If you’ve spent any time at Office Nomads since March, or if you’ve kept an eye on our calendar of events,  you’ve probably heard of Imagine Capitol Hill. Not only has Susan been hosting planning meetings for this weekend’s street fair at ON, she’s been one of the major planners of it. The street fair, which organizers hope will inspire participants to imagine what Capitol Hill could be like as a more sustainable community, promises to be a really great time.  I don’t know all the details, but according to the Sustainable Capitol Hill site, it’ll include an outdoor street café with free tea & coffee, sustainable cooking demonstrations and a bike repair clinic (which I desperately need to attend).

But wait, there’s more. Office Nomads will also have a booth there. Susan and Jacob will spend the day extolling the virtues of having a commute-free workspace in the neighborhood. They’ll have couches out for folks who feel the need to take a load off or want to chat with their neighbors (and maybe even get some work done on a Sunday, if they want), displays about the space and, most fun of all, an interactive art project.

The art project will ask folks to put their thinking caps on and imagine (get it?) what they would do with all the time they’d save by not commuting to work by working at a coworking office in their neighborhood. An array of colorful post-its will, I’m sure, have some pretty awesome ideas. We’ll report on the best next week.

So if you’re in the ‘hood, drop by Imagine Capitol Hill this Sunday between 11 am and 4 pm and make sure to say hi to Jacob and Susan!

Last week Susan and I went to BizJam Seattle 2008 and I have to say it was impressive.  We held down the fort at the Office Nomads Networking Lounge for both days of the conference and the people we spoke with were inspiring.  The energy was flying and the connections were priceless.

There were a lot of great workshops and even though we only saw a couple we got to enjoy all the conversations people were having afterwards.  We just sat on our pretty couches and took it all in.  Biznik is an amazing resource for the indie business crowd and we are lucky to have them in our back yard.

It’s not a Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae bailout or anything, but in England, at least one local government body is getting on the coworking train. Why is the Advantage West Midlands regional development agency trying to convince employers in the city of Birmingham to set up “tele-hubs” in the suburbs? They’re trying to cut down on commuting trips as a way of lowering carbon emissions.

Sound familiar? It should, Susan posted recently about the idea of neighborhood coworking centers as a trip-reduction strategy. We’re such leaders here at Office Nomads. Well, according to the blog that brought the Birmingham effort to our attention, Office Nomads is a “good example” of a coworking office!

Anyway, more on the Birmingham idea:

Birmingham commuters will work from shared offices located in the city’s suburbs in the future under plans being drawn up to tackle climate change.

The radical measure will see employers working side by side with staff from other firms at specially equipped out-of-city centre work hubs in a bid to cut down on carbon emissions caused by travel.

Cool huh? Too bad our government has so much to worry about right now, it could be a better way to reduce the price of oil than increasing drilling off our coasts. But then, that’s just me.