Daily Blog: Vicksburg, MS

A team of German filmmakers is in Vicksburg, Mississippi (population 26,000) to document life in the Delta:

http://www.vicksburgpost.com/articles/2009/06/27/news/doc4a45a6dbc4a8b003035460.txt

And what has surprised them the most? Southern hospitality, of course.

As one of the filmmakers said:

“Everywhere we’ve gone here (in Vicksburg), the people stop and talk to us. That never happens back home.”

She went onto add that Germans typically don't stop on the street for conversation. "If you ask me a question on the street, of course I’m going to give you an answer. But it’s short and direct.”

But there is much more to Vicksburg than friendliness. One of the largest and most important civil war battlefields is located there. And the town itself sits in a beautiful perch upon the Mississippi River.

It should make for some good film material.

Daily Blog: Driving in Hoopeston, Illinois

Golf carts?

With gas prices on the rise and the economy still slumping, some mid-sized cities have come up with an innovative way to help their residents drive around:

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/06/10/golf_carts_gain_popularity_for_puttering_about_small_towns

Hoopeston, Illinois, population 6000, is one of the cities that has passed an ordinance to allow residents to drive golf carts within city limits. So far, it appears to be working well.

According to the article:

"'It's just a lot of fun, rather than getting the car out,' said Ed Lotz, the Hoopeston council member who suggested the ordinance after getting requests from residents.

"Lotz equipped and registered his own electric golf cart and now enjoys driving his grandkids three blocks from his house to the Dairy Queen on evenings and weekends."

This is a small effort by towns like Hoopeston to help their residents endure the recession. But it's only possible in mid-sized and smaller cities where there is less ground to cover. Plus, since folks know each other, there seems to be little danger of road rage as motor vehicles inevitably get stuck behind slower golf carts on the road.

Who says life in a mid-sized city doesn't have its advantages?

Weekly Column: Coach Thomas

We often talk about how much a town means to people; but it's good to remember how much a person can mean to a town:

http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_12684138

Parkersburg, Iowa is populated by 1800 people. Last year, the town was in the news when a tornado ravaged through it. Football coach Ed Thomas lived through the disaster. But he didn't want his town to just survive it; he wanted his town to grow even stronger from it. And thanks to his leadership, it did.

He was heartbroken at the sight of the school being torn down by the storm. But he was not deterred. As the article notes:

"'I plan on rebuilding on the same spot," Thomas told the TV camera on Memorial Day 2008. Why? He loved football too much to even consider leaving Parkersburg in its time of most dire need, though there had certainly been higher-paying football jobs for the taking through the years. The coach's neighbors got on their hands and knees to pick shards of glass from the grass of the football field after the destructive storm. Brick by brick and one nail at a time, the high school and surrounding homes were slowly made whole again."

The football team, led by Coach Thomas, became an anchor for the entire community. It gave the whole town something to look forward to, to cheer for, to be a part of.

Having coached in the same town for years and having produced several players who later played in the NFL, Thomas could have left this four-figure city for greener football fields. But he didn't. He couldn't. As he said: "Our kids sure are special kids. That's why I've stayed here, because of the kids and this school and the people of this community. To me, there aren't any better."

Ed Thomas loved Parkersburg. He loved the impact he could have on the kids there. One of them was Casey Wiegmann, who now plays for the Denver Broncos.

"'It's hard to begin to talk about what he's meant to me,' Wiegmann said in an interview with The Denver Post. 'You're not just learning football stuff from the man, you're learning about life. My values, the way I run my life and treat my family and take care of people came from him.'"

And so it came as a great shock to the entire community when Thomas was gunned down this week by a former player. Yet even in death, Thomas once again is rallying the Parkersburg community.

When addressing the tragedy of the coach's death, Superintendent Jon Thompson, found inspiration in the coach's life. "I've heard Ed tell his players: 'When things get tough, when adversity is facing you or your team, you start by moving forward.' "

And so Parkersburg, Iowa will move forward...but it will never forget Ed Thomas.

Daily Blog: Chan Chan: Losing Something Important

“During its heyday, about 600 years ago, Chan Chan, in northern Peru, was the largest city in the Americas and the largest adobe city on earth.”

Today, this abandoned city is still largely intact and considered one of the “Ten Must-See Endangered Cultural Treasures” in Smithsonian magazine, March 2009, p. 35.

Estimates of Chan Chan’s population range from 30,000 to 60,000. This five-figure city was the capital of the Chimú civilization – a city filled with “highly-skilled craftsmen” and “the first true engineering society in the New World.”

Six hundred years after its demise, Chan Chan still has a considerable impact on its region. Only two miles outside the modern city of Trujillo, Chan Chan is a major reason why Trujillo enjoys a thriving tourism economy.

Chan Chan stands today as an example of Andrew Curry’s statement, “For countless communities, archaeology can be a source of local identity, pride, and even income.”

As anthropologist Michael Kimbell said, “It may be intangible, but when a community loses its connection to history it loses something pretty important.“

http://www.archaeology.org/0903/etc/climate_change.html

Daily Blog: Watching Lancaster

One of the ongoing challenges for city leaders is successfully blending the past with the future – knowing what to change and what should not change.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania (population 55,000) is a five-figure city worth watching as they preserve pieces of the past and, at the same time, move boldly into the future.

In Lancaster one will find the Fulton Opera House, one of the three oldest continuously running theaters in the U.S.

Also, the historic Central Market, built in 1889, contains the oldest continuously operated farmers market in the U.S., featuring handmade Amish goods.

Now, Lancaster is installing 165 closed-circuit cameras to monitor the streets, 24 hours a day.

City councilman Joseph Morales says, “Per capita, we’re the most watched city in the state, if not the entire United States.”

No doubt, the number watching Lancaster from outside the city will also increase.

Click here to read more about this new surveillance experiment.

Daily Blog: Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina is one of the best places to work if you are a young professional, according to a new survey from Next Generation Consulting:

http://www.charlestonbusiness.com/news/28252-charleston-ranks-highly-among-young-professionals?rss=0

The survey praised Charleston as a place where young professionals can live, work and play. As the article notes:

"The survey found the following demographic characteristics of young professionals in Charleston:

• 91% have a four-year degree or higher.
• 80% are mobile, meaning they do not have children.
• The median individual income is about $47,500. The median household income is about $87,500.
• 90% are white.
• 57% own homes, with an average home value of $250,000.
• 96% are registered voters, and 85% voted in the last local election.
• 64% volunteer in the community at least once a month."

In other words, young professionals in Charleston have educations, own homes and are involved in their communities.

Charleston has always been an important city in American history; thanks to an influx of young professionals, it seems likely to be just as important to America's future.

Daily Blog: TownSync.com

Is Facebook coming to your town? Actually, it's called TownSync.com:

http://www.ibtimes.com/pr/articles/216139/20090621/new-website-brings-social-internet-to-local-level.htm

TownSync.com is a new service that hopes to bring social media to smaller cities and towns. The website is similar to Facebook. People can log on, look for their friends and communicate about what's going on.

But TownSync tries to keep its focus on building internet communities within real communities. "While many new sites are struggling to aggregate local news, blogs and information, TownSync has taken a different path by giving local areas a way to strengthen and build their community with those around them."

Time will tell if TownSync.com will become an important part of how people build community.

Weekly Column: The Edges of Vineyard Haven

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks was born and grew up in Sydney, Australia – but now considers Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts (population 3,800) as “my town.”

She writes about her town in Smithsonian, February 2009, p. 23.
Among her reflections about Vineyard Haven, four topics emerge, including a surprise or two.

• Town Meetings – “I love these meetings. It’s where I begin to grasp the intertwining histories of families who have lived on this island since the 17th century, in the case of the English-settler descendants, and much earlier for the Wampanoag Indians who thrived here before the English arrived and who never allowed themselves to be displaced.”

• Seasons – “The island of Martha’s Vineyard is two quite different places: summer and off-season, although those of us lucky enough to live here prefer to think of the demarcation differently: summer and secret season.”

• Cemetery – “And if, like me, you’re a cemetery buff, Vineyard Haven has some of the best. When the winds are too raw and blustery for the beach, I walk my dogs to the graveyards and commune with the island dead. There’s a lovely little old cemetery up by West Chop, where some of the many writers who’ve loved this town are laid to rest.”

• Edges – “Here’s what I love most about my town: its edges. In three directions, Vineyard Haven ends abruptly, as a town should, surrendering, gracefully and completely, to farms and fields and watery expanses of harbor and salt ponds. Within minutes, you can leave town behind and be lost on a woody trail, eye to eye with a ewe or out on the whitecaps with a sea gull.”

It’s a worthy check-list for those who care about the places where they live.

