These post-COVID ideas for cities could be scaled down for Nawbany.

It's a British publication, and in some ways these ideas are scaled for cities much larger than Nawbany. 

At the same time, the guiding principles are intelligent and applicable, and could be scaled down to fit -- if we had anyone here in a position of authority who could read and assimilate information absent an expectation of cash-stuffed envelopes. 

Bike superhighways

Garden streets

A digitally enabled high street

Multipurpose neighborhoods

Unlikely in this god-awful stupid place, but a boy can dream pro bono.

From garden streets to bike highways: four ideas for post-Covid cities – visualised, by Chris Michael, Lydia McMullan and Frank Hulley-Jones (The Guardian) 

As the pandemic wreaks havoc on existing structures, we look at some visions for post-Covid cities – and how they hold up

There is a huge, looming, unanswerable question that overshadows our cities, like an elephant squatting in the central square. Will a Covid-19 vaccine or herd immunity return us to “normal”, or will we need to redesign our cities to accommodate a world in which close proximity to other people can kill you?

After an anxious summer in the northern hemisphere, during which those of us who were able to safely do so mimicked a kind of normality with limited socialising on patios and in gardens, winter is coming – and it will test the limits of our urban design. Regardless of whether we “solve” this latest coronavirus, humanity now knows how vulnerable we are to pandemics.

Can we mitigate the effects of the next great disease before it happens? And has the colossal disruption to the way we work and travel created a renewed impetus to organise cities in a more sustainable, more pleasant way?

We asked four architecture firms to share their visions of what cities should do, now, to better design everything from offices to streets to transport – and we have analysed each one – to help inoculate our cities against a disease that is proving so difficult to inoculate against in our bodies.

I Know I'm Not Wrong.

Aaron "Urbanophile" Renn moved back to Indiana (Indianapolis) from New York City earlier this year. This column was published a few months ago and is worth a read even if it is directed primarily as larger cities.

STORIED CITIES, by Aaron Renn (Comment)

The lost link between a city's forgotten history and its cultural potential.

It’s been widely observed that there’s an increasing sameness to cities today, a sort of neoliberal urban monoculture that’s swept the globe. Visit any city in the world and see the same boutique hotels, swank restaurants, outposts of global luxury brands, and so on.

Sameness ... even in smaller cities like ours.

It's what happens, utterly predictably, when the same old engineering and design firms with no connections to the cities, and no knowledge of their history and uniqueness, are hired to deploy their same old suburban template of design elements, generally a ludicrous collection of shopping mall motifs that somehow dazzle the barely-educated dullards who adfarm-near-me/">minister local political patronage programs.

For those cities who don’t understand their identity or have failed to believe in its value, it’s probably not too late. In some cases industrial knowledge may have been lost. But the local culture is surely still there in some form, even if it may need to be updated for today’s realities. Today’s younger urban dwellers, who see these cities in a very different light than their parents and grandparents did, are ideally suited to this task. They missed the collapse of the urban-crisis era. In many cases their cities are now showing nascent signs of rebirth, setting the stage for the rediscovery of these places as cities on a potentially upward trajectory again. The generation who left Egypt was unable to enter the promised land. Sometimes it takes a new generation to look anew and see the possibilities of a place. They perhaps will be the ones to rediscover the identity of a place, to look again at its history, culture, its traditions and rituals, to embrace the uniqueness of their city as their own.

Does New Albany "have what it takes to spring back" from the coronavirus?

If you've lived in New Albany for any length of time and possess the ability to draw your conclusions from genuine reality, as opposed to partisan political bias, then this three-part series from Strong Towns is essential.

Does your place have what it takes to spring back from the coronavirus? Does it have what it takes to thrive? Last week, our friend Quint Studer completed a three-part series of stories exploring this very question.

Do we have a leadership cadre capable of grasping it?

"Don’t expect the reboot to put your community right back to where it was before COVID-19. For starters, it’s not possible. I’ve read and heard this many times and I agree: When this is over, the world will have changed in many ways. But also, even if we could, we shouldn’t settle for a return to the 'old' normal. We owe it to the community to aim higher." -- Quint Studer

I've narrowed the posts to bullet points.

