Eight things that make me proud in Cedar Rapids

 

Cedar Rapids sign, taken from the 3rd Avenue Bridge

Our big orange photo op is not one of them. I don't hate it, but I don't love it. Many other towns have already done it, so it's not exactly original, and writing your name on everything seems more like a sign of insecurity rather than pride. ("Gulf of America," anyone?) 

Do these photo ops age well? There's this one in New Bohemia from the ill-fated NewBo Evolve festival. It's still there, seven years later...

NewBo sign, 1300 block of 3rd Avenue SE

...and I took this picture of it in a snowstorm in January 2024, so maybe they do?

But I'm not here to complain about the sign. Really, I don't hate it. I'm here because my inability to appreciate its wonderfulness has led me to contemplate the things about Cedar Rapids that do make me proud. These are the things I show visitors and new students. I was going to list five, but I'm up to eight, and might have gone further, but I should get this written, and anyway what I missed might inspire you to make your own list!

Blake Shaw performs in CSPS courtyard,
October 2020

1. Arts and theater scene. Whether your art of choice is visual, musical, or theatrical, there's just a lot going on here. CSPS Hall, where I volunteer, has been showcasing eclectic music and art since 1993, and has been an anchor for growth in New Bohemia. The Cherry Building has regular exhibits of art by residents of its studios. There are several theater groups, and our local colleges feature all manner of fine arts productions. This is all on top of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, the Eastern Iowa Symphony, and Theater Cedar Rapids. There's a lot to appreciate here, most of it accessibly priced and presented. City of Cedar Rapids arts and culture page 

Group ride on the Cedar River Trail, May 2023

2. Bike/trails network. What Cedar Rapids has in common with the host cities for the last three Congresses for the New Urbanism is our bicycle network is progressing, and is just a few connections away from being fully functional. On my side of town, the CeMar Trail will create a direct, paved route from the core of Cedar Rapids to the center of Marion. The Cherokee Trail, when completed, will go from downtown all across the west side. Our separated bike lanes downtown were the first or second in the state, depending on who you're asking. Linn County Trails Association page 

Gazette offices, downtown Cedar Rapids
(two blocks from their old offices)

3. Cedar Rapids Gazette. With limited resources, the Gazette is a solid local daily (at least online) paper that is locally owned, a rarity in a town this size. They do not shy away from exploring, in both news and opinion sections, aspects of issues that don't fit the lines coming from the Statehouse or Chamber of Commerce. And their offices remain downtown, which goes far with me.

Clifford the Big Red Dog helped open the new
main library in August 2013

4. Cedar Rapids Public Library. I got my library card as soon as I moved to town, and have been a satisfied patron ever since. I always find something worth reading in their vast collection. The main library has endured the 2008 flood, at the time the most costly disaster ever suffered by a U.S. library; the expectation they will be a refuge for the increasing unhoused population; and a state government that is suspicious of its efforts to serve a diverse population. A new facility under construction will provide expanded services to the west side.

Interior, Craftd Coffee, downtown CR

5. Coffee. For whatever reason back in the 1990s, the big chains were late in colonizing our town, allowing a rich variety of local shops to emerge. The big boys are here now, but the locals are holding on, mostly in the core of Cedar Rapids as well as Marion and Hiawatha. They are places to sit a spell, enjoy free or cheap refills, and see friends old and new. I have my favorites, but the whole of the coffee scene is even more than its parts.

The Round Barn, longtime home of the 
Indian Creek Nature Center

6. Indian Creek Nature Center and city parks. More than fifty years ago, someone had the vision to establish a place on the outskirts of town where adults and children could learn about nature while in nature, the community could celebrate the joys of homemade maple syrup, and the staff could model sustainable land conservation. To this add Bever and Ellis Parks, the oldest and best of our mixed-use parks, which include natural areas as well as playgrounds and swimming pools.

