Connecting dots...and offtopic rambles, continued...
Jeff Potter
"Saint Genet" and "Shit Magnet"---or do you mean to tell me you
haven't read both? Sigh.
I heard something on NPR yesterday that struck me weirdly. It was
about California's Inland Empire. They said inland farms and related
businesses were being bought up and forced out and were being replaced
by fancy tract homes and lowpaying jobs.
That just struck me as being interesting and weird, that as areas
become gentrified that lowpaying jobs move in. The fancier an area
becomes the poorer it becomes. That just ain't right.
But of course it's what's happening everywhere.
I haven't seen an area in the US where it's not happening. Very fast.
Where I live used to be a regular area, with employed adults who you
could see around town. Now there are tons of new mansions popping up
in all the former corn fields...and only teenagers visibly employed.
Ever since the mansions first started popping up we've been asking
ourselves Who are these people? Where are they? Where do they work?
It's not like new businesses or factories or industry or product is
popping up here as well. We're not the home of some famous new widget,
or even highly regarded service. I guess there are more banks and
insurance companies visibly around...staffed by teens probably...and
only there to serve the mortgages and needs of...the new mansions.
And all this occurs while our glorious, classic-style capitol city is
friggin' RAZED. We don't have a crime problem. People aren't afraid to
go downtown. It's not like it's on the wrong side of the tracks. They
just don't do it. No reason to. There aren't even any restaurants down
there anymore---right next to the big fancy old capitol building.
Stupid senators. I bet they're inconvenienced having to go to a
classic downtown old-dome every day. Why don't they just admit it,
give up the ghost ("City? What city?") and move the whole gov't to a
minimall by an exit. There ain't no city here. And no reason for one
neither. Just a buncha teenagers slinging hotdogs, drinking and
watching TV. What else do we need?
--JP
Ninj
> And all this occurs while our glorious, classic-style capitol city is
> friggin' RAZED. We don't have a crime problem. People aren't afraid to
> go downtown. It's not like it's on the wrong side of the tracks. They
> just don't do it. No reason to. There aren't even any restaurants down
> there anymore---right next to the big fancy old capitol building.
> Stupid senators. I bet they're inconvenienced having to go to a
> classic downtown old-dome every day. Why don't they just admit it,
> give up the ghost ("City? What city?") and move the whole gov't to a
> minimall by an exit. There ain't no city here. And no reason for one
> neither. Just a buncha teenagers slinging hotdogs, drinking and
> watching TV. What else do we need?
I'm with ya. Have you read books by James Howard Kunstler? I'm a
little more in favour of architectural experimentation than he is, but
I basically think he's the man. His book "Home From Nowhere" has some
pretty good, pretty realistic ideas on how to save cities. He has a
pretty good site up at http://www.kunstler.com/index.html .
TomHendricks474
pretty good, pretty realistic ideas on how to save cities. He has a
pretty good site up at http://www.kunstler.com/index.html .
Ninj
http://www.infiltration.org
>>
I think the best general way for any American city to improve is get the cars
out of downtown.
For ex. there is no reason for traffic to go THRU downtown Dallas, - it can go
TO or AROUND. There is no reason for cross town traffic in a major downtown
area.
London has placed a fee on personal traffic (cars - not buses and such) that
enter the center zone. Just about overnight parts of London are now livable!
Tom Hendricks, Musea zine ed.
http://musea.digitalchainsaw.com"
Musea GUARANTEES every musician, painter, writer, etc.
a REVIEW - a tough review - a fair review.
Contact me for our policy. Samples:
http://musea.digitalchainsaw.com/reviews1.html
Jeff Potter
me, the need for grassroots voices in these kinds of populist cultural
changes. I mean, here we have a guy getting bigtime exposure and
impact for promoting a populist kind of community. Yet I sense that it
gets easily derailed and sidelined. How to get it back on track? Get
the people involved. --But not by way of a "program" for them. Well,
not a typical, slick program anyway. You can't have populist revival
without the people. Otherwise it backfires and turns into a parody of
itself, like Seaside. It also backfires and turns into departmental
territory that academics defend with tooth and claw.
Populist revival in communities requires far-reaching unvetted
populist discussion. I don't mean packaged Utne-style "grassroots"
voices. I mean zines and truly open forums. Zines are a perfect format
for this kind of dialog. Essential even. Also needed are informal,
testimonial, experiential, "this is how it was for me" types of
books---which I'd say are zinebooks. Web forums are cool, but paper is
important, too.
Has anyone seen any zines or true populist response to the New
Urbanist movement?
It seems progressive, yuppylike and patronizing to say "get people
involved." That results in Town Hall Meetings with fancy visiting
lecturers. Or in slick "10 best small towns to live in" surveys in
Utne.
I suppose if there's anyone out there who cares, they'll make their
noise and do their best to have their say. It's up to people like
Kunstler to look for those voices if he really wants to make a
difference. It's up to him to be open to them and let them into the
discussion even if they can't help him move up a ladder or boost a
budget.
Jack Saunders has had a HUGE amount to say about the New Urbanism and
what became of it along the Gulf Coast. Has his voice been welcomed?
His input included in the mix? Has the voice of the local person who's
not looking to get a job from it been included in the discussion?
(There are PLENTY of rich, chamber of commerce, realtor, tourism,
writers-conference types who get PLENTY of say. But who listens?
Brown-nosers.)
I suppose you can encourage voices without being patronizing. Maybe by
just letting them do their thing. Don't set up a nonprofit that they
can apply to for grants. That starts the phonies to stampeding.
I suppose it's a little like the ULA. We know that independents are
kept out of the big-literature game. So the ULA is there to bust down
the doors.
Is the New Urbanism open to the grassroots? Is there any grassroots
that has come knockin? If there's a barrier there as well, it needs
smashing. For its own good, of course. I'm not against Kunstler. I
want what he proposes to actually happen in the best sense. I don't
know K's background, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's rich, elite,
isolated and removed from the people he populizes about. (His idea of
his rich-kid friend being a farmer sure wasn't realistic.) In that
case he NEEDS the contact of candid populist voices. It'll take him
being humble enough to see that the hicks from the sticks probably
know more about what it'll really take to make his ideas fruitful. But
is he likely to listen to someone without a degree? Do people with
degrees publicly admit that hicks know more than they do about
important aspects of their specialty? That's what it'll take. Not
likely. Thus, doors usually need smashing.
--JP