Part 1. Thriving on the Other Side: How Your Community Can Recreate Vibrancy After COVID-19

Here are a few guidelines for re-engaging your community as we move forward post-pandemic:

• Get intentional ... Put some real objectives in place around what you want the future to look like. 
• Be smart with money ... You may be getting some stimulus funding. It will be crucial to spend it in a way that invests in the future. 
• Make small bets ... Embrace incrementalism. As you know, this is the message Chuck is famous for. Fix what’s broken first.
• Put in place a framework for making decisions ... If not, the possibilities will overwhelm you. Don’t chase every shiny ball. 

Thoughtful, bold and ... collaborative. That last one's going to be tough for our local fix-is-in "Democratic" politburo, isn't it?

Part 2. A Framework for Thriving: Keep These Four Areas Front and Center as You Move Forward

None of us would have chosen to be tested this way. But since it has happened, it’s time to get to work and start tackling these challenges head on. Community leaders are being called to be more thoughtful, bold, and collaborative than we’ve ever been before.

1. Placemaking (Vibrant Downtown) ... Creating a vibrant downtown is pivotal to creating the “sense of place” that attracts talent and investment. 
2. Economic Development ...Small business is the backbone of a strong community. Ask yourself: How can we help our small businesses thrive?
3. Civic Education ... The only change that will succeed long-term is citizen-powered change.
4. Education (Early Learning) ... A strong talent base is essential to creating a strong community. That begins with a well-trained population -- and that begins when citizens are very young.

Our culture has been top-down. Will we learn anything from the pandemic?

Part 3. The Culture of Your Community May Determine Your Success on the Other Side

Here are some tips for creating an engaging and positive culture in your community.

1. Get a solid leadership infrastructure in place ... Hopefully you’ve already laid some of this groundwork. There needs to be more collaboration than ever as communities will rely heavily on local leadership as we start to come back from the pandemic.
2. Put together a come-back plan with well-articulated, measurable goals. Communicate it regularly ... As world famous hockey player Wayne Gretzky said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” Try to go to where the puck is going.
3. Create a deliberate messaging campaign ... Keeping people informed is key to keeping them engaged. Constantly reiterate your plans and make sure community stakeholders are doing the same.
4. Celebrate small wins ... Be where the people are. As small wins occur, make a big deal out of them in the moment.
5. Balance optimism with realism ... Be positive where you can, but be careful to balance optimism with realism. While you have long term goals, be sure to communicate with a focus on the short-term.
6. Stay focused on creating a healthy business community ... As we discussed last week, small business is the backbone of a strong community.
7. Economic development is paramount ... Focus on opportunity, affordability and vibrancy.
8. Accelerate some projects you’ve been thinking about anyway -- just make sure they still make sense ... Here’s where you can really use the current crisis as a springboard. Approach your projects with an eye toward future realities.
9. Now is not the time to be hesitant. Hit the gas, not the brakes ... All communities face turbulent times. Those who power through the discomfort and fear are the ones who meet their goals.
10. Never declare victory ... The work of building a vibrant community is never done.

"Here are three steps that would make our cities work for people of all ages."

Jeff "Swish" Gahan takes three down the middle of the plate -- and the bat never left his shoulder.

Maybe it's time for some seasoning in the minors -- say, from about January 1, 2020.

Click through to read the entire explanations, and while you're there, explore the good sense on display at Strong Towns. Team Gahan probably has blocked the site.

Want a city that works for people of all ages? Take these 3 steps, by Rachel Quednau (Strong Towns)

Growing older shouldn't have to mean relocating from the community and neighborhood you love, but in so many American cities which are oriented around cars instead of people, seniors end up relegated to suburban apartment complexes or become increasingly isolated in homes they can't manage. Simple adjustments to the way we structure our cities and neighborhoods could change that scenario and in turn, make life a whole lot happier, healthier and easier for everyone.

Here are three steps that would make our cities work for people of all ages:

1. Make cities safe and easy to get around without a car.

2. Create housing options that work for people of all ages and abilities.

3. Build communities that give people purpose and meaning.

In New Albany, do we really pay attention to what we claim to be paying attention to?