Cultivate Hope Corner Store grand opening, 2022

7. Matthew 25. There are a lot of social service organizations around town, but this one, begun in 2006 by pastor brothers Clint Twedt-Ball and Courtney Ball, is distinctive. From the start they had the goal of working with the neighbors rather than merely working in the neighborhood (in their case, the Taylor and Time-Check neighborhoods on the near west side). They were forced to pivot by the 2008 flood, and have continued to change over the years in response to new challenges. They opened the Cultivate Hope Corner Store in 2022. With Clint's departure this year, leadership is passing to a new generation.

Ready for Food Truck Tuesday
at New Bo City Market, May 2024

8. New Bo City Market. Since its inception in 2012 it's been more of a food court than a market, but it's a food court unlike any other around, with a variety of ethnic offerings not found elsewhere in town. Some shopkeepers have been able to make the jump from a market stall to their own shop, proving the market's worth as an incubator as well. Their Friday night concert series is a summer tradition now. A capital campaign is underway to expand the size of the facility, including a grocery store, dental clinic, and meeting space.

Urbanism in St. Petersburg (Offseason edition)

Bus stop on 1st Avenue North: Ibises are like the pigeons of Florida,
but a novelty to us Midwesterners

Our trip to St. Petersburg was guaranteed to be a roaring success, if only because we boarded a plane in weather that wanted to rip our faces off, and less than three hours later we were greeted by weather that wanted to hug us and tell us everything was going to be all right. 

along the Pinellas Trail in the Warehouse Arts District:
maybe everything is going to be all right?

Meanwhile, the whole Tampa-St. Petersburg metropolitan area seemed to be holding its breath, awaiting the onslaught of spring breakers when February turns to March. The off-season may not be the best time to try to take the measure of a city's urbanism in three days, particularly when the city was whacked by a hurricane four months ago. Even so, that is what I propose to do here, with all due caution and buckets of caveats.

1. Walking

St. Petersburg has a population of 258,308. Together with its larger neighbor Tampa and surrounding towns, it's part of a metropolitan area with more than three million people. Located on the Pinellas Peninsula, it is blessed with access to large bodies of water on two sides, but rather limited as to where to grow. 

West side of town: St. Pete Beach on the Gulf of Mexico

Our rental near downtown has a Walk Score of 97! There are a lot of destinations, including museums, coffee shops, and restaurants within walkable range of where were staying, and Tropicana Field (home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays) is seven blocks straight west of here. (See also "Elements of Urbanism" 2008 for an old but accurate list).

A noted St. Petersburg architect, Tim Clemmons, arrived in 1982. "I had a favorable first impression, but I didn't see a single person" (Snider 2019). Despite the efforts of Clemmons and others since, we haven't seen a lot of people walking, either, though there were a steady supply of dog walkers. No doubt that will change next month!

As of 2016, St. Petersburg had the second-highest pedestrian death rate in the country (Stephenson 2016), but by 2024 had dropped out of the top fifteen (Solum 2024). The whole State of Florida still has the second highest pedestrian death rate, behind only New Mexico (GHSA 2024: 11).

St. Petersburg has taken its traffic deaths seriously. They have installed pedestrian treatments...

Bumpout with curb cut, 6th Street at Central Avenue

 and bicycling infrastructure...

Separated bike lane, 6th Street S

Pinellas Trail: bike/ped trail that runs by both
the Rays' stadium and the Warehouse Arts District

I saw at least one example of a walk light before the driving green.

Walk light, 6th Street at 1st Avenue N

But streets are wide...

300 block of 6th Street S

...and cars drive fast. Drivers are mostly courteous, though, so the culture seems to be changing.

Infrastructure comes and goes; a few blocks west of the separated bike lane on 1st Avenue S, we saw a cyclist draw the ire of our Sun Runner driver for riding in the BRT lane, which he was doing, but there really was nowhere for the cyclist to go to get out of the way.

2. Transit

The Sun Runner on a sunny morning

We had to use Uber from and to the airport, but were able to rely on public transportation or our feet for all other travel. We bought passes ahead of time on the Flamingo Fares app, which was fussy but workable. The first day, we took the Sun Runner (Bus Rapid Transit) along 1st Avenue North out to St. Pete Beach. The Sun Runner is comfortable, and accommodates bicycles (there are three of these storage gizmos).

