Author: marynewsom

More that’s good/bad about the South

More goods/bads about the South as a region:

Positives:
Diversity
Fried Chicken
Livermush (OK, I confess, I didn’t call that out. But I should)
Politeness
Plenty of land and opportunity to learn from others’ mistakes
Friendliness

Negatives:
Racial attitudes impede progress.
“Race” is still black and white, ignoring other ethnicities.
Xenophobia
Retributive justice is expensive (we put a lot of people in jail)
Unusual resistance to change
Poor reputation, and we live up to it sometimes
Sahara of the Bozart
Patronizing attitude toward woman
Kudzu (OK, I added that one myself, too)

What’s good/bad about the South?

We’re calling out goods/bads about the South as a region:

Positives:
Southerners are storytellers
Humor and style
Agrarian connection to land
Rich connection to history
Strong public college system
Natural resources, mountains-beach, etc.
Weather
Strong family connections
Personal relationships
Patriotism

Negatives
Reseparation in schools
Lack of progressive infrastructure
Deeply ingrained acceptance of violence in all forms
Awareness of history begins in 1860, ends in 1865
Lack of technological infrastructure in rural areas
Low tax base
We’re not embarrassed enough about poverty
Lack of commitment to K-12 education
Historical avoidance of talking about “the bad stuff”
General acceptance of low expectations – “Well, we’re a poor state.”
Lack of regional planning

How – whether? – to improve the South

I’m spending the day at a conference at Davidson College, “Setting an Agenda for a Better South” – more info to come. There’s a conference blog at thinksouth.org. Conference organizer is the Center for a Better South, based in Charleston, a ” pragmatic, nonpartisan think tank dedicated to developing progressive ideas, policies and information for thinking leaders who want to make a difference in the American South.” (Follow on Twitter at #bettersouth.)

For now, if you didn’t see it, note my regular Saturday op-ed column, “The big national story that wasn’t.”

From ‘can-do city’ to ‘city that learns’

Mark Peres of Charlotte Viewpoint online magazine calls it “A call to redefine the city.” It’s a paper, available here, looking at whether Charlotte can change its self-image from “a can-do city that gets things done through
public-private partnerships” to “a smart city that learns.” It’s a call to invert the city’s top-down model into a bottom-up one that engages a broad base of citizens in the city’s success.

The paper is an outgrowth of an event Peres and Civic By Design’s Tom Low put together in October to explore how Charlotte might “create greater capacity in the region to address existing and future systemic issues.” Peres took the conversations that night and distilled them into some key findings (the following is his words, not mine):

• The narrative that Charlotte is “a can-do city that gets things done through public-private partnerships” is code for many for top-down-driven initiatives. The topdown nature of the city has led to great civic successes, but an unintended consequence is passivity in the general populace and distrust among many.

• The city rewards social conformity. There is a perceived divide between corporate executives and non-conformist creative citizens.

• We are consumers of received culture – not producers of original work. Our investments – theaters, museums, arenas – reinforce consumption. We have not similarly invested in assets that lead to innovation: e.g., medical and law schools, interdisciplinary education, an MFA program in fine art or design, artist incubators.

• There is not a shared vision of the region. Citizens in different neighborhoods and municipalities are not well-connected to each other – let alone to the world. There is not a regional identity or a cosmopolitan character. Racial, ethnic, and immigrant populations tends to self-segregate.

• Charlotte is often described as a young city, but it was settled in the late 1700s. It is only young in that it has just recently become nationally recognized as a banking center, and its skyline and suburbs have recently been built. It is immature in its development of economic diversification, social capital, urban design, transit, and ecological sensitivity.

The paper ends on an optimistic note, logging in some of the many community conversations and cross-boundary initiatives going on. “In a fundamental way, community creation is the work of the 21st century,” Peres concludes.

Firebird: Will she survive skateboarders?

At the unveiling Tuesday afternoon of the late Niki de Saint Phalle’s sculpture, “Le Grand Oiseau de Feu sur L’Arche” (“The Large Bird of Fire on the Arch”), amid the cheers and greetings and oohing and aahing, a small worry emerged among the spectators: “How are they going to control the vandalism? How will they keep the skateboarders from damaging it?”

I heard this from a high-ranking city staffer, and from the head of one of the city’s major cultural organizations, and from other cultural arts types plus some regular folks.

So, taking the opportunity to horn in on colleague Larry Toppman’s interview with John Boyer, president of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, I asked him The Skateboard Question. Boyer was unflappable. “Speaking as a skateboarder … ” he began. Turns out, as a California boy, he was a skateboarder. “The best of them know better,” he said, “and so I’m just trusting they understand a good thing when they see it.”

The “Firebird” sits (squats?) in a plaza in front of the Bechtler on South Tryon Street. It’s a sparkling mosaic of glass bits, depicting a bird standing on a large parabolic arch. People were having photos taken standing between its legs. (In the photo above Andreas Bechtler, whose collection forms the museum, is second from left.) A small girl of about 3 was putting her face right up to it to see how the mirrors changed her view. As I stood admiring it, I noticed how the mirrors showed random spots in the scene behind me: Two or three images of City Council member Warren Cooksey looking cheerful, one of Charlotte Symphony President Jonathan Martin looking pensive, and multiple other shards of the scene.

Boyer wasn’t at all disturbed by the hands on the glassy sculpture. “When I see those fingerprints on the mirror, that is a beautiful thing,” he said.

