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.
Cities, Cityreads

Placebook: In Like a Lion

Lion, Zoo parc de Thoiry, France by Flickr user elPadawan

Lion, Zoo parc de Thoiry, France by Flickr user elPadawan

As I sit to write this, we are looking at a March that is coming in more like a lion than a lamb. Yeah, sure, yesterday there was sun and 60 degree weather, but by noon in some accounts and later in others, there could be ice and snow on the ground. But that’s North Carolina weather folks. We’ve always had four seasons and sometimes they all come in the same week.

Meanwhile, this month in Placebook, in addition to bringing you news every weekday from around North Carolina, the nation and the world on governance, transportation, buildings and education, I’ll be exploring a few other ideas. First, what are my perfect places? Places meaning the basics like homes, restaurants, bookstores and anything else that makes up any town or city. Also, my Dad’s 54th birthday would have been this coming Saturday. We’ll be exploring some of his favorite types of places in his honor. Finally, this is Women’s History Month, and the 17th brings us St. Patrick’s Day. Look for content around those celebrations here on the site and on our social networks. And yes, my big surprise is still coming. Be sure to subscribe to this site via email or RSS feed (which is now conveniently on the right), to make sure you don’t get lost in all the confetti. And of course, thanks again for your support! Now after a word from our sponsor, the news for today.

The Black Urbanist and Placebook are powered by BlueHost. Learn more about BlueHost and how they can make your website dreams come true here. (Clicking that link and signing up for BlueHost sends some of the proceeds back to me. This is a way to help us keep the lights on and keep the news coming to you every weekday).

News from North Carolina

Duke Energy has been sited for breaking state and federal laws in relation to the Dan River spill.

The News & Record front page asks what happens when nonprofit leaders step down.

A Greensboro councilwoman is cited for back taxes.

Parents are pushing for more room at one of Guilford County’s magnet high schools.

An official support group FOR the Greensboro Trader Joes has formed.

The new Greensboro Partnership Vice President for Governmental Affairs was formerly an advisor to the state Health and Human Services Secretary.

North Carolina holds its own Mardi Gras parades in Raleigh and Asheville.

The money bankrolling the school voucher movement in the state. Also, how Asheville and Buncombe County schools have divvied up their tenure and raise allotments according to the new state guidelines.

There’s never an excuse to skip a primary election, but this year’s May primary is really critical for who will serve us in Congress.

How spending cuts around the military could affect all corners of the North Carolina economy and not just the military.

Winston-Salem to hold workshops this week on the redevelopment of the Polo Rd-Cherry Street area.

What has come of the Trinity City Council retreat.

Mecklenburg County may not send its final subsidy payment to the U.S. National Whitewater Center. Charlotte City Council is considering who can host outdoor entertainment after 11 P.M.

Highway 12 near Frisco has been repaired and is open again.

Changes to Peace Street and Capital Boulevard in Raleigh may spur development.

This article includes the entire route for Triangle Transit’s rail line, of which the Durham and Orange County portions just received federal approval to begin environmental and engineering studies.

Some students at Durham Technical Community college will be able to live on campus at North Carolina Central University, a reversal of the normal version of these type of agreements.

New businesses opening in Durham and Chapel Hill. Also, Brunswick County is pushing for more national retailers.

A Fayetteville City councilman wants to revive talks of a parks bond for that city. Some of the other things the Fayetteville City council is up to.

News and Lessons from Elsewhere

Addressing both poverty and teaching quality in low-performing schools.

A developing economic inequality as shown by Cuba’s neighborhoods.

How the South African design scene is growing.

Cities, Cityreads, media

Placebook: For the Love of the Press

 

Newspaper Dispensers in Downtown Greensboro. Photo By Kristen E. Jeffers

Well, here we are at the end of February. My people have celebrated their history and everyone has taken the time to celebrate love. Here on the blog this month, I’ve taken several moments to express how much I love various parts of cities, and my hometown and places outside of the city. However, I want to end this month of looking at love by talking about my love of the press.