Bicycle storage on the Sun Runner

The Sun Runner comes every 15 minutes during the day between Downtown and St. Pete Beach. Ridership was diverse by race, age and social class, which is a definite win. Card readers were installed at two doors. I found them to be fussy, too, but observed no cheating (unlike Minneapolis-St. Paul), possibly due to occasional security presence. 

The second day we went to the Byrd Hill Nature Preserve on the south side of town. We took the #4 down, and the #20 back. Both are straight north-south routes. The newer bus on the #4 line had an extremely informative message board showing the next three upcoming stops.

message board on the #4 bus

Per the Pinellas County Transit Authority website, as a senior, I am entitled to a $1.10 fare per ride (less than half the normal $2.25), but I have to get my card validated somewhere so I skipped it. There is a $5 fee cap per day, which the Flamingo Fares card reportedly handles, but we did not ever put that to the test.

Transit oriented development: Grocery store by the 8th street BRT stop

We didn't travel to Tampa or Clearwater, which I gather is more complicated to do by transit. And St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport is, weirdly, completely inaccessible by public transit. For hopes for future passenger rail in the region, see Blanton 2021.

3. Coffee

Jane by the entrance to Paradeco Coffee Roasters

There is just a ton of coffee in this town. The usual multinationals are here, of course, but much less in evidence than are the many, many local establishments to choose from in St. Petersburg. 

Our first visit was to Kahwa Coffee on the Southside, on our way to the Byrd Hill Nature Preserve. Kahwa is a local chain, with eight locations in St. Petersburg proper, and more throughout the Tampa Bay region. The Southside location, which opened in July 2023, is in a residential area; besides Jane and me, there were just two men who were working from their laptops and phones. (Would it have been different on the weekend, or during the tourist season?) It was neither suburban-shiny nor urban-cozy; there were a few couches, but mostly plastic tables and chairs, and the concrete floor was painted gray. The coffee was top-notch, and Jane was exuberant about the selection of teas.

Interior, Southside Kahwa Coffee
(swiped from kahwacoffee.com)

The next day we went downtown to Paradeco Coffee Roasters, in the Plaza Tower near the pier. It's listed as a woman-owned business, and LGBTQ+-friendly, which in these unfriendly times I have come to value. On a morning when the streets seemed a bit sleepy, the place was simply packed! Chairs and tables, tile floor, one type of drip coffee, and again, a tea selection that had Jane enraptured. (She went with an orange-turmeric iced tea, pictured below.) 

Our haul at Paradeco (photo by Jane)

There were people working on laptops, people not working, and families with children. Some people greeted people at other tables, which is a very good sign. So, very social if not very cozy.

One would have to spend a lot of time in St. Petersburg, I think, to get a real sense of the range of coffeehouse experiences.

We did not get to Black Crow Coffee in the Grand Central District,
but it came recommended by previous lodgers

SEE ALSO:

2050 Long-Range Transportation Plan produced by Forward Pinellas (MPO)

St. Petersburg Walking Tour https://floridastories.oncell.com/en/st-petersburg-176884.html 

Coffeeneuring Challenge 2024

My ride, snug in the bike shed at Geonetric

Week One

1. Wednesday, October 9 (sunny 80F)

Coffee at: Converge Cafe in the Geonetric Building, 415 12th Ave SE [round trip 4.6 miles]

One Million Cups day at Geonetric!

I was Two-Days-Ago Years Old when I found out about the Coffeeneuring Challenge, an annual celebration of autumn, bicycles and coffee, on a Mastodon post. Coffeeneuring was begun by twelve individuals in the Washington, D.C. area in 2011; in 2021, the last year for which there are data, there were 329 riders from 41 states and the District of Columbia, as well as thirteen other countries. Decorah, Des Moines and Waverly, Iowa were represented, but... not Cedar Rapids! I'm fixing to change that this year.

