Michael E. Arth

Michael E. Arth
Born	April 27, 1953 (1953-04-27) (age 56) Burtonwood, Lancashire, UK
Nationality	United States (born to American parents on a U.S. Air Force Base)
Field	Painting, Drawing, Printmaking, Animation, Film, Photography, Architecture, Landscape Design, Urban Design, Public Policy Analysis, Community Organizing, Candidate for Florida Governor.

Michael E. Arth is an American artist, home/landscape/urban designer, public policy analyst, advocate for the homeless, futurist, and author. On June 4, 2009 he officially announced a run for Florida Governor on his campaign website, which is at http://www.michaelearth.org.^[1]

Art

Michael E. Arth has worked with a wide range of media; From rock concert posters in the early 1970s, to original prints like etchings, serigraphs, and lithographs, to paintings, and photography. A large format book of his work, Michael E. Arth: Introspective 1972-1982, was published in 1983.^[2] He shifted focus in 1986 to home and urban design. In 2007, in collaboration with filmmaker Blake Wiers, he produced his first feature length documentary.

Building and urban design

Arth designed, built, and landscaped a small number of private residences in Southern California from 1986 to 2000, most notably "Casa de Lila," a seven-story Spanish style villa integrated into a mountain ridge in the Hollywood Hills.^[3][4][5]

In 1999, Arth founded a more pedestrian and ecology-oriented version of New urbanism called New pedestrianism.^[6] His new approach calls for very compact new towns and neighborhoods where tree-shaded, pedestrian and bike lanes are in front of all residences and businesses, with tree-lined automobile streets at the rear. While the pedestrian lane idea is not entirely original (examples of rear loading garages with front sidewalks that replace streets were built in Venice, California, as early as 1910), his fervent emphasis on this as a panacea makes his work distinctive.

Arth asserts that living in what he calls a Pedestrian village, coupled with a compact, mixed-use neighborhood or village center, will ameliorate a wide range of problems related to urban living. Having such a development built near a downtown area or newly-created village center reduces the amount of travel time that would normally be spent in an automobile, thus increasing the physical activity of the homeowner and saving energy. In more densely built new towns or developments, he claims that this new form of housing would greatly reduce the dependency on the automobile and the resulting village-like towns would vastly increase both aesthetics and quality of life. He also promotes the creation of similar pedestrian amenities that can be retrofitted to existing towns. Arth's design and development company, Pedestrian Villages Inc., develops projects that follow the principles of New pedestrianism.^[7]

The Garden District

In 2000, while working on a book and documentary, The Labors of Hercules: Modern Solutions to 12 Herculean Problems,^[8] Arth found a small slum in DeLand, Florida, where he could try out some of his ideas. Subsequently, he purchased 32 dilapidated homes and businesses, which he restored over a seven-year period. Running out the drug dealers and rebuilding the downtown neighborhood won him the support of the community and a number of awards. He changed the name of "Crack Town" to Downtown DeLand's Historic Garden District. Arth enhanced the existing infrastructure by planting trees and by building pedestrian lanes, gardens, courtyards, and bike facilities in the district.^[9]

In 2004, Arth designed and secured local planning approval of a major mixed-use development in the Garden District that exemplifies the major tenets of New Pedestrianism. "The Palm Garden" was to consist of twenty-eight shops and restaurants and a health facility overlooking a sunken tropical garden complete with swimming pools and waterfalls - all on a car free promenade. Fifty-two residences were proposed above the retail space. Across the street, the "Palm Garden Cottages," was to consist of twelve houses facing a pedestrian lane with a garden and community pool house. The garages are located at the rear on an automobile street with the houses overlooking a tree-lined, car-free pedestrian lane in front, according to NP principles.^[10] These new projects were on hold as of 2007^[update] due to a downturn in the Florida economy. ^[11]

Solution to homelessness

In 2007 Arth proposed a controversial national solution for homelessness that would involve building nearly carfree Pedestrian Villages in place of what he terms "the current band-aid approach to the problem."^[12] A prototype, Tiger Bay Village, was proposed for near Daytona Beach, FL. He claims that this would be superior for treating the psychological as well as psychiatric needs of both temporarily and permanently homeless adults, and would cost less than the current approach. It would also provide a lower cost alternative to jail, and provide a half-way station for those getting out of prison. It could also provide a community for those in drug treatment and the non-violent mentally ill who are either incarcerated or living on the street. Work opportunities, including construction and maintenance of the villages, as well as the creation of work force agencies would help make the villages financially and socially viable. ^[13][14][15] In 2009 Arth launched an extensive website that explains the village concept in detail.^[16]

