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A Brief History of Urbanism in North America: 1940-1949

After a longer than expected hiatus, my series on the history of urbanism is back! I can’t promise a return to a weekly posting schedule, but I hope to post at least on installment a month until the series is complete.

The 1940s

The 1940’s saw rise of the first American planned communities. It also saw the passing of a wave of federal legislation in the United States. Combined, these events initiated what became known as suburban sprawl. The decade was bookended by the publication of an influential book and the created of an important organization.

The Planning Function in Urban Government. 1941

A Brief History of Urbanism in North America: 1940 1949 A controversial but influential book by Robert A.Walker that argued that planning needed to move away from association with independent commissions. Instead, Walker argued that planning should be closely connected with the local legislative body, the chief executive, and related administrative agencies. In other words, Walker was the full integration of planning agencies within local government.

The book was named one of the 100 Essential Books of Planning by the American Planning Association in 2009

Serviceman’s Readjustment Act and Federal-Aid Highway Act 1944

rooseveltgibill A Brief History of Urbanism in North America: 1940 1949

Source: VA.gov

In 1944, the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act, commonly known as the GI Bill, guaranteed home loans to veterans. The GI Bill provides returning veterans with college education and loans to buy homes and start businesses. The result was the rapid development of suburbs.

Passed in the same year, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944 designated a 65,000 kilometer national system of interstate highways. These highways were to be selected by the state highway departments. While this act authorized the highway system, it did not give any funding.

Park Forest, IL and Levittown, NY 1947

12levittown.CA01 A Brief History of Urbanism in North America: 1940 1949

Source: New York Times

Park Forest was the first privately financed, completely planned community ever built in the US. It was designed by Elbert Peets in the tradition of planned communities around the nation to offer housing for veterans returning from World War II.

Located on Long Island, Levittown gets its name from its builder, the firm of Levitt & Sons, Inc. founded by William Levitt. The town was built as a planned community between 1947 and 1951. Levittown was the first truly mass-produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for postwar suburbs throughout the country. As a result,William Levitt was named the father of modern suburbia.

National Housing Act 1949

Source: Wikimedia Commons

This was the first comprehensive American housing bill. It initiated the concept of urban renewal, focusing on slum clearance and new housing construction. The act authorized construction of 810,000 public housing units and renewal of urban areas by eliminating slum neighborhoods and redeveloping central cities.

The legislation’s legacy is mixed, particularly with regard to the success of the urban renewal and public housing elements. The government fell far short of its goal to build 810,000 units of new public housing by 1955. In fact, the Act’s urban redevelopment programs actually destroyed more housing units than they built. At the same time, the massive urban redevelopment efforts prompted by the Act came under fire for poor planning; failings with regard to social equity and fairness; and—sometimes—corruption.

National Trust for Historic Preservation 1949

national trust historic preservation A Brief History of Urbanism in North America: 1940 1949 In 1947, a meeting convened by David E. Finley, Jr. culminated in the creation of the National Council for Historic Sites and Buildings. This group was able to get the congressional charter for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which President Harry S. Truman signed on October 26, 1949. The Trust supports the preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods through a range of programs and activities. Today, twenty-nine sites are designated as National Trust Historic Sites.

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A Brief History of Urbanism in North America: 1600s

Here is a selection of key settlements and cities established in North America during the 1600s. This is the era where several of the oldest continuously inhabited European settlements in North America were established:

1608 Santa Fe

Santa Fe NM A Brief History of Urbanism in North America: 1600s

Santa Fe: Wikimedia Commons

The City of Santa Fe was originally occupied by a number of Pueblo Indian villages with founding dates between 1050 to 1150. The Santa Fe River provided water to people living there. Don Pedro de Peralta founded the city in 1608, which he called La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís, the Royal Town of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi. In 1610, it became the capital of New Mexico in 1610, making it the oldest capital city in what is the modern United States.

The Spanish laid out the city according to the “Laws of the Indies”, town planning rules and ordinances established in 1573. The fundamental principle was that the town be laid out around a central plaza. An important style implemented in planning the city was the radiating grid of streets centering from the central Plaza. Many were narrow and included small alley-ways, but each gradually merged into the more casual byways of the agricultural perimeter areas.

The city is well-known as a center for arts that reflect the multicultural character of the city.It was designated as a UNESCO Creative City in 2006.

1608 Québec City

A Brief History of Urbanism in North America: 1600s

Québec City: Wikimedia Commons

Québec was founded by Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer and diplomat on July 3, 1608 and named after Kébec, an Algonquin word meaning “where the river narrows.”* It was the first North American to be founded with the goal of permanent settlement, and not as a commercial outpost. Québec City is also home to the only remaining fortified city walls in the Americas north of Mexico. They were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 as the ‘Historic District of Old Québec’.

Throughout over four hundred years of existence, Québec City has been a capital city. From 1608 to 1627 and 1632 to 1763, it was capital of French Canada and all of New France; from 1763 to 1791, it was the capital of the Province of Quebec; from 1791 to 1841, it was the capital of Lower Canada; from 1852 to 1856 and from 1859 to 1866, it was capital of the Province of Canada; and since 1867, it has been capital of the Province of Quebec.

Much of the city’s most notable architecture is east of the fortification walls in Vieux-Québec and Place Royale. This area has a distinct European feel with its stone buildings and winding streets lined with shops and restaurants.

1626 New Amsterdam (New York City)

800px Manhattan00 A Brief History of Urbanism in North America: 1600s

Manhattan & New York City in 1873. Wikimedia Commons

New York City has a long history that is often overlooked.* The region was inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans at the time of its European discovery in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown, who named it “Nouvelle Angoulême.” European settlement began with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement, later called “Nieuw Amsterdam” on the southern tip of Manhattan in 1614. Dutch colonial Director-General Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from the Lenape in 1626 for a value of 60 guilders (about $1000 today), not the legendary $24 worth of glass beads.

In the 19th century, development and immigration transformed the city. The Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 expanded the city street grid to encompass all of Manhattan. The 1819 opening of the Erie Canal connected the Atlantic port to the markets of the North American interior. During the 1830s New York became a center of interracial abolitionist activism in the North. The Great Irish Famine brought a large influx of Irish immigrants, and local politics soon fell under the domination of Tammany Hall, a political machine supported by Irish immigrants.

In 1898, the modern City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn, the Countiec of New York (which then included parts of the Bronx), Richmond, and part of Queens. The opening of the subway in 1904 helped bind the new city together. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication. New York became the most populous urbanized area in the world in early 1920s, overtaking London, and the metropolitan area surpassed the 10 million mark in the early 1930s, becoming the first megacity in human history.

Other cities of note:

1607 Jamestown, Virgina: Oldest colony in the original thirteen colonies comprising the United States of America
1614 Albany, New York: Oldest settlement in the United States north of Virginia
1620 Plymouth, Massachusetts: One of the oldest continuously occupied towns in the thirteen colonies, and the oldest town in New England
1630 Boston
1642 Montreal
1659 Ciudad Juárez
1682 Philadelphia
1699 Baton Rouge

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A Brief History of Urbanism in North America: 1500s

Here is a selection of key settlements and cities established in North America during the 1500s. There were at least 30 cities of note founded during the century, mainly in Mexico, Cuba and Central America.

1498 Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)

Alcazar de Colon, built in 1500 by Christopher Columbus' son, Diego. Wikimedia Commons

Known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, the city is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Officially established on August 5, 1498, Santo Domingo is the oldest European city in America. Bartholomew Columbus founded the settlement and named it La Nueva Isabela, after the Queen of Spain. It was later renamed “Santo Domingo” in honor of Saint Dominic.

Santo Domingo was home to the first cathedral, hospital, customs house and university in the Americas. The colonial town was laid out on a grid pattern that became the model for almost all town planners in the New World. The original layout of the city and a large portion of its defensive remain visible today throughout the Colonial Zone, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1990. This zone also contains several 16th century buildings, including houses and churches reflecting the architectural style of the late medieval period.

Throughout its first century, Santo Domingo was the launching pad for much of the exploration and conquest of the New World.

1508 Caparra (Puerto Rico)

A Brief History of Urbanism in North America: 1500s

Ruins of Juan Ponce de Leon's residence at Caparra in Puerto Rico. Wikimedia Commons

The oldest known European community under United States authority. Caparra was founded by governor Juan Ponce de Leon as the first capital of Puerto Rico in 1508. It was from here that the colonization of Puerto Rico started. At one stage it was home to both the Catholic Church and to the new seats of government.

