First of all, I hope everyone has had a chance to  read the love letter I wrote for Greensboro. I really wanted to set the record straight, especially as I move into a next chapter (details TBA) on this site and in life period. Plus, we’ve been doing a series on love here on the page and I did promise my love letter.

In addition, I got a chance to chat urbanism and changing urban landscape with a few friends on Saturday night. Usually, I’m the only one in the room that even thinks about how our shopping centers, which are gathering places in their own right, have changed, produced neighborhood tension or even lost neighborhood character. Around our heads, we observed how even though we were in a rustic Old South inspired microbrewery and then a classic Irish pub, the music was that of a 90s hip-hop club. Not too loud, but still very odd and possibly a nod to diversity in clientele.

Either way, it’s always nice to gather with friends and yes, I do love Greensboro after all. Now here’s some news for your Monday.

NC News Roundup

The snow and ice didn’t hurt Valentines deliveries and sales. However, it’s kept and continues to keep the NC Zoo closed. And even though we were warned about the snow storm, we were still surprised.

The state has 10 days to come up with a clean-up plan for an additional high-risk for explosion pipe on the Dan River.  Meanwhile, 5,000 gallons of oil have spilled out of a tank into a nearby creek and river in Buncombe County.

The City of Greensboro seems poised to work with Self-Help Ventures on the Renaissance Co-op and shopping center.

Meanwhile, the Northern Randolph County manufacturing megasite proceedings continue.

Photos from a Sunday afternoon on 9th Street in Durham.

Parking at Charlotte-Douglas Airport is already profitable, hence the question of why rate hikes are really needed.

This one story really illustrates how both slavery and the civil rights movement are intertwined and how you may not always know where you really came from.

Orange County’s Hog Day is back.

Nation and World News Roundup

The Jewish legacy in the South will be honored with a new cultural center at the College of Charleston.

Marion Berry is writing his memoirs.

The impact of gayborhoods.

The top ten cities with the highest tax rates. Also, the best and worst cities for workers.

A new documentary highlights Baltimore’s homeless tent cities and presents lessons to all cities, like ours that have active modern tent cities.

Grocery shopping in the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

And finally, Harlem has always been good.

As we celebrate the concept of love today, I figured it would be as good of time as any to talk about what it is I love about cities. There are things I like about all versions of the built environment and I do actually love my hometown. More on those things later. So what is it about the city that makes my heart giggle and my spirit fly high?

First, it’s the transportation networks. If I fly somewhere, and I’m stuck, there’s plenty of activities to do, especially if I bring my own books and find proper electrical outlets, which most of the big city airports have in abundance. Big cities have public train transit. In those places, I can zip all around the city and not have to worry about trying to propel myself. Where there’s not a train, there are buses that come within 10-15 minutes, taxis that zoom by and pick you up or bike-shares that give you at least one more option than your foot. However, walking’s not that bad, especially to catch real life , non-toursity sites, that you can hop up on and make yourself at home.

Second, it’s the cultural outlets. The libraries, the plays, the random drummers and sax players on the street, the random stuff period. For someone who loves arts and culture, cities are a constant laboratory and paradise. I have found things like this in smaller towns too, but cities have the maximum amount of different cultures and expressions of art.

Finally, it’s the food. There are so many kinds of food in cities.I really doubt that people who move around a lot get homesick if they land in a big city with a robust food climate. I’m also grateful for the food truck revolution. Before you just had hot dog stands. Now, people who can cook, but can’t necessarily hold down a full restaurant can get their head in the food game.

That’s just a small sample of why I love cities, but these are the main ones. Stay tuned for my thoughts on why I love my hometown, and why I love the country and yes, I even have some suburban love up my sleeve. For now, the news:

The News Roundup

Updates on the snow/ice spectacular. Why air travel is so bad when bad weather hits. And the real story behind the exploded car in Raleigh.

PTI Airport is now considering a freight rail access plan for future major manufacturing facility bids.