Horbovetz's point is well-taken in the context of my own blogging experience. It has been only recently that posts about what I'd consider genuine matters of importance in New Albany -- TASER threats from intemperate bureaucrats, future city hall cost overruns, the mayor's deforestation fetish, City Hall's street grid ineptitude -- even get close to the readership levels accorded restaurants and "fun and cool" stuff.

But ... it's getting better. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to vote.

IT'S TIME TO START PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT WE CLAIM TO PAY ATTENTION TO, by Arian Horbovetz (The Urban Phoenix via Strong Towns)

 ... We all love happy, positive, sense-enticing news that makes us feel good about our communities. In fact, I truly believe we need more of this kind of positivity with regard to our cities. Community engagement and a feeling personal ownership over the places we live are the first steps toward empowering our urban cores and our neighborhoods.

But, as with everything, we need balance. As we rejoice with the great stories of new restaurants and fun events in our cities, let’s remember that our attentions also need to focus on the complexities and intricacies of our cities, some of which are difficult to digest. Issues of poverty, equity, transportation, jobs, community health and diversity continue to be overshadowed by the bright lights of “progress” in our city centers ...

A business owner on the farmers market: "I do want what is best for my community."

Katrina at Antiques Attic posted this comment earlier today at As the farmers market follies morph into farce, City Hall just stands there. Why is that?

This strikes me as an uncommonly sensible position. There are both good points and bad points, as well as insight and wisdom from a local business person. It's precisely the sort of discussion that isn't being had at present; as Jeff notes elsewhere, such a chat very nearly took place at DNA's Fb site prior to being scrubbed clean. 

If you haven't already done so, go to the DNA potted polling page and disrupt the organization's bush league propaganda tactics by voting for the parking garage. Want real poll questions for real people? They're here.

---

I love the Farmer's Market; I shop it myself in the summer months. I love the location, and yes, it brings me some additional foot traffic one day a week during the summer. Does that mean increased revenue? Some times yes, but usually not because the public has come to shop the market and then maybe explore what else is downtown, but has already accomplished their goal for the day. Still, great exposure for my business because some people will return on another day after spotting my store.

Do I want to see it moved to a different location? Not really, BUT ... I do want what is best for my community. SO, I have been trying to use what I consider to be common sense logic for my decision on what side I should stand on the issue.

Let me start with the use of the word EXPANSION being used. Is it truly an expansion when it will still have the same footprint in square footage? Will it not lose one or two vendor spots to make room for a restroom? Adding shelter roofs and a restroom could be considered an IMPROVEMENT but EXPANSION and capability for growth in vendor size in the future?

Cost of doing business; something I deal with regularly in making decisions concerning my business. Once again logic jumps in my face about the cost of this so called EXPANSION (IMPROVEMENT). To add additional roof structures and a bathroom at this cost appears extreme and I would definately get as many estimates as possible to come to a decision before acting out.

Another question I keep having is why does it need a restroom and who will maintain and clean this restroom and at what taxpayer cost?

Lastly, none of this addresses future growth and especially does not solve the problem of the winter months.

Park comparisons get worse: Breaking ground on an overpriced copy.

Below is a Rundell Ernstberger Associates rendering of the soon to be Bicentennial Park in New Albany. I've been questioning design decisions and the exorbitant $537,000 construction cost. That elicited a response from REA landscape architect Pete Andriot who, among other things, suggested I check out Canan Commons (built for $708,000 per Andriot) in Muncie, Indiana, to see what other midsize cities are doing with urban parks.

 

The next image is a Rundell Ernstberger Associates rendering of that comparison park, the recently opened Canan Commons. Immediately noticeable is that the shapes and placement in the respective designs are unmistakably similar, if not copied outright. New Albany, apparently, just cut REA a $50,000 check for what's at best a highly derivative design for which Muncie already paid. So much for originality and site and community specificity. That's some grievously bad design karma.