The settlement was abandoned in 1521 due to its vulnerability to Indian attack. The capital was relocated to San Juan. All that remains of this ancient fortification today are the few ruins that are now known as the Caparra Ruins. Caparra was declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1994.

1519 Veracruz (Mexico)

Escudo Vera Cruz Plus Ultra Ch A Brief History of Urbanism in North America: 1500s

Veracruz Coat of Arms. Wikimedia Commons

Veracruz is Mexico’s oldest and largest port. Hernán Cortés arrived to Mexico here in 1519. The city was named “Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz,” due to the area’s gold and because the Cortés expedition landed on Good Friday.*

Veracruz was the first city on the American continent. It was also home to the first city council when Cortés and his soldiers elected a Justicia Mayor and a Capitán General. The city was the first on mainland America to receive a coat of arms in 1523. During the colonial period, Veracruz was the most important port in New Spain, with a large wealthy merchant class that was more prosperous than Mexico City. It was the site of numerous invasions, included two by the United States (1n 1847 and 1914).

Because of its importance as Mexico’s principal Caribbean and Atlantic sea port, Veracruz has always been a locus for the mingling of different cultures, particularly native Mexican, Spanish and African. During the colonial period, African slaves were brought to work in the fields and shipyards. Since Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1821, other groups of immigrants, such as Italians and Cubans, have made their homes in the city.

1559 Pensacola (Florida)

Pensacola in 1885. Wikimedia Commons

Pensacola is the first European settlement in the United States (excluding territories). At the time of European contact a Muskogean-speaking tribe known to the Spanish as the Pensacola lived in the region. Known as the “City of Five Flags,” it has been Spanish, French, British, Confederate, and American.

Pensacola Bay was visited by the expeditions of Pánfilo de Narváez in 1528 and Hernando de Soto in 1539. In 1559 Tristán de Luna y Arellano landed with over 1,400 people on 11 ships from Vera Cruz and founded a settlement.* The colony was decimated by a hurricane a few months later. The rebuilding of the settlement was abandoned in 1561 due to famine and attacks.

The area was not resulted until 1698 when the Spanish founded a new settlement to check the French expansion of Louisiana. The Spanish ceded Florida to the British in 1763 as a result of the French and Indian War, and Pensacola was made capital of the new British colony of West Florida. In 1821, with Andrew Jackson as provisional governor, Pensacola became part of the United States.

1583 St. John’s (Newfoundland)

Plaque commemorating Gilbert's founding of the British Empire. Wikimedia Commons

St. John’s is the oldest settlement in North America to hold city status, with year-round settlement beginning sometime before 1620. The earliest record of the location appears as São João on a Portuguese map by Pedro Reinel in 1519. On August 5, 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed the area as England’s first overseas colony under Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I. The population grew slowly in the 17th century and St. John’s was the largest settlement in Newfoundland when English naval officers began to take censuses around 1675.

The architecture of St. John’s has a distinct style from that of the rest of Canada. Its major buildings are remnants of its history as one of the first British colonial capitals. The city’s architecture took a variety of styles according to the means available to build the structures.

1599 Tadoussac (Québec)

Tadoussac, Wikimedia Commons

Founded in 1600, Tadoussac was France’s first trading post on the mainland of New France and an important trading post in the seventeenth century. It is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in Quebec, and the oldest surviving French settlement in the Americas.

The area is mainly rural, with much of it remaining wilderness. It is home to several federal and provincial natural parks and preserves, including the first marine national park of Canada.

Next week, the 1600s.

If you have a hometown or favorite city that you would like included in this series, please let me know. Also, as the series enters the 1700s in the next few weeks, it will expand to include key pieces of legislation, people and other milestones. Please send me an email or leave a comment below if you have something to include.

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A Brief History of Urbanism: Pre-Columbia Cities, Part 2

Here is the second installment of pre-Columbian cities. During my research, I was reminded of the vast history of advanced human settlements that pre-dated European contact and frustrated that this part of our continents history is not better known. Our history and culture are all the poorer for not paying greater heed to it and learning from their lessons.

650 AD Cahokia

cahokia 2 A Brief History of Urbanism: Pre Columbia Cities, Part 2

www.meredith.edu

Cahokia—located near modern-day St. Louis—is the earliest recorded settlement in the United States and the most important center for the peoples known today as Mississippians. At its center was Monk’s Mound, a massive structure with four terraces, 10 stories tall, and the largest man-made earthen mound north of Mexico.

The inhabitants left no written records beyond symbols on pottery, shell, copper, wood, and stone. However, the elaborately planned community, woodhenge, mounds, and burials reveal a complex and sophisticated society. The settlement was abandoned more than a century before Europeans arrived in North America. At that time, the area around it was largely uninhabited by indigenous tribes, likely do to over hunting and deforestation.

The city’s original name is unknown; as is what Native American groups are descendants of the people who originally built the site. Cahokia is the the name of an Illiniwek clan living in the area when the first French explorers arrived in the 17th century.

At the high point of its development, Cahokia was the largest urban center north of Mexico. Archaeologists estimate the city’s population at between 8,000 and 40,000 at its peak.* In 1250, its population was larger than that of London, England and larger than any subsequent city in the United States until about 1800, when Philadelphia’s population grew beyond 40,000.

Cahokia is a National Historic Landmark and one of only twenty-one UN World Heritage Sites in the United States.

1100 AD Acoma Pueblo

AcomaPuebloReflection A Brief History of Urbanism: Pre Columbia Cities, Part 2

Ansel Adams, c.1941. from Wikimedia Commons.

Acoma Pueblo (aka Au’ku or Haakʼoh) in New Mexico, is one of the two oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States, along with Old Oraibi in Arizona.* Also known as “Sky City”, it is a Native American pueblo built on top of a 367 foot sandstone mesa.

Acoma Pueblo comprises several villages including Acomita, McCartys, Anzac and the newer subdivision of Sky Line. The Acoma people dry-farmed in the valley below Aa’ku and used irrigation canals in the villages closer to the Rio San José. Access to the pueblo is difficult as the faces of the mesa are sheer. Before modern times a hand-cut staircase carved into the sandstone provided the only access.

In 1598, Spanish conquistador Don Juan De Oñate, under orders from the King of Spain, invaded New Mexico, and began staging raids on Native American pueblos in the area. Today Acoma’s culture is almost the same as before the 1589 invasion. While modern-day Acoma interact extensively with neighboring non-Indians, they keep up their identity as a separate community with distinctive cultural systems.

Registered as a National Historical Landmark in 1960, Acoma Pueblo became a National Trust Historic Site in 2006.

For more information on Acoma, check out this excellent Smithsonian Magazine article.

1120 BC Oraibi

oraibi postcard A Brief History of Urbanism: Pre Columbia Cities, Part 2

Vintage postcard, "Hopi village of Oraibi, Arizona, founded c. 1120 AD."

Oraibi—also called Old Oraibi—is a Hopi village in Navajo County, Arizona. Known as Orayvi by the native inhabitants, it is located on Third Mesa on the Hopi Reservation.*

Archeologists speculate that a series of severe droughts in the late 13th century forced the Hopi to abandon several smaller villages in the region and merged within a few population centers. As Oraibi was one of these surviving settlements its population grew considerably, and became populous and the most influential of the Hopi settlements. By 1890 the village’s population was approximately 905. In 1890 a number of residents more receptive to the cultural influences moved closer to the trading post to found Kykotsmovi Village, sometimes called New Oraibi.

Contemporary Oraibi retains its integrity as a Hopi village, including its traditional architecture and village layout. Its resitents have maintained a more traditional Hopi way of life and resisted the adoption of the more modern culture visible in Kykotsmovi.

Oraibi is on the National Register of Historic Places (pdf). It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.

~1100 AD Taos Pueblo

800px NMtrip 05 047 A Brief History of Urbanism: Pre Columbia Cities, Part 2

Taos Pueblo with Rio Pueblo in foreground. Wikimedia Commons

Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos (Northern Tiwa) speaking Native American tribe of Pueblo people. It is about 1000 years old and lies about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico, USA. Taos Pueblo’s most prominent architectural feature is a multi-storied residential complex of reddish-brown adobe divided into two parts by the Rio Pueblo.

One of the most traditional of the Eastern Pueblos, Taos has borrowed from Anglo- and Spanish-American cultures over centuries of contact, while retaining its cultural integrity and identity as a community. In the 17th century, the Pueblo was a center of resistance to Spanish rule which drove the Spanish from the area for 12 years.

Taos Pueblo was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960. In 1992, it became a World Heritage Site. As of 2006, about 150 people live in it full-time.

For more information on Taos Pueblo, check out their website.

Next week, we’ll conclude the overview of pre-Columbian settlements. This includes the first Canadian site, which is also the first European settlement in the Americas.

A Brief History of Urbanism: Pre Columbia Cities, Part 2

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New Tools Needed

[Orginally posted on February 11, 2010]

A frustrating thing about living in Arizona is the parochial attitude of many of its residents, especially long-timers. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told, “Arizona is unique,” or it will never work here” or “good idea, but we don’t do things that way here.” Sometimes their rationale is sound, but more often than not, I want to shout “Has any one looked around lately and seen the results of the way you DO do things?”

Portrait by Elven Whims

The ongoing economic crisis isn’t the short-term results of the housing melt down, banking fiasco, or illegal immigration. Rather, it is a predictable results of a generation of poor policy and economic decisions made at all levels of government by officials of all political persuasions. Quite simply the decisions that the state has made over the past generation have dropped us into a hole that will be all but impossible to climb out of without radical rethinking. Applying the same tired solutions (more tax cuts, more corporate ‘incentives’), or hoping the next housing boom will solve the state’s problems is not only short-sighted—it is a recipe for continued decline.

Other States are Getting It

While Arizona politicians continue to debate what tax cuts to make, or which national chains to ‘subsidize’, other states are taking innovative measures to spur their local economies.

Earlier this year, the Oregon legislature created a task force to look at ways of encouraging communities to grow their own jobs through local entrepreneurial activity. Based on the concept of ‘economic gardening,’ this proposed legislation intends to balance the more traditional business recruitment strategy of economic development, in which towns and cities do whatever they can to try to lure big employers, who often leave for greener pastures as soon as the costly incentives expire. In baseball terms, this is the difference between hitting the odd home run versus hitting a steady stream of singles and doubles. While the home run may make ESPN, the singles and doubles win the game. Alas Arizona continues to hope to lure the free agents with the big, but un-loyal bats while ignoring the locally grown talent in our ‘farm system.’

In New Mexico, the House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill that allows the state to move between $2 and $5 billion of state funds to credit unions and small banks. The proposed legislation is base on a national movement called Move Your Money that encourages people and businesses to move their money to smaller credit unions and community banks. Not only would this keep more money and investment in the state, it should also improve the quality of local businesses and developments. Alas the legislature adjourned before the Senate could vote on the bill. Hopefully it will be reintroduced in a future session.It would be great to see a similar bill proposed in Arizona. A significant barrier to responsible development in the state is that local developers need to go to national banks for funding. These lenders often look at local business as high risk and prefer one size fits all templates that favor chain stores and big box developments. Having more local options would help give local owned business more local funding options.

Neither of these ideas are the Holy Grail that will save Arizona. However, they are new tools to consider for the new times we’re living in. They are ways to start building a ladder to help the state climb out of our hole, rather that the shovels that we continue to use.

Thanks for reading. As always I’d love to heat you perspective on the issues raised above.

Note: I learned of the Oregon task force initiative through Sarah Dinges on Twitter. Kimber Lanning from Local First Arizona told me about the New Mexico legislation.

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Americans Don’t Walk Much

[Source: Infrastructurist.com]

Photo Source: Infrastructurist.com

Good thing walking isn’t an Olympic sport, because a paper in this month’s Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercisesuggests that the United States isn’t very good at it. Using pedometers to collect data on 1,136 Americans, researchers found that they averaged 5,117 steps a day. (A mile is roughly 2,000 steps.) Meanwhile Australians averaged 9,695 steps a day, the Swiss clocked in at 9,650, and the Japanese puttered about at 7,168 paces.

The report’s lead author, David R. Bassett of the University of Tennessee, blames America’s poor performance on its auto obsession and lack of public transportation:

“People do have to exercise,” he said. “But our overall environment does not lend itself to promoting an active lifestyle.”

[...]