Coffeeneuring season begins this week. My first ride was to 1 Million Cups, the Cedar Rapids locus of the Kaufmann Foundation's national gatherings of entrepreneurs. I rode over about 8 a.m., which is when Cedar Rapids traffic is as busy as it gets, but managed to elude most of it. I take my coffee black, today opting for the Colombian blend. Today's featured speaker was Shafira Rizki, whose organization Lead With Her promotes leadership by women in southeast Asia.

Shafira Rizki (right) presents at 1 MC Cedar Rapids

2. Friday, October 11 (sunny, 87F)

Spiced cider at: Roaster's in the New Bo City Market, 1100 3rd Street SE [round trip 4.4 miles]

Bike parking at the Market

New Bo Open Coffee on the second and fourth Fridays of each month was an institution by the time I started frequenting the district eight years ago. In its heyday it drew 15-25 people from nearby businesses. Alas, time, relocations, and the infamous pandemic have reduced the crowd to three very persistent men, of whom I am one. Today it was just Sam and me, with Bill checking in by video call from Wisconsin. Celebrities spotted included Anna Dombkowski, the Market's new development director; former Cedar Rapids mayor Brad Hart; and Corridor MPO transportation planner Roman Kiefer.

Today was close to the ideal bike commute. Another 8 a.m. call meant riding through traffic, but I was lucky in finding gaps in it so I could make the necessary left turns on my route. Too many cars means I'm fighting a losing battle for space, but I like having someone around to protect me from turning traffic, and to trigger the traffic lights. The weather's been ideal for biking, but of course our unseasonable warmth is inextricably connected to the horrible hurricanes that have been ravaging the southeast, and here it hasn't rained in six weeks.

Roaster's New Bo

Week Two

3. Tuesday, October 15 (Sunny, windy 55F)

Coffee at: Craft'd Coffee Shop, 333 1st St SE [round trip 3.6 miles]

We had a frost last night, and it was still in the 30s when I set out this morning. This is more seasonable weather than we had last week, but not my favorite for biking. It was not too windy riding in; with a light coat and leather gloves, though, I was fine, except for my ears.

Today I was meeting a friend at Craft'd, barely a block from City Hall, in the space formerly occupied by Early Bird. It was hopping when I arrived just before 9; I counted 16 customers, including some gathered to celebrate a co-worker's 40th birthday. (I took a picture... not sure what happened to it.) I did not have a reusable cup recommended in the Coffeeneuring Challenge rules, but I brought my crocheted sleeve, which I'd bought at New Bo City Market in the days BP (before-the-pandemic). 

I like my dessert bars like I like my cities: dense and diverse

The ride home was windier, but by mid-morning traffic was sparse, so no complications except for these garbage cans on 3rd Avenue which are apparently stored in the bike line. (Garbage pickup was four days ago!)

1600 block of 3rd Avenue SE

Week Three

4. Tuesday, October 22 (morning shower, 76F)

Coffee at: Veritas Cafe, 509 3rd St SE [round trip 4.1 miles + 0.5 miles swimming]

The sky was surprisingly dark with clouds when I set out this morning just before 8, and I saw one flash of lightning to the west, but I made it safely and drily to the YMCA. I would have been okay with getting wet, though, as it's been weeks since we had any rain at all. It rained a little while I was in the pool, and I saw more streaks of lightning, but it was over by the time I left. (Back in the day, they used to close the pool when there was lightning. I'm not sure when that practice changed. Maybe there's better indoor pool protection technology.)

With puddles on the ground and on my bicycle seat, I portaged two blocks to Veritas Cafe, a third place of sorts inside the Baptist-affiliated Veritas Church. They're remodeling the interior of the church, so the seating areas are less spread out and more defined. I had black coffee and this voluptuous cranberry muffin:

I read City Comforts: How to Build an Urban Village by David Sucher (City Comforts Inc., revised edition, 2016) while I drank my coffee. The cafe was well-attended but not crowded, mostly with younger people. There were slips of paper to write prayer requests, but the cafe is not doctrinal in spite of the setting, and the canned music was mostly by Fleetwood Mac. In 1953 this was a grocery store, according to the Polk's Directory. I could see that; anyhow this is a great example of successfully adaptive reuse.