One of the things my dad did on the  side when I was a kid was  deliver papers for the recently merged Greensboro News and Record, which he still referred to affectionately as the Daily News. One day he took me to the newsroom.

I think that was probably the beginning of my love affair with the press. Between that and watching WFMY News 2, then reading The Rhinoceros Times (it was only the Rhino as a nickname then) and somewhat agreeing with some of the Beep callers, then growing out of the views after I picked up my first Independent Weekly in Raleigh, returning home to meet YES! Weekly and now greeting the Triad City Beat with open arms, I have a special love for my local media.  Oh and of course I have a digital subscription to the New York Times and I did to the Washington Post when it was pay-walled, because I’m a solid media nerd.

Some folks will say that having so many papers and platforms is clutter. I can agree, but only in the sense that I too suffer from information overload. I too feel things more when I read them in print or hear them in an official setting such as a podcast or TV show. Yet, what I truly love about our media world, is that it is a free world. At least here in the United States. People may express views that are good and bad, and some that are even slanderous and libelous. Yet, we have protections that allow us to express views and leave them as views and to deal with views that are wrong-headed or physically harmful, by gathering as a people or going one-on-one to solve them. That is the beauty of the free press and that is why I love it so much.

So as I come to you from my little platform, I am constantly grateful for the opportunity.  So grateful, that I’m doing what I can to make it bigger, better and above all a service not just to clearing my head, but a service to those of you who want to know things to help others and help yourselves live better lives. A couple of days ago, I mentioned that I had news about the future of this space. I’m not ready to give everyone the goods just yet, but I do want to invite you to subscribe to my email list, for a sneak peek at what’s to come. If you are reading this in the email, get ready, it will be a fun ride.

And with that, I’m going to give you a taste of what I thought was great in the many papers, blogs, TV news websites and the like that I think you need to know. Thanks again for loving me too and may our March march in like a lion, so we can end it like a lamb:

News from North Carolina

Everyone who has filed thus far for election in North Carolina.

The internal Greensboro city police review board is under review.

People are complaining about the panhandlers at Friendly Center in Greensboro. Yet, for the panhandler featured, it’s just one piece of an attempt to string together a living for his family after a recent job loss.

A dollar surcharge on tickets at the new Greensboro performing arts center could go to helping other nonprofit arts organizations.

After receiving an offer of 2 million dollars for the old Forsyth County sheriff’s building in  downtown Winston-Salem, the county commissioners may start a formal process to sell it off.

United Therapeutics, a Maryland-based life sciences company, is almost ready to move into its new location in the heart of the RTP, revamping one of the original park buildings for itself.

Yadkinville turns a beat up old building into a cultural anchor.

Pine Street Flowers in Durham hopes to rekindle an old florist shop, along with aid local florists and gardeners with selling their wares close to home.

Wilkes County residents are fighting against two new industrial-grade chicken farms.

Asheville’s Haywood Street Parking Facility demolition is set to start on March 11.

What has come of this year’s city budget process in Charlotte.

Wake County Commissioners has ceded some control of the school construction process back to the school board. Guilford County Schools has renewed their superintendent’s contract.

The Fayetteville Public Works Commission is suspending putting ammonia in the water for the month of March.

A former Wilmington golf club is set to become a development of single-family and town homes.

News and Lessons from Elsewhere

Why we (Americans) don’t walk. This person doesn’t drive in Los Angeles and is ok.

I commend and wish the best of luck Dr. Amara Eniya, who hopes to take her knowledge of urban planning and good governance and become the next mayor of Chicago.

How to make bike lanes on the cheap. Also, the worst hills around the country for bikes.

How the Cleveland garment industry echoes the Greensboro garment industry.

What start-up culture looks like in Detroit.