Daily Blog: St. Augustine and Other "Best Places"

When U.S. News and World Report revealed their ten best places to live for 2009, size was clearly not a major factor. Among the list were:

St. Augustine, Florida -- 13,000
Auburn, Alabama -- 50,000
La Crosse, Wisconsin -- 50,000
Loveland, Colorado -- 56,000
Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania -- 20,000
San Luis Obispo, California -- 45,000

Six of the ten cities had populations of the five-figure variety. (The other four were Albuquerque, Austin, Boise and Durham.)

Among the determining factors were crime rate, strong economy, low living cost and “plenty of fun things to do.”

Cities such as these six should serve as encouragement to other four- and five-figure cities to remember bigger is not necessarily better.

Read more at U.S. News and World Report, July 2009, p. 32

Daily Blog: Shades of Sienna

Decisions that city leaders make can have long lasting and unforeseen effects – both good and bad – on a community.

Louisa Thomas (Newsweek, June 15, 2009, p. 67) tells the story of one five-figure (population 54,066) Italian city that continues to enjoy a certain artistic beauty because of a decision made centuries ago.

“In 14th-century Siena especially, brick was the primary material used in building, for matters of convenience, cost, esthetics – and law. The city’s Council of Nine supported churches by giving them an annual allocation of bricks, established a statute in 1309 ordaining that domestic architecture should be built of brick, and paved the Campo (Piazza del Campo, the town’s spectacular medieval square) and major streets with fired clay soon after.”

Today during the 700th anniversary of the statute one can walk through the city’s narrow streets and enjoy the monochromatic shades of something the world knows as burnt sienna.

Additional Note: In just a few days, on July 2, thousands of spectators from all over the world will crowd into the Piazza del Campo for a traditional race of ten horses which make three rounds of the Piazza. The race (Palio de Siena) lasts less than two minutes. Each horse represents a city ward or district. The winning neighborhood gains unending celebratory rights.

Daily Blog: Norman, OK

Flint, Michigan is not alone in trying to breathe new life into old neighborhoods. Norman, Oklahoma, population 100,000, is discussing mixed-use zoning:

http://newsok.com/norman-looks-at-mixed-zoning/article/3378022

The idea is to combine several different features of a city into one neighborhood. As the article notes:

"A mixed-use zoning district would include residences, retail development and green space, all developed according to a common design plan, city Planning Director Susan Connors said."

In other words, folks could take care of all their daily needs within the neighborhood. As Connors says:

"Allowing citizens to live in the same area where they work and shop creates a sense of belonging to the community and can improve their quality of life."

Connors is right: a sense of community is what more and more people want and need.

Daily Blog: Flint, Michigan

Can a mid-sized city add through subtraction?

That's what Flint, Michigan is about to find out. This city of around 74,000 has been hit hard by the decline of the auto industry. As a result, urban blight has crept in leaving empty houses and run down neighborhoods.

But Flint is fighting back:

http://www.examiner.com/x-3588-Detroit-Independent-Examiner~y2009m6d12-Flint-shrinks-in-order-to-grow

The goal of the policy is to replace the urban blight with urban green. By creating more grassland, the city hopes to create a more beautiful community. And that in turn might cause more people to want to live there.

Will it work? Time will tell. But one thing seems certain: Flint, Michigan is about to look a lot different.

Weekly Column: Main Street USA

What can Wall Street learn from Main Street?

Quite a bit according to a recent blog posting at Harvard Business Publishing.

In particular, consultant John Baldoni writes that small town car dealers can teach big businesses a thing or two about economic growth and stability:

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/baldoni/2009/05/what_you_can_learn_from_small.html

According to Baldoni, there are four keys that have helped car dealers in small cities survive while other car dealers have not.

The first key is to "know your customer." As Baldoni notes, "Small-town auto dealers know what vehicles their customers prefer." This is another way of saying that people in small cities know how to serve their customers because they know their customers first. When you are friends with someone, you tend to have a better business relationship with them, too.

The second key is that "service matters." Again, this is another example of where living in a smaller city can be beneficial. "Local dealers have no alternative to treating their customers right," Baldoni writes, "they live in the community, and word gets around."

The third key is to "invest in the community." A business leader in a small city knows that giving is more important than receiving. "In many areas, car dealers are the soft touch for youth sports teams as well as school musicals and church raffles." This helps build a positive brand for the dealer throughout the entire community.

The fourth key is to "maximize opportunity." An entrepreneur in a smaller place can have a bigger impact. "He has faith in himself, his business, and his community," Baldoni writes. And so when other companies leave or go out of business, the small city entrepreneur will pick up the slack.

