YIKES! My neighborhood is gentrifying!

Thanks to Khemani Gibson for passing along this article from The Root, Eleven Signs Your Neighborhood Is Being Gentrified. He mentioned it as we were driving by the new 7-Eleven, which opened right opposite the well-established and beloved Krauszer's. Once you look at the list, it's impossible not to check off others -- "Yup, we have that, we have that. We don't have that." Happily, the interminable recession has given us time to rethink the whole convert-the-factories-to-lofts-and-become-a-suburb thing. An urban design firm, Designing the We, has been working with us to consider how we do economic development, including putting some of those old factories back to work as, well, factories. Somebody wants to make something that could easily be made in Orange, NJ. Doesn't "Made in Orange" kind of make you just feel good? Orange -- great color, great fruit, great drink -- all healthy. Let's NOT gentrify and say we did. Let's PEEL OFF (ha ha) and go in another direction. What do you think?

What were we thinking?

On this remarkable website, you can see before and after of American cities by playing with overlays of aerial maps from 60 years ago and today. Rodrick Wallace as aptly titled this process the "desertification of the American city." The conversion from tight urban fabric to urban desert is shocking. It underscores that our cities aren't simply food deserts, many of them are just deserts. And as they are being reinvented, the threat of gentrification grows. Much to do as we work for inclusive and effective urban restoration.

Are malls main streets?

Malls and main streets are often mentioned in the same sentence, so the relationship needs to be sorted out. I have been thinking about the proposition that a mall is to a department store what a main street is to general store. This is possibly true, but it is insufficient to get at the difference. As I've noted in earlier posts, main streets, as centers of commerce and social life, have to be understood as a box, circle, line and the America people. Malls don't function on all of those dimensions. And, thinking about it that way, I am really really happy that we don't refer to the American people as "The Mall." Malls, because they are a monoculture created for shopping, are ecologically fragile. What makes main streets work, among other factors, is the manner in which they are embedded in cities. Malls, by contrast, are ringed by parking lots and can't possibly be interwoven. That doesn't mean that they might not be useful. When it comes to variety, there's more stuff at Home Depot than at the neighborhood hardware store on my neighborhood main street -- sometimes I need to go to Home Depot. But I can't walk there and I don't know the guys there and I don't catch up on local gossip when I go there. It is interesting to read in the NY Times that quite a number of malls are dying, especially those for middle-class shoppers, those who've been hit hardest by the recession, and are still waiting for the recovery. But, in the meantime, the 1% have taken so much of everything, recovery for the rest of us is slipping further away. Short Hills Mall will survive, Livingston Mall will struggle. In sum, malls are malls, not main streets. Both have their uses. Main Streets occupy a better niche for long term survival.

Even more Main Street and Christmastime!

Tonight my family and I went to see the new Annie at the Caldwell Movie Theater on Bloomfield Avenue. The street had a dazzling set of lights, but not a single store was open and not a single pedestrian was walking along -- almost a version of "...not a creature was stirring..." The movie theater had a kind set of young men who gave us good advice about popcorn -- "Get the large instead of two small and you can have a free refill." The movie was thrilling -- Quvenzhané Wallis and Jamie Foxx gave gravitas and joy to the marvelous adaptation -- and we all had an excellent time. We listened to Christmas music on the way home, feeling lucky to hear John Legend and the Stephens Family singing, "Our love don't have to change, no it don't have to change."

More Main Street and Christmastime

Earlier this year the NY Times published an article with the preposterous title, "Maplewood, NJ: If Brooklyn Were a Suburb." I like Brooklyn and I like Maplewood -- I protest against the reductionism that can equate America's Fourth Largest City with a small suburban town. Putting that issue aside for the moment, Maplewood and Hoboken are my favorite places for Christmas shopping. I hit Hoboken on Sunday, Maplewood today. My grandson Javi and I went to get a present for his aunt. We wound our way through the traffic, found a place to park and thought all the people would be in the toy store. But they weren't. We breezed in, got something special and got out quickly. Instead, all the people of Maplewood were in the BOOK STORE, Words. I ran into a friend and we chatted about last minute shopping as a curse of busy people. Javi and I got on line with our purchases. It was LONG. Not surprising -- the whole town was there. I couldn't resist saying to the woman on line behind me, "I think it says something about Maplewood that there are more people in the bookstore than the toy store." She looked a little shocked, and then replied, "It does say something about us." Then I noticed The Life-Changing Art of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo. I showed it to the lady behind me who said she was de-cluttering. I pointed out that it said in the blurb people who used Kondo's method didn't relapse. She seemed a little annoyed by my observation -- we buttinskis get that some times, and I haven't even tried the method so how do I know if it's true? I thought of getting the book, but I've requested it for Christmas, so I didn't. Finally I got to the checkout and had that simple moment of family pride: "Are you Carolyn or Mindy?" This, of course, refers to the frequent buyer bonus program. Returning to the annoying article in the NY Times, Maplewood is great -- it's just not Brooklyn.