New Urban Cowboy

New Urban Cowboy: Toward a New Pedestrianism, a feature length documentary, was released in April 2008. The film chronicles Arth's rehabilitation of DeLand's Garden District and explains the philosophy behind New Pedestrianism.^[17][18][19]

The Labors of Hercules

The Labors of Hercules: Modern Solutions to 12 Herculean Problems is a two-volume book being published in 2010 that takes the myth of the Labors of Hercules and compares it to 12 modern problems. Including subchapters, there are about 200 issues covered in the books. The second labor, for example, points out that more than two people are born every time one person dies. This is compared to Hercules' battle with the multi-headed Lernian Hydra because every time one of the monster's heads is cut off, two more heads appear from the stump. The last labor is about the future, which Arth compares to the capture of Cerberus, the triple-headed hound of Hades that could see the past, the present, and the future at the same time.

Futurist and Environmentalist

Michael Arth's ideas tend to be practical, environmentalist, and future-oriented, which is also reflected in his Florida Governor campaign's slogan, "bringing the future to Florida." Some of his ideas, not listed above, include:

Self-Driving Vehicles: He writes that the use of shared driverless cars, combined with the increased use of virtual reality for work, travel, and pleasure--could reduce the world's 800,000,000 cars to a tiny fraction of that number within a few decades. Arth believes this should be the aim of public policy for various environmental, safety, and economic reasons.^[20]

UNICE: Arth coined the term UNICE (Universal Network of Intelligent Conscious Entities) in the 1990s to describe a conscious intelligence that he theorizes "might be the result of a new form of intelligent life developed from a hive-like interaction of computers, humans, and future forms of the Internet."^[21]

Eco-Policy Design: Arth has developed an "Eco-Policy Design" to eliminate most human-caused emissions by 2029. The plan is based on a range of economic and environmentally sustainable policies.^[22]

Florida Governor campaign

Arth is running for Florida Governor as a Democrat. He emphasizes the importance of radical transparency and better representation through voting rights reform. He disdains the private campaign financing system which he says elects fundraisers in the place of good leaders and marginalizes the issues. He wants to do away with the winner-take-all voting scheme and replace it with Instant Runoff Voting and Proportional Representation. He calls the War on Drugs "a war on the poor," and points out that Florida's incarceration is 8 times higher than Canada's. He says that Florida prisons are growing faster than any other state because of deinstitutionalization of the mentally disabled, drug prohibition, and minimum sentencing laws. His campaign site has many issues listed with links to successive levels of explanation.^[23]

Michael E. Arth shaking hands with supporter.

On his candidate Facebook^[24] site, and on Twitter,^[25] Arth wrote that a top official in the state Democratic Party had tried to talk him out of running. Arth said that he was told the newspapers and other major media outlets would not write a single word about him because campaigns were about money and not ideas. Arth quoted the official as saying, "If you don't have $3 million you cannot even get started. You will need $1.3 million a week to win it." He wrote that he asked the editors of several newspapers if it was true they would not write a single word about his campaign. The Daytona News-Journal, a major Florida newspaper, answered his question with a front-page news article with four pictures on June 23, 2009. The article was both above and below the fold, plus a second page, and included four photographs.^[26]

Michael E. Arth greeting Floridians in Celebration, FL on July 4, 2009

Immediately after the article appeared, Arth rose from no listing in the polls to 4% in a Mason-Dixon poll asking Democratic voters who they would vote for in the primary. His name recognition among Democrats at this point was 9%. Apparently 45% of the Democrats who recognized his name were already saying they would vote for him.^[27] A column written the next week by Pamela Hasterok in the same newspaper asked "why couldn't a novice with as many good ideas as Arth become governor?"^[28]The same theme was picked up by the Washington Independent in a story titled, "Michael E. Arth, Dark Horse of the Week," which suggested keeping an eye on Arth.^[29]