These are simple principles that can have a profound impact on businesses throughout the country. But they all have a unique theme in common--they work best in places where people know and care about each other.

It turns out, that spirit of community is not only good for America, it's good for business.

Daily Blog: When Paris Burned

In 1998, Kevin Heubusch published his book, "The New Rating Guide to Life in America’s Small Cities." The book was no doubt well received by the citizens of Paris, Texas (population 25,898) when they learned Heubusch had declared their Paris “The Best Small Town in Texas.”

Perhaps there were some who reflected on how far they had come since the fire of 1916 which destroyed almost half the town. A crisis of such proportion could have been the beginning of the end for the town which then was a five-figure city of about 12,000.

But the next years were filled with stories about emerging from the ashes with a determination to rebuild and be better than before.

When Marty Lange describes the “sheer number of stately, historic (architectural) icons” of today’s Paris it conjures a dramatic contrast to the picture of post-fire days in 1916.

Many of those “icons” will be marking their centennial anniversary over the next few years with echoes of a community that survived the flames, doubled its size and celebrates its unquenchable spirit.

For more about the Paris, Texas of today see “Paris, Anyone?” by Marty Lange, Texas Highways, July 2009, p. 15.

Daily Blog: The Best Thing . . .

Slightly more than 40 years ago, the limestone plant in Craigsville, Virginia closed down. That day in 1968 marked the end of an era for the people in Craigsville, where as many as 500 jobs had been connected to the plant.

In a May 4, 2009 Newsweek essay, Steve Tuttle reflects with bittersweet nostalgia on the years since. And while the “cement factory still stands, ghostlike," Craigsville (population just over 1,000) has never been the same.

The day the plant closed was “a sad day” for Tuttle’s family but his father now calls it “the best thing that could have happened.”

Many four- and five-figure cities are encountering economic turbulence today. And it’s difficult to know, at the moment, how the changes forged through unexpected crises will eventually play out.

But it is important to remember that, under pressure, limestone metamorphoses into marble.

Daily Blog: North Richland Hills, Texas

What happens when urban decay reaches mid-sized cities?

http://www.star-telegram.com/189/story/1418877.html?storylink=omni_popular

In North Richland Hills, Texas, the city is working hard to update and renovate its older houses. But rather than use the heavy hand of regulation and coercion, this city is offering a helping hand:

"This Northeast Tarrant County city of 66,000 proposes adding programs that for the first time include financial incentives for homeowners to make improvements. The incentives include a city matching grant — already offered to some businesses that renovate — to help homeowners finance small projects, such as painting or porch repairs.

The city also plans to expand a volunteer program that helps with yard cleanup and minor repairs for residents who are physically or financially unable to do the work themselves."

A community's beauty impacts everyone in the community. But how the community goes about preserving that beauty is also important. In North Richland Hills, that means working together to create a more livable and beautiful place.

Daily Blog: Georgia Towns Enduring the Recession

Small cities in Georgia are enduring the recession according to this article:

http://www.jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-06-07/story/amid_downturn_small_towns_in_south_georgia_are_doing_fine

It turns out, these smaller cities have not had the kind of bloated city budgets that bigger cities have had. And so while larger cities are struggling to meet the budget, these smaller cities are doing just fine. As one mayor put it, his town is "used to getting by with less."

In addition, a spirit of community has helped keep small cities vibrant through the economic downturn. When people know each other, they work together and help each other out.

As one mayor put it: "Smaller towns are used to helping each other and we don't spend as much. In small towns, teamwork is not an option; it's a lifestyle. We really don't have any choice. It helps us survive."

Weekly Column: Greenfield, Baseball and Hope

In Greenfield, Ohio many of the jobs are related to the automotive industry and the families there are already feeling the impact. Estimates as high as 500 jobs – “or 70 percent of the town’s industrial employment – are expected to be gone.”

Almost the same number of kids (450) ages 5-16 have seen their summer baseball leagues threatened.

But the town has rallied.

With grocery raffles, pancake suppers to raise money and hundreds of volunteer hours to plant, mow, paint and repair, the adults of Greenfield are determined that their kids will play baseball this summer.

The news has spread and donations of bats, balls and other equipment have been coming from various fans of baseball across the country.

In tough economic times – why baseball?

Laura Saylor, a Greenfield parent whose daughter plays baseball said, “This kind of gives them hope, too, because when the parents don’t have hope, what do you have?”

The former commissioner of major league baseball, A. Bartlett Giamatti, would have understood and agreed with Ms. Saylor.

