Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Ctities: Make Tracks to Quieter Destinations

Leadville, CO (Population 2,723)
Pine Bluffs, WY (Population 1,161)
Lawrence, KS (Population 81,604)
Chippawa Falls, WI (Population 12,734)
Fredericksburg, TX (Population 9,346)
Eureka Springs, AR (Population 2,308)
Wabasha, MN (Population, 2,599)
Greenville, SC (Population 56,181)
Lexington, MA (Population 30,355)
Delray Beach, FL (Population 62,272)

“When Americans hit the road it’s usually for “sun and fun” or “bright lights, big city.” But in the years after 9-11, Americans have also hungered for a slice of security and normalcy. A chance to get off the beaten path, away from it all to someplace quieter, older, less hectic.”

Click here to read this article in its entirety:

http://www.star-telegram.com/travel/story/687610.html

Gettysburg, PA—The Last Post for General Ike by Kasey Pipes

A few miles east of Pennsylvania’s South Mountains nestled comfortably into green and fertile farm land, resides the little town of Gettysburg. Immortalized by three bloody days in July1863. General Robert E. Lee was confident—too confident, it turned out—that his Army of Northern Virginia could again perform miracles. He ordered a suicidal, fateful charge that failed to break the Union line. It was the high water mark of the Confederacy, and its death knell.

One hundred years later, visitors still made pilgrimages to this Pennsylvania hallowed ground. Not all of the battlefield was covered by the National Park. Many local people owned land either on or adjacent to the battlefield itself. Here, cannon and crops were neighbors.

One of these local landowners was a man in his seventies whose weathered head was rimmed with white hair and whose walk had been slowed a bit by years of health struggles. He was a former five-star General and President of the United States.

Dwight Eisenhower owned 246 acres and leased another 305. He grew oats, corn and barley. And the hay fed the Black Angus cattle that he raised.

When he wasn’t in his fields, Eisenhower could be found in the house. A white, two-story Colonial home, it had a glassed-in sun porch that was shaped like a rectangle. This was the former President’s favorite room. Here he could look out over Seminary Ridge to the east, where a hundred years before, Confederates assembled for Pickett’s Charge. Perhaps Ike sat and wondered how his hero Lee could have talked himself into such a colossal blunder.

Mostly, Ike sat in the sun porch and read, wrote, even painted. To tend to his business matters, he traveled a short distance to Gettysburg College where an office was set up for him. The office, as always, was simple. A wooden desk sat in the corner, with a rug posted in front and an American flag directly behind it. The walls were a pale green, the curtains a faded gold. Paintings of nature decorated the walls. Here, Ike answered correspondence, worked on his memoirs, greeted visitors, and kept on eye on politics.

Gettysburg suited Ike. He had been born in a small town (Denison, Texas), raised in a small town (Abilene, Kansas) and now was prepared to spend his twilight years in a small town. And they were eventful years.

Ike in winter was a restless man. In addition to writing his memoirs in his office at Gettysburg College, he famously hosted Barry Goldwater at his farm in 1964. Goldwater even filmed a campaign ad that was taped at the farm. In it, Ike talked about his support for the Arizonan (which, in private, was quite tepid).

Ike enjoyed the town—its size, its history, its beauty. And the townspeople were quite pleased the hero of World War II was now among them.

Eisenhower has been dead for nearly 40 years now. But his influence on Gettysburg is immense. Today, visitors to the battlefield often stop by to tour the Eisenhower farm as well. Docents take the guests inside the house, and walking trails lead to various points on the farm, including the stable where Ike’s horses once resided.

Recently, the connection between this famous American and this famous American town grew even stronger. Gettysburg College and the Eisenhower Institute (based in Washington, DC) began a more formal relationship that will foster research on leadership and policy issues.

The town itself remains small. The 2000 Census declared it the home of 7490 residents. But it still occupies an important place in the American story. Not only for the battle that was fought here, but for the former president who lived here.

On your next trip to Pennsylvania, check out the battlefield and the Eisenhower farm. They are two important attractions in one of the most important mid-sized cities in America.

