Category Archives: Cities

Cities, Cityreads, urbanism, walking

Reflections on the Fifth Anniversary of the Black Urbanist, from Kristen

Reflections on the 5th Anni of the Black Urbanist from Kristen

I am Kristen Jeffers. I call myself the Black Urbanist.

I started doing so five years ago today (October 16, 2010), because I felt like not enough conversations on the built environment, on civic spaces, on transportation, were actually including people like me (Black, young, woman, cisgender, straight, U.S. Southeastern, Christian) in conversations as a participant in the process of creating and building infrastructure. If you hear about me, it’s because I’m the main person using your Section 8 housing or because of my college degree and birth year. Or, I’m your gentrifier and your cash cow to make your development legacy different from your father’s.

It’s still a necessary conversation. Every day I read articles that highlight the disparities of different groups of people, that argue for and against actual integration and common community development. House prices are rising. People are dying on their own blocks and stoops because the police (and some neighbors) don’t think they belong there. Jobs are disappearing. Even among our own ranks of development professionals, we don’t always come together and when we do, those rooms aren’t always diverse in thought and body. Plus, there’s the idea that unless you are plopping money down or employed by a government or nonprofit entity that helps the neighborhood, you don’t matter when it comes to what you think about the neighborhoods and your metro (or rural) region.

I will admit that I don’t write as much as I could or speak as much as I could about these things. I’ll also admit that I don’t like my car and I need better sidewalks and bike lanes and heck, places to go in a 5 minute radius so I don’t feel compelled to jump in my car to go everywhere. I am starting to do my part in the resources/affordability/community-making exchange, though. I’m learning how to cook more and save money. I walk to work many days. I walk to the stores and restaurants we do have in our community. When I travel, I use transit, other people’s bikeshares and I walk there as well.

Yet, when I started this page, I did it to not become the absolute authority on urbanism. I did it not to slam rural life or actual small cities and towns that aren’t just appendages created on bigger cities to make people feel  better about themselves by choosing their perfect neighbors and schools and allowing them room to flaunt their relative wealth, admittedly in the early days courtesy of government grants and provisions. (I know that was a long one, let me breathe for a second).

I did this so I could make sense of the things I observe on a daily basis. I did this as my way of helping people, to extend out my life calling of making communities stronger and better.

I don’t have all the answers. I don’t have all the right answers. I certainly don’t have all the “token _________” answers and ONLY those answers. I have so many more questions.

In that spirit of five years of writing, speaking and talking to people about these ideas casually and formally, plus the fact that this is what you do on milestone anniversaries, I’m going to spend the next few weeks drilling down on my philosophies on various areas of development and life of which I think we need to pay attention.

Many of you have been reading for years. Others of you are new to the site. I, as this is my life’s work, and as I’ve gone through various transitions and examinations of who I am as a person, want to clarify how I practice community and economic development.

I also want to talk to you more, in different channels. On Tuesdays, you’ll get what I call the classic TBU experience. I drop a post or email and I share that information throughout the day (and you share it too!) On Wednesdays, I’ll be coming to you in an audio format, at the very least live on Periscope or Google Hangout or both and in a few weeks, recorded or live podcasts with various other planning and development leaders.

There will be breaks for holidays. There will be a season, like I’m producing a media program (which this is) and hopefully, you’ll be inviting me out or I’ll be attending the various conferences and gatherings that go on throughout the year.

Oh and my first book is still for sale and I’m working on a second! Details forthcoming about what that’s about and how to get it. I can sincerely promise that it will be easier to get you hands on book 2. But for now, here’s book 1.

I’m so excited to get back to blogging and writing, which is the core of my planning and development practice. I’m looking forward to talking to all of you and enjoy your Friday!

(Also for those of you who have sent guest posts in the past, I’m not doing any right now and I apologize for not making that clearer on my blog or in any correspondence).

And finally, if you don’t get my emails, make sure you do so right here.

Cities, Cityreads, Essay, Family and Place, Greensboro, Kansas City, transit, Transportation, urbanism, walking

From an Ambassador to Kansas City (Excerpt from Triad City Beat Fresh Eyes Column)

From an Ambassador to Kansas City

 

Roughly six weeks ago, after loading almost all of my worldly possessions into a moving truck, relatives helped me pack the rest into two cars and we departed our southwest Greensboro home at about 5 a.m., navigating the freeways past my father’s gravesite at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, on a hill created due to the cutting in of new highway.