The sun was out, the air was cooler, and my bicycle seat was dry, by the time I emerged for the ride home. I keep reading on Facebook and Mastodon about people riding 60 or 75 km for their coffee. I feel like a bit of a piker by comparison, going barely 7 km today. I'm certainly fortunate to live so close to so much coffee.

5. Thursday, October 24 (sunny, windy, 66F)

Coffee at: Uptown Coffee, 760 11th St Suite A, Marion, IA [round trip 16 miles]

I took my car in for an oil change this morning, which put me close enough to the Cedar River Trail for a mostly-trail ride to Uptown Marion. The trails are slated to be connected at 51st Street NE, and that was supposed to have happened this year, but now has been delayed until spring or early summer. 51st Street is adequate in the meantime, wide and not heavily trafficked. 

Near the movie theater: Washing something off the trail

I didn't have any difficulty this morning until I was almost to the coffeehouse in Marion: The traffic light at 7th Avenue and 10th Street never gave me a green, so after waiting through one cycle and for traffic to clear, I ran the red. I don't feel good doing this, but if only cars can trigger the light I have no choice.

Uptown Artway: Looking towards Uptown from
this whimsical bike rack 

Coffee in the bar, with doughnuts and Da Brim

I wore my shirt from Open Streets DC. 

11th Street, on which Uptown is located, is sort of an open street itself, in that auto traffic is blocked from crossing 7th Avenue.

I would have taken more pictures of the trail, but it was so chilly I was loath to stop!

Week Four

6. Sunday, October 27 (sunny, 63F)

Coffee at: Craft'd Coffee Shop, 333 1st St SE [round trip 3.6 miles]

The view outside my front door today

This picture was taken later in the day, but it is included to show the profusion of color we are living right now. It made for quite the picturesque ride!

I get credit for my hi-viz Bike to Work Week t-shirt
today, though on the streets no one could see it under my jacket

Coffee was supposed to happen somewhere else this morning, but while that somewhere had been open Sundays back in March, they no longer are. Thankfully, the coffeeneuring rules allow for one repeat place, which I am claiming today, and Craft'd was just a couple blocks farther on. I caught up with my friends there.

I finally got a picture of the interior, which was not full when I arrived a little ahead of 9:30, but by 10 was fully hopping.

One more ride to go...

7. Tuesday, October 29 (sunny, windy, possible-record 84F)

Coffee at: Dash Coffee Roasters, 120 3rd Avenue SW [round trip 6 miles]

3rd Avenue SW: mural featuring Lucille Ball and the planet Saturn

Weird summerlike weather continues for another day or two--great for biking, not so great for the long-term prospects for life on Earth. I rode from the tire store, which gave me an extra ride through the near northeast side, past the house we rented our first year in Cedar Rapids. 

bike parking at Dash

I met my friend John at Dash in Kingston, across the river from Downtown Cedar Rapids, and near the Linn County Elections Depot where John is helping people vote early. He reports steady high numbers of early voters every day, though what that augurs no one can tell. Iowa is not one of the seven states that will decide this election anyhow.

my coffee and incredible strawberries and cream scone

The building was a dry cleaners in 1953, with a dentist's and doctor's offices above.

I happened to see on Instagram that Dash is celebrating Deviled Eggs Tuesday, so I scored some for us. The chef added "the warming comfort spices of Pho" to create a fascinating flavor.

Happy Deviled Eggs Tuesday!

Now I have completed Coffeeneuring Challenge 2024! All that remains is to fill out the form when it appears on the Chasing Mailboxes site. I'm looking forward to next year, when I anticipate some more trail options for out-of-town coffeeneuring--although it's hard to imagine more ideal biking weather than we've had this October. In the meantime, I can revel in the number of coffee options within a couple miles of my house that are not multinational corporations!