Main Street and Christmastime

I like going to Main Street every day, but Christmastime it really gets rolling. On my way to dinner with Common Praxis at Bar Spain, I og on the PATH in Hoboken. I passed about 100 Santas, out for Santa Con along Washington Street. Santa Con has actually diversified, and now includes elves and reindeer, all sparsely dressed. Don't they know it's cold??? I got off PATH at Christopher Street, in Greenwich Village. I had a little time and decided I'd do some Christmas shopping on my way to dinner. I passed carolers, which seemed ironic, given the iconoclastic nature of the Village, but also lovely, music drifting in the city air. All the stores were full of things someone might want, and it raised the question, "Do I want that?" Invariably the answer was "No" as the only thing I want is a case for my new tablet. I got for a $1 when I upgraded my iPhone and I love having a book always at hand. They know this about people who are reading series so that when I get to the last page, it says, "Want the next book?" Well, I have to admit that is something else I want. And then I want time to sit around and read. I am re-reading Ngaio Marsh, one of the classic detective writers. Her values are of another age -- homophobia is all too present. As I was walking down Christopher Street, I passed the Stonewall, and cheered gay liberation. Some men walked by and I was so pleased that nobody would be whispering behind their backs because they violated some stereotype. So something else I want is freedom and equality. When I got to Bar Spain, my friends were upset about the policemen who'd been murdered in Brooklyn -- we all want to restore balance -- but not on the old terms -- on new terms of respect for all human life. So then I realize how much of what I am seeing on Christopher Street is what I want -- beautiful music, historic sites of liberation, a lovely night to be on the way to meet friends. May all your Christmases be bright!

Vermont's Urbanization

I had the great good fortune to spend several days with my medical school classmate, Martha Stitelman. She has lived and practiced in Southern Vermont since the early 1990s. She has a deep interest in the mountains of Vermont, and is not only active in hiking, but also in trail maintenance and other tasks related to keeping the forests welcoming to all. I was delighted to be able to tour with her, given her deep knowledge of the area. She was always pointing out a nature preserve or forest where there were fine trails, cabins, or sights to see. We started our travels with a visit to Angela Miller, who was the agent for my book, Root Shock. In addition to being an active literary agent, Angela, with her husband, bought a farm and developed a cheesemaking business. Her farm, Consider Bardwell, makes a number of different kinds of goat and cow cheeses and has won numerous prizes. She wrote a book, Hay Fever, about her adventures in getting the business going. Behind the serenity of the farm and the great tastes of the wonderful cheeses are the details of getting a business going, learning a new craft, finding the people who can make the business work, and connecting the world to one's products. Angela sells at many NYC Farmers Markets, including Union Square. I think my favorite is the RUPERT, but I brought plenty of cheese home so I can continue to investigate the matter! Among her new projects is the organization of the West Pawlet Community Farmers' Market, held on Friday evenings in the Fish and Game Club building. Angela's urbanism -- which constantly reaches out to neighbors to partner, support, include and share -- is an urbanism I admire. She has invested along many dimensions. While the concept of "urbanism" is not usually associated with Vermont, Angela's work made me think about the state's urbanization in a new way.

After visiting at Consider Bardwell Farm, Martha and I went to Manchester VT to visit the Northshire Bookstore and go to EMS for gloves for me. The bookstore was large and "appetizing," meaning I wanted to buy a lot of books. I restrained myself -- getting only a copy of Danielle Allen's Our Declaration for Martha. There was a whimsical statue of Thomas Jefferson outside, so of course I said to the cashier that the store should feature Dr. Allen's book. She shrugged cynically, promising to pass my message on. "They don't listen to me," she said. She seemed wise, so I think they should listen to her. But then we pushed on for gloves as I found it wretchedly cold. Manchester has 4,180 people in 42.3 square miles, according to the "towns in Vermont" listing in Wikipedia. But the sense of sparse population distracts from the tight organization of the state. People are connected at various levels of scale, beginning with the nearest hamlet, then nearest town, the nearest city and the encompassing region. The heart of the settlement is the post office. Where the post office is linked to a general story, things really start to happen. Martha proposed lunch in Jamaica, which had been badly hit by Tropical Storm Irene. There wasn't any place to eat so we drove on. In West Townshend, we came to the West Townshend Country Store, which boasted a cafe, WiFi, a thrift store, and a post office. We had hit the jackpot!

We had a wonderful lunch of chili and cornbread and learned that the Country Store is run by the West Townshend Community Center. The Community Center raises money to support the store and its community building activities. We heard a story about a lost dog, dropped off at the store by the couple that found it, and then reconnected with its owners who were at the store for coffee and were overheard grieving for their lost dog. This is the same sense as the West Pawlet Community Farmers' Market -- creating a center for life in a very diffuse place. From West Townshend we went to the town of Newfane. It had a massive village square, with a huge Congregational Church and a separate town meeting, equally distinguished. There was a Civil War monument with a 140 names - indeed, Vermont sent 34,000 men to the Civil War out of a total population of 340,000, about half of the population now. Imagine 10% of the population, leaving for war, many killed or maimed, yet the state continued on.

We were able to visit Brattleboro, Williamsville and Bennington the next day, taking in the ways in which the hamlets, villages, towns and cities were interwoven into people's daily lives. Martha told me a story about Home Depot opening a store in Brattleboro. People were angry that Home Depot was trying to put Brown and Roberts, the hardware store on Main Street, out of business. They boycotted Home Depot and eventually it closed and went away. Brown and Roberts is still there. This makes social sense, as a strong Main Street is an important line of defense against the vagaries of weather and farm markets.

Martha constantly drew my eyes to the damage that Tropical Storm Irene had caused as the water stormed down the many rivers pushing stones and trees and dirt and houses in its path. We also saw and crossed many of the bridges that had been rebuilt. The hamlets, villages, towns and cities are hunkered down by the rivers and streams, of which there are many. I am vey skeptical of the current fad of "urban farming." Vermont really has a lesson to teach us in that regard. It is, in its way, a very urban state, and the hundreds of small family farms are tightly connecting to the urban centers. It gives new meaning to "urban farming." I was looking in the Northshire Bookstore for a book on the urbanization of Vermont -- it might not have been written yet but I hope someone will!