Monthly Archives: January 2012

Greensboro, Issues and Ideas

Five Ways to Kill the Inferiority Complex in Community Building

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Loser

I think a major layer of community building is the inferiority complex. I’m seeing it again as we are preparing to welcome Trader Joes into our community. We spend too much time thinking we need to spend money on expensive stadiums and art centers to be more urbane. If we are over that demon, we bemoan not having an H&M, Shake Shack, Trader Joes or whatever chain store, restaurant or “hot new establishment” that likes to over-hype themselves and make us think we are less than as a city without them.

I like to break down the battle within our civic psyches as the recognition of the setting and the unknown lights. I define the setting as the physical, cultural and emotional space of our cities, that other people compare and judge. It’s what already exists, but we see as being mundane or even demeaning. The unknown lights can also be mundane for some, but they are more positive activities. They are also activities that would be celebrated, if they were in a different form or from a different place.

For my hometown of Greensboro, the setting is:
-A mid sized city (270,000) in the traditional United States South (North Carolina)
-Economic devastation, brought on by the loss of textile manufacturing, something that established Greensboro as a worldwide leader.
-Racial polarization, from key incidents in 1960, 1979 and as city residents have lost jobs and look for explanations
-A shifting center of wealth to the northwest quadrant and outside of the city limits into townships that now serve as bedroom community suburbs.
-A lack of vision for many poor and middle class inner-city neighborhoods, including residential downtown
-An airport that is only a connector and not a hub

And our unknown lights are:
-A school system that is graduating 83% of its students and 100% of those that attend its alternative schools, which are run much like magnet schools in other districts.
-A very vibrant and equal local food market. Co-ops, farmers markets, community gardens and gourmet grocery continues to grow. Communities are mobilizing to provide links to fresh food and necessities.
-A vibrant arts community, with city funded arts classes, an award-winning regional theater company, a unique museum project funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation,neighborhood street festivals and independent handmade markets
-Low-cost downtown living
-Highway connections to larger cities and the entire nation
-Halfway(3 hours each way) to the beach and to the mountains

While some of the setting and the unknown lights are subjective, they are often based on objective notions of how cities run or people think they should be run and built. Killing this complex will help us all appreciate the homegrown elements of community and urbanism we already have. We also may save time and money by not running out to build just to be politically correct or keep up with the Jones’.

So I leave you with your weapons to destroy your city’s inferiority complex.

-Identify your setting and your unknown lights
-Take one part of the setting, gather a group and work on fixing it
-Take one unknown light and work on making it known
-Stop over-comparing your community to the point of disrepair and accidental destruction
-Be creative and repeat the other steps often to fix problems and encourage your community.

What is your setting? What are your unknown lights? What will it take to get rid of the inferiority complex in your city?

Image credit: Flickr user Gary Junglingunder a
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) license

Uncategorized

Four Ways to Bring Income Back to All of Greensboro

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Downtown Greensboro

The news picked up on the latest Pew Research Center study stating how income inequality has increased tensions here in America.Nowhere has this inequality grown greater than in my hometown of Greensboro. Yes Weekly has a great spread on how our poverty zone has extended far beyond it’s original barriers and how old money neighborhoods have gotten richer. It also talks about  how the loss of textile, tobacco and furniture jobs have killed our middle class, much like in Detroit where automakers have cut back.

With a neighborhood getting rejected for grocery again (thankfully these guys aren’t leaving), it leaves me to wonder what will it take to get our community back. Here are are four things I think we need:

Continue Building Our Public School System and Universities– We are graduating more students our of our public school system than ever before, thanks to a push to diversify education opportunities and drive students to subjects that interest them and provide job opportunities. The Gateway University Research Park will also provide opportunities for undergraduate and graduate level students. Yet, just making sure we look to our own universities first before we go outside to find labor is also needed. We should also be willing to train and not afraid of losing a competitive advantage.

Encourage Quirky Businesses Downtown and Wherever Else They Fit– Our downtown is growing, not from the chain stores that still will not locate there, but from people who have built successful online and co-businesses. However, if the community keeps looking down at these businesses or if people from outside still think we don’t have quirk and hipness in our business climate, they will stay away.

Flesh out the 2025 Comprehensive Plan– The YES article cites the need for East Greensboro to get proper infrastructure, which is identified as a priority area in this plan. We still have a AAA bond rating. Forget the folks who hate borrowing. Water and sewer will pay our bills if it’s for the right kinds of projects.

Start and Stay Small With Our Businesses and Organizations– I think everyone’s looking for someone big to fill our holes, whether it’s the big grocery chain, a big manufacturing plant or a big tech company. Yet, these big companies have large profit margins that require them to go where major markets are, not where they need to be. If we continue to work on bringing farmers markets, small tech firms and other enterprises that are small on purpose, but numerous, then we will have more legal options and more well paying options for people to work. I love this business venture, Fork in the Road, which uses temporary farmers markets, food trucks neighborhoods and meal planning classes to help communities eat better. Also, residents have the opportunity to operate their own food truck and take a cut of the profits. Theft and overhead costs are reduced by not trying to maintain major storefronts.

There are many more solutions, but there are in fact solutions to many of our community problems. While there will still be challenges, we have hit the bottom. We have no where else to go but up.