SOURCE: Mary G., "Coffeeneuring Challenge 2024: The Year of Small Wins," Chasing Mailboxes, 30 September 2024 [includes description and ground rules]

Psyche-up/informational video from Minnesota-Based Beth Bikes (16:51):

CNU Diary 2023

The Westin Charlotte promenade at 8:00 a.m. Thursday

Wednesday, May 31

Is there room in urbanism for the grumpy and discouraged? I am in Charlotte, almost 1000 miles from where I started the day, attending my first-ever in-person Congress for the New Urbanism. I flew from Cedar Rapids via Chicago. A recent episode of Freakonomics exulted in the miracle that is air travel. Air travel is quite the miracle indeed, except when it isn't. And today it barely qualified.

I arrived in Charlotte two hours later than planned, because we spent two hours on the runway at O'Hare waiting out a lightning storm. I thereby missed the welcome party at the 7th Street Market, which ended at 8 p.m., though I recognized a few of them by their lanyards as they returned to conference headquarters. (I'll get mine tomorrow, I guess.) I missed the first bus to town because the wayfinding signs at Charlotte-Douglas International are the worst (actually, they're excellent, except for any help finding the city transit.)

My laptop was broken on the journey. I'm tired and hungry, but too dispirited even to scare up something at the hotel bar. I didn't bring enough socks.

Urbanism is an inherently optimistic movement. The problems of the world today were caused by bad decisions in the past, but we know how to undo them. Then the magic of human interactions, facilitated by proximity and the removal of barriers, will all make our lives better, with less stress on the environment and public finances. The next two days are full of projects that have worked, and tried-and-true ways of advocating for them. And I am just not feeling it. After two hours imprisoned on the tarmac, I hated everybody, especially the guy sitting next to me watching a violent movie on his phone with the sound up. On the plane, proximity became unbearable, and I longed for barriers and escape. Those feelings are only beginning to wear off, recharged (unlike my laptop) as they are by each new frustration.

The other thing that's weighing on me now is everyone says CNU is all about socializing. It's the connections you make and the conversations you have that are the essence of CNU. Perhaps after a night's sleep I'll feel like I can manage a short conversation, but two days of chatting is liable to put me in traction.

(Actually, I've already managed one conversation, with an urbanist named Jay Hoekstra who rode over to the hotel on the bus with me. That seems a lifetime ago.)

Thursday, June 1

Nine hours of much-needed sleep, and I'm into this. The opening event was inspiring, the tour of bicycle-oriented development was informative, Cedar Rapids got a major award, and I bumped into Dave Alden (after sitting next to John Simmerman at lunch). My e-bike didn't "e," one of the socks I did bring has a hole in it, one of my ears blocked up during lunch, but none of that matters. I'm surprised I even mentioned it. Then my phone battery slowly died during the Charter Awards ceremony, so that I was unable to get a picture of Jeff Pomerantz, Shannon Ramsay, and Jeff Speck accepting the award for the ReLeaf Cedar Rapids program. That did matter, actually.

President Mallory Baches calls the conference to order

On the main stage, in the morning's first panel, Eric Kronberg, Braxton Winston, and Rebekah Klik discussed the housing crisis. Kronberg, who runs a firm in Atlanta and dubs himself "the zoning whisperer," talked about the prerequisites for "attainable housing:" existing walkable infrastructure (because vehicle ownership is too costly for anyone under 80 percent of area median income, and because if the infrastructure's there it leaves more money for architecture). Winston, a member of Charlotte's city council, celebrated the uniform development ordinance (UDO) which takes effect today, and discussed his awakening to the importance of local politics beginning with a police shooting protest in September 2016. Afterwards, Rebekah Klik asked the best questions, starting with: what is the source of your sustained optimism? Winston plugged the ideal  of America, including democracy and self-government; Kronberg said seeing progress happening, and public understanding improved, and sharing stories of successes. 

panel on housing: Rebekah Klik, Eric Kronberg, 
Braxton Winston

Surging economic growth in the southeast has caused problems, but also opportunities to talk about equity and attainable housing leading to "common ground" (Winston). Kronberg also commended the book (and accompanying website) Homelessness is a Housing Problem by Clayton Sage and Greg Colburn (California, 2022).

