Charlotte Blue Line Train arrives at the Archdale station. Photo Credit: Kristen Jeffers
Cue John Coltrane’s Blue Train. The news I’m most excited about today is that construction for the Charlotte light-rail Blue Line extension is set to start in March. As you can already guess, I’m a big believer in the benefits of rail. Yes, it costs, but having all workable modes of transportation operable in your city opens your city up to more investment and allows more people to commute to jobs, visit amenities and visit other places.
And with that, let’s visit some other places with more news:
This boat gets it right, at least for what’s outside my window. Image Credit: Flickr user ChoudHound under Creative Commons.
As the rain trickles down and the fog forms on another Greensboro day, I realized that yesterday I forgot a major shoutout. My friend Dr. Rodney Harrell, who is a senior policy analyst at AARP was quoted in that Washington Post story about rising condo association fees. Thankfully, he’s dug a bit deeper with his analysis at his own site. Be sure to subscribe to him as well, always good insights and keep up with AARP’s policy arm, especially if you are of a certain age.
Speaking of books, Kaid Benfield, another titan of city blogging (and Asheville native) has dropped his new book, People Habitat. People Habitat is more than just a new way of referring to the built and un built environment, its bringing our discipline back down to common sense. Catch a teaser here and be sure to purchase the book, namely at an independent bookstore.
U.S. Cities that walk the most. Image via Governing and Fast Company.
Hey Hey, it’s Friday! And with that, I’m looking forward to a quiet evening of sewing at home with my mom and a Saturday and Sunday filled with who knows what else? In the meantime, I know at least one day of this weekend I’ll be a part of Greensboro’s blue dot from the map above. But before that, here are some articles to take you through the weekend:
It’s always sad when a beautiful building falls into disrepair and is then threatened with demolition, this time in the Bronx. More modern buildings in good shape that have won awards are also not safe from demo in NYC.
Get to know the Metro Atlanta Equity Atlas, the first equity-based data-cruncher and map maker in the Southeast that’s user-friendly and free and open to the public.
And finally, a post-mortem on Bridgegate and why calling the police is not always the best step when dealing with mentally ill family and friends.
And because it’s the weekend, sit back and enjoy DC-based short fiction from the Washington City Paper‘s 2nd annual fiction issue.
Amtrak’s Piedmont Arrives from Raleigh, one example of how people are on the move.
Hello everybody! Had a really good time at both SynerG on Tap at Natty Greenes and Councilwoman Nancy Hoffmann’s office hours at Scuppernong Books last night, as well as playing bar trivia and coming in second place, which at Grey’s Tavern buys the table a round of drinks.
My shoutout of today goes to Cecelia Thompson, who will be assuming the lead position at Action Greensboro after five years of serving as director of projects, namely SynerG. SynerG was what helped me reconnect with my hometown as a civic-minded adult, and it continues to be a major part of my activities here in the area. Looking forward to what’s next and where the organization is going. And like my friends from The Foreign Exchange, Greensboro, and folks around Greensboro, are on the move. (Sidenote: Who can name all the Raleigh spots featured in the video?)
And like my friends from The Foreign Exchange, Greensboro, and folks around Greensboro, are on the move. (Sidenote: Who can name all the Raleigh spots featured in the video?)
So people have been asking, how can I get this information via email. If you are reading this version of the links and want to subscribe to email, email theblackurbanist@gmail.com and I will add you to the list.
Batman and well, nanas waiting at a bus stop. H/T to one of my Facebook friends for posting a version of this image.
Good Wednesday morning folks. For those of you in Greensboro, I’m looking forward to seeing you at either Nancy Hoffmann‘s office hours at Scuppermong Books or at SynerG on Tap at Natty Greene’s. Office hours start at 6 and the happy hour starts at 5:30.
In addition, before I get into the rest of the news links, I want to commend the efforts of our mayor, our shelters, the churches, the GPD and others who have worked diligently to make sure no one has to sleep in a home with no heat or on the streets on these frigid nights. Here’s a Time Warner Cable News video about efforts at the Interactive Resource Center specifically to keep people warm.