What land banking is looking like in New York State after it’s first two years. In NYC, a man turned an opportunity to be photographed eating chicken into a opportunity to let folks know about his crusade to maintain current standards at the New York Public Library.

Governing asks if it’s time to lift the ban on tolling interstate highways.

And finally, a great historical sketch on the Pullman Porters and their fight for fair wages and justice, as we conclude Black History Month.

Uncategorized

Placebook: When Our Services Become Our Factories

Abandoned Factory by Flickr user mutrock

From the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, until the dawn of outsourcing, America was a country that made things at work and made a decent living doing so. Yet, America no longer makes as many things. Well, we still make things. We make cappuccinos, we make spreadsheets, we make cash registers sing with the sound of fruit and non-perishable food running across them, we make recommendations on what books to buy, and in some cases we still make cars, spin yarn on industrial machines and make fancy furniture.

Yet, only some of these people get paid what I think is a makers due. I know this blog tends to steer away from the political issue du jour of the day, in this case a higher minimum wage, but I want to take a moment and steer us there today, because this does affect the quality of our places.

It affects the amount of home we can afford and whether we can afford a home at all. It affects whether driving a car is a luxury, a burden, a choice or both. It also affects the greater American psyche, which in turn affects how we see ourselves as people and in turn as neighbors and friends. Also, the abandoned factories become blights to otherwise prosperous communities. The new “factories,” i.e. the fast food joints and big box stores of the world, are the gears that turn our new, hyper driven, work world that is less about assembling and more about thinking about assembling something. This is how not having enough money even though you work an honest job affects the sense of place.

So much of the old and some of the new version of this conversation centers around “good jobs” and “willingness to work.” Yet, I honestly believe that if anyone gets up in the morning and provides a service of some kind to some person, then they have value and that value should be at least enough to get an apartment or have transportation or pay for clothing or healthcare. There’s a lot of nuance in this issue, but I just want you to think about what it really means to earn an honest wage and to have the dignity and respect of your neighbors, no matter what that job is.

(And please call your Senators and ask them for a higher minimum wage)

Now, the rest of the news:

News from North Carolina

Another reminder to count our blessings and be positive about what’s next for Greensboro.

Another nice essay about the state of our politics by Charlotte magazine editor Michael Graff in Politico.

Addam’s Bookstore is closing.

Biscuitville is adding a lunch menu. This is part of a greater push to represent “New South” values. However, they will still only operate from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., because they value family time.

More on the proposed art initiative that could bring life back to the house on the corner of Edgeworth and Washington.

Form-based code proposal is drawing criticism in Chapel Hill. And an whole new city could be built in Chatham County, just between Pittsboro and Cary.

A Raleigh business is helping farmers make money through the shallow months of winter.

News and Lessons from Elsewhere

President Obama announced a major push for transportation spending yesterday.

Tesla’s bringing domestic factories back; it’s looking to employ 6,500 people at a battery factory in one of several states.

Jackson, MI is mourning the death of their mayor, who had risen from being a radical civil rights activist to becoming the establishment and taking concrete steps at progressive policy.

Spike Lee goes in on the gentrifiers in the  Fort Lee section of Brooklyn. However, he helped the with financial piece of gentrification by selling his old Fort Greene home for $1 million long before the neighborhood became the magnet it is today.

Amsterdam is paying alcoholics in beer to clean the streets.

And finally, it has clickbait written all over it, but it’s always good to debate the merits of cities vs. suburbs, especially when someone feels they have a valid defense of the latter.

Cities, Cityreads, downtown

Placebook: Lessons from Another Angle of Downtown Greensboro

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There’s one building of the downtown Greensboro skyline that I’d never been in.  At least until yesterday.  That would be the Renaissance Plaza, the one straight ahead in the background of the above image. And on top of that, I got to go to the top floor and as you can see it was a sunny winter day. It’s one thing to have the view that I have  at home where I can see all the pinnacles of power (or tall buildings, however you want to view the Greensboro skyline), the trains and a few cars driving through Hamburger Square. In that building, I was able to see downtown from a whole different angle, and not just downtown, but the tree cover past my home and this mountain thing that appeared to be in Randolph County to the south. I also got a sense of how being in a different building, at a different angle, can truly change how one sees a city.