Within an hour, I’d left the Triad. In roughly 48 more, I’d have wound my way in the caravan through six states and the entire length of Missouri, where I would disembark Interstate 70 into my new home: Kansas City…

How could I leave a city that supplied me endless Biscuitville, cupcakes worth standing in line for at Maxie B’s and food served at establishments owned by families of folks I considered friends, colleagues and classmates? Where not just one, but two fellow young black professionals are sitting on its city council? That, along with Winston-Salem, does festivals like no other (seriously, if you’re coming into town for the National Folk Festival, you will learn).

It’s simple. One must see that the grass they sometimes think is brown is really always green.

Head over to read the rest on the Triad City Beat website.

Thanks again guys for another chance to help you guys “sell” papers. If you are in the Triad area, or close enough to drive, pick up a print copy. They are free. If you have a business, they could use your advertising as well.

Commons, Greensboro, malls, Market, Raleigh, Retail, suburbs

The Lost Corners of Suburbia

The Lost Corners of Suburbia

Belk at Four Seasons Mall
IHOP on Hillsborough Street
Two Guys Pizza on Hillsborough Street
Wachovia at Spring Valley Plaza

All these things used to be on the corner of something. All these places are places I made memories in. All of these places are gone or soon to be gone in their current forms. Many of these places are examples of bad architecture, shadinesss of patrons and big conglomerate corporations that increasingly only care about the dollars of these patrons, not their feelings.

Yet, these and many other dead malls and outparcels and big boxes and downtown storefronts are now gone.

As I’ve prepared to move halfway across the country, and as my hometown and college town begin to make major changes, I’ve started documenting what some may think are mundane, ugly parts of physical space. After all, when I come back to Greensboro, Gate City Boulevard will be the official address of so many things, not just changed street signs. That corner of Hobbs and Friendly might be clear-cut. I want to remember things as they were, because change is inevitable.

And about that corner of Hobbs and Friendly. People are mourning the change of that corner for different reasons. What was once five homes, homes that held families and memories, could soon be the Trader Joe’s that we’ve been begging for years. The one that I’m still on the fence about wanting to come to town for this very reason. (Let me add that now that I’ve had the goat cheese and sun-dried tomato ravioli and I swear by the Maple Pecan Granola Cereal they make, I’m sold on them for more than just cookies).

Sadly though, it’s a lost corner. Lost in the sense that the use of it is changing and memories of the corner are gone.

Yet, there will be new memories right? Some new homes are going on the property. I’m sure one will be the first home of a baby, who will grow up to recount their childhood days walking across the street to Trader Joes on one side and to see Santa at Christmas and to pick out their first bike at REI.

Much in the same way I’ll tell stories about my first visits to the carousel at  Carolina Circle Mall, Belk at Four Seasons, the map store at Cotton Mill Square, the toy store with the cool trains at Forum IV, the Chic-fil-A at Holly Hill Mall, Marvin’s on Hillsborough Street, the soon to be old IHOP on Hillsborough Street.

This post owes a debt to all the many suburban retail nostalgia blogs and Facebook pages out there. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, for those of us who grew up in suburbia or a Southern city that mimics what those in other regions consider suburbia, these were our places.

Our corners.

The lost corners.

Commons, Greensboro, Sports

Five Ways to Do Urban Stadiums and Arenas Right

5 Ways to Do Urban Stadiums and Arenas Right- Kristen Jeffers-www.theblackurbanist.com

 

A major battle going on in placemaking circles is that of sports teams and sports venues. How should they be financed? Should they be in open fields or should they take up blocks of downtown districts? What happens to the displaced homeowners and renters? What happens when they fall into disrepair? Who should pay for them and the amenities that they draw, such as hotels, restaurants and even permanent housing and other amusement activities?

In this post, in the continued spirit of March Madness, I’m going to outline my relationship ideas for sports facilities and cities .

Be multipurpose

There are a lot of stadiums built for more than one thing. Lucas Oil Stadium is a Super Bowl site, a NCAA Final Four site and according to its website, also hosts high-school proms. What makes that great is that under the multipurpose model, especially in the era of the retractable roof, you could have one pro stadium.

Yes, depending on how many sports, multi-use would require creative scheduling. Even if you need two or three sports venues, put them on the same ground. That way, you could cluster all your sports and build an entertainment district, and also provide a major transit link, for a lower land cost. There was a pattern of multi-use stadiums in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Good to see some of that still with the new retractable roof models.