Using Census data, Freemark charts how people got to work in America’s 30 largest cities between 2000 and 2009. We’ll focus on changes in the percentage of people walking to work during this time, although the chart compares all types of transportation modes:

All cities experienced a slight increase in commuter walking, at 1.8 percent
Cities without rail had a 2.7 percent decrease
Cities with rail but no major new rail investments saw a 1.7 percent increase
Cities with major new rail investments jumped 4.2 percent

[...]

Be sure to check out the whole article here.

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Policy Wonk, Defined [repost]

Originally posted on September 15, 2009.

Since I created this website, I’ve been asked on several occasions what the term ‘policy wonk’ that is on my header means. Admittedly, it’s an insiders term, used mainly by those who work for governments organizations and the odd NGO. However, the official term, ‘policy analyst‚’ is pretty dry and boring as a way to describe how I’ve spent over a decade of my life, so I decided to reclaim ‘wonk’ from the silos of bureaucracy and wear it with pride.

Basically a wonk is to public policy what a nerd is to math and a geek is to computers. For those looking for a more detailed definition, check out description below that I found online.

I have attempted to write my own description, but nothing I have written could match the bang-on description than the folks at policywonk.com have come up with. If I have learned nothing else as a wonk, it’s that, when possible, borrow, and borrow liberally. So read on, and by the end you should have a better idea of what makes me tick (albeit with funkier eyeglasses than they typcial wonk).

What is a Policy Wonk?

Policy Wonks are kinda hard to explain. However, you know one when you hear one. Above all else, Policy Wonks are smart… really smart. And they like to talk and listen, but mostly to debate. They’re the ones who seem to enjoy pontificating endlessly on subjects that most people are more than happy to know that someone else cares about. Policy Wonks often ruin a perfectly good party or football game with a discussion of the trade deficit, agricultural subsidies, or welfare reform. And once they get going, they have an annoying habit of throwing around arguments, statistics and examples that leave the uninitiated feeling, well… dumb.

Continue Reading →

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Jane Jacobs, Immigrant

A version of this article was originally posted on my Jane’s Walk Phoenix blog on April 13, 2010.

As a Canadian living in the Unites States, I found the passage below extremely interesting. I have had almost the exactly same experience, only in reverse. When I first moved down to Arizona, many of my friends and acquaintances couldn’t figure out why we were doing it, and many assumed it would be just a temporary thing until we got it out of our system and realized our mistake. Canadians may very well know that there are places just as real as Canada, they just tend not to think of the US as one of them .

While we have no long terms plans to stay (our current residency situation does not allow it, and it REALLY sucks not to be able to vote), we have enjoyed our time here immensely, met some amazing friends and have gained an even deeper appreciation of the country and it’s citizens. At the same time, we are proud Canadians, and still cherish or friends and family there.

Yes, we were but we were—you know this was another thing that we found out when we got here. Americans don’t really think that other places are as real as America. We were leaving things behind. Well, we were coming to other things that were just as real and just as interesting and just as exciting.And people would ask me after we had decided to stay, “Well, when are you coming back?” “Well, we’re not. We are living here.” “Oh, but you can’t just—you’ve got to come back to real life.” And I would say, “It’s just as real.”

This is very hard for Americans to understand and I think that may be the biggest difference between Americans and people elsewhere. Canadians know that there are places just as real as Canada. It’s a self-centeredness that’s a very strange thing.

/…/

Yes, they have got it so dingged [sic] into them that they are the most fortunate people on Earth and that the rest of the world—the sooner it copies what America is like, the better. I still have a lot of family in America. I still have a lot of friends there.

There is a lot that I admire there very much. When I find America getting too much criticized outside America, I want to tell them how many things are good about it. So I am not any hate-America person. I really came here for positive reasons. We stayed for positive reasons, because we liked it.

Why did I become a Canadian citizen? Not because I was rejecting being a U.S. citizen. At the time when I became a Canadian citizen, you couldn’t be a dual citizen. Now you can. So I had to be one or the other. But the reason I became a Canadian citizen was because it simply seemed so abnormal to me not to be able to vote.

–Jane Jacobs, in an interview with James Howard Kunstler, 9/6/2000

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this passage.