That change in perspective reminded me that there are so many views, perspectives and people who aren’t clued into the civic battles we face on a daily basis. Later on in the evening, I met a whole new set of neighbors at our monthly resident social. These neighbors had no clue of what was going on in the city and all the political battles we’ve been facing lately. Yet, they were happy. Well, there were other issues, but nobody at that bar was wanting for food, clothing or shelter. Many had lived in other areas and traveled the world.

What I would most want, is to be able to maintain a sense of home and place, but also recognize more of my role as a world citizen. To remember that I, like those other neighbors, have the privilege to see different perspectives, to help many people and to experience personal growth.

And with that, I would like to announce that some changes are coming to this email and this website. You’ll get a bigger announcement about them in the coming days, but for now, watch for subtle changes. What won’t change is the roundup of news and here’s your dose of news and lessons for today:

News from North Carolina

A jacked-up, abandoned house in a prominent corner of downtown Greensboro could become a new law office and the next collaboration of our local colleges and universities, this time around student art projects.

Terry Wood will be Greensboro’s interim city attorney.

Ham’s Lakeside has closed. So has Forsyth County’s first winery. So could the Forsyth County Youth Detention Center,  but the county would still have to pay some group to handle juvenile detention.

Piedmont Grown held their third annual conference, bringing together local food producers and raising awareness of local food options throughout the Triad, as well as best practices for farming in the area.

Salem Lake Greenway users now have a better, safer detour for the 18 months that the main greenway will be closed for nearby construction.

The latest addition to the District 1 Guilford County Commissioners race could shake up both the school board and the board of commissioners if she wins.

All four of the schools in North Carolina named national schools of character are Guilford County Schools.

Triangle Transit is officially in the planning stages of the Durham-Orange light rail line.

The state’s commercial hog farms are facing a disease epidemic.

Publix makes its North Carolina début today.

News and Lessons from Everywhere Else

Lots of people in a city may be stressful, but they also help with innovation and creativity and overall happiness.

The American love affair with houses and cars, in graphs.

A Florida woman is ordered to get back on the grid, after she’s found to not be off the grid as much as she thought, at least with her water system.

Neighbors in New Orléans gathered to foil a robbery of a Banksy piece created there after Hurricane Katrina.

Surprising ways retiring Congressman John Dingell was good for the environment.

How religion has urbanized a county in Upstate New York.

Hollywood’s no longer the movie-making capital of the world. How California wants to get that crown back. Meanwhile, is San Francisco losing its soul?

And finally, more college groups are taking up the mantle of protest again, due to racial, class and other injustices found on their campuses.

Cities, Cityreads, Housing

Placebook: This Kind of Old, but Kind of Modern House

BobisTraveling Raleigh Modernist Home

Image Credit: Bobistraveling on Flickr

So what makes a house old? Does it become old when it becomes run down? Or is it old due to age. What age makes that house old?

Yesterday, I included a link to a home in a “historic” area of Raleigh, that was being built in a historic style, if you consider historic style the mid-century 20th modernism. Raleigh, thanks to the architecture school at NC State, was once a hotbed for several mid-century modern homes. North Carolina also has the third largest concentration of modernist homes in the country.

These homes, which may not have the symmetry and the elaboration of homes from earlier historical periods, possess in my opinion, more creativity and stability than many of the cookie-cutter, cheaply produced homes of the late 20th century. Yet, because many look odd and some are flat-out ugly, they are often at risk of going before the bulldozer. However, the folks at North Carolina Modernist Houses are doing their very best to keep the memory of some of and the studs of others alive.