Work with the surrounding areas to create and maintain a neighborhood

One of the saddest films I watched when I was in grad school was one on how the people near Brooklyn’s then-proposed Atlantic Yards (now known as Pacific Park) development, home of the Barclays Center, were losing their homes. The few supporters who were African-American and poor seemed lured in by the promise of jobs,  jobs that may or may not pay enough to make a living on and to afford a new apartment in the expensive Brooklyn that was emerging around them.

The history of the area around the yard speaks of hundreds of years of debate, proposals and actions around what should go on the land. Because the majority of the land is a rail yard and a major one at that, various businessmen have wanted to develop it and the municipal leaders of New York have wanted to create a “true downtown district” where so many rail connections are. However, due to the Great Depression and other economic effects, the area became less valuable to the city and other developers and homeowners moved in. Yet, the city and other major power brokers never gave up on wanting the land. It’s a continued battle, but the arena is now open, and some of the new condos are under construction.

Yet, I believe that if you want to build an arena, you can do so in a way and in an area that doesn’t automatically mean condemned homes, acres of parking lot, and unreasonable fantasies (or in the case of Madison Square Garden, the loss of classical architecture and a necessary city function).

While not a perfect example, the Greensboro Coliseum still exists within the realm of the surrounding neighborhood. There are a handful of restaurants nearby and the neighborhood is still a working class neighborhood, but with a clean, safe supermarket, drug store and library nearby. I’m going to pause here, because my own coliseum helps us illustrate another point.

Turn a profit and use those profits to reinvest, not subsidies from your government

The Greensboro Coliseum makes money. Because it’s an entertainment complex and serves that multipurpose function I mentioned in the first section, it’s a city-owned enterprise that generates revenue for itself. Its director makes six figures, mainly because he turns a profit. Did I mention this is a city-owned enterprise?.

The revenues also allow it to constantly maintain an upgraded appearance and various revenue-generating activities to take place in the parking lot.

Other cities can do this as well, if they are smart about booking seats, exhibitions, performers and the like that will help their arenas and stadiums make a profit. While not every stadium project guarantees a fan base, if your team is already selling out your current arena, that’s a great place to start. Even better if there are multiple teams using the space. Then, if you are in the middle of your state or region, or have good public transit connections, you can attract other events to your property.

The key here is keeping it simple. Yes, luxury boxes are nice, but how many of those really pay for the millions, sometimes billions, that go into modern stadiums? Do people who operate these facilities not see the potential in making concessions money and paying off their bonds that way? Will banks not lend to these facilities as stand alone facilities, not ones that are dependent on taxpayer largess?

Essentially, if you are in a larger, centrally located, densely developed location, with proper provisions for traffic and transit, you can and should consider an arena or stadium project. If you think this will put your city on the map, please don’t, it won’t. People attend conventions based off a city’s reputation, and sports games based on winning records. If all you have are major performers, then stick with a large auditorium or an amphitheater.

Do use the facility as justification for public transit, affordable housing and other public services

Although the ultimate Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park proposal mandated affordable housing and other community services , there are questions about what affordability means. Globally, construction costs and land values have made rents and base home prices rise.

Meanwhile, if you are getting tons of revenue from your entertainment venue, consider a massive subsidy for housing on the property. Deck your parking and build homes with a mix of incomes there. Or if you can’t get housing, put offices and restaurants there, with lower rents to allow for more small business and start-up venues.

Or, if you insist on having the massive surface parking lot, rent it out as a park-and-ride lot when no events are there. Greensboro Coliseum’s spare parking lot is a park and ride for UNC Greensboro. Without that permit, I wouldn’t have had guaranteed campus parking for my first year of graduate school.

Also, with your lot as a park-and-ride and the potential for such, building it in a way that allows for the entertainment venue, the homes (and people who don’t mind living near what could be a nuisance) and the parking lot could be a driver for a major transit hub.

Know how to shut it down or make it something else

The Urban Land Institute just released a study of how Houston’s now-unused Astrodome can connect with public transportation, house a historical museum, become the city’s next park and a host of other adaptive reuse and even event uses. In years past, an empty stadium would be a liability. In today’s web-driven, crowdfunded entertainment industry, people are always looking for venue.

For example, the Station to Station project, a corporate-sponsored private train that took artists and musicians across the country in September 2013, used such places as a historic hotel’s outdoor courtyard, a large trackside parking lot, an old drive-in movie theater, and the grounds of an abandoned former train station as performance venues.

Price that older venue, as a value, then it will always be filled and turn as much of a profit as your old stadium. Do not use this as an excuse to build a new stadium when demand is not there.

