Kristen Jeffers has always been interested in how cities work. She’s also always loved writing things. She went off to a major state university, got a communication degree and then started a more professional Blogger site. Then, in her graduate seminar on urban politics, along with browsing the urbanist blogosphere, she realized that her ideas should have a stronger, clearer voice, one that reflects her identity as a Black southern woman. And with that The Black Urbanist blog was born. Seven years, one Twitter account, one self-published book, two podcasts and a litany of speeches and urban planning projects later, here we are.
This week I attended with my mayor, several other councilpeople, local foundation leaders and other civic and educational leaders this year’s CEOs for Cities National Meeting in Nashville. That experience took me back to this moment:
This is my first major panel session, at CNU 19 in Madison, Wisconsin in 2014. I organized this group and this session on “cultural” urbanism with my fellow panelists Payton Chung and James Rojas, each to speak on how their ethnicity and their culture, as well as mine, influences how we built things.
The amazing thing about this week’s conference is that I saw a very diverse room, on and off the main program. We saw diverse programs. Some of us saw community services in action, in a community center designed to reflect the primary cultures served. More on that in a future post.
This post is part of my participation in #NaBloPoMo, the time of the year when bloggers come together to pump out daily content and connect. Find out more about that project and how I’m participating, here and here.
So you may have heard that there are more black men in prison than in school. You may also wonder after Tuesday’s post exactly how many young black professionals are we actually marketing to? And while the numbers are small, a significant number of people still have some form of college degree or are familiar with a campus. The numbers below represent the highest level each person has REACHED, not how many of each degree is held by an African-American person. After the jump, we’ll let the numbers stand for themselves.
This is Potatoes and it’s the Wednesday series on The Black Urbanist. It’s when I take Tuesday’s current event and add a stat or a deeper commentary through images. It’s also the holiday season and I’m sure you are either hosting all your family or you are getting ready to be one of those poor souls invading the airports and train stations and roads that the news always talks about on holidays. Take some stress out of your trip by using Expedia to book a good deal on your flight, rental car, hotel or all three. Click here for more information and know that your purchase will support The Black Urbanist and help me keep writing these meaty posts!
This post is part of my participation in #NaBloPoMo, the time of the year when bloggers come together to pump out daily content and connect. Find out more about that project and how I’m participating, here and here.
We’ve all said it, that there’s nothing to do for black folks, certain black folks of a younger and more prosperous persuasion, in our North Carolina cities. Lately, those fears were stroked by this article, by Jarvis Holliday, in this past week’s cover story of Creative Loafing Charlotte.
Dame’s is pretty cool. Is it and “cool places like it” something we black young pros consider “something to do”? Photo by the author.
The article is a long read, but a worthy one. I’ll pull out this section that grabs its essence:
The phrase “young professionals” gets used frequently in the marketing of programs and events in Charlotte’s African-American community. It’s not simply a metric in the way it’s used in corporate lingo, to denote a person, generally between the ages of 21 and 40, who is college-educated and has a salaried position. When blacks use the term, that’s a part of it, but its intention is to further distinguish those young men and women who have “made it.” And that de facto badge of honor also implies that this group behaves a certain way.
Typically, a black professional wants it to be known that he or she defies whatever negative stereotypes other groups may have of African Americans. So within the social scene, you’ll find that they dress well, prefer upscale venues and have a taste for the finer things.
But the black professional social scene in Charlotte is often a source of angst for many within it, who lament the dearth of good or welcoming places to go to, or that the so-called hot spots never last. Newcomers quickly tire of not being able to identify where black professionals socialize after work or party after dark on a consistent basis.
Events that do get traction, for example, are Cufflinks & Cocktails, put on by the Charlotte alumni chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, and Charlotte’s Favorite Happy Hour, organized by prominent local couple Herb and Felicia Gray. Each takes place at posh venues and is well-attended by black professionals, drawing anywhere from 200 to 400 people, but what those events also have in common is that they only take place once a month (usually at rotating venues). In similar fashion, the Signature Saturdays event takes place twice a month at Vapiano, a trendy Italian restaurant and bar, where local party promoter Eddie Towner puts on an entertaining night featuring a live jazz band followed by a hip-hop DJ.
And what those events also have in common is that each essentially represents “black night” at the venues where they’re held. For that particular evening, night or the occasional day party, the African-American promoter has rented the facility and nearly all of the patrons who come out are black. But if one were to return to that same venue the following night or on the equivalent night a week later, they’d likely find few blacks in attendance. It’s a combination of the result of lack of ownership of these venues by African-Americans, and the segregation that’s common in Charlotte regardless of who owns the place.
When I googled Black Social Scene in North Carolina, before I could type the state name, Google’s autofill directed me to the black social scene in Washington, DC. Once I typed in North Carolina, I found this 2009 article from Ebony that highlights things to do in Charlotte, naming it as having:
…one of the most flourishing stylish and chic Black social scenes. Sure, you still have clubs where ladies have to worry whether about being bombarded by a million sweaty, overzealous guys, however, more and more sophisticated, grown and sexy individuals looking for a step up from that vibe, have found it in Charlotte.
Bonus: there’s an article about the Raleigh vs. Charlotte scene written by a white woman writer in 2007 who was then 39, married and with two children. She wrote the blog at the time with a 39-year-old single black woman. I assume that as of the end of that blog in 2009, none of that information has changed.
And one more cherry on top, by 2009, according to the Washington Post, the Washington social scene was completely integrated.
So what does one make of all of this? Do we have a real answer to the question if there are enough things for black young professionals to do? I’m going to attempt my own, recognizing that one, we are not all monolithic and two, I tend to enjoy a lot of things that aren’t necessarily tagged as black cultural activities, as well as plenty of things that are.
First, I believe that we as urban downtowns do a disservice when we don’t have restaurants, bars, and bookstores that regularly have a mix of different genres of music, as well as places where people can go and see each other’s faces and hear each other talking. Granted, all three major NC downtowns are getting better and a few of the smaller ones have nice bookstores. Yet, what makes DC, Chicago and New York different is that it’s not rare or unexpected. A place like Busboys and Poets can be named after Langston Hughes, sell books, sell passable catfish plates, host talks by known revolutionaries, be owned by an Iraqi-American and patronized by Americans of all shapes and sizes. It can even become a chain and a sign of gentrification. Could Dame’s Chicken and Waffles or Mertz’s do that one day? Who knows?
Second, we have to realize that thanks to the Great Migration, there’s still a not lot of black professional growth happening back down South, outside of Atlanta. If you walk places or use public transit, enjoy random, free jazz every night on every corner, make a higher salary and have a sense that you are 100% part of the civic and leadership picture, it’s harder to want to come South to a Southern city that doesn’t have those things. Now I love my home state. I believe that it can be just as vibrant and is as vibrant as some of the bigger places in certain quarters, but there are things, some that are out of our control as young black professionals, that keep us finding that vibrancy in North Carolina.
And finally, sometimes, we have to look for things ourselves. If I hadn’t checked my Gmail for this newsletter, I would not have seen this post that stated Raleigh as worthy of note as a place that appreciates black literature. Of course, the usual suspects are at the top, but somebody is checking for Raleigh when it comes to black literature. Literature is one of the great cultural arts and the Creative Loafing Charlotte article notes that there are several great places of cultural arts in Charlotte. I can vouch for the Triad and Triangle and say I’ve attended a lot of nice, black-oriented cultural events, both with and without a lot of black professionals, white professionals, and heck, a lot of people period. Also, sometimes, going skiing or to the Hoppers Game or being the only black person (at least in that hour) in Target isn’t a bad thing.
Looking forward to your thoughts on this one and look out tomorrow for me to drop some population stats on you, from the Census and their official records of who counts as an educated black young person.
2017 Editors Note: When I wrote this post two years ago, I was participating in #NaBloPoMo, the time of the year when bloggers come together to pump out daily content and connect. You can learn more about that project and how participated, here and here. Also, since this post gets a lot of traffic, I wanted to create something to go along with it, that would help you sort through your angst. If you sign up for my weekly newsletter, you’ll be one the first to receive it and the companion blog post when they come out on February 21st, 2017. You’ll also get job listings, interesting articles, links to future posts and more.
I’m starting this book with the market, as without the market, we would not have urbanism. Churches and homes and farms and schools and even some general stores survive and thrive without being in urban areas. You could always walk the terrain of rural areas, as well as navigate with all forms of human transport that have followed. Yet, there’s really no city without a major marketplace. Without the convergence of mass amounts of people to trade their goods. Over the years, this market has gone back into homes, it’s become enclosed inside big boxes and it’s become less about product and more about people. So where do I really stand on this thing I like to call the market?
Today’s post is the first part of my upcoming e-book: A Black Urbanist-Essays Vol. 1. The e-book will launch on December 1, it’s only $10 and there will be a printed version coming. Find out more about the book here.
Does It Matter Who Owns the Corner Store?
Recently, a friend on Facebook asked this somewhat quintessential question: Why don’t black folks own businesses in their own neighborhoods? One commenter to this status mentioned that it may be because we (as in black folks) have forgotten to help our own as we have achieved higher financial goals and wealth.
I personally believe (and I mentioned this in a comment myself) that black folks went through a period where some of the business types in predominantly black neighborhoods were unwanted and unneeded in their eyes. I’ve even had someone who remembers urban renewal in Greensboro tell me that they willingly tore down the neighborhood businesses in hopes of something better.
However, in many cases, that something better never came. I am also cautious of some modern “revitalizations”, especially when the lots have been sitting empty for several years with no vision and no purpose.
Meanwhile, I applaud those who took up the banner of preserving the history, the commerce, and the tradition of ethnic enclaves, of all cultures. I even applaud those of other cultures who have come in and filled up the vacant spaces, either with businesses and services more geared to their cultures. I especially love if they maintained the original businesses’ quality and culture, and improved the original operations.
When community and culture and affordability are respected, then I don’t think it matters who owns the corner store.
Yet, when businesses on these proverbial corners completely forget their legacy and their obligation for service, then they fail. If a shop owner follows its teenage customers instead of offering jobs, then they have failed. If women are looked upon as strange invasive creatures and vice-versa for males, then they have failed. Yes, we need safe space to be ourselves as men and women, but at the end of the day, there still comes a time for mutual respect. Elders should shop for free. It’s this vision of the corner store or business as a service that owners need to undertake.
Ultimately, I think that this obligation is what makes it hard for people to maintain such businesses over a long haul. These businesses are more than stores, barbers or beauty salons. They are sounding boards, mini town squares, and city halls. If you are not ready to be a de facto mayor or community leader, then you best take your business elsewhere. I believe this is why these businesses fall onto those who either want this charge or those who have no other choice but to run this type of business. I think some black leaders (and I’m sure there are others of other ethnic enclaves who feel the same way) who wanted to run a business that would not become every inch of their lives.
So does it matter who owns the corner store? Absolutely. Yet, it’s not a question of what the owners look like on the outside, it’s a question of what they believe on the inside about their community and their business.
Another store we pined for in Greensboro and it finally arrived in April of 2012.
What if that Corner Store is Walmart? Why Can’t it Be Trader Joes
What really determines who owns the corner store is the inability to take risks. Certain stores, you know, the ones that have cheapish stuff, but a somewhat upscale atmosphere, I believe are only taking advantage of what they think youth or boomers with disposable income or some other magical unicorn person will buy and will buy repeatedly. Unfortunately, magical unicorns tend to not have strong political views or bank accounts that hover around or appear to hover around zero. Stores that don’t take risks don’t like cleaning up old parking lots or making sure even the folks who carry EBT cards have the opportunity to have shiny electronics or even just basic food items.
Walmart, however, goes directly after that market. We talk about the exploitation that they do, but there’s a degree of exploitation in the pretty but cheap store market too. They exploit the emotions of those of us who make just enough to spend at least $50-100 at Target each month, 60% of the cart being non-food items that may or may not be adult toys or pure junk. They make us feel better as a town when they show up promising more Salted Caramel Chocolate cookies for cheap. They allow us to buy more clothes, even though those clothes fall apart at the end of the season.
But back to Walmart.They replaced an empty Borders store on a once vital, recently struggling side of Greensboro and whenever I shop there, it’s packed.They are now going into Quaker Village, the one place many of us Greensboro privately wanted Trader Joes to go, had they been willing to spend the funds to revamp the shopping center like the Walmart. But Walmart is the world’s largest retailer, so if it fails, then it’s no big deal. These other retailers, they aren’t as big as we think. Ask Harris Teeter. Yes, the bigwigs got golden parachutes in their deal with Kroger, but everyone else and the name itself took a small hit. If it weren’t for Kroger understanding the impact of the name on the market, then there’s just one more “luxury” name gone away.
I think the lesson learned here is that sometimes, it doesn’t matter what your name is or what your perception is as a store. At the end of the day, it’s all about the bottom line, customers are just props to be lured in like the Pied Piper, with colorful patterned displays and cheap wine.
Which Gets Us to Amazon
There are benefits to the world domination of Amazon. Big box and traditional department stores either step their game up and stay in business or they count their losses and combine forces at one central location, as the Greensboro Belk will do, by going to Friendly Center. I also would like to note here that at one point, Friendly Center was said to be on the rocks. Now, it’s our shining example of that hybrid of the mall and the main street.
Getting back to that hybrid idea for a moment, although I bemoan Raleigh’s North Hills/Midtown gentrification from a housing standpoint, its efficiency is bar none. All the places I love to shop, save IKEA and the Limited are right on site. The best plain wings in North Carolina are right in-house at the Q Shack. I get my chicken quesadilla fix at Moe’s and yes, I still have a soft spot for Chic-Fil-A chicken nuggets, which is conveniently located next to the movie theater, giving me more options besides popcorn for movies. Harris Teeter is now across the very busy Six Forks Road, but so is the brand new North Hills amphitheater and several other fun spots. The crosswalks are long and safe enough, it’s not so bad.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the suckling power of the Great Bullseye, the crown jewel of this setup. What is it really about the store? The Wikipedia entry gives a great nod to the attention to customer experience. When I come to Target, I’m not prompted in-between sad old songs to buy things. (Although, I will interrupt my Target love fest to say that the IKEA’s choice to play disco era jams during my last visit was also spot on. But more on the big blue box in a minute).
Target’s usually a stop after work when I’m tired and I need time to process my day, as well as pick up a few things. I know that most of those things will be there.
Plus, I get entertained by a few wants and for the most part they don’t fall into my cart. Even with the card security issues, Target offers an actual happy experience over crowded spaces, extremely overpriced, but of similar quality clothing, and just the right foods to stock up my pantry. Once again, they are committed to being a part of city life too, with stores in mixed use developments, traditional malls, East Harlem and its new CityTarget concept in the Chicago Loop.
That other big box of weakness, IKEA, does its part to be urbanist and hip to the Amazon Prime crowd. You can actually see what everything looks like, in a real room setup. Now granted, I’m used to this, having grown up a stones throw from the furniture capital of the world and the year-round, well-dressed, showrooms of furniture of real wood and already-assembled craftsmanship. However, how many stores show you how cool your studio apartment really is? How many stores have kitchen and bathroom and office planning consultants on site? And seriously, how many have pillows made of hearts with arms ready for hugs. Sure, you’ll probably need lots of hugs after you finish putting together all that furniture, but they’ve also made sure you ate well coming in and out of the door.
Like all for-profit companies, including that Amazon, there have been issues with labor, poor products, poor customer service and once again, that many of these stores are always in driving distance. Yet, they do deliver. This, is what makes IKEA and Target, in my opinion, the department stores that will lead the way as we become more digital and return to the traditional main streets from the malls and the box stores.
I know I put this picture into sepia, but the mall isn’t quite dead yet.
Don’t Sleep on the Mall Though
Say the words mall and main street and two very different images come up. I’m going to guess the former image involves neon signs, fountains and Sbarro, while the latter may also include a fountain, but a barber pole and Sheriff Andy Taylor. Well, until recently,when popular acceptance of new urbanist principles created a hybrid of the two in many areas, which is a revival, not a hybrid.
Much of my urbanism is informed by a love for the traditional enclosed mall. And like the love I have for my city, it is a tough love. After all, it depends on whether I really need to buy a bunch of clothes, or a Cinnabon, since that’s all that seems to exist at these structures these days. Once upon a time though, I lived for the weekend trip to The Disney Store and Waldenbooks. I find more comfort these days on “main street”, called Elm Street here in Greensboro. I like that there are multiple types of businesses, fresh air, and a culture of people just coming to hang out and fellowship, not just spend money on objects.
Yet, the truth is that I could probably stick to my budget and do all my ordering of things on Amazon and have a good time at an-all inclusive beach resort. Retail is retail is retail right? As long as there’s a product and an exchange of currency, all forms of shopping are the same right? Why then, should I (and in turn you) be concerned with the keeping of our shopping districts, no matter the form?
First, because for so many communities, even the reviled inclosed mall creates community. Many people have shied away from malls, citing too many_______ people (Fill in the blank however you please). However, for those ______ people, the mall does keep them out of trouble , provide a source of employment, a safe place to walk, and of course clothes and Cinnabons. Also, for small business owners, older enclosed malls and strip centers provide cheap office and storefront space that can help them create a livelihood, and in turn, create opportunities for their families and the greater community.
Other older malls have reinvented themselves as churches, libraries, schools, indoor farms and food markets. Likewise for main streets in smaller towns and cities that were once areas of empty shells and blight, but have been brought back to life. A bonus for the main streets is that many of the buildings were built in an era where quality was king and time was taken to create structures that not only last, but have lots of architectural character.
Secondly, dead real estate is dead real estate, no matter the location. As we learned in Retrofitting Suburbia and the Sprawl Repair Manual, even if it started as sprawl, going back to fix it can re-ignite the community and keep a neighborhood from going into further decline. Going back to imagining things, I see a montage of main streets going from the heyday of the mid 20th century, to the late 20th century abandonment and neglect, to the indie stores and street festivals and new apartments of today. If we can fix main street, we can fix the enclosed mall and make it a proper community center too.
Third, not everyone will understand or find benefits in online shopping. It’s still best to try clothes on and handle fruits and vegetables before you purchase them. I remember the one time I bought shoes online, I ended up with major blisters and a weird gait on a day where walking really mattered (my graduation day from NC State). Plus, who can deny how well a human touch can make even the worst product the best in the world.
Closing this Store, For Now
Even though I’ve said that the mall is probably dead, I also believe it does matter who owns the corner store. Retail is a strange animal, but where would we be without it? This is where I give props to the homesteaders who seem to have answered that question. Meanwhile, for the rest of us, onward and upward to Target and IKEA.
Would we be people without commerce and a marketplace? Maybe, if we go full on into a marketplace of ideas. Would we be urbanists though? Probably not.
This post is part of #NaBloPoMo, an effort to post on blogs every day throughout the month of November. Find out more about it here. Also, if you would like to pre-order A Black Urbanist, you can here. Since this isn’t Amazon, all proceeds come right to me and you get it in a PDF that can be read in any format.
There are tons of Jills-of-all trades out here. Moms, daughters, sisters, cousins, people juggling a lot of hats and doing it well. You really see that when it comes to blogging. And my first pick for my new Inspiring People Series is just one of many who makes the juggling act look easy and fabulous.
This is Inspiring People, the Sunday feature of the The Black Urbanist where I highlight people in the placemaking space who are inspiring and why they are. Before we get back into the meat of the post, just a reminder that The Black Urbanist is powered by Bluehost. Check them out and they’ll get you started with everything you need about web hosting and blog making. They’ve kept me going right here for the past 4 years and counting.
Another part of me is choosing her this week because I want you to go read the article I wrote and the others above. However, the other side is that she’s of my same generation and she’s doing lots of extraordinary things. She also knows how to have fun and keep a sense of purpose. She’s changing the game in DC for bikes, Wards 7 and 8, small business owners and a host of other groups. Of course, there’s that whole handful of black women placemakers thing, but even that’s becoming an afterthought. Plus, she reminds me that I have a rusting bike in storage and I need to start building up strength to ride it again. So I can ride it to the next time we have a DC brunch.
Anyway, look for more extraordinary men and women on Sunday’s here on The Black Urbanist. In the meantime, other places you can find Veronica online:
This post is part of my participation in #NaBloPoMo, the time of the year when bloggers come together to pump out daily content and connect. Find out more about that project and how I’m participating, here and here.
Working diligently at CNU 19 back in 2011, my first major industry conference I spoke at. Photo by Sharon McMillan.
Hey everyone and welcome to November 2014! November 1 means that we are 30 days from the launch of my book, A Black Urbanist, and we are six weeks from my birthday! In honor of the book launch and because I love writing so much, I am posting every day in November as part of National Blog Posting Month. I’m doing the challenge with BlogHer/Wordpress and another group you can find here.
In order to have some rhyme and reason, plus keep me on track, I’m posting around themes, which are as follows:
Sundays:Inspiring People— Putting the spotlight on a friend or practitioner (or both) in the planning/architecture/community development space who I think is inspiring and worthy of regard.
Mondays:A Black Urbanist Preview– Four central themes emerging from the book are The Market, The Commons, The Heart and The Solutions. Mondays will provide a snippet of those sections along with links to pre-order the book.
Tuesdays:Meat!— Meat is business as usual, me choosing a subject and going in depth. For an example of meat for those of you who are new to the page, check out my last post here.
Wednesdays: Potatoes— Potatoes is what I talked about on meat day, but with charts and graphs that either back up what I said or are very closely related and worthy of your attention. Get ready for shareable infographics.
Thursdays: Throwback Thursday— I love history and I love the opportunity to share vintage images. My throwback Thursday here will focus on places I’ve visited and lived and what impact they had on me then and now.
Friday: Video Friday— Videos of great places and spaces that inspire me.
Saturday:Apartment Healing— Some of my favorite interior living spaces , especially in the vein (and probably from the vein) of Apartment Therapy.
For those of you who have been with me for the past four (or five) years, I appreciate you guys. I’m looking forward to hearing from you more. And if you are new here, I hope you enjoy our community, learn something and get inspired to take some action in your community. More about what I do here.
The Black Urbanist is powered by Bluehost. Find out how you can take your blog to the next level here.
Of late I’ve been reading a lot of articles on how people don’t vote or don’t engage with their neighbors. There’s also been a sprinkling of how gentrification really happens and how it breaks down the neighborhood fabric. A few of those articles are right here (leaving the links inline so you can copy the source links if you need to):
One key piece in those articles is the sense of abandonment. In the case of the black folks mentioned, there were several elected leaders and home and business owners who took financial incentives in lieu of staying behind and strengthening their communities. Now unfortunately, the people who have the control and the money have made massive amounts of income and they are creating a gentrification situation of which it’s impossible for the average person to buy themselves into or stay behind. After all, these corporations are people now and they have rights too. There’s always been white flight abandonment and regular housing racism on top of all these stories. And then there’s the general abandonment of the idea of neighborliness. If kids are loud, don’t go talk to them, abandon them and call the cops. If the price is right, abandon the neighborhood and go out to supposedly greener pastures. And then there’s the general ignorance, of the need to take maybe an hour or two and vote. Or get someone who wants to vote, but just can’t get there, an absentee ballot or a ride to the polls.
At the recent Strong Towns National Gathering, I facilitated a late Saturday afternoon session on what it means to be a Strong Citizen. I started the crowd up pretty easy, with asking them what they would do with $100 of funds in their neighborhoods. However, I wanted the crowd to get deeper and think about what it would take to shake up their community as it is, much as Ferguson has been shaken, much as harsh gentrification and segregation have shaken communities in the past.
While I was able to get the crowd thinking, we benefited from an older Native American elder who stepped out and said the needed things about race and also whose land was it anyway. Yet, what I’m most proud of is this group was able to circle up, stay civil, right down some great answers to my questions (some of which will show up here or on the Strong Towns blog) and really think about how they can do better.
It’s going to take us waking up and deciding how to treat our neighbors, how to see our cities and neighborhoods in a better light, and also when necessary, getting dirty and getting out the tools to plow the garden, knock on the doors and nail the wood for the bus shelter. Because we cannot continue to let ourselves go.
Yes, this means bookcation is over. Pre-order now and get the brand new e-book, A Black Urbanist–Essays Vol. 1, when it releases on December 1 for only $10. I won’t charge your cards until December 1, so go ahead and set aside some holiday money for an awesome book, with some of your favorite essays and a few new ones.
I’ve been thinking about how I would respond to the recent events in Ferguson, MO. And then I realized, I’ve always been thinking about how I would respond to certain events. That this page responds to a lot of the ills that lead to what happened there and what has happened in different forms in other communities throughout the United States.
From a very young age (and that young age occurring throughout the 1990’s), I’ve known that things were always different in certain parts of town. That sometimes people did bad things and those bad things would sometimes lead to being shot. Or, sadly, the bad thing would mean being shot. As I grew older, standing on a field outside of my middle school after another copy-cat Columbine bomb threat, I realized that anybody could get shot, even in the nice places. The night my purse was stolen at my luxury apartment complex. At gunpoint. Many a night where I was surrounded by bad things, but those bad things never happened. Not to me at least.
Some bad things can be prevented though. We can work on trusting each other so we don’t automatically assume someone’s up to no good or could be a crime suspect. We could work on our economy, so that people can make a legitimate living, and not be tempted in a life of crime or bored by “having nothing to do.” We could make it so housing isn’t so expensive. We can fix it so our roads aren’t so un-inviting and allow for more than just speeding cars. So we don’t automatically assume all walkers are criminals. If someone is threatening us, we can use self-defense, but only to stop the perpetration, not take a life.
And finally, we can pray. That’s all I’ve been able to do, because I need my words to go somewhere where they can truly be heard and where massive, society-bending change can be made.
On a less serious note:
–I am switching gears somewhat and working on building up my “how I do it” website, Kristen’s Workshop. For those of you who don’t know, my background and primary work is in media, communication and marketing. Yes, there will still be a book of the material here on this site. There will still be my daily North Carolina news roundup. With the new site, through some of my words and tips, you too can affect change in your community or at least just throw a good community event. Some of those tools will have a price tag, but there will be flexibility for those of you who need help, but cannot pay.
–I was on Chuck Marohn’s Strong Towns podcast this past month. Check it out here.
–I’ll be in DC for the Labor Day weekend and I’ll be at the Strong Towns National Gathering September 12-13 in Minneapolis. Expect pictures, commentary and if you get to hang out with me, lots of fun. Instagram is the place to see all that.
It’s been about a week since I came down from the mountain and like any mountaintop experience, it changes you. Of course this was good for me. (Having company, good company is always good too ;)).
Meanwhile, just wanted to bullet out some stuff that’s been going on and point you to some cool stuff that I’ve done in just the last week.
First of all, for those of you IRL that knew, mom is home and doing well. She will be walking faster than me again pretty soon.
Thanks again to Earl and the entire APA Virginia crew for your hospitality, laughs and all around good vibes. (And making sure we made our trips up and down the mountain safely). I didn’t make up all that Virginia stuff I said. I seriously did wish I lived in Chesapeake as a kid and this Silver Line stuff and a guided tour of Staunton are working on me. Special thanks to Abbey for the note on sitting for the exam.
Speaking of Staunton, thanks Katie for all of your wonderful hospitality in Staunton. I will be back and I’m still thinking about that blue house.
All my DC rail nerds/fans, lovely pictures and commentary of the Silver Line opening. I’m so stoked to get up there and ride with you and because of your pictures, plus the Washington Post’s great live blog, I felt like I was there anyway. But you better know that I’m grabbing one of you to come with me out there and take my Greensboro station sign selfie.
Walked through Center City Park yesterday and felt like I was somewhere else. Ran into a number of folks and felt pretty good. Pocket city parks work people!
Speaking of parks and playgrounds, I dropped a very special essay via our brand new email list. Click that link to get subscribed to the new one (Placebook is technically a separate thing now, so if you are on that list, you need to get on the new one so you don’t miss essays and emails.) You’ll get an email within the hour confirming your subscription, another with a primer on me and then the next day bright and early depending on your time zone, you’ll get The Playground, my first essay written specifically for the book. I do go deep and share something really close to the chest.
I spoke to some urbanists down in Orlando last night via Google Hangout. Thanks Jullian for the chance to chat with you guys and all of my video from my talking in the past week will be online very soon. Look for links via social channels and my next dispatch.
Prior to me going up the mountain, my 95-year old great aunt spent some time with us here at the house. I can’t say enough about the value of nurturing your older generations! Wisdom! History! And a special bonus that she doesn’t look a day over 65 and gets along pretty well too.
And finally, I’m about to get serious about biking again. I have my sights set on the DC Tweed Ride this fall, among other events and the need for me to get exercise. Plus, I stopped riding because of fear and I want to shake that fear and get back to one of the most rewarding things I used to do in my life. Oh and because several of you ride too and I want to be able to do that with you guys.
Hey everyone. Taking a real vacation of sorts to address the APA Virginia membership tomorrow on “The New Diversity of Planning” and “Planning Around A Civic Inferiority Complex.
Here’s a photo of where we are at right now. (It’s cloudy, you don’t need to be jealous).
Meanwhile, if you are here at the conference and coming to the page for the first time, you can do a couple of things.
Read my about page. This will help you during my talk tomorrow morning to get a sense of my background and what I’m doing with this site and my various workings.
Subscribe to my email list. (You get essays, podcast episodes and the like before anyone else).
Keep up with planning and development news in North Carolina with my sister site, North Carolina Placebook. You can get that info directly in your email box too.
Special thanks to Earl Anderson, Andy Boenau, Malcolm Kenton and all of you lovely people that I’ve met this week here at the Wintergreen Resort.
Come back here as I’ll be updating this post with pictures and speech audio as soon as all those things happen.