In a little book titled “Take Time for Paradise – Americans and Their Games,” Giamatti wrote:

• Much of what we love later in a sport is what it recalls to us about ourselves at our earliest. And those memories, now smoothed and bending away from us in the interior of ourselves, are not simply of childhood or of a childhood game. They are memories of our best hopes. They are memories of a time when all that would be better was before us, as a hope, and the hope was fastened to a game. One hoped not so much to be the best who ever played as simply to stay in the game . . .

• It has long been my conviction that we can learn far more about the conditions, and values, of a society by contemplating how it chooses to play, to use its free time, to take its leisure, than by examining how it goes about its work.

• Winning for player or spectator is not simply outscoring; it is a way of talking about betterment, about making oneself, one’s fellows, one’s city, one’s adherents, more noble . . .

• Sports represent a shared vision of how we continue, as individual, team, or community . . .

Washington Post
Associated Press

Daily Blog: About Cummington

Rachel Maddow lives in New York.

But when asked about her favorite place, her thoughts turned to New England’s Hilltowns in western Massachusetts.

She described what she loved most about Cummington (in Travel and Leisure, March 2009, p. 176) as “the sense of community – this is an isolated spot with poor weather and bad roads, and that creates a real sense of communal self-sufficiency.”

At the center of this “sense of community” is what Maddow calls the “vibrant cultural heart.” The Old Creamery in Cummington (population 978) – “It’s my favorite retail establishment of the entire universe. It’s really small, just one room; but in that room is a deli, a bakery, a general store, and a video-rental place . . . . When I walk into the Old Creamery I feel like Norm walking into Cheers.”

The home page on the Internet for Cummington says the town “takes pride in maintaining its ‘old time’ country New England flavor” and “boasts many historical properties of significance including the William Cullen Bryant Homestead.”

Apparently Bryant also treasured his memories of “the sense of community” in this small town in the Berkshire Mountains. In one of his poems, “Spring in Town,” he wrote of a community where:

“Soft voices and laughter light the streets.”

Daily Blog: Big Opportunity for Small Towns

The title of the article was “The Next Small Thing.”

Consider the following observations from Travel and Leisure’s editor-at-large, Peter Jon Lindberg, in the May 2009 issue, p. 72:

• “Downsizing is the order of the day.”

• “If any trend has defined the recent trajectory of travel – and of consumer culture in general – it is the cult of the very small.”

• “While most Americans still supersize anything they can, a determined (and increasingly influential) minority seeks refuge in a modest scale.”

• “Connoisseurs will gravitate to small things even if they’re inconvenient – especially if they’re inconvenient.”

• “In Europe tiny is not a choice or a value; it’s a way of life.”

• “. . . fortunately for sellers, people will pay a lot more for something there’s less of.”

• “. . . how much of the appeal of undersize things is about the promise of quality, authenticity, intimacy, and a personal touch . . .?

Doesn’t this line of thinking make an optimistic case for the innovative leaders in the “small” cities of America?

Daily Blog: Energy Initiative

The race is on! Small cities across the nation are applying for a new block grant designed to help create energy efficiency:

http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/06/02/02climatewire-cities-rush-to-turn-green-with-32-billion-of-84057.html

As the article notes:

"Some 1,000 cities and counties have direct access to the new entitlement account, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. They have until June 25 to submit plans, but that's a challenge, because most haven't received federal grants for energy projects before."

And while most of the media attention is focused on what big cities are doing to create new energy policies, many smaller cities are taking part, too:

"The grants will go to places like Cody, Wyo., with a population of 8,835, and Wahpeton, N.D., population 8,585, which markets itself as 'the most industrialized city in North Dakota.' Scores of other small and medium-sized cities are automatically eligible for funding."

It will be interesting to see how this new initiative might spur creativity in small cities around the nation.

Daily Blog: Lamartine, WI

Lamartine, Wisconsin is the home of just over 1000 residents. This past Memorial Day, these residents came together to honor those who have served the country and made the ultimate sacrifice:

http://www.fdlreporter.com/article/20090601/FON06/906010358

As the article notes:

"The veterans memorial, which was dedicated on Memorial Day, May 25, contains the names of military veterans from the township throughout the nation's history.

Those individuals who gave the ultimate sacrifice of their lives during military service are given special recognition on the memorial."

There are many memorials in many places throughout America. Some of the most famous are in Washington, DC. But towns like Lamartine, Wisconsin also offer fine tributes worthy of note. In the heartland of America, people never forget the service and the sacrifice of their soldiers.