Urban thoughts on a Sunday morning

 

Crosswalk sign, New Bohemia, May 2023

Urbanist thoughts that arose from a coffee meetup this morning:

Capitalism vs. community? There's a lot to be said for the capitalist economic system, but there are a number of tensions between the needs of the market and the needs of the community. Do we see ourselves as consumers of our locale's amenities, or citizens participating a common project? And how do our employers see us? 

As someone who benefited from the tenure system in American higher education, I recognize that I possessed job security and continuity which most people in my town do not enjoy. The agility of producing firms allows for innovations that benefit consumers--compare the performance of the private and public sectors on this dimension--but from the workers' perspective, employment can seem like a perpetual mad scramble. This tends to push out people who have fewer competitive advantages: the poor, female heads of households, recent arrivals, and older workers. 

Stable careers allow people to make long-term decisions and commitments to their communities, which resound to everyone's benefit. Today, even though the pandemic-related surges in unemployment and inflation have largely returned to normal, the aroma of economic insecurity continues. Such insecurity inevitably turns people inward and less able to look at the big picture, either in their own lives or in the world around them. Towns, like stores, are reduced to using amenities to try to get people's money, rather than being a collective project. This is connected to...

The perils of drive-to urbanism. New Bohemia and Czech Village have sprung like miracles from the disastrous 2008 flood, though so far what has sprung forth have been predominantly commercial developments catering to visitors rather than organic neighborhoods serving residents. (There is a striking lack of connection between the shops of New Bohemia and the residential section of the Oak Hill Jackson neighborhood on its eastern edge.) So despite the easily walkable proximity between shops and restaurants, there is a lot of car traffic as well. 

As a friend and I crossed 12th Avenue this noon, a driver anticipating a left turn onto 12th suddenly accelerated towards us. I am not proud of the expletive I yelled--my lizard brain apparently dwells in some dark places--and the young man at the wheel apologized, but this sort of thing is going to happen in any area that relies on car traffic in a city where "everybody" drives "everywhere"--even if pedestrians are thick as thieves.

Everybody makes mistakes, including me. Those mistakes are magnified when they're made in a heavy machine that can maim or kill a human being. We'll live longer and better if we rely on cars less. (And thank goodness it wasn't one of those gigantized trucks that are so popular these days.)

How to connect? A hyper-competitive economy and car dependency work against community building; is anything working in its favor? For those wanting to find out more about what is going on in their community, some suggestions emerged:

• neighborhood associations, where they exist, have monthly meetings that can serve as forum to discuss developments and issues of common concern;
• social media, if you can stand it, have groups dedicated to historic preservation, local restaurants, local government, performing arts events, and more;
• a print subscription to the Gazette, which despite losing staff does a pretty fair job of representing different points of view on local events;
• volunteering with an organization working in the community (I wonder if working at a bar or cafe would have the same benefit?)

Of course, regularly following the Holy Mountain blog is also a necessity!