Category Archives: Cities

Placebook: Here’s to Being a Walmart Town

Walmart store in Chicago's West Loop by Flickr user Ifmuth

Walmart store in Chicago’s West Loop by Flickr user Ifmuth

Yes, Joe the Trader is still my friend. Why? Because he has good cookies.

My silliness notwithstanding, the decision made yesterday by Trader Joe’s to not invest in Greensboro for the second time is not surprising. Honestly, it’s not the politics that I feel drove them away. It’s the inability to take risks. Stores like that, you know, the ones that have cheapish stuff, but a somewhat upscale atmosphere, I believe are only taking advantage of what they think youth or boomers with disposable income or some other magical unicorn person will buy and will buy repeatedly. Unfortunately, magical unicorns tend to not have strong political views or bank accounts that hover around or appear to hover around zero. Stores that don’t take risks don’t like cleaning up old parking lots or making sure even the folks who carry EBT cards have the opportunity to have shiny electronics or even just basic food items.

Walmart, however, goes directly after that market. We talk about the exploitation that they do, but there’s a degree of exploitation in the pretty but cheap store market too. They exploit the emotions of those of us who make just enough to spend at least $50-100 at Target each month, 60% of the cart being non-food items that may or may not be adult toys or pure junk. They make us feel better as a town when they show up promising more Salted Caramel Chocolate cookies for cheap. They allow us to buy more clothes, even though those clothes fall apart at the end of the season.

But back to Walmart. Not only have they gone into the High Point Road area and thrived, they are now going into Quaker Village, the one place many of us privately wanted Trader Joes to go, had they been willing to spend the funds to revamp the shopping center like the Walmart. But Walmart is the world’s largest retailer, so if it fails, then it’s no big deal. These other retailers, they aren’t as big as we think. Ask Harris Teeter. Yes, the bigwigs got golden parachutes in their deal with Kroger, but everyone else and the name itself took a hit. If it weren’t for Kroger understanding the impact of the name on the market, then there’s just one more “luxury” name gone away.

I think the lesson learned here is that sometimes, it doesn’t matter what your name is or what your perception is as a store. At the end of the day, it’s all about the bottom line, customers are just props to be lured in like the Pied Piper, with colorful patterned displays and cheap wine.

Just my two cents. After the word from our sponsors, other news:

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News from North Carolina

The Greensboro City Council has approved an operating agreement for the performing arts center, allowing the project to move forward.

How the ban on electronic devices at the Guilford County Courthouse is working, one month into the new regulation.

A profile of Bounce U, one of the successful businesses at Quaker Village being replaced by the new Walmart.

A newly formed committee in Wilmington will debate which road projects are worthy for a proposed $250 million dollar bond referendum.

Charlotte police are trying a more holistic and caring approach to the homeless community in the Uptown area. Additionally, several Charlotte businesses are still accepting Bitcoins.

Winston-Salem home prices are rising.

Raleigh City Council has officially started having lunchtime meetings. They are only work sessions though and not visible or open to the public.

This conversation is really about the media climate in the RTP area, but it’s really an oral history of RTP in the last ten years by a Durham native.

Buncombe County Commissioners have approved funding for the next iteration of Asheville Moogfest.

Asheville will fix the sidewalks in front of their Trader Joes and a new Harris Teeter.

Prompted by the Seeking Safety series by the Fayetteville Observer, the City of Fayetteville is cleaning up problematic properties.

News and Lessons from Elsewhere

Could Las Vegas reinvent car ownership?

Can Philly successfully combat gentrification with tax rate changes? Governing‘s analysis of the issue takes it beyond black and white. A perspective on it from a San Francisco fair housing leader.

Where it’s the hardest for the poor to make rent. These are the most expensive cities in the world (and NYC is not one of them).

Nashville really, really doesn’t want bus rapid transit.

Why Sweeden has fewer road deaths.

A reflection as Ross Capon steps down from running the National Association for Railroad Passengers.

What Walmart does when it commits to building urban.

And finally, do you agree that these are the things you learn from growing up in the South?