I also want to congratulate our outgoing city manager Denise Turner-Roth, appointed by President Obama as the deputy administrator of the General Services Administration, which is responsible for all maintenance of federal buildings, preservation of historic properties and government purchasing. I only wish I’d gotten to know Denise better during her time here in the city and greatly admired her work as assistant, acting, and full city manager for the City of Greensboro. I wish her well and will miss her. I also hope the city finds someone just as skilled and worthy to keep us moving in the right direction. The city council at their meeting last evening appointed Assistant City Manager Jim Westmoreland as acting city manager, effective February 1.
People in the East Village of Manhattan are trying to keep a beloved newsstand alive, despite pressure from gentrification and higher fees that may push the operator out of business.
Londoners have nicknamed their new skyscrapers after foods, kitchen tools and a stealth bomber.
Mayor DeBlasio had an open house and this is what it was like. He is also called upon to continue the growth of Silicon Alley, which although smaller, is more diverse in terms of people and locations throughout the region.
So whose state has grown steadily for 10 years? MINE!
I apologize in advance for those of you who will hear these guys in your head all day. I just wanted to rub in this article, from Slate, on how my state, MY STATE, the state of my birth, my childhood, my family and friends, my higher educations, my coming of age and my career both on and off this page , that do I sometimes want to leave, has actually gained population 10 straight years in a row. Granted, this news is not from the Census, but it’s not that far off from what they said. Also, DC is the only other area that’s grown for ten years straight. Considering that’s the only other place I want to live right now…read as you will. And read these things too while you are at it:
Some people are urbanist rockstars. Maybe that’s just because they are my friends in the business and good writers as such, but that just makes me love them more when they come back. Chuck Marohn is one of our best grassroots writer/placemakers we’ve got going. Sure, he does have a few official letters by his name, but it’s really what’s happened with Strong Towns, the evolution of his blog into a series of live conversations, thought leadership, books and a 501c3 membership nonprofit. Read this and see why he keeps us thinking, on our toes and pushes all of us to write better. (And makes some of us blush when he says similar glowing things in front of ones current and future mayor and people who don’t always understand why she’s doing what she’s doing for her city).
André Darmanin, is a similar sort. Although we’ve never had the honor of meeting in person, I know if I ever venture to Toronto, I will have a good time and we will discuss the mess out of progressive planning. He’s also been with me from the beginning, when this was a side piece of my original public blog Waxing Philosophical. He’s finally got a recurring column at Global Toronto. In this particular piece, he’s talking about how craft breweries are a key piece in a lot of downtown and neighborhood renovations. I can pinpoint our own Natty Greene’s as being a key driver of our revitalization in Greensboro.
The City of Raleigh (which I claim just as much as Greensboro because it’s our state capital and where I did my undergrad) is one of the best run cities in America. I like to think that director of planning (and mentor and friend) Mitchell Silver has something to do with that too. They also just passed a uniform design ordinance, bringing a more urbanist-leaning zoning code to one of our largest and most sprawling cities.
And then there’s Gabe Klein. Bikeshare rockstar. You have to thank him for both Capital Bikeshare and for Divvy. This article (behind partial paywall) is mostly about how he did the later.
Also, who doesn’t love a place-based comeback story. Here’s the latest initiative to come to Braddock, PA, a town famous for having a savior figure (who lives in a church basement non the less) . Even though there are critics that say that these changes are not enough or the changes are one-sided, I like this initiative because it’s truly taking what’s already there and making something of it, this time with the gardens, food and willing workers who are already in training.
And it’s always good to see something in New Orléans come back to life. Especially if it’s the first full-service grocery owned by and catering to African-Americans in the area. It also originally opened in that very spot in 1938 and sells not only the normal stuff, but stuff true to New Orléans. It was also a community gathering place and people are eagerly awaiting its return, under its same ownership
Moving on, I do agree, Facebook is a good place to learn where people are moving. A few years ago with an older version, I used to click on the old stats page to see how many of my friends were from a certain area, dorm, etc.
It is also intriguing to see how migration patterns threaten established views of who belongs and what makes a person a part of a place, in other countries. In this case, we have France.
What is it like for someone who’s from South Africa, and used to a halfway decent metro system, plus closer to the European and Asian masterpieces, to navigate some of our complicated rail transit systems? Here’s your answer. In addition, The new DC metro cars look nice and spiffy and they are finally going under testing in the DC area.