While the aesthetics are nearly identical, the similarities stop there and the differences do not work in New Albany's favor. While Bicentennial Park in New Albany is a small, corner lot of approximately 16,200 square feet, Canan Commons is 1.5 acres or 65,340 square feet. Andriot asked me to consider per square foot cost for park comparisons. In this case, New Albany is paying $33.15 per square foot and Muncie paid $10.84 per square foot. Andriot mentioned the inclusion of fountains in New Albany as a major cost driver at $100,000, but Canan Commons includes a large, covered performance stage (shown below in use) that cost $300,000.

Photo from downtownmuncie.org

Also discussed were drainage issues at the park, with Andriot citing the need for better water handling as a reason for the $40,000 recessed lawn in New Albany. As several know from speaking with me about the park over the past few days, I've expressed confusion as to why digging such an expensive hole - one that in itself will create drainage issues (as evidenced by REA's inclusion of overflows in its design to avoid flooding) - would be better than rain gardens, the construction of which could not only function as a lower cost, run-off solution but as a community-building, environmental education event for the bicentennial as well. 

With a more inclusive and replicable approach to water management in place, substituting the seating afforded by the hole would be both comparatively cheap and changeable as park usage patterns materialize over time. Others suggested that, given the large amount of money we're spending, alternative energy sources might be pursued for the park.

Imagine, then, finding the following text (viewable by clicking the rendering above) from Rundell Ernstberger Associates attached to the documentation of the much less expensive per square foot Canan Commons:

Constructed for approximately $650,000, the park is a showcase for several "green" technologies and components. The majority of the site lighting is powered by wind and solar energy. The pavements within the park are constructed largely of pervious materials, and plantings are comprised of native rain garden species. These systems work together to cleanse stormwater, encourage groundwater recharge, and minimize the amount of stormwater discharge into the local municipal storm sewer systems.

If I'm not mistaken, the official groundbreaking (I suppose the trees didn't count) for Bicentennial Park is this evening at 6:00 p.m.. It's a shame that these and other issues were not earlier addressed via the facilitation of a public input process, but it's not too late to correct our path, include a community whose ideas and resources I'm sure go well beyond mine, and develop a park about which we can be proud instead of accepting an overpriced, lesser developed copy from another town. This bicentennial is as much about the next 200 years as it is the last. We shouldn't start it by settling.

Bicentennial Park, Part Two: "When did the public input process into this park's location, imagined functions, design, and construction occur?"

Recently, when existing trees abruptly began falling, New Albanians became aware that we're in the process of building a $750,000 Bicentennial Park directly on the site of the city's famous Post Office, which was razed sans any meaningful public participation during a previous era of dis-enlightenment in a town notorious both for scant transparency and irony allergies.

As the newspaper's Jeffersonville management snoozed, NAC's Jeff Gillenwater did a little comparative park shopping in North Carolina (published October 3).

Below is 230 N. Tryon Street in Charlotte, North Carolina-- a decrepit, city-owned parking lot next to a long defunct 85-year-old theater. Look familiar? It's only slightly smaller than the corner of Spring and Pearl.

Its neighbor, the Foundation for the Carolinas, has been negotiating with city government to purchase and renovate the theater for some time. In preparation for the then upcoming Democratic National Convention in September, the City decided in mid-July to allow the foundation to turn the lot into a pocket park while it decides on the possible sale. The whole real estate and rehabilitation deal will take several years anyway. The work was completed in less than two months with $150,000 in foundation funds and community donations.

Several days afterward, an as-yet unfinished conversation began in the comments section between Jeff and Pete Andriot, who works for the park's designer.

Pete Andriot said...

Hi Jeff –

A colleague forwarded your post to me, and I thought I could offer some insight into the cost of Bicentennial Park (BP). While the pocket park you chose as a comparison is apt, your statement that it “It's only slightly smaller” is not really accurate. A quick check on Google Earth shows the site in Charlotte to be 70’x90’ (6,300 SF) – significantly smaller than BP at 120’x135’ (16,200 SF). The cost per square foot in Charlotte (~$24/SF) is directly comparable though, if you discount the two major items which BP has that Charlotte doesn’t: fountains ($100,000) and the excavated lawn with steps around it ($40,000).

Fountains are almost always going to be the single largest line item in any exterior development that has one. But they are a vital element in successful urban spaces. Humans are subconsciously attracted to water – the sight, smell and sound of it are stimuli that cause people to want to look and linger (and maybe even play in it!). Fountains are the single most important difference between transient park spaces (which people just pass through) and engaging park spaces (where people will pause and linger). Can your think of any successful urban park/plaza/square in North America or Europe that doesn’t have a water feature? I’m sure there are a few, but they are few and far between.

The excavated lawn and the steps do a couple important things. The biggest thing the lawn does is reverse the site drainage. The prior parking lot used to sheet flow directly into Spring Street and right into the city’s overburdened storm sewer. Now the lawn is lower and is permeable, so the runoff will have a chance to percolate back into the groundwater before it overflows into the sewer (yes, there are overflows to keep the lawn from actually flooding). The steps round the lawn allow for informal seating around the lawn. Individuals or small groups can find a place to site anywhere around the ellipse. New Albany isn’t ready for moveable tables and chairs yet … but the park is designed to handle them if we get to that point someday.

If you want additional comparable projects: Bowling Green, KY spent $2.1M on Circus Square Park as an anchor for their new sports and entertainment district. Mishawaka, IN spent right around $2M as well on Robert Beutter Riverfront Park, a new anchor for redevelopment on the north edge of their historic downtown. Logansport, IN spent $1.6M on Little Turtle Waterway plaza. The Town of Akron, IN (pop 11,000) spent $350k on their Community Square. Two projects that just wrapped up construction in mid-sized cities are Canan Commons in Muncie, IN ($708k) and Main Street Square in Rapid City, SD ($6.5M).

That last example is a significant of money put into a one-acre site, but it underscores my point succinctly. Main Street Square been open less than a year, in a city not quite twice the size of New Albany, and has already spawned over $2M in private reinvestment and redevelopment within one city block. Successful urban parks consistently pay for themselves many times over in kick-started reinvestment. They catalyze urban revitalization.
12:22 AM

Before Jeff replies, let me be the first to express my delight in learning that my town isn't "ready" for movable furniture (are we ready for flush toilets?) ... and that we need a fountain for subconscious water "attraction" when one of the nation's major rivers lies a few hundred yards away ... and never mind my fear that a city congenitally unable to care for existing asphalt-laden parking lots might now be compelled to regularly maintain a water fountain.

Here is Jeff's response.

I very much agree, Pete, that public space and placemaking are important elements in community building.

Given that, we'll start at the beginning: When did the public input process into this park's location, imagined functions, design, and construction occur?

Since you work for the design firm responsible, I'm hoping you can explain the format used for the various charrettes, detail the input received, and characterize how Rundell Ernstberger Associates interpreted that information into the location and design, especially since you mention judgment of that for which New Albany is or isn't ready.

I read the two daily newspapers that cover New Albany, view the city web site fairly regularly, follow city government on Facebook and Twitter, and have checked the Rundell Ernstberger web site a few times, but seem to have missed that.
1:29 AM

We await further dialogue. Thank you CM CeeSaw: Can we have another?

Link: Bicentennial Park, Part One: "Whom Does Design Really Serve?"

Bicentennial Park, Part One: "Whom Does Design Really Serve?"

Professionals are against participation because it destroys the arcane privileges of specialization, unveils the professional secret, strips bare incompetence, multiplies responsibilities and converts them from the private into the social. 
– Giancarlo De Carlo

De Carlo’s truly versatile quote, which would have applied just as meaningfully to last year's professionally-designed "Come To City" marketing campaign (an DNA-imposed "solution" rejected in the wake of high public Dudgeon), prefaces a piece at the website of the Project for Public Spaces. Jeff Gillenwater brought it to my attention, and it's a recommended read in the wake of secretive planning and subsequent tree toppling at the future site of Bicentennial Rent Boy Park.

Whom Does Design Really Serve?, by Fred Kent (pps.org)

On a recent trip to Toronto, I visited Sherbourne Common, a waterfront park designed by Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg. Walking around the park, you could be forgiven for thinking that you were actually passing through an elite museum’s pristine sculpture garden. Everything is placed just so, in a way that has created an environment so totally uninviting and ignorant of how human beings want to use public space that I knew, within moments of arriving, that what I was seeing was undoubtedly an “award-winning” design ...

The author contrasts this award-winning but profoundly uninviting space with another one in the very same city.

 ... Dufferin Grove Park, of course, has not won any major design awards. It is not designed, in the sense that we think of that word today; but it is highly cultivated. So much thought has gone into questions like “How do people want to use this space?” and “How can visitors to the park be involved in its continuing development?” The park’s managers have gone to great lengths to make sure that their public space is welcoming and inspiring to the broadest range of people possible: young to old, quiet to rambunctious ...

Community involvement versus top-down "gifting" of designs from the same old trustworthy suspects -- the bugbear of New Albany as long as any of us can remember.

Communities do not think “we need to talk to a designer” when they want a new park; they talk to each other, and to their elected officials. Architects, landscape architects, and urban planners come later (if ever), and would benefit enormously from increased public interest in what they do. Involving people in shaping public spaces not only benefits those individuals and their neighborhoods through the development of social capital, it benefits designers by making what they do an integral part of a sacred community process instead of an expensive “extra.” Designers have a great deal of knowledge that is infinitely more resonant when it is used to help everyday citizens articulate their needs and create public spaces that are responsive to the communities they serve.

Keeping these ideas in mind, we'll turn next to an unfinished conversation between Jeff and Pete Andriot, who works for the park's designer.

Part Two: "When did the public input process into this park's location, imagined functions, design, and construction occur?"

News and Tribune editorial board swiftly embraces localism.

Our newspaper expedites, and offers the major themes of cracked bridge as community building opportunity, not faux "disaster."

OUR OPINION: Let’s make the best of the bridge bummer, by the News and Tribune editorial board of Publisher Bill Hanson, Editor Shea Van Hoy and Assistant Editors Amy Huffman-Branham and Chris Morris

... Hoosiers have a chance to help each other out by being courteous and helpful — and by spending money at local businesses.

Let’s treat this like the warnings during winter weather — don’t go out unless you have to, but alter it to “don’t go to Louisville unless you must.”

Take stress off the bridges and yourself and see what Southern Indiana has to offer.

For more on yesterday's special meeting:

New Albany business leaders hope for tradeoff during bridge's closure, by Harold J. Adams at the Courier-Journal.

It’s hard to leave, so you might as well stay; With bridge closed, New Albany business leaders talk marketing Southern Indiana, by Daniel "Told You So" Suddeath at the News and Tribune

A thought from a walk.

Just in walking around town, I regularly encounter architects, builders, growers, craftspeople, brewers, urban planners, retailers, artists, engineers, vintners, project managers, bankers, designers, and any number of others who are here now, engaged with the community, and ready to work. If anyone tried to tell me that, given the chance, those folks collectively couldn't come up with something better than what Carl Malysz negotiated behind closed doors, then I would tell them that they have a radically different view of this city and its capabilities than I do.

Voices from elsewhere?

Neighborhood cornerstone: Ritter House needs a boost as tenants set up shop, by Chris Morris (Tribune).

Hock hopes Saturday’s S. Ellen Jones Neighborhood Association block party will bring more attention to the house, which could become the cornerstone of the area, he said. The park in the rear of the school is named after Ritter.

“It’s a beacon of hope and help for the neighborhood,” Walter said. “I hope we can get more tenants like the Home of the Innocents that can help people. I’m glad to be part of something like this that I know will be a tremendous benefit for the future of that neighborhood.”

With all due respect to good intentions, who decides what the cornerstone of a neighborhood could or should be?

Elinor Ostrom: Sustainable commons, suckers, and diverse institutions.

Elinor Ostrom of Indiana University recently won the Nobel Prize in Economics for good reason. City Council Member John Gonder wrote about her conceptual framework as well and, as always, we hope his good thoughts continue on from blog pages into council chambers.

Here, in a brief lecture presented by the Stockholm Resilience Centre as part of their Stockholm whiteboard seminars, Ostrom explains "how people can use natural resources in a sustainable way based on the diversity that exists in the world."

Her focus on local knowledge of complex systems and trust as central tenants of successful resource management - and I would add built resources to a long list of natural ones - begs for more universal application. Replace the word "meadow" with "riverfront" or "neighborhood" and she could be talking about metro Louisville as easily as alpine agriculture.