Placebook: That Perfect Restaurant

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

What makes up your perfect restaurant? Is it all about good food or good atmosphere? Do the waiters, bartenders or folks behind the counter know your name? Is it that one dish that keeps you coming back for more?

Well, my perfect restaurant (which of course doesn’t really exist) sits about 500 feet from my house. I do have one of those in Dame’s Chicken and Waffles and they have pretty good food too, especially their macaroni and cheese, which is the one menu item my perfect restaurant must have. They also play jazz music, which besides a mixture of blues, classic rock (think Steely Dan), black gospel from the 1980s, 90s and 2000s pop music and of course anything from the Motown catalog makes up my perfect restaurant playlist. Add to the menu Pancakes so I can alternate my breakfast game, topped of course with warm maple syrup. And cookies, lots of gourmet cookies. Oh and ice cream, Mellow Mushroom’s Kosmic Karma pizza so I don’t have to walk the additional 1100 feet and a Five Guys cheeseburger with mustard and ketchup so I don’t have to drive two miles and the sushi from Raleigh’s Sushi Republic so I don’t have to drive 90 minutes. And how could I forget some calabash shrimp and croaker. (Some people think the North Carolina state dish should be chopped barbecue. I’d go with calabash seafood).

Of course, if the perfect restaurant existed, it would be Target large and there would be no need for the wonderful strips like Elm Street that force people to take evening strolls, be adventurous and experience different foods and atmospheres. In other words, there wouldn’t be such a thing as a vibrant place.

Oh well, here’s your news for today:

News from North Carolina

Today is council meeting day in Greensboro. Here’s your agenda. As always, it starts at 5:30 at the Melvin Municipal Building at the corner of Washington and Greene Streets. Parking is free after 5 in the Greene Street parking deck. For those who can’t make it, video streaming is here and the hashtag #gsopol on Twitter has highlights as well.

In other city and county government news: Greensboro Councilman Jamal Fox has been cleared to teach again at NC A&T; the City of Greensboro fined property owners for housing code violations; the City of High Point is hiring outside legal help to deal with a grievance against its city manager; High Point may or may not have a county commissioner next year; Asheville’s in the hunt to find a cure for its graffiti vandalism; 5.7 million dollars of taxes are due in New Hanover County; and Harnett County hires an economic development planner.

In education news today, the Asheville City Board of Education approves their version of the state’s new 25 percent plan. Meanwhile Wake and Durham Counties plan to join the fight against the new plan.

The major business and retail news today comes from the potential RJ Reynolds/Lorillard merger, which may help Winston-Salem and hurt Greensboro (This is on top of the news that RF Micro Devices may merge with an out-of-state company). Additionally in retail news people say goodbye to the original Ollie’s Bakery in Winston-Salem and Westbend Vineyards in Lewisville; North Carolina founded and headquartered BB&T is now the nation’s 12th largest bank; Lincoln County’s largest subdivision ever has been approved and the Trader Joes supporters signs in Greensboro may be too big.

In tourism and travel news, Biltmore is back to being the top tourist destination in North Carolina, the CIAA tournament will stay in Charlotte for the next six years, the economic impact of our state’s national parks and Governor McCrory honored this year’s Winner’s Circle, those who’ve impacted state tourism the most.

News and Lessons from Elsewhere

New York is starting to impose North Carolina-style laws on its gentleman’s clubs.

Airport chaplains are there for more than just prayers, they are often the most civil employees or volunteers in the airport.

Another nice infographic on what could happen if all boomers behave like their parents and sell off their suburban homes.

Friend of the page Graham Sheridan’s latest, where he highlights what happens when Olympic cities and properties are abandoned. A colleague of his at the Brown Political Review notes that marrying someone like yourself may be bad for curing income inequality.

DC has committed funding to bury its power lines over the next 7-10 years.

This is a phenomenal list of how to come into a neighborhood and be a good neighbor and not just a person who jacks up house values.

This apartment building in Philly actually has mixed income housing.

And finally, a short reminder to some and lesson to all about how the mass grocery business really works, from Marketplace on NPR. Also, what it is like to be stranded in Atlanta’s food deserts.

 

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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?”

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.

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.