Canada “as cool as” America (gadling.com)

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A Call to Action

Yesterday I wrote about some of the strengths that Phoenix has, and how they are building blocks for creating a great city. However, too many of us still look to the politicians, developers and civic organizations to arrange these building blocks and create new ones. The trouble is they keep squandering this responsibility by chasing after the next big block, instead of finding ways to pull together what we already have. Put another way, we have allowed city-building to become so problematic, so institutionalized that it has lost all but the most rudimentary citizen input.

Part of this is our own problem. We have sat back and watched the real estate industrial complex and kookocracy take over our city. We are satisfied with the odd positive outcome and accepted their empty platitudes. Sure a few people have complained from the sidelines, a few more have attempted to get involved, and fewer still have been able to affect some positive change. This makes the rest of us victims. As Derek Neighbors has said “the biggest faux pas that creative class has made in downtown Phoenix is not getting involved in the right organizations and making an impact.”

If enough people do not care to do more than whine among themselves; if enough people don’t have the passion to get involved, then there isn’t a platform for positive change to build on. Sure we can stand around and hope that Kimber will enter the Mayor’s race, but without a critical mass of ACTIVE supporters there isn’t much she can do, even as mayor. We all need to prove to our civic leaders that there is a market, not only for denser downtown, but a vibrant downtown created by community involvement. We need to give them with not only good ideas, but also the confidence to enact them.

The decisions made today were conceived months–if not years–ago. They weren’t pulled out of thin air; they were built and negotiated by city staff, developers, and business groups. Some of them may have been referred to a committee for consideration. By the time they reach the public, it is too late to do much more than smooth a few rough edges. If we want to affect sustained change, we need to have impact earlier in the decision-making process.

Quite simply we need to GET INVOLVED. Instead of simply complaining, find an organization you would like to see changed (or influence change) and start attending their meetings. Try to get on their board od directors. At the city level, there are dozens of citizen based boards and committees, many with vacancies (I have listed several vacancies with the City of Phoenix in another post). Find one and apply to be on it. In the meantime, start attending your council district, neighborhood association, and/or HOA meetings and learn about what is going on and who the key influencers are.

Be warned that this won’t change things overnight. Those with the power wont hand it over because you attend a meeting or two. Real change takes perseverance and patience. The developers have it. This is why they are so often on the winning side. If we want to balance the tables, we need to have it as well. If we love our city, then a little effort put into making it better is a small price to pay. If enough of us get involved in a concerted way, I guarantee that real change WILL occur.

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DPJ Article: Local First Arizona‚ Shopping Local is Shopping Green

Originally published in the Downtown Phoenix Journal on November 19, 2009.

Among the 1,900 booths at the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, one seemed slightly out-of-place. While most booths were promoting green products and sustainable services, Local First Arizona (LFA) was there promoting local businesses. This had me intrigued, so I asked LFA Director Kimber Lanning to explain why she thought it was important to represent local businesses at Greenbuild.

Local First Arizona is turning green

During our discussion, Kimber reminded me that sustainability has three central facets: environmental, social and economic. So, in addition to promoting local business and restaurants to conference attendees, LFA was there to remind people about the social and economic aspects of being green. Locally owned businesses create more local jobs, pay more taxes and reinvest more money in their immediate communities. This is especially important to realize in todays economy, when state and local governments are purchasing from out-of-state businesses instead of local ones to save a few dollars. While governments may save a few thousand dollars in purchasing costs, these savings are often outweighed by the loss of local jobs, tax income and community reinvestment. As a result, purchasing slightly cheaper products and services from out-of-state corporations often leaves the state balance sheet worse off.

Not only was Greenbuild an opportunity to promote the virtues of shopping locally, but it was also an opportunity for LFA to connect with many green-business owners in Arizona. While LFA is mainly known for restaurants and retail businesses, it is open to all Arizonan-owned business. During the conference, Kimber and Russ Baurichter, LFA’s membership coordinator, met with dozens of Arizona-based trades, contractors, architects and other green-business owners from Arizona that they may not have otherwise connected with. This not only strengthened and broadened the membership base of LFA, but it also gave Arizona’s green industry access to an important resource that will help strengthen the sector. It also served as a reminder that buying local means not only groceries and gifts, but also green products and services.

Local First Arizona is a nonprofit organization representing over 1,700 locally owned businesses that work to create sustainability through encouraging local economies. The LFA offices can be reached by phone at 602.956-0909 or by email. For a list of Arizona-based green and eco-friendly businesses, click here.