Braxton Winston, Charlotte's mayor pro tem 

Late in the afternoon, Kronberg and associates returned to the podium to talk about attainable housing strategies: how to identify neighborhoods to work in, and reduce "brain damage" like costs and regulations for middle housing types. Kronberg said a pilot project is "a great way to gain trust" and may lead in time to policy change.

getting ready to roll

The bike tour ran about three hours, covering 10 miles in neighborhoods around Charlotte's Uptown. Some was on trails, which our guides report are heavily used during commuting times as well as weekends. (This suggests that I may have underestimated the impact of trail connections on bicycle commuting in Cedar Rapids.) Right around Uptown, though, we had to trust to the mercy of heavily-trafficked streets with minimal biking infrastructure. It's a work in progress, we were told.

The Railyard

Bike racks at the Railyard are sheltered

trail alongside the light rail 

housing by the light rail and trail

more housing on the other side of the tracks

bike themed brew pub

South State Street: Stewart Creek Greenway-adjacent building
will be Charlotte's first no-cars apartments

I also bought a CNU 30th anniversary t-shirt and two books. If that doesn't scream "into it," I don't know what can.

Friday, June 2

I returned to Cedar Rapids tonight after a second day at the conference. They're continuing one more day, but I arranged my schedule this way to save a night at the hotel. Of course, the savings now seem insignificant compared to the cost of replacing my broken laptop, not to mention my worn-out socks. I did see a few others with suitcases today, so I'm not the only one ducking out early.

Crane Coffee, Charlotte NC

I started my day at Crane Coffee, which is the closest local coffee shop to the Westin. It requires walking one block past a Starbucks, which I managed. Crane is in the Charlotte Convention Center, which also houses the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Crane has outdoor seats, though mostly in the sun because the shop faces southwest, so no one was using them. It has an open floor plan...

interior, Crane Coffee

...a set of vibrant art on the far wall, and a variety of plants by the front window. There are 11 inside seats, but mostly Crane serves take away to workers from other parts of the office building. I chanced to visit on the last day on the job for the young barista, Sara, which was clearly a major occasion for regulars. I wish her well!

 

 

At 10:15 I got to my first session, on the subject of engaging under-represented communities. (This is probably needed for the bike and trails advisory group in Cedar Rapids and Linn County.) It turned out to be an extra-fun workshop led by James Rojas of Place It. From a couple piles of craft materials, we were told to construct our favorite childhood memory. (Despairing of getting near the piles, I chose instead to draw the baseball field (above) my friends and I improvised in my family's front yard.) Most people, it turned out, like me depicted outdoor/active themes. Next we were told to work together with the others at our table to create an ideal community. Ours looked like this...

(Photo by Miguel Salinas)

...including a park, a church, narrow streets, and a mix of retail and housing types. Maybe because we're all urbanists here, everyone's communities were compact, walkable, functional, and fun.

Rojas explained the first exercise was to put people in a happy frame of mind, while the second reveals core values that are more authentic when done by hands instead of words. He prefers in his workshops to keep things general rather than focusing on, say, trails and bikeways, but the plan's specifics can be informed by the general core values the exercise reveals.

The rest of the day:

11:45 urban design failures: Stephen Mouzon on "worst practices" including "faux new urbanist hardware" i.e. lifestyle centers that look like Main Streets but "nobody's home"

1:30 urban retail: Robert Gibbs on how to build successful retail spaces, and what's trending

2:45 ice cream break at Golden Cow Creamery, Luminous Lane art alley

4:00 pre-reviewed plans: Jennifer Knouse of Liberty House Plans on ways towns and developers can cut housing costs by expediting the planning process

CNU31 was a stimulating couple of days for a humble blogger and gentleman-urbanist thinking these days about housing, bicycling, and the local economy. Next year's Congress will be in Cincinnati--like Charlotte, a city I've never visited, with the bonus of being driveable from Cedar Rapids. If the dates and the funding work, I expect I'd be better-prepared and maybe get even more out of it all than I did this year.

SEE ALSO: "CNU Diary 2021," 16 May 2021

Ananiah Mathew, "Knights, Nights, and a Pinched Blackberry," The Walkist, 9 June 2023