I do want to mention that the folks in Raleigh  have valid concerns. When I was doing my undergrad at NC State, the neighborhoods north of campus began to see historic  matchbox homes of the postwar era be replaced by Tudors of the McMansion era, many which blocked sight vistas and triggered gentrification. At first I was appalled along with the neighbors. Yet, as Raleigh sprawls further and further out, I’d rather the folks with the big house build it close in, yet find a way to integrate with their neighbors not only in style, but in their own substance.

But I digress. Here’s today’s news.

News from North Carolina

We may have an operating agreement for the Tanger Center for the Performing Arts.

HomeGoods comes to Greensboro on March 9th.

Great to see the Little Free Libraries movement has come to the Triad. Would love to see them spread out though.

Has Greensboro’s housing market recovered? Homes.com seems to think we have made a full recovery.

Winston-Salem may raise city taxes.  Brunswick County will raise taxes.

No vote for cell towers in Forsyth County, but a new law on solar farms.

Wake County has changed their middle school math requirements.  How Asheville City Schools could handle the new tenure and pay mandate from the state.

DENR is testing fish in the Dan River, to see if they are edible.

A mobile grocer has stepped up to address the food desert in Southeast Raleigh.

Western Carolina University will demolish the fire-damaged former home of Subway and other smaller retailers.

The Charlotte City Council has voted for an Atlanta firm to handle airport valet services.

The Leland Town Council has banned gated communities.

Fayetteville’s city council has voted to extend the sewer system to several homes annexed with septic tanks. Also worth checking out, the Fayetteville Observer’s year-long series on solutions to crime in Fayetteville.

News and Lessons from Elsewhere

Europe is also dealing with issues surrounding abandoned homes and chronic homelessness.

Charleston has proof that public housing doesn’t have to be ugly or poorly kept.

Just because you get priced out of an area, doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your passion for its history and architecture.

Meanwhile, friend of the blog Scott Doyon has the best breakdown of gentrification I’ve seen, as someone who is traditionally considered a gentrifier, yet recognizes the worst sin of gentrification is not the raising of home values, but the decline of respect of those who were there and may have built the value in the first place.

And finally, last week I included a link on how much one would have to make to buy a home in DC. Here’s how much it would take in several other cities nationwide (note, the NYC numbers seem a bit low).

Cities, Cityreads, transit

Placebook: Alligning for Transit

TAP LOGO

Last week I mentioned going to Winston-Salem for a meeting. Well, that meeting was for the Transit Alliance of the Piedmont, a newish organization growing to provide a citizen advisory role to all of our regional transit systems. We are still working out what we will focus on, but the main goal is clear, we are here to push for better existing transit systems and new transit options throughout the Triad area. We will also keep people informed about current initiatives for transit systems. Follow us on Facebook to keep up with our initiatives and we welcome you at our next meeting. Look to that page or here on Placebook for more information about the date and time.

And now, the news:

News from North Carolina

The City of Greensboro is in need of a new city attorney.

The City of Greensboro is also accepting applications for the citizen’s committee to work with Self-Help Ventures on how to develop the Renaissance  Center.

The role of Greensboro’s women in preserving Blandwood.

Guilford County is taking a closer look at the tax valuations of downtown properties.

Raleigh City Council will start having pre-meeting work sessions, and they are looking for a new, probably digital, way to distribute their agendas and addendum.

A new home in Raleigh’s Historic Oakwood has neighbors and others debating whether or not it’s being built historic enough.

Durham has released an open-space plan for its downtown.

Volunteers have come together in Winston-Salem to restore its first black cemetery.

The Carolina Thread Trail is set to begin construction.

Downtown Wilmington business owners are optimistic for 2014.

North Carolina public school vouchers have been halted by a judge.

News and Lessons from Elsewhere

Should Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood be a historic district? Some are happy for the idea and others fear further gentrification.

The DC Metro Silver Line project is set to get a 1.9 billion federal loan to finish the line out to Dulles Airport.