More media coverage followed, including a front page article about Arth in the West Volusia Beacon. The subtitle to the headline was "Can a Renaissance man with no money be Governor?"^[30] The article mentioned that the Florida Democratic Party leadership was snubbing Arth and, on August 6, 2009, Arth's campaign released a press release and candidate's statement. The release stated that numerous attempts by Arth and his campaign to make contact with the party's leaders had been fruitless and that the leadership was systematically favoring one candidate over the other--more than a year in advance of the primary--even while requiring neutrality on the part of its members.^[31]

"Bikin' Mike"

In late November 2009, the Orlando Sentinel reported that Arth would be taking his grassroots campaign on the road, and touring the state by electric bicycle beginning in March 2010. This is a nod to former Florida governor, Lawton Chiles, who walked the state of Florida in 1970 in successful pursuit of a U.S. Senate Seat. It is also a nod to Arth's interest in solar energy, electric-powered vehicles, and his New Pedestrianism movement. Regarding this trip, from Key West to Pensacola, he said, "There are always creative ways to get around the power elite, for justice and democracy to persist."^[32]

Arth's campaign for electoral reform

Arth praised the Democratic Executive Committees (DECs) and rank and file members, with whom he met and gave talks to, but confronted the leadership of the Florida Democratic Party (FDP) over their endorsement of a rival candidate. He wrote in a statement that accompanied a press release:

"This attempt by a few members of the FDP to choose the candidate for the rest of the party is also done by the Florida Republican Party and others. One almost expects this sort of behavior in the Republican Party, but it is especially painful to see it in my own party. The term “Democratic Party” should not be an oxymoron. There must be electoral reform both within and outside the party. Combined with a winner-take-all system that narrows voters’ choices by marginalizing third party challengers, a tiny cadre of officials within the two parties further narrows that choice by often anointing candidates in statewide elections. This is only a small part of what is wrong with our electoral system. We should reform our electoral system by requiring party neutrality until the primary, while also instituting minimal public campaign financing, instant runoff voting, direct voting, and proportional representation. This would bring dignity to politics, stop the vote-buying, help keep good people honest, eliminate spoilers and vote strategizing, make gerrymanders extinct, and bring out the best candidates. Voters often complain about not being properly represented, but they usually do not blame the real culprit—our electoral system. Instead they tend to blame the politicians who they see as venal, superficial, power-hungry, mendacious, and preoccupied with non-stop fundraising. Only by reforming the electoral system can we get the leaders we both need and deserve."^[33]

At least a few other Democrats agreed. An anonymous DEC chair was quoted as saying, "The primary should be an election, not a coronation." A Democrat from Gainesville, Luis Cuevas, with Progressive Push (a Political Action Committee) said, “It’s like the old Soviet Union. The party leaders choose the candidates and you get to vote for the people they chose.”^[34] Hilliary A. Martin, a Democratic official in Volusia County, wrote:

"The Florida Democratic Party bylaws tell me that our Democratic Executive Committee has to remain neutral while a few party leaders select, promote, and fundraise for a candidate who is far less suitable than Mr. Arth. It’s outrageously undemocratic, both for us and for the voters. The party bylaws need to be rewritten so it that it is clear that both the DECs and the FDP stay neutral before the primary. In compensation, Mr. Arth should immediately receive the same number of ads that were already given to the other candidate. Anything less would be a disgrace."^[35]

Pat Hatfield of the West Volusia Beacon, an admitted Democrat, wrote an impassioned opinion piece on the subject titled "This Means War!" She wrote: "DeLand’s own gubernatorial candidate Michael Arth is fighting the good fight to get his party’s nomination. He’s run into the true party system at work.... When you go to the polls, you have a choice between two hand-picked candidates...regardless of party, it's the party cheeses who choose the candidates."^[36]

On August 25, 2009, Michael E. Arth filed a grievance and proposals with the Florida Democratic Party titled "The Democratic Party is not being Democratic." The grievances were about his being "frozen out" of the party and the proposals included suggestions for how the party (and the nation) could become more democratic through electoral reform. The Miami Herald's Naked Politics Blog printed the entire four-page grievance. There were so many attempts to access the site that it shut down several times. There was speculation among those leaving comments that a "denial-of-service" had been launched, but it appears equally likely that the crash occurred because so many people were trying to read and comment.^[37]

Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell wrote a column on September 2, 2009 titled "Politicos are Hacking Away at Our Choices."^[38] Maxwell wrote that party hacks--whom he defined as "those who put personal and party agendas ahead of the public"--from both Republican and Democratic Parties, have forgotten their place.