The best cities to find love, including Raleigh and Charlotte.

The federal government is investigating the coal ash spill.

Another young “town president” finds success, this time in Jersey.

Pittsburgh has conquered the old guard in its city government.

Cleveland is still in that process.

Atlanta’s losing 50% of Georgia Tech graduates to other places.

Detroit’s mayor is already doing well.

What the Oregon DOT gets right. NC DOT is making projects available 12 months ahead of schedule for contractors.

Libraries aren’t going extinct.

And one last thing. I want to thank everyone who comes and reads daily, shares daily and supports this work. However, this is a labor of love and there are costs associated with presenting this information on a regular basis. Please consider supporting Placebook and The Black Urbanist by clicking here or on the image above. 30% of all sales go right back to me and creating a better Placebook and more awesome essays.

Photo Credit: Flickr user Paukus.

We talk a lot about how many neighborhoods look exactly alike. If we want to be honest, it happens in big cities with blocks of condo towers and post-World War II suburbs. Critics of new urbanism say that the homes look too much like a certain style as well.

The weirdest thing though is when a developer copies the same neighborhood signage and subdivision names, then remakes them in another city. It’s the Levittown phenomenon. But at least those neighborhoods had the same name. There’s a neighborhood in Durham and Greensboro that’s pretty much the same, except the name of the whole neighborhood is different. But the branding of the individual subdivisions, the signs marking the subdivisions and even the plans of how the neighborhood is laid out (one big parkway in the middle, smaller cul-de-sacs and smaller loop roods off that parkway) is the same. There are even neighborhoods not officially in the neighborhood, that are only accessed from going deep into the subdivision. If you are not good with roads, yet happen to find yourself in this community, getting lost is not only expected, but a very weird experience.

So what’s not weird, today’s news. Check that out below and let’s do our best not to get lost in neighborhood doppelgängers.

NC Roundup

How North Carolina hopes to avoid other state’s marketing and PR problems.

Growth in Mecklenburg County includes low-income residents.

Check out how Charlotte’s transit funding stands up against other metros.

Someone jumped off an I-540 bridge and property owners are voting on I-277 noise walls.

What to expect when Raleigh’s UDC comes to fruition.

What Raleigh City Council did last week

Charlotte’s found hazardous materials in their sewer system. Meanwhile, the latest in the coal ash spill saga.

US and World Roundup

Thoughts from the Amtrak CEO, as told to Railway Age.

Apparently, if your roof is white, it’s the coolest of them all.

Placemaking lessons from the Seattle Super Bowl Parade.

For those cities with rail transit, is keeping them open all night worth it? Yes, even though this article assumes only young(possibly drunk) professionals will use it and that only small numbers of people work the graveyard shifts.

DeBlasio’s appointed his planning commission chair.

Will this Whole Foods in New Orléans be for everyone?

This article on the truly affordable NYC apartment is a major lesson in how family networks are vital in allowing for people to have success, especially as they are first starting out in the world.

So CNBC has noted that Walmart is starting to lose money and should start shutting down stores. Proof that all economies go in cycles.

I’ve just started reading this memoir of the two journalists who moved their family to Celebration, FL, one of the famous “new town” settlements of the late 1990s. I’m very interested in hearing what it’s really like for people who are not architecture and planning nerds to move into a town like this, especially right when the trend began and with Disney’s stamp on the venture, which added a larger commercial element. Would this town really be Perfect Town, USA or was it just a major marketing ploy?

Many of us who are active in CNU and similar organizations know that these towns can work, but there are many issues to be ironed out, some that I know I’ll see throughout the book. Also, there’s a major elephant of diversity that already seems missing and I’m looking forward to see if they address that too. Any readers that currently live there, please feel free to share. Also, note that I’m only in the first chapter, and yes I do know about the murder that happened there in the last couple of years, but I want these folks story to stand for itself, at least for now. And with that, your news:

NC Roundup

An inside view into the strategic planning process of the Winston-Salem City Council.