Hotel lobbies are billing themselves as hangout spots, much like coffee shops and bars with happy hours.

The myth behind public school failure.

Essay, Family and Place, Rural

Love Outside the City (or at Least the City Block)

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If you read this on the Sunday morning upon which it made its appearance on the internet, I’m about to sit down next to my mom and my grandmother and my great-aunt, with a multitude of family in the midst and praise the Lord in the only way we can in an old country AME church about 30 miles southeast of my apartment.

It is here, at this expression of love, where I want to drop the mic on my love of place, at least for the month of February, as this is the last Sunday in February and the last chance I’ll have to drop an essay on love in this month.

Anyway, back to the country.  I used to hate it. It’s a running joke in my family how much I just “had to get back to Greensboro.” The knowledge that the skyline is nearby is so ingrained in my psyche, so meaningful, so centering for me, even now and especially as a young child. Also, in my mind, bugs only existed in our backyard and they were insane in the country. Oh, and no Nickelodeon and Sesame Street came in fuzzy sometimes. Yet, one night, after an impulse decision, I woke up for the first time to CBS This Morning and my grandmother’s southern breakfast, by choice. My dad came and got me not long after breakfast, but I survived and it was a good night.

The irony that presents when the last time I willingly spent the night at my MeMe’s was two days before I would get life changing news. Originally, my dad was going to drive me to the big adventure that awaited me on the other side of RDU Airport and the terminals of  LaGuardia. Yet, I decided to drive myself directly from MeMe’s, since the flight was early, we were all gathering for a pre-Memorial Day cookout and her house is just a bit closer to RDU.

I returned home from New York into another cocoon of family and to the bedroom I spent ages 14-18 and 23-26 in. That bedroom, while possessing a Greensboro address, is in a neighborhood laid out like the best of car-dependent suburbia. I needed that, as the next few days would be a blur of funeral arrangements and family members I hadn’t seen and church members I hadn’t seen and just a feeling of wondering what I would do without the person who first taught me the value of place. Yet, I remembered, I still had the parent that gave me the places we had to live in the first place.

Those of us who are professionals or semi-professionals or armchair quarterbacks at this urban and regional planning thing, whether we make million dollar lifestyle centers or we buy new paint for our cookie-cutter house at Home Depot, or we make a park out of a parking space and a few old small shipping crates, can sometimes get self-righteous about what form is the best.

I believe the best place form begins with love.  If I’d become completely anti-country or anti-suburbia, I’d miss out on the love of my own family. Yeah, I’d probably found new people who only hang out at the bars and art galleries of the central business district and its blocks, but would they have my roots? Would they always be there to wipe my tears and clean up my scrapes? And are these new people even worthy enough to bring home? Some are,  some aren’t.

As I bring this to a close, the only thing I can really say about what makes a place great, is the presence of love. May you find that in whatever shape your primary habitation is.

Cities, Cityreads, Retail

Placebook: My Friend Joe, the Trader

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Thanks to a meeting (more on that later) I swung by the Winston-Salem Trader Joe’s and stock up. Lately there has been much debate about the store, in both the local(including today’s cover story by the News and Record) and national press.  People don’t understand the appeal or what their logic is for store placement.

Well, for me what I like about the store is that it is small. Just like its corporate cousin Aldi, it only has exactly what you need. Secondly, it is affordable luxury. Third, even though prices may be a bit more, they have a better commitment to healthy foods and customer service. I’ve seen other stores start modeling stock and service after them, such that the mild sticker shock, as well as the introduction of new products doesn’t feel as weird.

The last thing I like (and what I think others should like too), is that they don’t have everything. And because they don’t have everything, that creates a balanced marketplace. This is where the gentrification critics get it wrong. Maybe in the old days, where the store was a full service operation and maybe for people who have adjusted their diet to the offerings of the store, would the store be the only place to shop and a threat to incomes and a draw of people with a higher tax base.