Image Credit: Mark Millerunder a
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) License

Issues and Ideas, Raleigh

Raleigh: The City as an Oak Tree

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Shimmer Wall

I spent my New Years weekend in my adopted hometown of Raleigh. I watched as they dropped an acorn to ring in the New Year, a nod to the city’s designation of the “City of Oaks”. I hung around for a couple of extra days as well to chill out. As part of my vacation, I was banned from using my computer or tablet and ordered to go window-shop and relax.While on that 24 hour sabbatical from my most trusted device, I begin to think about how Raleigh itself has the planning structure of a tree.

Downtown literally is at the bottom of the city, forming the roots. Then, the universities and the older suburbs inside of the beltline(I-440) make up the trunk of the tree. All of the suburban roads that start at the beltline (Glenwood Ave. Extension(US 70), Wake Forest, Six Forks, Capital, Falls of Neuse, New Bern, etc.) make up the branches.  Occasionally, you have a Milbrook or a Lynn Rd as cross branches and the branches are sort of framed between the beltlines(I-540 is the outer beltline).

With this pattern in mind, other parts of Raleigh’s sprawl come into play. Each branch has a lot of flowers(flowers being grocery, service retail, schools, churches and occasionally a mall). Branches also have many, many leaves (residential space). Yet, just like a real tree, some branches connect, but others never will meet. Branches will fall, but they return to life. I think of both downtown and North Hills as examples. 12-13 years ago, both were almost dead, now they are the center of a new energy. The universities and their innovations, as well as the laws made at the General Assembly water the roots and seeds that fall from the branches fuel nearby areas (RTP, Cary, Durham).

What do you think? What implications does this idea have on planning for the future in Raleigh? Does this bring some sense into the chaos that Raleigh seems to be sometimes?

Photo Above of the Shimmer Wall of the Raleigh Convention Center. Credit: Flickr user JeffreylCohen via a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.

Greensboro, Issues and Ideas, Wishes

My Four Wishes for the Urban Fabric, 2012 Edition

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Stars!!!

Last year, I wrote a list of wishes for 2011. Looking back, a number of those wishes have come true. The Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship, a beloved start-up incubator, is set to get remodeled and become bigger and better.We have the promise of HondaJet expanding in Greensboro. I witnessed the Greensboro City Council get better from the front lines.  Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods are set to arrive. More apartments are getting built downtown. My car is paid off.

With some of my wishes fulfilled, now I look ahead to my 2012 wishes for the urban fabric. These wishes are a bit more personal, as I see myself as having a greater responsibility for advocating for an urban future.

Walking and Biking More (Even When It’s Cold and Rainy)

I got better about walking last year. When I am downtown, I make it a point to only park once. I attempted to purchase a bike, but it was just the wrong time and the wrong price to do so. This year, I’m just going to walk. I may live in a suburban area, but it will not stop me from walking the quiet streets. I’ll park farther from the door of my office. I’ll use airport shuttles and public transport when I visit places that have great systems. And I’ll keep calling for places that don’t to get their act together.

Becoming More Integrated Into the Better Places Movement (Formerly known as New Urbanism, Smart Growth, Third Spaces, Sustainable Communities and Community Development)

I was happy to see that the New Urban Network has become the Better!Cities and Towns site. If you are reading this on the site, you’ll notice I changed my tagline. If not, the tagline is now “A young black woman’s attempt to create real community.”  I also am working to broaden my own voice. Last year it was great to ride the novelty of being the Black Urbanist, however, this year I am working to add even more meat and raise awareness of more community issues. Accessibility and shared community need to be something all income levels enjoy. While people love having larger homes, they also like having options to walk to corner stores with fresh fruit and safe places to gather that aren’t geared to commercialism or privatized to the point of no entry. That’s my crusade for this year and I will be taking it to a number of venues, to be announced,  as we continue into 2012. Also, enough with all the different labels. Community is community and we all know what it looks like when done right.

Reducing My Dependence on Chain Retail

This one is hard. I am a mall rat. Also, if I fail to support my local mall, we will lose some of the good remaining retail near my home. However, I realize more and more that the possessions I have do not matter as much as the people I have and that I share said possessions with. I think that I can make the most of being in a suburban area, by reducing my car trips to shopping areas and taking up more DIY projects. Also, when I can, I want to carpool. My belly will love it when I stop going to Bojangles as much and I’ll begin to use the things I already have more and save for travel.

Becoming More Competitive In a Glocal Market

Yes, I used the word Glocal. I am hoping to become location-independent in the next few years. This way, I could pick areas that are walkable/bikeable, but reasonably priced. Many bastions of walkability area are  too affluent and pricey for the space provided. However, a nice small town with a lot of downtown stock (Sanford, NC and many New England towns come to mind), would be perfect. I could even set up a more permanent shop such as a coffee shop or fruit stand if I wanted, because I have an income stream that allows me to contribute to an area that needs it.  I am still open to being somewhere large and already vibrant, but without commuting expenses. I would like to start a family. Unfortunately, there is a great fight for urbanist and family friendly areas that are affordable. I want to set roots so that I can help ease that transition for myself and others.

My 2012 wishes are so big,  some will not come true in 2012. My goal is that I plant the seeds for all four of these activities and then watch them grow in the coming years. I was inspired by meeting so many different people in 2011 who have different approaches to placemaking. I feel like we all have a responsibility to let people know how we can all live better and to find incremental ways to repair the sprawl in our own lives. And that, is a major wish granted.

Photo credit above Flickr user: karusimionato under a CC BY-NC 2.0 licence