If the stadium out lives it’s value, tear it down or sell it to someone else with no shame. If the stadium still has value, don’t give into people who think a new stadium will some how be better, when that stadium will have to make millions to pay for itself over time.

Conclusions

In short, it comes down to this: provide sports and entertainment venues. They are great opportunities for public-private partnership and to leverage private investment to serve public purposes, as long as the local government plans carefully and follows through on its plans. Create a fair taxing structure or encourage a billionaire to come in and pay for it. Keep it working and build it well the first time to save on future maintenance costs.

Make it fit in to the urban fabric, close to transit and with bars and restaurants a short walk away, and don’t give in to unreasonable parking demands. Push for affordable housing and major transit improvements, along with other infrastructure that will not only benefit the facility, but also the entire city .

You can still be an urbanist and support an arena. You just have to do it in the right way.

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Cities, March Madness, Sports, transit

How to Make a Men’s NCAA Basketball Bracket, if You Are a Tobacco Road Urbanist

Sports build community. From pride-of-their-suburb Little League teams, to pulse-of-their-city World Series pendant holders to that proud handful of farmhouses who raised that NASCAR driver, sports makes a community.

I grew up in a pre-Carolina Panthers, original Charlotte Hornets, retiring Richard Petty, saying hello to Stormy, but never to a Major League Baseball team of it’s own, Greensboro, NC (also known as Tournament Town).

There were these two mystery Coke (and yes, they were actually Coca-Cola) cans in the hall closet next to my bedroom door. One of them looked normal enough, it was bright red and had white lettering. It did have a wolf-head, and the words National Champions 1983 on them. Clearly, that wasn’t so normal. The other one was bright blue and nobody’s soda came in a bright blue can. The ram’s head and the 1982 national championship it honored wasn’t that weird.

I tried being a NASCAR fan for five seconds. No lasting interest in watching cars go around a track. Baseball’s just so much better in person, plus, our beloved Grasshoppers are really the benchwarmers for the Miami Marlins. Too many degrees of separation.

The Charlotte professional men’s basketball team should have never stopped being the Hornets. Major League Soccer shouldn’t give up on us. Having your football team see the inside of a Super Bowl isn’t too shabby though and hockey’s decent. However, I much rather be at the PNC Arena when the normal HVAC system is operating and I can yell out Wolf and be met with a resounding Pack.

And when your arch rivals are only a few miles away, but still get major airplay on ESPN, this is how you choose your favorite sport. I’m a proud alumna of N.C. State University. That is how I chose my team.

And so bracket time is like my Super Bowl. In the weeks leading up to the Big Dance, I’m dancing around my TV at home, watching all the conference tournaments. I’m paying more attention to games when I’m out at networking socials at bars. I’m wearing red, lots of red. And I’m more than ready to make more than one bracket and explain to you why I did.

However this year, bracket building is too simplistic. After all, it’s about predicting the winners right? Under that logic your bracket should just read KENTUCKY and nothing else. My alma matter is in this year (and in in a decent space) and that version of my bracket reads NC STATE in all caps.

So I decided to put my urbanist hat on and be creative for my third and most serious bracket. Introducing the 2015 Kristen Jeffers- The Black Urbanist NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Bracket:

Click here to get the whole thing, in a legible size.

Things you need to remember about this bracket:

  • Transit and connectivity win over-all
  • North Carolina cities/towns are the next winners, because I’m going to rep my home state
  • N.C State will win its division, because it’s my own school and I love Raleigh
  • I counted suburban schools as part of their major metro area (Villanova, Maryland, etc.)
  • The First Four get no real stake in this bracket
  • Wisconsin is actually good, and could win. Madison is also good, but not as connected as a region

I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts and seeing your picks. Also, please take some time and watch the ladies basketball tournament. No picks on that side. I just like watching them play.

Check this post out on Medium!

Cities, Heart, planning

The Game of Life Plans (and City Planning)

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Lately I’ve been playing a ton of board games and doing puzzles. Granted, who hasn’t received a note from a friend asking them to play some sort of online puzzle game on Facebook. And yes, you can politely say no. Unless you see some benefit, like I did back a few years ago when I played Cityville to examine its merits for urban planning.

Yet, what’s really changed my game (pun intended), has been playing board games in real life. I’ve gone to board game socials with friends.

Bertucci’s hot coco at the DC Scrabble Meetup on January 14, 2015. Photo by the author.

I’ve helped my mom put a puzzle together in our living room.

Yes, we eventually found “Nemo”. Photo by the author.