The retail problem that the critics cite is more of a symptom of the greater housing problems(and also the school and transit problems that those create) that have amassed for years. Worth a read, if you just skim over everything else today, is friend of the blog Daniel Hertz’s The Atlantic Cities article on gentrification and also the Ta-Nehesi Coates The Atlantic article he quotes on the ghetto as public policy. It illustrates how the creation of “desirable neighborhoods” and the classic restrictions on race have created an environment where the lack of or the presence of a retail outlet can send a neighborhood in a tailspin. If we had a market where all neighborhoods (stock wise) are equal and retailers saw the presence of housing units as a measure of success, then we would not have the retail issues we would have. Relative expense is also not a factor either, as many of the corner stores that still service what we consider food deserts, charge high prices for old fruit and other basic non-perishables.

Nevertheless, we need to start chipping away again at housing and education policy if we want retail to follow suit and be a better citizen. And now a few more links:

News from North Carolina

So you can peruse them on your own, here are the public records of all the exchanges between the City of Greensboro and the International Civil Rights Center and  Museum.

The Guilford County Commissioners questioned added expenses to school repair costs at their meeting last night.

Forsyth County Commissioners will consider new rules on cell towers in established neighborhoods at their meeting on Monday night. The public hearing on the issue starts at 6 p.m.

The City of Winston-Salem has scheduled two gun buyback events for March 15 and April 12.

The average unemployment benefit for North Carolinians has fallen by 15.8%.

The State DMV has been sued over the voter id requirement, citing problems for people with disabilities. Also ,the state computer system for public schools is having issues.

RDU Airport’s Terminal 1 reopening has been delayed due to the winter weather. The terminal will open sometime in early March.

News and Lessons from Elsewhere

Why we are at “Peak Walmart.”

Where exactly does the east side of Los Angeles begin?

When parking tickets force you to put a name and a definition on your romantic relationship.

Trees are moving as temperature zones move.

A primer on “lean urbanism.”

Why many freeways, despite efforts to get rid of them, are here to stay.

And finally, the Project for Public Spaces presents, “What Makes a Successful Place?”

Cities, Cityreads, urbanism

Placebook: Where Everybody Knows Your Name

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Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got. 
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. 
Wouldn’t you like to get away? 
Sometimes you want to go 
Where everybody knows your name, 
and they’re always glad you came. 
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows 
Your name. 
You wanna go where people know, 
people are all the same, 
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.- Theme from Cheers (Everybody Knows Your Name)

Last evening I went to the bar in Greensboro that puts me in the mood of Cheers the most, Grey’s Tavern. Because I’m a little younger, the bar’s really a mashup of Cheers and McClarens. Nonetheless the sentiment is the same, around the table, everyone knew my name and old friends were in town to hang out. We lost trivia, but we continued to build that notion of community that transcends a particular place.

And now the news:

News from North Carolina

The head of the NC Biotechnology Center, who was pivotal in building the biotech industry in North Carolina, along with serving as a state senator and secretary of three state departments, will retire.

Google Fiber could come to both Charlotte and the Triangle Region within the year.

Walmart Neighborhood Market will be coming to Quaker Village in Greensboro. This will dramatically change the look of the shopping center, along with bringing grocery back to that side of the Guilford College area.

Despite several interesting campaign contributions, Greensboro councilwoman Sharon Hightower is committed to not being a play-to-play councilperson.

The Guilford Nonprofit Consortium has a new director, who is local and has had years of prior service to the nonprofit and social service community in Guilford County.

Students and faculty on UNCG’s campus walked out in protest of several campus issues.

News and Lessons from Everywhere Else

Today in cool furniture, a 3D printer that’s large enough to print furniture and a bike rack with a courtesy shelf.

This author talks about breaking up from Austin with an unexpected twist of which I can relate.

Awesome photos of the subway construction in Manhattan.