The Scuppernong Books guys looked great yesterday morning on WFMY News 2, our CBS affiliate here in the Triad.

Raleigh is moving its Greyhound Station out of downtown. The hope is that the new Union Station will bring it back, but that’s 7-10 years from now.

The son of the founder of SAS is restoring historic Raleigh properties around downtown.

Raleigh and Charlotte are 16 and 17 on this list of the best cities to be an artist.

US and World Roundup

Fast Company‘s 9 inventive ideas for improving cities.

Even though there’s a new type of car and possible new service, beloved amenities are being cut on Amtrak trains.

When a black gentrifier, who’s tired of reading these kind of articles and longing for solace among his books and his writings, moves to a suburb that still has a river view and is close enough to Manhattan.

More cities need walking school buses, concerned neighbors in neighborhoods of all income levels to make sure our students get to school. More on that and the other tenets of this San Francisco project.

Man’s best friend may not be so friendly if he shows up with a police officer asking to search your car.

Could Cupertino, CA become Detroit if Apple were to ever fail?

This town’s lessons on snow plowing can teach us all how to incorporate pocket parks and curb bumpouts into areas we thought might not be able to handle them thanks to traffic demand.

It used to be transient homeless and poor people were the fear. For Evanston, IL, transient academics (read: people with or receiving advanced degrees and teaching classes) are the new blight of the neighborhood.

And finally, our place-based love story of the day: two DC residents fall in love on the X2 bus.

I’m usually not a fan of the rain. However, there’s something about seeing the rain come down on a city street, while people continue to scurry about and everything’s just close enough that you might be able to slide into the next bar or coffeeshop (or now bookstore) without using your umbrella. Of course, there’s summer rain too and the rainbows I’ve seen that rise above the skyscrapers, letting you know the weather’s about to get awesome again. Or, you can retreat and go inside, wrap up in a blanket and finally start that book you want to start. I did a little bit of both last night and because I did come in out of the rain, here’s your news for this Wednesday.

NC Roundup

Trader Joes has finally said yes, I want to come to Greensboro. And yes, in the spot we’ve all been waiting for them to show up in. Meanwhile, hometown hero grocers The Fresh Market are dealing with lowered stock prices and a less successful westward expansion.

Some of what happened at the city council meeting last night.

Several local cyclist deaths are raising questions on safety.

The High Point Council’s ceded to High Point University’s wishes and will close Montileu Ave next to the campus.

The City of Greensboro, Guilford County and the state will have to figure out what to call the new part of the Jamestown Bypass that will somewhat replace Gate City Boulevard, or still currently  High Point Road outside of the Greensboro city limits.

Lee Mortensen, formerly with Downtown Greensboro, Inc and the driver of many of the special events in downtown is now the executive director of the  Greensboro Farmers Curb Market.

Wake County Schools at capacity again in several popular neighborhoods, but will reassign district -wide to help with the crunch.

Raleigh has been selected as one of 7 national research hubs on ways to prevent and deal with droughts faced by farmers.

Mecklenburg County has outsourced its health services to a private company.

Charlotte planners are asking, who will build our next skyscraper? Meanwhile,several changes, including Charlotte’s new H&M, happening at Southpark Mall and the Sausarita’s chain, which is based in Charlotte, is adding a fast-casual (a.ka. Panera-style) Italian restaurant to it’s portfolio.

Charlotte Douglas Airport moves to expand the foreign trade zone around the airport.

And the 2nd Congressional District race officially has a big infusion of celebrity.

US and World Round-up

Meanwhile, in Portland, a Trader Joes has been rejected for being a potential driver of gentrification. Wendell Pierce of the Wire and Treme opens his first Sterling Farms grocery in the New Orleans area, bringing high end grocery back to an underserved area.

Harriet Tregoning is leaving the DC Office of Planning for HUD. Reflections from the Washington City Paper and Greater Greater Washington on this news.

The Atlantic Cities has began a new series on the Future of Transportation, with a focus on why the US hates their commutes and how Europe’s commutes ended up better than ours.

What you learn on a train.

Now that there’s a new mayoral regime in NYC, what planning professionals and others engaged in planning hope the new mayor will do.

And finally, in the spirt of sharing our love for places and the people that make them: Valentines for Planners.

Image Credit: Flickr User Rivertarts under a Attribution-Non-Commerical Creative Commons Licence.

Last night after work I decided to get gas and pick up a few groceries at a store  and station I don’t normally frequent.  The benefit of being at the center of town is being able to be at any business I want within 10-15 minutes. However, something about this shopping center just felt convenient and right. My bank, the cleaners, two pharmacies(and the two that I use the most), and of course the grocery were all in the same vicinity. Also, the area is known for having lots of small specialty shops, and only one of them is anchored by a massive parking lot, so walkability is at a premium. The Starbucks that was there did shut down a while back, but there’s a nice speciality tea room in the walkshed of this area. Also, there are homes of all income levels within walking distance. There  used to be two grocery stores in the shopping center, but that’s a story in of itself. Anyway, enough of this story. It’s a love story of place though, don’t forget to send me those. Time though for some news:

NC News Roundup

Once again, tonight’s Greensboro City Council agenda. Council is set to vote on incentives for the Elm Street Center hotel, along with several items to enable the High Point Road Streetscape plan.

All these road construction projects are under construction or slated to begin construction this year in Guilford County.

The head of the Piedmont Triad Airport Commission is stepping down as chairman and from the board after 15 years of service.

Hanes Park in Winston-Salem needs work after 100 years of service to the city.

Apparently the Gawker survey about what neighborhoods are Bushwick and Williamsburg in a particular city that’s not NYC included Raleigh and Charlotte. For the record, in Greensboro it’s Glenwood and Lindley Park respectively.  Also, Carrboro is not a neighborhood!

RTP (the actual park and its governance) have announced plans to rehab The Park Center, which is what you see when you drive down I-40 between Southpoint and the airport. They hope the rehab will bring more than 100,000 jobs to the area.

The Powerhouse Development in the Glenwood South area of Raleigh (an real neighborhood!) is under new ownership. If you are confused to what are this is, Natty Greenes Raleigh is in one of the buildings.

There’s been a coal-ash spill into the Dan River, just outside of Eden.

The City of Greensboro’s federally-funded energy efficiency program has failed to meet all of its goals.

Elizabeth City and Pasquotank County election troubles cited in this Next City article as one of the worst failures of election proceedings in the country.

US and World News Round-Up

The Federal Highway Fund is actually in jeopardy. Regardless of what you think about highway placement, some of the ones that are necessary are in need of repair and this is the only fund for some of them to get the money they need. But when a road needs to go, a road needs to go. Akron, OH realizes that now too.

Cincinnati is looking at bikeshare. In addition, this momentum around the streetcar and bikeshare has encouraged an op-ed in the local paper to call for more transit  investment.

So proud that the Triad area is far ahead of DC in this. But I am glad that DC has launched this, to deal with that, on the very important issue of eradicating homelessness.

Apparently, there were issues with public transit after the Super Bowl Sunday night. Some analysis of the issues here.

I can speak from experience, children are some of the best community planners.

Michael Pollan addresses inequities in food pricing and the labor required to get food to market. However, in better food news, this underserved neighborhood in Kansas City is getting an Aldi stocked with fresh foods and staffed by community members.

Elizabeth Warren has an awesome plan to remake old post offices into low cost banks to help those who are taken on the regular by payday lenders and even regular banks with crazy fees.

And finally, I think these libraries and their sculptures are a lot of awesome and not too much strange.

