This has been my personal blog since 2001. This page contains a guide to some of my favorite posts and offline records. A search engine and categorical index is available on the sidebar to the right.
Favorite Posts
- Rosslyn Redevelopment: 2008 REIDO Case Competition Winning Plan
- So You’re Interested in Becoming a Planner
- Planning a Fake City
- What’s Needed: Community Vacant Property Database
- Triangle Parks
- Parking Reform
- Bridges of Rock Creek Park
- Manhole Covers (2)
- Liquor License Politics
- Section 8 Housing
- Historic Districts and Gentrification
- Martin Luther King Memorial Library History
- Does Washington Need a Planning Commission?
- Measuring Regional Transit Oriented Development
- Metro’s Fares Analyzed
- Metro Fares in Context
- Underperforming Stations
- Defending the Capital During the Civil War
- Understanding the 1960s ‘Civil Disorders’
- Remembering 1968
- Was Harry Hopkins a Soviet Spy?
- Calling in the Feds
Other Favorites
- South Africa Posts
- Researching My House’s History
- Detroit Aerotropolis
- How Do You Create a Popular Blog? (Posts vs. Quality)
- E-Democracy and Online Civic Infrastructure
Older Information
A variety of electronic records are available to the public at this domain that are not available through the blog search engine and archives. Below are a collection of links to help identify older content. If you’re looking for anything on the site, I suggest starting with a Google search of my domain.
Due to a technical glitch experienced by my hosting company, the posts on this blog from the past year are not easily accessible. However, most of the content was preserved by Google’s Cache. Here’s a topical index to my posts from September 2004 through July 2005: Last Working Index (July 4, 2005), Affirmative Action, Ann Arbor, Art, BAM-N, Blogosphere, Books, Elections, Glover Park, History, Justice, Maine, Michigamua, Michigan, New York City, Photos, Politics, Portland Photo Project, Site Announcements, Stencil Art, Student Government, Technology, University of Michigan, Washington D.C..
In July and August 2004 I wrote a D.C. blog to prepare for DCist: Goodspeed Update 2.0 Older archive pages: May 2004, April 2004, March 2004, February 2004, January 2004, December 2003, November 2003, October 2003, September 2003, August 2003, July 2003, June 2003, May 2003, April 2003, March 2003, February 2003 (Feb. 18-22), January 2003, December 2002, November 2002, October 2002, September 2002, August 2002, July 2002, June 2002, May 2002, April 2002, March 2002, February 2002, January 2002, December 2001, November 2001, Sept.-Oct 2001
Indexes: Saying Farewell to Ann Arbor (June 5, 2004), July 16, 2005 Index (Before 6/05 site problems/relaunch), The colors of goodspeedupdate. See this page On Archive.org
Offline Information
In February 2005 I deposited many of my papers I accumulated during my four and a half years living in Ann Arbor to the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. The papers have been processed and are available to the public at that library. Click here to view the collection’s catalog entry: Robert Goodspeed Papers, 2000-2004. Also, the library has provided me this copy of the finding aid they prepared by the library: Robert Goodspeed Papers Library Finding Aid. (PDF)
Why the Bentley? First, I wanted this information preserved in a public yet secure location. Most of its salient information is already replicated on this website, and I believed the library will follow my wishes and make the information public. Second, as the University’s official archive their funding and future seems assured for the foreseeable future.
The collection, includes the following things:
- My Course Outline and Coursepack: I have included both the initial and then supplementary coursepack for a 1-credit honors mini-course I taught Winter 2004 titled “Student Activism and Social Change at the University of Michigan”. Some of the readings are from reports and books I found in the U-M libraries, some from the Michigan Daily, and some from books in my personal collection.
- Research for Investigative Journalism Work: Including eye-opening FOIAs about the re-structuring of the Organizational Studies major, University-coordinated activities with local law enforcement officials to crack down on the Naked Mile when it was decided the tradition should be abolished, police reports from on-campus incidents involving varsity football players in the late 1990s, names of members of the secret juries that heard appeals under the University’s Code of Student Conduct, a study commissioned by University Housing regarding the future of the University-operated snack bars, and more.
- Information about Vulcan and Michigamua: Membership information for both groups including a copy of a 2004 Vulcan publication with a member directory, and a copy of a Michigamua directory from 1997. Also included is a variety of materials accumulated about Michigamua including internal email correspondence I obtained as a reporter for the Michigan Daily, lists of members sent to me by anonymous sources, and miscellaneous other documents.
- My Thesis and Supplementary Documentation: I have included a copy of my thesis, titled Urban Renewal in Postwar Detroit: The Gratiot Area Redevelopment Project. I also include a binder of articles and other materials culled from old copies of the Michigan Chronicle and other sources in the U-M and Detroit Public Library on urban “renewal” in Detroit in the 1940s and 1950s.
- A Large Collection of BAM-N Propaganda: I have long been fascinated by the organization the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary and the cadre of Trotkite organizers who operate it. I have compiled an archive of information about them on the website NOBAMN.com, and my papers include many of that information as well as a large collection of the organization’s publications and flyers.
- “Inside the Daily”: I have included a printed version of my Inside the Daily series.