We talk a lot in the industry about the sense of place. But what about the sense of home?
We sat in Nedra’s home in Atlanta, Atlanta proper, on the East side, and we talked about growing up southern, getting out and why we’ve come back to our homes.
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It’s my pleasure this episode to present the conversation I had back in the early winter with LaKeisha Henderson of Bike and Brunch Tours.
As I said on the audio, we met thanks to the power of the internet and since then, we’ve worked on helping each other out as much as we can to take both of our ventures to the next step.
We talk about our childhood influences on our careers, cycling and what’s made us choose how we’ve structured our careers.
Here’s more about LaKeisha from her official bio:
LaKeisha is an architect, planner, creative problem solver, and founder of Bike & Brunch Tours. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech and Masters Degree from Morgan State University’s City and Regional Planning program. During her 15 plus years of experience in the architecture and planning profession she sought to simultaneously translate these skills into ways to support her community. Bike and Brunch Tours was borne out of her love for her community in West Baltimore, desire to see its history and legacy preserved and uplifted, and to counter negative stigmas with positive references and experiences, and connect with others doing the same.
Over the course of her nearly 20 years living in the community, LaKeisha has noticed the disparity of perceptions between those outside the community and the story of the community told by its residents. This was made even more apparent in her personal experiences as a member of the community, in the death of men like Freddie Grey, and the disconnect between resources and solutions provided in contrast to the resources needed. As mass demolition, with no clear post demolition plans, leveled block by block of the community while speculation grew from outsiders she wanted to do something. This something became Bike & Brunch tours. Bike & Brunch Tours offers group tours and private tours to everyone from the solo visitor to reunion, conferences, or corporate groups.
The tour gives riders the opportunity to get to know and engage with Baltimore City and its African American community on a more intimate level. Beyond tours the company builds bridges to connect the cycling community, local organizations, businesses in the community featured in the tour, build relationships with other cycling groups. It also aims to increase the number of people biking in underrepresented communities and make cycling a normalized and accessible mode of transportation for everyone. The company’s event, Maintenance & Mingle, where Happy Hour meets bicycle maintenance brings together people from the bicycle community, adjacent community organizations, and aspiring bike riders. Through cycling she hopes to help build greater respect for and preserve the legacy of forgotten places, promote engagement with the community as partners not saviors, gets people moving and active…preferably on bikes, encourage supportive cycling infrastructure in under resourced communities, offer a fun time, and …of course have brunch.
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Join me this episode as I talk with another Baltimore friend, Taffy Gwitira, on food justice, transportation justice and real life on the African continent. And, yes, there are Wakandan elements to the actual continent of Africa and there have been for a while.
Learn more about the co-working space where I’m a resident (as of April 2018) and she’s on the board of–www.http://baltimore.impacthub.net/
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And even though this is technically episode one of a new round of shows, I’m honoring the original shows and continuing the original numbering.
I wanted to discuss a comment about cities that came up in the debate/ town hall last night. Note, this is not a post endorsing one or the other, although I’ll say that I’m with her. But the issue brought up is one that trips up a lot of people when it comes to talking about metropolitan policy and how black folks have been allowed to move about and take part in the environments that have been built and paved and provided for us.
First of all, the debate’s mention of urban policy and where black folks tend to live assumes a concentric city model, which looks like those diagrams of the earth where you cut it open and you have a ball in the center and rings around until you get to the crust, which is where we actually live.
The actual model goes into even more detail about human pathways, but I’m going to simplify it to three rings: the core, the suburban rings and the crust which is rural farm and natural areas. The core in this globe is the inner city. You have a business district, a city hall, maybe a county hall, the largest school, possibly the high school, a college or university and then you have either old money wealthy whites (or others of color who were able to maintain wealth since the city was first built). You also have the regional sports stadiums and other institutions marketed and intended for the entire region to use. If you have a major public transit system, all the routes lead to this area. When people come to visit your town, this is what they think of and this is where the things geared to them are located. Also, the name of this inner core city, is often the name the entire region uses to define itself, when defining itself to people from the outside.
However, after World War II, when we had the second wave of suburban development, the department stores started to leave, along with others that catered directly to white folks, who were moving into the suburban areas. A few years later, black folks were allowed to move out and onward, so essentially, all the people left in the “inner city” were the poor people of color, LGBTQA+ people and others deemed less American and undesirable.
This is where the bulk of the logic of that particular candidate comes from. Also, that candidate has participated in the development of cities for many years and from what I’ve been able to observe, subscribes to a inner core, then suburban rings that just have houses and a few services, and are restricted to certain types of people, then rural crust where all the farms and the things that sustain us (or the corporations that make all of our food, textiles and the like) are. This is probably the idea they have when they want to make the country great again. Basically make us all perfect round balls of metro areas. (Among other things…)
However, this was never quite the case anywhere. Why?
Some cities are built along a riverfront. This automatically rules out having a round ring of neighborhoods in many cities. This is what you see in Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis. The irony is that the model I just mentioned in its original form was applied to Chicago. Maybe it should have been a rainbow instead of a full circle.