We surely suffer from our share of anti-social types who would make suckers of us in exchange for a quick, short-lived buck, but I've been encouraged as of late by the increasing number of people I've been meeting who see value not just in our physical commons but in the development of community around them. It's that strength in community that will ultimately save us, perhaps from ourselves at times with diversity of thought, but most certainly from petroleum-based replacement schemes and the pernicious, individual selfishness they represent.

As we move away from a model concerned with who's wrong to one of who's most right, Ostrom's explanation, beautiful in its simplicity, is even worthier of engagement in New Albany as well as Stockholm.

Still saying it: It's about community.

I met Rory Turner in Bloomington when I was nineteen. He was working on a PhD and I was working on becoming a human being. He was and continues to be a teaching assistant in that endeavor, even though the titles may have changed. His is a way of being heavy without being hard to carry.

When I wrote what was for me the first collegiate piece that I felt went beyond rote academic exercise, it came back from Rory with a letter grade and a three-word addendum: "Say it, man."

Eighteen years later, he and some friends have started blogging and it's nice to return the favor, in response to a short introductory treatise that we'd all do well to consider.

Communitas and social value

May 18th, 2009 by Rory Turner

Community is one of the great mysteries of human experience. In what ways are we or are we not connected with other people, and other being, animate and inanimate? The notion of communitas proposes that a sense of fellowship is primary to human beings, that through the gifts of presence, resonance, and sharing, we can and do find deeper relationship with one another. A key element of cultural sustainability is to foster that urge to come together in culturally meaningful ways to share through play and other forms of cultural performance, a place to discover and feel communitas. What are some of the ways that you have been able to witness or participate in communitas? What moved you about the experience? What impact did these experiences have for your life?

I believe that such experiences are defining of human life, culture and community. I believe that by helping encourage the human capacities and condition that make communitas possible, we significantly improve the quality and value of life.

The Fabric of Community

Neighbor and fellow New Albany blogger, Ceece, aka Courtney Paris, recently encountered a couple of homeless men taking shelter under a downtown overpass on a cold winter's night. In an act of both bravery and kindness, she returned to the scene after searching her home for any warm garments she could find, introduced herself, and selflessly handed over what may very well have been live saving apparatus in the form of coats, jackets, and blankets.

Even those among us who may have done the same thing-- and there are undoubtedly far too few of us-- would've been tempted to return to our warm beds, satisfied with ourselves for having done a good deed. Happliy, that's not the case this time.

It seems one of the men mentioned a need for headware and Courtney has set her sights on resolving that need, not just for the individuals she met that evening but for a little discussed and unfortunately growing contingent of people for whom New Albany is home, even if it's not the kind defined by a traditional roofline and front door.

The gist of her idea is to start a community knitting group, sharing friendship and fellowship while creating and distributing the cold weather apparel that's so needed in the city. Courtney explained her concept to the members of the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association a few days ago and I share her words here:

For the knitting:

As winter has finally hit us here in New Albany, I found myself
searching for ways to give back the community and especially the homeless.

After much prayer and thought, I have begun to learn how to crochet and
have reserved space at my church (Central Christian on Spring St) to
use their fellowship hall as a meeting spot in the hopes of getting with others
who care enough to do something proactive in our community as well.

Here are a few important things to know:

1. This is not a religious group, you don't need to feel as though you
will be preached to, the church is offering me space to do this rent free.

2. You don't have to know how to crochet or knit, there will be people
there to help teach us.

3. If you can't make it, please consider donating yarn or other fleece
like materials.

4. Our goal is to make hats and scarves to donate to the homeless and
other likeminded organizations around the community.


I've admittedly posted this without Courtney's permission but only because it's such a wonderful example of how good neighbors make good neighborhoods. I once heard Courtney explain to the City Council that her young family and others like it are the future of New Albany and I, for one, will sleep just a little easier in my own luckily warm bed knowing that to be true. Right after I buy some yarn.

I'll not post her email address for fear of spam, but readers interested in participating or donating can contact me via the address in my profile and I'll forward your intentions along.