Many of us have probably not thought about Mumbai slums since Slumdog Millionaire, but thanks to Kaid Benfield, we should pay a little more attention again.

How the government shutdown affected DC Metro service.

What Silicon Valley could look like if everyone lived on site at several major employers.

Cities, Cityreads, Government

Placebook: Who Doesn’t Pay Their Taxes and Sign Their Checks?

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Governments have a lot of financial leeway in this country. So do companies. And so do major nonprofit entities. Nothing illustrates that principle better than observing the latest news out of the City of Greensboro. Governing magazine has a nice synopsis of what the initial financial costs are when cities go bankrupt, which Greensboro is nowhere near. Many citizens, especially those who are in the middle class and are paying lots of income taxes,  do fear that we are not generating enough tax revenue and that their taxes are going to the wrong place. And often  cities that put themselves in bad financial situations, often do so thinking they are helping out taxpayers and other entities that come to them for money.

In the past week, the city of Greensboro has learned that the International Civil Rights Museum and Center, which was lent money after prior financial troubles,failed to sign the checks that were given, yet still received the money that the city promised to them. In addition, the organization has been in constant internal turmoil and is constantly on the wrong side of public opinion when it comes to what our cities should spend money on. There are also other human relations elements that I won’t touch on here, but clearly appear to be issues of rooted in the idea that some things just aren’t worth spending money on, especially if they continue to fail.

Yet, would this really be a problem if the city had other funds besides tax revenue? What if companies paid their fair share of taxes? The News and Record also presented an analysis of where the majority of people in Greensboro and High Point, the two largest cities in Guilford County, work. It also revealed that many of these organizations, while major revenue generators from services and providers of good steady salaries, only pay payroll taxes and don’t pay income, sales or property taxes. And yes, this is legal because they are either government entities themselves (the public K-12 school system,  the public university system, the government administration) independent nonprofit universities,  or other nonprofit service organizations and health care providers, many which are still under a nonprofit structure because they provide public services and goods that at one time were not major income generators.

Yet, these entities, especially the colleges and the hospitals have grown to become multimillion dollar industries that rival the old guard companies of development and manufacturing. Cities tout their eds and meds (along with tourist entities such as the Civil Rights Museum above) as being drivers of economic growth, but they never do so in the form of income, sales and property tax.

This is why so much emphasis has been made of bringing back big corporations that generate massive tax rates. Yet, as we have seen nationwide, that doesn’t always mean they pay taxes. Sometimes we can only hope that city governments take the proper responsibility and correct their mistakes, as the City of Greensboro did in other council votes on Tuesday night, along with allowing the citizen-funded and driven effort to create the Renaissance Co-Op to go forward, by beginning the process of selling the shopping center to Self-Help Ventures, a nonprofit committed to and successful with creating co-op entities throughout the state.

And now our other news:

Other News from North Carolina

Many thanks to Matt Lail for his awesome letter to Raleigh and finding inspiration in the one I wrote to Greensboro a few days ago. 

The first Raleigh comprehensive plan report to the city is live.

What the Dan River looks like now. Thankfully, Duke Energy customers like myself won’t be paying for the spill.

Greensboro is a finalist to host the National Folk Festival.

News and Lessons from Everywhere Else

Common sense ,but worth repeating, all building projects should consider safety first. 

Spain is considering becoming more of a 9-to-5 country.

While the Washington Post may have backed away from calling him a white man in its headline, Jack Evans is on his second attempt to become DC’s first elected white mayor. 

A great analysis of how sounds can be racialized and how that was a factor in the recent Jordan Davis case. Another analysis on all the recent killings of black children throughout the country.

A historic home where one of the first black attorneys and judges in the county lived is in danger of demolition and further decay.

While we are critical of large parking lots, they still have major potential as public spaces when emptied of their cars and sometimes with the cars in them.

And finally, a cute baby elephant in India fell into a hole near a railroad track. He was saved.