Some cities grew in pairs or clusters. So there are multiple metro cores and farmland that became suburban rings and then all grew together to become one mega region. New York is really this, but with water separating the various cores and rings. Also, I grew up in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina. Not to be confused with the Research Triangle Region of North Carolina where I went to undergrad. Both started as triangles and are now adjacent amorphous blobs. Trying to make this a circle will only make your head hurt and you sound stupid.
Economics and family structures have always determined where people choose to live. People need to be close to the things that help them survive, like jobs and food. Wealthier people get to have more of what they like nearby. Some wealthy people wanted farmland, others wanted cultural institutions. Those others, who are at the mercy of working a job, go wherever the job is. And then those who have chosen to raise children often build and move where they feel their family will get the most of the values they want to institute into their children.
Black families and sometimes Latinx and Asian families, basically anyone who was not considered white when it comes to schooling, real estate and access to public spaces and services, has always had to reckon with where slavery, then Jim (and Juan) Crow, then redlining, then urban renewal and now, mass incarceration and the aftermath of being incarcerated, affordability or upward mobility allow them to go. For myself, my upward mobility and personal preferences dictate that I want to be near the cultural centers and also in areas where retail is clustered, which is becoming the inner cities again. But I’m a business owner just starting out, so I am on a budget. I’m also car-free, partly because of economics. Other friends, of all races and nationalities, are having children and want them to have their own safe yards, that they can manage and not have to worry about police or even neighbors shooting at their children. Because so many inner core areas closed schools or don’t provide similar public options, smaller towns in the metro regions, that are often written off as suburbs, are a more attractive option. Oh, and Target. It all really boils down to who’s good enough for Target. And who Walmart hasn’t left yet.
So what’s really going on and what should I make of this?
What I invite folks to do in the light of this particular comment and the work here, is to research the history of how your specific metro area was built, governed and developed since its inception. Each metro area, while it shares a few common elements, applies those elements differently. We need to know how our metros are made, because it’s going to take a ground-up effort to make things better. Also, you’ll sleep better knowing that living in the suburbs or inner city or on a farm or even in a shack (tiny house!) may not be a bad or shameful thing.
How Do You Start that Research?
Wikipedia. Seriously, the entries on your metro area will help you find basic information and also help you find primary sources and places to go to learn why your city has its shape and how people have made it have that shape over the years.
Historians and librarians in your metro area, as well as urban planners and others working in community design and governance— Basically anyone working to make sure everyone who lives in an area is accounted for and is part of the story of your city. They will help you make sure what you read is right and give you even more books to read and places to go to find information. They will also be able to point you to other people like…
Long-time community residents, suggested by the professionals above. This is where you get the real stories and the more nuanced stories of why people do what they do. Or, even better, you can talk to your older family members. Record those chats, as they are history. I love what the new podcast Historically Black is doing around black oral histories. StoryCorps, and even shows like This American Lifeand Stuff Your Mom Never Told You are also doing a great job of uncovering local and social histories as well. (I’m going to shamelessly plug my podcast with Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman here, Third Wave Urbanism as well, where we also talk about how metro areas are really made and average people).
Above all, let those of us who are professionals stress about where people actually live. No matter where you live and what your story is, you have value. Developers and builders and city leaders, remember that the next time you decide what needs to be built or torn down in your city.
Also, please make a wise decision about voting on November 8, 2016 and during other times when elections are called in your city. Especially when other elections are called in your metro area. These folks have the direct keys to your success as a city.
I’m Kristen! Six years ago, 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.
Going to CNU 22? What should you see? What is Kristen looking forward to? Learn the answers to both of those questions on this week’s episode. Plus, Kristen asks newly minted National Association of Railroad Passengers(NARP) Council Member Malcolm Kenton What’s Your [His] Place?
I also mentioned Groceteria- http://www.groceteria.com for context on retail history in Greensboro and across the Southeast.
The History of Belk book, which is older, but also helpful as a reference for those companies. I also mentioned the Target wiki page.
We are on iTunes and Stitcher, and SoundCloud by hitting the play button above. If you want to be on the podcast, let me know via Twitter. I’m there @blackurbanist.
So last Thursday I promised audio when I’m not podcasting and podcasting when I am. So here’s what I’m calling my preview episode of my second round of podcasting. This time, we’re calling ourselves The Black Urbanist Radio Show and we have at least two and possibly more features that you are going to love to share and hear. Plus, we will be coming to iTunes and Stitcher in the coming weeks, but for now, follow me through SoundCloud just like before or click the play button below:
Also, be patient with me as I work out sound quality, audio transitions and pronouncing things right. I’m excited to crank this back up again and I hope you will enjoy and share far and wide.
Happy birthday to me! I’ve chosen to share a gift with you, the first episode of my podcast. Stream right here and please share this gift with others.
For those of you who want to go back and read the Grist.org article I mention in the podcast, you can go here.
Also, be patient with me. I recognize there’s a bit of an echo and I may have been talking a little fast. These things will get worked out in subsequent episodes. Also, let me know of anything I may have missed. And above all, share and enjoy!