I think that the "empty big box store" part of idea is terrible for a number of reasons. One would be infrastructure problems in old or even newer dissimilar buildings. A fast-food restuarant or even a large retail store doesn't buy and raze the lot next door to put up a newer building just because they need more space - there are functional flaws in the older building design even though it was purpose built for that business at one time. It would be prohibitively expensive to repurpose these buildings (or it would have been done $$$.) Another reason would be zoning laws and concerns. For example - if I owned a furniture retail store next to a large grocery store that shut down I doubt that I would be much more upset over a livestock auction moving in next door than over a lettuce factory because I would want the traffic from a compatible business or barring that traffic at all. It would have been great if the article was about q business succeding because of their beliefs against long odds because local consumers wanted their product (this can be done). What I read the article as was that a government supported group in Vancouver *CANADA* (because IMO the writer wants to confuse Vancouver BC with Vancouver WA) has a "system" that they think has potential and then all of a sudden the article shifted with no transition to the *US* where it appears that not a leaf of lettuce has been grown. The phrases "might yield", "should finish" and "plans to grow" should send "investors" running, Well meaning people and government at different levels can do a lot of damage to progress by favoring one idea (or person) over another. Many should step aside and let things take their course. There seems to have been quite a bit of *REAL* success in CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and farmer's markets recently.

I have had good results with cuttings from lemon, about 2 months ago i cut back branches on one of my trees, took all the bits and tryed to root them, 90+% of the lemon cuttings are growing, i have also tried mandarin and calamondin since, none rooted I used a small plastic frame they sell as a greenhouse..., shelves with a plastic bag over it in reality, it was in the house in a bay window for the sun to heat the air, a piece of tissue paper to shield the sun from the plants The cuttings were all about a foot tall, i just cut the bottom off each just below a leaf node, left all the leaves on,i dabbed rooting gel on the end and pushed it into a pot of perlite, watered it, then left it in the greenhouse (tent shelf) it was at 25 deg C for about a month , i sprayed the leaves everyday to keep them wet, after a month i looked and they had rooted 2 inch around and new growth was starting Out of 30 about 28 rooted from the lemon, none from the mandarin or calamondin The cuttings i used were fairly new growth, it was green color but hard, not brand new soft growth

Best time Summer thru Autumn. Take a tip cutting 2-3 inchec long, remove all but tip leaf. apply 0.1% IBA (Rooting hormone) stick in well drained soil & mist taking 25-50 days to root. There are many books with pictures on grafting techniques at any public library that would be the best way to teach yourself.

Chazas, we are in Mt. Pleasant, and yes it is a historic district. Besides the city, plans have to be submitted to two historical groups (the city's and the neighborhood's). Our architect has warned us to expect the permitting process to take two to three months. She has done a lot of work in the city, including our neighborhood, so hopefully the process will go smoothly! We're trying to minimize problems by not touching the front of the house at all (the non-historic dormer windows were added when the front of the attic was bumped out during a previous renovation; it would never be allowed now but we are REALLY hoping it won't be an issue as it was done before this became a historic district). Parking is not nearly as bad in our neighborhood as in Dupont or Adams Morgan (we lived in both neighborhood before buying this house) and there is non-permit parking available just down the street. We also have a garage, although that may have to be used for delivery, storage, debris removal, work space, etc. The project is extensive enough that we have pretty much decided to move out of the house. MANY people have recommended it and fortunately we have a basement apartment that will be minimally affected (downside is that we will have to ask a good tenant to move out!). Our hope is that this will help minimize both the cost and duration of construction. BTW here are photos of the house, first the front from two different angles: And a view of the back: The above photo shows (barely) the raised area in front over the attic where the bedroom will go, and the long flat roof where the deck will go. The photo is a bit deceptive as the house is much longer than you can tell from the photo (20' wide and about 50' long). Finally, a view of the back yard from one of our second floor windows; we were fortunate to find a house with a deep (if narrow and sloping) back yard AND a garage. This will be the view from the new rooftop deck, which we had talked about adding even before considering doing all this other work: