Today, as we observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I hope that many of you also consider how to continuously improve the street that may adorn his name in your city. Mine has lots of ups and downs, from the New Urbanist redevelopment end I live on, to the rougher abandoned homes, to the fast food suburbia that punctuates its turn into a major US highway. Whatever the state yours is in, let’s be mindful of helping it become or remain something that is honorable of his spirit and memory.

And now, the news:

Good news out of Cleveland, first, the city’s commitment to add more bikeways. Secondly, Lakewood, a town considered a suburb of
Cleveland, has made a commitment for safe walking to school.

Also in the Midwest, Flint, Michigan has been named to a federal commission to receive more help rebuilding.

Explore James Baldwin’s Paris.

The Asheville Arts Council is growing and the director of Arts Greensboro has been named to a national board. The new Arts Council COO in Winston-Salem built the modern arts scene in Winston-Salem.

Seriously, it’s expensive to be poor. Also, the mascots of the poor Appalachians would like to NOT be the mascots for poor Appalachians or poor people in general.

Why we love public-private partnerships here in Greensboro. To make way for a major one, the demolition of the Greensboro Inn starts today. Meanwhile, opposition is building for both the UNCG Rec Center and the potential Trader Joes at Friendly Center.

The latest in the MoMA Folk Art Museum building saga, the architects who built the building and the ones who recommended tearing it down are BFFs.

Color photographs of a segregated America.

The largest metro areas, over the entire history of the United States.

And finally, according to the Brookings Institution, innovation comes in cafes, bike lanes and 3D printers.