The Central Park Conservancy, a private charity formed by philanthropists and activists in 1980 to address deplorable conditions in the park, has been an unbelievable success.
Once a park in disrepair with lawns that were more aptly referred to as dustbowls, Central Park has resumed its rightful place as a major attraction in New York City—thanks primarily to the $430 million in private money that has poured into the park over the last three decades, supplementing (and dwarfing) $120 million in government funds.
In the Suki series, the parks of the future are private, clean and safe. Most of the locations are in the Crystal City section of Arlington County, Virginia, USA, where the nicest parks are private today.
In the libertarian world of 2030s Virginia in general and Crystal City in specific, private parks are the norm. They are open to the public 24/7, clean and safe. Public parks are where one goes to have trouble find them. Below are some of the privately owned parks as they look in the 2010s.
12th Street Park:
In the 2030s, this is the only private park in Crystal City that is not considered safe. The developer on the south side tries to keep it guarded, but the developer on the north side continues to make it accessible, rather than providing recreation space on the north end.
Outdoor sales of what was considered contraband and vice in earlier decades is rampant, but just a lure for thieves.
I spent a bit of the weekend taking pictures of AnimeUSA.Org con attendees and posted them on the SukiProject blog. Keyword AnimeUSA. The care taken in making these costumes is amazing.
In Suki With A Twist: Part One, I describe a concept for parking garage traffic control. A quite simple system, actually. John is returning one of Suki's cars, a vintage Jaguar, as soon as he enters the underground parking garage he is guided by arrows that illuminate in the floor and on the posts of the garage. Suki's car has a reserved parking space and the system reads the radio-frequency tag (RF Tag) in the license plate of the car. The tag still has a visible number and does not appear any different than a 2010 Virginia license plate.
John uses a different system for his vehicles. The paints he uses on his vintage muscle cars are infused with nano-tags that report corrosion, ruptures in the paint system, leaks, etc.
Today I got a little video of a 2010 parking ticket and the current technology behind that. The video is pretty bad (my fault for being a bad camera operator), but you may be able to see the handheld device the Arlington County Parking Officer uses to record information and issue the ticket to a silver Mercedes convertible, VA tag XJL-2173:
Part One
The driver arrives and is none too happy, for something he must have known was wrong when he parked there.
There are several competing views on the government charging for parking on the street. In my opinion, that street was already paid for and people in the area pay for its maintenance through various other taxes. This is especially true in Arlington County, VA, where the streets are paid for through fuel taxes and an annual vehicle tax. One problem that arises with free street parking is employees of the local businesses take those spots before patrons can get park there ans spend money. A counter to that is, the neighborhood has plenty of underground parking, at reasonable rates during the week, free on weekends and evenings. For my books, I think I will stick with plenty of "free" parking in the area.
In Suki I, John parks one of his muscle cars across the street from Suki's apartment over night.
A new event in the 2000s and '10s, Vintage Crystal continues into the 2030s of Suki and John's world.
The Crystal City Business Improvement District (BID) is turning up the heat with the return of the flavor-filled fourth annual Vintage Crystal. The spice is back with more wines, food, music and dancing. Building on last year’s Latin-themed success, Crystal City will once again be serving up tasty tapas, tempting tequila, and a ton of fun.
This is what I call a Libertarian neighborhood party. Everything is on private property and the local businesses provide all of the entertainment. If I mention this in any of the Suki series books, the security will be privately contracted and professional in the 2030s, rather than the arrangement Arlington County is involved in as pictured.
At the Crystal City 2600 Crystal Drive Starbucks I saw a guy reading Suki I just a little while ago. Was interesting, bordering on thrilling, as I glanced his direction and saw him turn a page with a look of interest on his face. He read it for several minutes. I never anticipated any thoughts or feelings I might have if I saw someone reading one of my books.
The Concord Starbucks, as it is known currently, is the one that inspired #OpBookDrop by Ami Hendrickson, on Twitter. Actually, that man was reading the book that I left that day. It is also a location in Suki I that the couple visits on an early date. The pictures below are recent at that location.
In Suki I, a part-time pursuit of John's is tutoring Math and Science to college students. I enjoyed doing that when I was in college and noticed more than a few people in their 30s, 40s, and older who enjoyed tutoring college and high school students. In cinema and books, the writing arts seem to be more frequently represented by older mentors and tutors.
Suki has hired John as an Astronomy tutor, but she is long out of college, with a PhD in Robotics, a Masters in Bionics and an MS in Mathematics.
This passage from a recent Stephen Hawking article captures a bit if the instruction in Suki I, during their first tutoring session. However, the couple sticks with science without launching into religion:
The tale of how the primordial universe of hydrogen, helium and a bit of lithium evolved to a universe harboring at least one world with intelligent life like us is a tale of many chapters. The forces of nature had to be such that heavier elements—especially carbon—could be produced from the primordial elements, and remain stable for at least billions of years. Those heavy elements were formed in the furnaces we call stars, so the forces first had to allow stars and galaxies to form. Those in turn grew from the seeds of tiny inhomogeneities in the early universe.
Suki's apartment appears in most of the books. Located near the intersection of 15th Street South and Crystal Drive, in Crystal City, Arlington, VA 22202.
In Suki With A Twist, everything is store bought of the finest quality available in the 2030s.
Suki and John's first night together is in Suki's apartment, in Suki I. In Suki II: Sunshine Returns, almost everything happens in Suki's apartment from the point John rescues Suki from Sunshine. Much of Suki III: Never Let Us End happens in her apartment too.
Suki's apartment is at this intersection in both series. A previous apartment of John's, from the first series, is near here too.
Suki's apartment faces the river and airport, to the right of the shot. In the Suki With A Twist series, Suki keeps her import sports car collection in the underground parking garage.
In both series, the buildings on the west side of Crystal Drive (left side of shot) are much taller. In Suki With A Twist a covered pedestrian overpass crosses Crystal Drive, connecting the apartment buildings to The Underground.
Mentioned in the first series, occasionally there are protests in Suki's neighborhood by people from Washington, DC and Maryland. In the 2030s, Virginia requires people to be financially liable for damage they cause, especially while driving. When a DC or MD motorist loses their home the usual activists arrive in force to protest the "plantation mentality" of Virginians. These protests resemble this video (shot in DC, 2010, near one of John and Suki's favorite restaurants):