Friday evening I experienced something I’d only experienced but one time before. Dinner at the home of Charlie and Ruth Jones. Sure, you can have dinner at a lot of homes, but dinner at this home is a lot different. You ascend the steps to their top floor apartment. At the top, you are greeted with lots of warmth and the sight of a massively long table, always set to a different theme. You mingle and then you sit down and then you chat with people you may have seen in passing, but now know a lot more about, encouraged by a prayer by the hosts to lay down all your pretensions and esteem your seatmate better than oneself. To love for a few minutes, maybe just a little bit better than you loved before you came in. Oh, and to share a part of yourself on the stage in the parlor room after your bellies are full with the wonderful physical food that was shared, and listen to more spiritual food shared by others.

And in this spirit, this month here on the blog, we will be focusing on love, as well as the history of my people, as many of us do for this month. Each week, there will be an essay on some form of love for the places we live. I invite you to share your love stories of where you live too. I’ll also be reposting some of my Black History Month content and I invite you, if you have a special story about the black experience and place, please feel free to share it. Email me at the email above or if you are reading this in your email, reply back to it with your stories. Throughout the month, I’ll share them in this section of Placebook.

And with a mighty Go Seahawks,the news:

North Carolina News Round-Up

Tuesday night’s Greensboro City Council agenda.

These two Greensboro notables could have disappeared and given up on their life’s mission when their terms/jobs ended on Election Day. Yet, they take to Stephanie’s and have a conversation together, showing the power of many and many more second acts to come.

New mixed-use development set to start soon near NewBridge Bank Park in downtown, which will be anchored by another hotel.

The head of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance defends his record.

People in Burlington were not hurt, but not notified of a major sewage spill in the Haw River last week.

Can we really compare Greensboro and Winston-Salem on economic measures? The News & Record makes an attempt. From what I can see both cities having winning times and losing times.

Guilford County School Board issues a resolution against ending teacher tenure.

The state of North Carolina’s HBCU’s.

The uncovered story of a Buffalo Soldier with roots and connections to Greensboro.

U.S. and World News Round-Up

NPR has a great report on the impact of crack on DC. It’s latest struggle with public housing and gentrification.

California’s State Water Project will not deliver water for the first time in its history due to the drought.

Fellow Streetsblogger Alex Ihnen just published a study on Millennials in St. Louis and makes the case for retaining them.

Thoughts on the concept of jaywalking. There’s a science to all foot traffic too and it helps us design cities better.

After the eventful day we had yesterday, I felt like I needed to remind folks what is proper to do when weird weather comes around.  Please pass that PSA around to folks, because we are not out of the woods yet for extreme cold, extreme heat, snow, ice, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires and anything else that combines tragedy and nature. And with that, let’s get into some news for today.

NC News Round-up

A man jumped off the Marriott parking deck in Downtown Greensboro

GTA is short 2 million dollars. Meanwhile a man was robbed at the bus stop.

City of Greensboro still working on financing for the STPAC.

A profile of the new interim (independent) citizens police review board in Greensboro and also the details on the latest movements with the Renaissance Co-op and shopping center.

A train hit a tractor-trailer in Colfax, just west of Greensboro. No one was hurt.

Kroger now officially owns Harris Teeter.

These photos of Dix Hill remind me of the fact I never got to sled as a student in Raleigh. The one snow may have snarled traffic, but it cleared up before I could get back outside to play.

Oh, it’s funny, that Onion article about Charlotte, but it’s also so true.

Person County (just above Durham) will be receiving funds and technical assistance from Smart Growth America.

Students at Davidson College are aiming for zero waste at athletic events.

National and World News Round-Up

Aaron Renn makes a compelling argument that Houston’s had a bad rap in the media for no reason, as it has a lot of the qualities we want in a city, despite no zoning restrictions.

Free transit seems to be a win-win for both the government and citizens of Tallin, Estonia.

Die-hard bike commuters report no problems with getting around in the snow, in NYC and in ATL.

Several California cities are running out of water.

Why the Greater Greater Washington crew lives exactly where they do in the region. Like most of us, it’s a pretty personal decision where exactly to live.