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

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

Cities: Greatest Little Small Town Parade in America

Julian, CA (Population 1,621)

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

Cities: West Texas Towns Highlighted in Movie Festival

Tulia, Tx (Population 5,117)

[Via Lubbock Online]

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/050308/loc_274968133.shtml

Cities: Mid-sized Minnesota City Sees Great Economic Growth

Cloquet, MN (Population 11,201)

[Via Pine Journal]

http://www.cloquetmn.com/articles/index.cfm?id=13487&section=News

Cities: I’ll Always Have Paris

Paris, IL (Population 9,077)

It was not any of the great cities of America that changed my life – instead, it was my discovery in 1956 of Smalltown, U.S.A., America in the corn-and-hog belt of the Midwest – the “flyover” country of today. I took a bus south to Paris – Paris, Illinois.

It was then a township of about 10,000 people living in white clapboard houses shaded by maples and elms and fronted by unfenced lawns and pole-perched mailboxes.

In Paris, I felt I was very close to the old Midwest and the pioneers who had turned the wilderness into America’s larder. They seemed to me to have inherited not just the land but the virtues that have been lost or overlaid in the big cities.

Click here to read this article in its entirety:

http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/articles/detail?articleId=11319

Cities: How to Make a Killing in Small Town America

Plainville, KS (Population 2,029)

Strolling the main street of this rural town makes for a quiet walk. Closed stores suggest Plainville is caught in the spiral of lost jobs and residents that has desolated so many farm towns on the Great Plains.

In Plainville, a town of 2,000, Chuck Comeau knew he could overcome the problems he had in running his high-end business from Los Angeles. “The work ethic and loyalty here are amazing,” he says. “People here just get along.”

Now Comeau, 51, is trying to spread the word, aiding a nascent effort to bring small business back to small towns.

“You can now do just about anything in a rural community,” he says.

Click here to read the story in its entirety:

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/small-business-entrepreneurs/2007/11/01/how-to-make-a-killing-in-small-town-america.html

Cities: Wanting the Old Main Street Back

Las Cruces, N.M. (Population 74,267)

Trying to Undo a Downtown Makeover Done 30 Years Ago

This city is often cited as one of the most livable in America, and with a warm, dry southern New Mexico climate, it is rapidly becoming a popular destination for retirees. Even though the population has been growing, from 74,000 in 2000 to 80,000 in the most recent census, the central business district has been all but a ghost town for more than three decades.

In 1973, an urban renewal plan practically leveled Main Street, as well as many homes in Mesquite, a nearby historic neighborhood.

In the 1970’s, Main Street in Las Cruces was replaced by a pedestrian mall, an urban planning idea popular at the time as a way to shore up downtown districts that were losing business to indoor malls. More than a hundred downtowns across the country closed streets to traffic and installed big planters and sidewalk furniture. The intent was to make downtowns more like suburban shopping districts.

Pedestrian malls really haven’t worked well in many cases and most of them have been replaced,” said Amanda West, assistant director of community revitalization networks for the National Trust Main Street Center, who has written several articles on pedestrian malls. “The important lesson that communities learned from the wave of pedestrian malls in the 1970’s is that you can’t have a cookie-cutter approach to revitalization.”

Click here to read the story in its entirety:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/12/realestate/12lascruces.html?_r=1&scp=148&sq=October+12%2C+2005&st=nyt&oref=slogin