(Kasey Pipes recently completed a book on Eisenhower entitled "Ike's Last Battle.")

News: McCain, Obama Vie for Middle America

[Via National Public Radio]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91265901

News: New 24-hour TV Station Broadcasts to Rural Minnesota

[Via DL-Online]

http://www.dl-online.com/articles/index.cfm?id=36088&section=Business

News: Wind Power Education in Small Town Schools

[Via The Idaho Business Review]

http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1422875/boise_state_brings_wind_power_to_rural_schools/

News: Wind Power Making a Difference in Rural America

[Via Voice of America]

http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-06-10-voa14.cfm

News: Gas Prices Highest in the Heartland

[Via New York Times]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/business/09gas.html

Quote: T.R. Reid

"In Japan today, Confucianism has nothing to do with religion, but rather is cultural and part of our basic education. For example, one of the famous sayings of Koshi is: "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." - T.R. Reid

Quote: Francis Fukuyama

"Americans are so used to celebrating their own individualism and diversity that they sometimes forget that there can be too much of a good thing. Both American democracy and American business have been successful because they partook of individualism and community simultaneously." - Francis Fukuyama

Thursday, June 5, 2008

21st Century Solutions by Gary McCaleb

In the April 2008 issue of Travel + Leisure magazine Karrie Jacobs wrote the following:
“. . . I’ve been thinking for a while about the future of cities, looking for signs of 21st-century urbanism. I’m not particularly interested in the Dubai model, or the China model, both of which seem to be riffs on old-fashioned ideas about the future being a place where everything is bigger and shinier. No, I’m looking for a city that might correct the excesses of the previous century and come up with new formulas – architectural and otherwise – for the future.” (Click here to read the story in its entirety)

Jacobs’ search for “new formulas” is an important challenge for all those who are involved in the shaping of their city.

Within a few days of reading Jacobs’ words I ran across another example of the “bigger and shinier” model. Alastair Gee wrote about Moscow’s 21st century plan involving the world’s biggest building at a cost of $4 billion and including “a ring of 100 skyscrapers around the city center . . . and nine new highways, some with 18 lanes.” (Click here to read the story in its entirety)

But Gee continues with the other side of the story: “Moscow’s historical architecture has become vulnerable. Some 200 historic buildings have been torn down in the past five years.”

Aleksei Klimenko, a member of Moscow’s city architecture board, is quoted as saying, “Our understanding of the value of the original has decreased . . . Fakes dominate.”

New models are needed. New solutions and formulas. And all the answers are not to be found in cities the size of Dubai or Shanghai or Moscow. Cities of all sizes must be searching for solutions to “correct the excesses” and to value community. Surely some of the solutions will come from the four- and five-figure cities of the U.S. and the world.

Cities: Stitching Together a New Life

Funkstown, MD (Population 970)

She quit her job . . . eventually landed in quaint Funkstown, MD . . . She is her own boss, operates in a creative world . . . buys much of her food from local farmers . . . has no commute to work.

Click here to read the story in its entirety:

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/small-business-entrepreneurs/2008/01/30/stitching-together-a-new-life.html

Quote: Wendell Berry

"A community identifies itself by an understood mutuality of interests. But it lives and acts by the common virtues of trust, goodwill, forbearance, self-restraint, compassion, and forgiveness." - Wendell Berry

Quote: Ralph Waldo Emerson

"He is only fit for this society who is magnanimous." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Cities: Greatest Little Small Town Parade in America

Julian, CA (Population 1,621)

http://www.ramonajournal.com/news/2008/0602/Front_page/039.html

News: How Will McCain and Obama Reach Out to Middle America?

News: Is Middle America Leaning Democratic?

[Via National Public Radio]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90555893

News: Hospitals in Middle America and Tax Credits

[Via Tomah Monitor Herald]

News: Minneapolis Suburbs Respond to Tornado With Hope and Resolve

[Via Star Tribune]

http://www.startribune.com/projects/19253919.html?location_refer=Special%20Projects