"Next up, we have the Democrats, who have crowned their chosen candidate for governor—and don't want other Democrats getting in the way. Highlighting the party elitism is Volusia Democrat Michael Arth, an urban designer who made headlines about seven years ago for helping transform a crime-ridden area in downtown DeLand into a trendy neighborhood known as the DeLand Garden District. Arth decided to run for governor—and had this silly idea that the Democratic Party would welcome another Democrat to the race. Boy, was he wrong...."

Debate

Michael E. Arth debating Florida's top leaders

Michael E. Arth invited Florida's top three leaders, the Governor, the Chief Financial Officer, and the Attorney General to an informal debate on August 6, 2009 at a Democratic Club in Deltona, Florida. Charlie Crist, the current governor, is running for Senate in 2010, and the other two, Alex Sink and Bill McCollum are running for the governor's seat. Only Arth showed up, but the "debate" went on anyway. Arth's entourage brought life-size, standup cutouts of the three leaders. Arth said, "Whether they are here or not doesn't matter because they won't debate the serious issues affecting Floridians."^[39]Arth said that the leaders would not discuss the soaring prison population, electoral reform, or how to properly manage growth to prevent a wide range of problems. He also said that politicians will usually only talk about things that people agree about and gave these examples:

"Sink's site has five issues, but it's really the same issue repeated 5 times. She proposes trimming some fat from current programs. Elsewhere, on ads paid for by taxpayers, McCollum has talked about going after sexual predators. Of course we need to go after criminals and trim government waste – these are issues that require no debate. Instead of talking about things everyone agrees on, let's get to the bottom of how these three leaders, the trustees of Florida's nest egg, could lose $61 billion in 18 months, even after more than a dozen critical reports warned them that the Florida State Board of Administration was engaging in questionable investment practices".^[40]

In a written commentary to an article by Aaron Wiener in The Washington Independent titled "Florida Gubernatorial Debate: Three Cardboard Cutouts and One Real Live Arth," Arth wrote:

"Having mute, life-size cutouts of Florida's leaders on stage with me is not a joke. It's a serious commentary on the sad state of our electoral system and the kind of leaders it produces. Not all politicians are bad, but our flawed electoral system tends to select for venality and other undesirable traits. Our leaders avoid the real issues, prevaricate when forced to talk, and spend much of their time raising money from interests highly invested in the status quo....If voting really worked it would be illegal. As George Carlin once said, "I haven't voted since I stopped taking drugs. That was in the late '70s, and the delusional thinking stopped immediately on both fronts." ^[41]

2009 Democratic Conference

According to various press releases and blogs, the Democratic Party Chair Karen L. Thurman personally barred Michael E. Arth from speaking at the 2009 Democratic Conference, reportedly telling him that she wasn't going to let him speak and that she "wanted to concentrate on one candidate." This was despite the primary still being 10 months away. On the first day of the conference, held at the Disney Yacht Club and Resort October 9-11, Arth had an ideally situated table rented from the Florida Democratic Party for $500. When he and his entourage showed up the next day, all of his material had been put in storage by party staffers and his table had been assigned to someone else. His newly assigned table was in a distant and nearly empty room on the opposite side of the convention building from the other candidates. With the help of Disney employees, and under the supervision of documentary film cameras, the table was moved back to near the same location. As soon as the camera was put away, a Democratic Party staffer tried to get Arth to move his table and also tried to prevent Arth and his volunteers from hanging his banner. Again, Disney staff intervened and Arth was allowed to stay and put up his banner. Arth vowed to fight on.^[42][43][44]

See also

• New pedestrianism
• New urbanism
• Labours of Hercules
• DeLand, FL
• Eschatology
• Florida gubernatorial election, 2010
• New Urban Cowboy: Toward a New Pedestrianism
• List of urban theorists
• Homelessness
• Principles of Intelligent Urbanism
• Birth credit
• driverless car

References

External links

• Michael E. Arth's website
• Michael E. Arth Florida Governor 2010 website
• Information about UNICE
• Producer of "New Urban Cowboy"
• New Urban Cowboy site
• Online portal to The Labors of Hercules
• About New Pedestrianism
• Villages for the Homeless website
• Interview: Florida Candidate Michael E. Arth 8-01-09