I’ve also downloaded a word search app that’s not that much different than doing word searches in paper books.

These activities, along with my running Scrabble and Words with Friends virtual games have helped me to see how game theory affects the world of planning and development.

Anyone who remembers LIFE and Monopoly, knows that your fate is centered on the roll of dice or spin of a wheel. This is what a lot of people feel in real life, especially those who hope to win charter school lotteries, get a job they applied for to start making a paycheck, or rent or own a home. That their lives are really up to chance.

That’s especially pointed on the LIFE board. Even if your opponent skipped college and got a lesser job card, they could make up for it by picking the highest salary card. Even if you got the highest salary, you could hit the midlife crisis space and end up losing that card. Essentially, you could be a doctor that makes $25,000 playing with an entertainer that skipped college, with the required $40,000 debt, making $70,000. Even if you retired at Millionaire Estates, the entertainer could retire at Countrywide Acres and still do better than you, winning the game.

Meanwhile on the Monopoly board, you could roll the dice and buy all the utilities and everything on the third side of the board. You know, those properties that aren’t worth as much, but they collect a lot in rent as people tend to land on them more than they land on the fourth side high-end properties. More fair right? You’re a mini developer mogul with lots of hotels! But that could again be your opponent instead of you. You could go to jail after only purchasing Mediterranean Avenue. Yes, you still get your money and you get out eventually, but in the meantime, your opponent is buying up more properties and making much more money.

In real life we used to think this was just a poor people (and people of color) problem, but for anyone trying to buy homes and get jobs in New York, San Fransisco or Washington D.C. and their surrounding areas, it again may feel like you are at the mercy of the wheel you spin, even if you have the “right” amount of money or cultural background.

Yet, just like life, there are more board games and paths than Monopoly and LIFE when it comes to modeling how to make a living. In fact, maybe your life is more like Scrabble and Words with Friends. Then you might really feel like the tiles are stacked against you. You might have a wonderful, high scoring word, but nowhere to connect it. Your friends in these games might have the X, J or Z (or all three) and can then control the board. You get stuck with all consonants and no vowels. You are left to make the best of what you do have. Oh and we can’t forget placement. Who hasn’t screamed at the 40 point three-letter word, strategically placed on both a double letter and a triple word (that also happens to have a Z).

Or, your life could just be a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle waiting to be put together. All the pieces are already there for you, you just have to be patient as as they all fall into place.

Again, this is still about planning and development. The primer above was just so you, as the planner or developer, could remember how people actually make the decision to buy your house, ride your train or go to the school you placed near their house.

And when it comes to planning and development, we want people to feel like their lives are jigsaw puzzles. Figureoutable. Pieceable. Assembled. Yet, the worst feel their world is a Scrabble board or maybe a Monopoly board, with the wrong letters or properties.

Having homes at multiple income levels, multiple forms of transportation, schools that provide connectivity to different subjects and occupations, stores and restaurants with a variety of food, clothing and other accessories of life, and variety period in all things, makes a community real. Then it feels less like a game of winners and losers and more like a life that allows for growth, change and learning.

Consider what kind of community you are planning for and make sure your citizens aren’t pawns in an impossible game.

This post is also up on Medium. Recommend it there and share with your friends.

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DC, placemaking

From the Census: The Actual Numbers of Educated Black Young Folks

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! 

 

Educated Young Black Folks infographic

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.

Charlotte, nablopomo, urbanism

Are There Really No Things to Do for Young Black Professionals in North Carolina

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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 Chicken and Waffles in Greensboro, NC. Photo by Kristen E. Jeffers
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. 

Oh, and I’m Kristen. I started blogging here to make sense of the built environment around me. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can find out more about me at my main website, www.kristenejeffers.com.. Support my work on Patreon.

 

DC, gentrification, urbanism

Letting Ourselves Go

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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.

I’ve written before on the content of character, as it comes to our places. I’ve asked the question about who owns the corner store and found that it doesn’t matter who owns the stores, it matters what the people do with said stores. And yes, because I do subscribe to some new urbanism, I do believe design is a factor. But it comes in with cleanliness of stores, safety of infrastructure (can you cross that street without being mowed down, on foot?), and commitment to know and trust your neighbors. Oh and even though I wish that we could have a lazy urbanism that doesn’t require voting, it’s just not possible, because we thrive on democracy.

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.

 

Bookcation, DC, Greensboro, Staunton

Down from the Mountain, A Dispatch from Bookcation

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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.

Have a great day!