregion
The region spanning the two central Texas cities is growing fast, posing challenges for local infrastructure and water supplies.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont