All posts by Kristen Jeffers

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.
urbanopportunity

Something to Do During the Day, A Hallmark of Urban Opportunity

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Today I am honored to participate in the Group Blogging Event on Urban Economic Opportunity, presented by Meeting of the Minds and Living Cities. When asked to contribute on how to create urban opportunities for people, there was one place in particular that came into mind. That place was the Interactive Resource Center in downtown Greensboro.

The Interactive Resource Center (IRC) came out of a movement here in Guilford County, NC to end homeless in ten years. The movement, now revised to a long-term goal of making sure every Guilford County resident has a home, is called Partners Ending Homelessness. This movement is now a task force of government leaders, social service providers, business leaders, and faith organizations and other relevant entities. When this group came together, Guilford County and its major cities of Greensboro and High Point already had a number of soup kitchens, halfway houses and overnight shelters. Yet, many of these organizations left a gap in the day of those who were homeless and jobless. And while some of these organizations can help homeless people find work and shelter, they did not have a robust system for dealing with why homelessness (and joblessness) happens in the first place.

Enter the IRC. Instead of having to leave the shelters or pull up one’s tents in the morning, just to wander the streets aimlessly, people, who are known as guests, can come and sit inside until the IRC closes at 2 p.m. While at the IRC, people can do laundry and take showers and  get haircuts, health checkups, job training and job placement, as well as get help finding a permanent home. Guests can also use the phone, have mail delivered and get help with obtaining identification and other necessary documentation that would help with keeping a job and a permanent home. In addition, there are various community events that don’t just involve people who are homeless, jobless or both. An artists group has helped some guests become working artists. The guests produce their own newspaper, the Greensboro Voice, which is distributed throughout the city. The classic support groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous exist as well. A Jewish group recently held a homelessness themed seder. Several other community and church groups meet there, because it’s a sizable and convenient facility with just enough parking and just a block from the main bus and train depot. Thanks to these groups, there are often activities throughout the rest of the day. In the winter and other periods of bad weather, the IRC becomes an emergency shelter.

This graphic below illustrates a typical month at the IRC.

One key thing about the IRC is that there is no judgement placed on guests. Guests are strongly encouraged, but not required, to utilize the social services at the facility. However, many do and many have improved lives as a result.

How does this create urban opportunity? For starters, it puts more people in homes, in jobs and in turn on the tax rolls and in the local school systems. Instead of being marginalized by the greater community, they are the greater community, right along those who have never had struggles or who haven’t struggled as publicly. Plus, when it comes to the smart cities revolution, this facility is providing free computers and computer skills training, plus the means to get people connected through being able to afford smartphones and other consumer technology. Children of adult guests have parents and guardians who understand modern technology and how it can help in learning as well as making life more profitable and efficient.

It is my belief that all homeless shelters and the communities around them should begin to operate in this manner. Join together in consortiums based on region and work on a system of providing temporary to permanent shelter, temporary to permanent jobs, access to food and access to higher education and advanced job training. In addition, opportunities for entrepreneurship, as well as health services should be provided. The less people we have on the streets and on the rolls of welfare programs, the stronger our economy can become. This doesn’t negate the need for temporary help or help to bridge gaps left when major economic players leave the market or reduce their workforce. It calls upon all stakeholders to put their hands in the pot and contribute for the sustainability of their community.

In April of this year, I joined the board of this organization and I’m excited to contribute my talents to helping raise funds and greater community awareness.

To learn more about the IRC, go here.

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urbanag, Video

Growing Cities, A #Video for Friday May 9

Even though we kinda left you guys hanging for #AudioThursday this week (I’m sure one of you still hasn’t listened to the preview podcast episode yet), trust us, we were busy. In addition to attending the last symphony performance at the soon to be demolished War Memorial Auditorium, we were checking out a new site Urbanful, by our friends at Smart Growth America. Recently launched, Urbanful seeks to be a site connecting smart growth principles to regular people and supporting the work of Smart Growth America and its partners. Look for a very familiar name and face there soon ;).

In the meantime, while browsing Urbanful, I found the trailer for Growing Cities, a film project from two childhood friends who drove around the country, getting a very diverse slice of all the urban farmers and farms across the U.S. They are encouraging groups to sponsor the film and we’ve unfortunately missed the Greensboro showing. Anyway, check out the trailer below and have a wonderful weekend!

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Uncategorized

Housekeeping for May 2014: Podcast, Emails, Events, Etc.

So folks, it’s been a whirlwind of a week here at Kristen Jeffers Media. My day job and writing has kept me going at a marathon pace. So much so, I decided to rest up last night and write a note here about what’s going on with me behind the scenes. Also, if you haven’t been to my full home page, here’s a chance to do just that and get caught up with everything going on around Kristen Jeffers Media (and The Black Urbanist of course). And to make it easy for you, I’ve pasted the letter below. Cheers!

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Hi everyone! Welcome to our very first monthly letter for the greater Kristen Jeffers Media community. Some of you are Placebookers. Others of you found me through The Black Urbanist. Many more of you are personal friends, fans and supporters of my writing here and on outside outlets, family who’ve known me since birth and various others. ( I believe the cool kids would call you randoms these days?)

Anyway, with me going a million miles a minute in other forums, I wanted to take some time and write my very first editor/CEO letter to everyone, first as a thank you and second to let you know of events where I will be speaking this summer and how you can stay in touch with us here at Kristen Jeffers Media.

First and foremost, click here to view the homepage if you haven’t already. This is where you can subscribe to receive not only this monthly letter, but all of our other newsletters. Many are a work in progress, so be patient as we get all the lights on and continue to fill out rooms in this bigger, but still empty house.

Next, make plans to join me in Buffalo, NY on June 4-6 as I cover the 22nd Congress for New Urbanism. If you can’t be at CNU in person this year, we will have North Carolina specific coverage on North Carolina Placebook, broader themes coverage on The Black Urbanist (and session live tweeting) at Twitter.com/blackurbanist. Also, some may be syndicated to Sustainable Cities Collective and other outlets.

I will also be the diversity keynote, as well as host a breakout session at the APA Virginia conference  just outside of Charlottesville on Tuesday July 22.

For those of you in Greensboro, I invite you to Scuppernong Books on May 27, for author Ben Ross’s book talk and signing of Dead End:Suburban Sprawl. I highlighted some of Ben’s words in this post, which appeared both on The Black Urbanist and Sustainable Cities Collective.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the new The Black Urbanist Radio Show, please check it out at SoundCloud. As we add more episodes, we will move on to iTunes and Sticher. There will also be a stream on The Black Urbanist and a link here on Kristen Jeffers Media.

As always, thanks for reading, thanks for sharing and let’s keep making our communities better together.

Cityreads, downtown, Education, gentrification, Government, Staunton

Things That Should Never Be in Driving Distance

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Lincoln Park High School in Chicago/Wikimedia

I was a good North Carolinian and went to vote in my recent  election.  As I’ve written about before, the district I sit in for US House is a snake district. As in it looks like a snake. And even worse, my polling place, which should be in walking distance, isn’t. I thought the rules were that polling places needed to be in walking distance of everyone residing in their district.  I could in theory walk to my polling place. If I wanted to cross a dangerous road at rush hour. Or even if I went before work, still, heavy traffic. Lunchtime. Heavy traffic.

My old precinct when I was in undergrad was at an arts center just across the street from my dorm. The road to cross was only two lanes and it was once again RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET. My precinct when I lived at mom’s was also right up the street, at my old elementary school. Where my dad used to vote was a rec center that was a little bit further from his house though. It was walkable in theory, but he still had to cross a very busy street if he were to go on foot. He still managed to vote, even when he had to walk. But seriously, should he have had to risk his life to cross a major street to vote? Unless a person can’t physically walk, we shouldn’t have to drive people to the polls. Yet, one of the things our new voting laws seem quick to create is consolidated districts and precincts.

This also had me thinking about where else no one  should ever have to drive. I came up with this list:

First, grocery. I’ve written recently about how grocery delivery can make the difference with sprawl. Also, I am aware that some neighborhoods do have curb markets. Yet, how many of these markets have the produce and other fresh goods, as well as the selection as the supermarket? However, with modern technology and more room on the roads for service vehicles, we could make supermarkets smaller, more connected and able to provide for people who are in walking distance. Not only would this include food, but there would be a showroom for other consumer products, and those could be ordered in the right size and mailed directly to one’s home. With all these deliveries, maybe the postal service could regain revenue traction or work closer with the other delivery companies for prompter delivery.

Secondly, healthcare. No one should have to pay for an ambulance ride, nor should they have to jump in the car every time they get the sniffles. Some hospitals are doing video checkups, however, I believe that we could provide in person checkups in a reasonable walking distance. In addition, these facilities would be equipped with places to do emergency surgeries or at least a helipad for airlifting to other hospitals that may have more expertise in dealing with whatever situation is going on with a person. This is the hallmark of public health and I think have both the technology and the money pouring into the healthcare industry to support it.

Third, schools. There are so many reasons people give for not being able to have schools in walking distance, except in certain neighborhoods and only for certain grade levels. With technology, we could almost go back to the one room schoolhouse. Only, this schoolhouse would have modern conveniences like science labs, band rooms, cafeterias with healthy food, maker spaces (shop and home ec classes for the 21st century), and video cameras and microphones for Skypeing other students, teachers and community members, close to home and worldwide. Instead of being a specialty school for ______ subject, all of our schools would be equipped for learning all things, even if it’s virtual or if transportation is free and provided readily to a site where the subject is taught better. Teachers who have strengths in one thing could specialize, but students wouldn’t be forced to make that decision at least until the university level. Students would only leave their neighborhoods on their own for speciality sites such as museums, extracurricular activity competitions and just to get to know people from other areas and how they live.

And the interesting part is that all these things I mentioned above could be under one roof, which would make connecting transit easier, as well as for cargo carrying vehicles. We would start with the current network of  streets and existing school buildings, then add on as needed for the health and the market needs. For those who are concerned about one healthcare provider and one grocer and the abuses that can cause, we could set a cap, maybe 10 or 12 on the number of facilities one provider can manage, with minimum standards in place to ensure that the experience only differs by the colors on the walls and not because certain people have only certain skills. In addition, health care providers and markets would be encouraged to refer people or order from other markets, if there were specialists at other facilities, even those not with that provider’s network or more grapes at another provider’s market.

With these functions under one roof, we would be closer to having solid community centers, and closer to better urbanism, even in lower-density neighborhoods. In addition, we would have the precedent set that no one should have to drive themselves or pay to transport themselves, to our basic needs. Lastly, even in a world of door-to-door Amazon delivery, people would still have a social place to go to pick up and touch objects they need.

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cars, Cities, urbanism

What Grinds Our Gears About Cars

Now that I’ve gotten my letter to my own little clunker out of the way (and promised to take her to the car wash at least soon). I want to get into what I believe are the issues that urbanists and honestly everyone has with cars.

Expensive to Maintain

I just dropped nearly half a grand on a timing belt. I’m thankful that the thing didn’t break, otherwise it would have been far more. Honda’s are great, because outside of this one part, our maintenance doesn’t really get out of hand. Feed them oil roughly every 3,000 miles, of course give them gas to drink on the regular and they don’t really have problems.  And I’m a post 100,000-miler too, I hear that I may reach 300,000 total miles before Betsy decides to pass on  and that’s exciting.

Yet, for so many people, this isn’t the story. Some know going in that they are going to have high repair bills if they buy something older or European. Some people love spending money to build up cars. We love them too, because if it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t see working models of  amazing classic cars, such as old school Mustangs, smooth Packards. and anything that had wings. Yet, there’s the poor soul who takes the shiny car home and no sooner than the new car smell has worn off, the smell of lemon waifs from the smoke coming from out of the hood and that’s not fresh at all. This all assumes that a person can afford any car at all, since the cost of entry isn’t cheap and when it is, you may be looking at a string of lemons, all with thousands of dollars of maintenance attached.

Accidents

Cars are killers. Depending on the demographic group you choose, car accidents kill more people than cancer and AIDS. Plus, the idea that you literally are inches from taking someone’s life if you blink or don’t pay attention for one moment, is figuratively killer. Even more the horror of  being hit by someone not paying attention. Less fatal, but no less annoying is the flat tire waiting for you first thing in the morning in the parking lot. Or the bird poop in the middle of the windshield. Or the various dings and dents you didn’t do. Or maybe you did in my case. Sigh. Back to parking in the back of the Target parking lot. Instant walkability! Exercise!

Gas

Can introduce you to my friend GasBuddy? I’m sure he’s a lot of folk’s friends too. I’m old enough to remember when gas was last $0.79 for Unleaded 87, but young enough to have not been driving when it was that cheap. Bummer. By the time I really got cranked up and rolling around, gas was regularly above 3 bucks a gallon. Of course there was that spring where we saw prices drop in the $2/gallon range. I’m at the point now where I celebrate the dimes. Ten cents cheaper. Yay! And three cents more off with my Sheetz card! Even better. And once again, when you are 20 in the city/28 on the highway, you don’t have to whine too much. Just be jealous of the Prius and even Honda Hybrid folks. And remember, once again, the folks with the 12-17 miles a gallon tanks are hurting. They need the van for the kids, but they might not be able to treat them thanks to the gas bill. Don’t be too hard on those folks though. The average person can’t help it that all the kid’s activities are spread out. The powers to be, can work on funding parks and recreation programs, in each neighborhood, that might reduce this burden on families who want their kids to be involved in something besides sitting in the house messing with the  X-Box. And if this is you, as we say in the South, bless your heart. How many of us also love having a friend with a pickup truck? Guzzles gas, but gets all the IKEA boxes home or moves the kid to college. One last note here, price may not be an issue for you with maintenance or gas. However, does the smell bother you? What about smog? While there are some studies saying that hybrid models and alternative fuels don’t really help with the ozone layer and carbon problems, in some areas, they would be a dramatic difference, namely those where the sky is brown, when it should be blue.

Parking

I honestly don’t think anyone likes parking. People who have issues with driving don’t like physically squeezing their baby (or burden) into spaces that are either too tight or the wrong shape. My most recent bump-up was trying to squeeze into something that was the former. And come to think of it, my very first bump-up was parking related. Meanwhile, many folks who haven’t studied transportation planning don’t understand this, but in popular areas, parking is in high demand, therefore, there is a market value to it. In other words, when a lot of people want to park, some are willing to pay to park just to park. That kills free parking, just because parking isn’t around. This happens in big cities regularly, but even in somewhere small on First Friday, parking gets scarce. And we all know scarcity is a part of supply and demand, therefore part of the marketplace. For those of you who want an even more wonkish answer, Donald Shoup is the expert on this whole why is parking worth money thing. He wrote a paper, then a book on it. He also has found that charging for parking makes people park less, and makes them walk, bike or take transit more. Which makes since, in a perfectly dense market like Manhattan. Downtown Greensboro on a quiet Friday morning, not so much.

Dependency

Who doesn’t enjoy the thought of driving certain cars around. I’ve seen a couple recent pictures on social networks of some of the most rabid railfans I know relishing driving classic cars. And I just sung the praises of the people who keep the classics on the roads and available for a nice leisurely drive away from wedding venues with cans banging on the ground. The problem though, is when there’s no such thing as Point A to Point B without putting a key in the ignition. Especially when it’s just you and the car. No other people. No groceries. No IKEA flattened box. We need to work so that the only vehicles on the road are those making out-of-town or crosstown trips, those in taxis or taxi-like services, buses, cargo trucks and anything that counts as a human service vehicle (i.e. people who can’t walk due to health issues).

To close, there are plenty of reasons why cars grind our gears. Yet even as those gears crank too tight, there are advantages to having them. Come back next post for the reasons why cars can work in a walkable, sustainable, urbanist environment.

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cars

To Car, with Love

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Dear Betsy (Car),

First of all, I hope you actually like that name. Yes, I had a horse in mind when I gave it to you. But you do have horsepower so that’s not completely off base. Plus, since your name is a traditional nickname derived from my middle name Elizabeth, it’s like naming part of you after myself. Just like that commercial where the man sees a massive baby in his garage, at the car wash and at the repair shop, I do see you as a child of sorts.

Now, to be honest, I’ve not taken the best care of you over the years. I’ve bumped and bruised you several times. I’ve pushed out your oil changes. Yet, I have make sure you still run and that you are clean and all matter of other things. Thankfully, there’s no such thing as Car Protective Services to report a slightly abusive car owner.

You’ve also endured my rags on this blog about how I hate driving, I think that cars are bad and that I can’t wait to drive you into the ground. You sit parked often while I walk about town, getting my exercise and getting my information on events from bar windows instead of billboards. I’m sure you shake my head at this urbanism thing I keep talking about, especially since the only room it makes for you are in parking decks, parallel parked and next to parking meters. Note again, the emphasis on parking. And let’s not talk about how much I hate to feed you. Just like people food, car food (gas, oil, etc.) continues to stay high.

But then I have to stop and think, yes, I’m dependent on you. Yes, you cost a lot to maintain. Yes, sometimes I don’t know how to drive you properly. But is it always that bad? You are a 2002 Honda Accord, with a high mileage count. You haven’t gone kapooey in the middle of the road somewhere, nor do you act as old as you are. The food I do feed you do well to save and conserve, better than some of your other peers and their bellies, which seem to drink and then release their byproducts on a daily basis, causing their owners to live at the gas station (and sometimes at the repair shop). Thanks to your eating habits, we can make lots of trips to places, fun places like that time we drove through the Shenandoah Valley, and up around Asheville and down to Myrtle Beach. Trips that are cheaper, because you are always on your best behavior.

And trust me, we still live in a country, a county, a city, where not having you means I’m less than a person. And that’s what I really rail against. We should be friends by choice, not family by blood.  But for those long drives through the countryside, the zooms down the interstate, the connections between the cities and towns in a possible and timely manner, you are perfect. Yeah, I could rent a friend of yours for those trips. I lovingly meet and mingle with your other mechanical transportation providing friends. Sometimes though, you need to feel a bit of home and that home is you.

With love,

Kristen

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audio, Cities, Video

Another Place for Me, This Week’s #VideoFriday

A few months back I’d come across this video by Gracen Johnson, a Canadian going against the grain of what many say young people are doing, moving to the big city to get ahead. She willingly, with her partner, moved across Canada to a small city. Since then, she’s developed a lovely videoblog that I’m looking forward to digging into this weekend. For this week’s edition of Video Friday, I’m enclosing a link to her first video. Click on the picture below and learn more about what inspired her journey and what continues to inspire her work today.

Screen Shot 2014-05-02 at 7.29.36 AM

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audio, Cities, Podcast, urbanism

#AudioThursday: The Black Urbanist Radio Show Preview Episode

Preview Episode

 

So last Thursday I promised audio when I’m not podcasting and podcasting when I am. So here’s what I’m calling my preview episode of my second round of podcasting. This time, we’re calling ourselves The Black Urbanist Radio Show and we have at least two and possibly more features that you are going to love to share and hear. Plus, we will be coming to iTunes and Stitcher in the coming weeks, but for now, follow me through SoundCloud just like before or click the play button below:

https://soundcloud.com/kristen-jeffers/the-black-urbanist-preview-episode

For those of you who need references to the posts discussed in TL:DR, here are direct links to my posts on DIY sprawl repair, holding leaders accountable for sprawl and for the powers to be to allow people to gentrify/develop/grow in place on their own. Oh and words. Lots of words.

Also, be patient with me as I work out sound quality, audio transitions and pronouncing things right. I’m excited to crank this back up again and I hope you will enjoy and share far and wide.

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Cities, gentrification

Can We Let the People Gentrify Themselves?

Taking to the streets at the 2013 Thanksgiving in Spring in Durham

As I finish up this week’s theme of sprawl repair,  I want to ask one last question. Can we let the people gentrify (or de-sprawl) themselves? As much as I love the tactical urbanism, the push to return to the neighborhoods left behind, and to fix the broken ones that have been built and broken rapidly, in the back of my mind I worry that our bad development history will repeat itself, much like some of this good history.

Exhibit one is in Durham. I’ve mentioned the Warehouse/Central Park area before. It’s a little bit north of downtown, the DPAC, the DBAP and the ATC. It maintains a degree of quirk and fun. It was a self-made redevelopment,  catalyzed by the 2010 addition of the FullSteam Brewery and Motorco Music Hall. Yet, the long time garden store on the block still remains and the streets and sidewalks and parking lots still have a little grit on them. Nothing’s over two stories either. According to landscape architect Mark Hough, who recently wrote about the area in Planetzen, people seem to love the grit and want it to stay.

However, a recent article in the Durham Herald-Sun about new apartments and other developments in the area gave me pause. As they will be new construction and come at market rates, I am concerned that the DIY ethos will not remain in the community. The area even has a hipster name now, NoCo. Now, if it was the community gathering together to build the homes themselves or operate the buildings as a co-op, I wouldn’t be so concerned. Not to say that the community will always have its best interests at heart, but if the community’s already been a “DIY” community as the Planetzen article stated, then let it stay that way. One good thing is that all the current owners and even some of the new ones like the spirit and the DIYness of the area, as well as believe that the community as a whole wants to stay laid back. In fact, Motorco’s owner is a New Yorker. Yet, towards the end of the article, a long time business owner expressed a similar spirit to mine, that he likes all the changes, but he hopes the area maintains character.

Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Sheryse Noelle DuBose’s admonition to “gentrify your own self!”  She reiterates the point to not leave behind assets because you don’t think they are cool enough. After all, so many people want what others don’t have, especially when it comes to “prime lands” along coasts, near mountains, in good farming shape and the center of cities. Think about the folks in Rosewood and Tulsa and to some extent Durham in the mid-20th century when the Durham Freeway was rammed in over Black Wall Street, who didn’t have the choice to stay or go. The Trail of Tears. Chinatowns that are such in name only.

The truest way to deal with sprawl and its cousin dis-investment, in essence gentrifying oneself, is to do what you can to build wealth and funnel it back into maintaining a sustainable community. We also have to have lawmakers and power brokers on the same page. The Warehouse District folks seem to be both powerful and humble enough to recognize the strength in a low-density, yet urban-style neighborhood and commerce center.

If we don’t exert our innate power, we will constantly be asking those who do have all the land and power, if we can gentrify ourselves. If we can maintain the simplicity that we love so much, along with the things that make us unique, yet still have the basics and a few luxuries and provide for the common good of our neighborhoods and the greater municipality as a whole, then we have in fact gone beyond gentrification. We have sustainability.

 

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Cities, Government, placemaking, suburbs, Transportation, urbanism

What Happens When Nothing Is Done Structurally About Sprawl

Broken Down House- flickr user Derek Bridges

Broken Down House. Derrick Hughes via Flickr.

Despite my life hacks from this post, we have to do something on a structural and legal level about sprawl. Unchecked sprawl is  the urban renewal of today. Instead of providing the services that are needed in the core of the city, there are many cities (mine included) that have chosen to build new facilities outside of the city core.  In addition, many cities have allowed subdivisions to be built and not considered the cost of providing schools, fire protection, streets and other elements that make a city a city, even on the basic suburban level. This is not to say that we should not allow people to go off the grid and be responsible for these services themselves. However, many people buy or rent homes with the expectation that basic services will be taken care of efficiently and competently by the municipality or jurisdiction of which they reside.

Thankfully, I’m not alone in my thoughts. I regularly connect with government leaders, and not just the ones in the planning department, who want to bring more vibrancy back to central cities, but also want to make sure equity is addressed. I believe that the pendulum has shifted towards the idea of density and connectivity, at least among government leaders, developers, planners and others who have a hand in crafting and creating our built environment. Federal funding sources now support reconnecting neighborhoods and many states and local governments have supplemented those funds, either with funds of their own or changes in zoning and building codes to allow different and more efficient types of development. In Cary, a subdivision may not get built, because town leaders recognize the cost of providing services to that subdivision may be too much, even for a town that receives a lot of property tax revenue and is known and loved for its low-density development.

Yet, there are holes. Chuck Marhon, in his latest blog reflecting on having facilitated a series of events on urban development in Menphis had a lot to say about what could result from the reversal of what he has termed “the suburban experiment.” The strongest words he has are below:

Here’s where my greatest fear comes in. When the disadvantaged and the disenfranchised of a prior generation were left behind in our central cities, it was a terrible injustice. Crime and disinvestment followed poverty in a cycle we now too often subconsciously think of as inevitable. But they were left behind in neighborhoods that still functioned. People there could still get around without a car. They could still get groceries. They could walk to school, even if it was a bad school. At least initially, there were still jobs.

When we abandon our exurbs and distant suburbs – something I see as inevitable — if we leave behind the poorest and most disadvantaged, we won’t be leaving them in functioning neighborhoods. We’ll be leaving them in total isolation. Places without grocery stores that can be walked to. Places without transportation. If the 1960’s inner city was inhumane, this will be far, far worse.

We have to get our leaders who are not on board with modern municipal governance in the loop. This is no longer a fringe conversation held by architects at fancy conference halls. Just last week, the New York Times reported that the middle class in the United States is no longer the richest in what are considered “Western” countries. A lot of our prior wealth was predicated by investment into building, which was primarily suburban, and job growth,with adequate salaries available for all skill levels. Now, we have job growth, but if it’s in the service sector the pay does not cover minimum expenses or the jobs are so specialized, they command high salaries, but require expensive training. We have new homes built, but because it’s new construction, the prices are higher. Urban location and connectivity also command a major premium, that is out of reach for those who need it the most, the ones who can’t afford the cars to get to services.

If we don’t work to make the reversal of the suburban experiment sustainable for all, we will have worse slums and less of an economic boost. The seeds for this change have been planted and are already showing up as weeds. Will we pluck out those weeds and prune that garden?

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