I asked artist Linda Luise Brown if she knew why Saint Phalle used the arch form. Brown noted Saint Phalle’s work had a strong feminist core.
I did more research. I believe it is safe to conclude the Firebird is a “she.” One of Saint Phalle’s most famous works was the 1966 Hon-En-Katedral (“She-A-Cathedral) in Sweden, where you entered the exhibit by walking between the legs of (i.e. through the vagina of) a reclining woman. Her early works of female forms, were called Nanas. She once said, “For me, they were the symbol of a cheerful, liberated woman. Today, after nearly twenty years, I see them differently. I see them as heralds of a new matriarchal era, which I believe is the only answer.”

Tuesday afternoon, people were drawn to the passage between the Firebird’s legs. “A new matriarchal era.” On South Tryon Street, no less!

Uff-Da! Twin Cities visit ‘audacious’ Charlotte

A large group of folks from Minneapolis-St. Paul were in town Sunday until Tuesday afternoon, on an inter-city Chamber visit. It’s the sort of thing Charlotte civic and business leaders do every year, although this year they stayed home. Here’s a link to the St. Paul Chamber’s Web page, where you can see the agenda.

My friend Curtis Johnson, an educator and author of, among other things, the 2008 Citistates Report, was one of the group. He sent this e-mail report late Tuesday: “The delegation was duly stirred by its contact with Charlotte people. It prompted much discussion about whether Charlotte has audacity and MSP has ambivalence.” He promises more info later.

Is Charlotte audacious? Are the Twin Cities ambivalent?

I sought the opinion of our departmental Minnesotan, editorial cartoonist Kevin Siers, who’s from the Iron Range and lived in MSP for about 10 years.

“Audacious? If you mean Charlotte has more naked self-promotion, then yes,” he said.
“They’re [the Twin Cities] Midwestern, you know.”

For the record, he points out that St. Paul and Minneapolis have distinctly differing personalities. SP is blue-collar, Catholic, and “has more interesting architecture.” Minneapolis is Lutheran and “lots of steel and blue glass.”

Listening to the ‘political slime’ alarm

I’ve interviewed a lot of politicians, and sometimes – not most of the time, but sometimes – you feel as if you want to take a shower afterward. The two who set off that slime-alarm bell most loudly? Jim Black and Mike Easley.

Black, the Matthews optometrist and former N.C. House speaker, is now in prison for a variety of election-related (and cash-in-envelopes-in-the-men’s-room-at-the-Capital-Grille-related) behaviors. Former Gov. Mike Easley is being depicted by Observer and Raleigh News & Observer coverage, not to mention at this week’s state elections board hearings, as extremely challenged in the ethics department.

From now on, I will listen to my instincts more often. There have been some other candidates over the years, some of them still in office, who set off that alarm. I’m not going to say who, because to accuse them of being crooks, without having evidence, would be libel. And it would be unfair, because there is the possibility my slime alarm isn’t 100 percent accurate. (For the record, none of the City Council candidates or mayor candidates on the Nov. 3 ballot set off the slime alarm. I don’t agree with some of them, but that’s different.)
And don’t get me started on the “crazy as a bedbug” alarm. That’s an even longer list …

‘Firebird’ has landed

A large white tent positioned in front of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art was my clue. I was heading back from the Starbux at The Square and spotted it. Hmmm. It’s right where the Niki de Saint Phalle sculpture The Firebird is supposed to go. Being a snoopy journalist, I concluded it might well be a tent covering the sculpture itself.

I jaywalked across Tryon and noted that the yellow “keep out” plastic tape was down on the sidewalk side, i.e. public right of way, so I walked up and peeked through the openings in the tent. Saw a ga-zillion small mirrors.

The Firebird landed on Saturday, arriving in two pieces, on a truck. (The photo above was taken Saturday by Observer staff photog Yalonda M. James. The man depicted is Andreas Bechtler, whose art collection the museum will house.) It’s now under a tent while it’s being worked on by conservator Lech Juretko, who’ll be cleaning it, replacing damaged tiles, etc. Official unveiling will be Nov. 3 – Election Day.

The Firebird is mirror mosaics over polyester, on steel innards. The late de saint Phalle (1930-2002) created it in 1991. Bechtler press info says it’s 146 inches (12 feet) tall.
I think it is destined to become a Charlotte favorite. As such, it will need a name. Birdie? FB? Sparky?

Commuter rail – westward ho?

Commuter rail to … I bet you’re thinking, ” … to Davidson and North Mecklenburg.” A rail line to the north is one of CATS’ top priorities, to be built as soon as the feds cough up some money to build it.

In Gaston County, though, they’re thinking commuter rail from Charlotte to Gastonia. The Gaston Gazette recently reported on the City of Gastonia’s first estimates of what it would cost to build a commuter line on the old Piedmont & Northern railbed, which runs from Charlotte to Mount Holly and on to Gastonia: $265 million to $300 million.

Part of the route’s right of way – between Mount Holly and Charlotte – is controlled by CSX and carries freight. The N.C. Rail Division of the N.C. DOT owns the 11.6 miles from Mount Holly to Gastonia, plus a 3-mile spur to Belmont. Here’s a link to a map of the P&N line in Gaston County. And here’s a link to the NCDOT’s page showing the rail rights of way it owns. The P&N was built by tobacco and power company magnate James B. Duke, and carried passengers until 1951.

At the moment, of course, there’s no state, federal or local funding for this rail project. And the Charlotte Area Transit System (aka CATS) doesn’t have the P&N line as one of its five proposed transit corridors. It’s just an idea – but one with support among some key Gaston County leaders, who see a stronger connection to Charlotte as a way to boost economic prospects in a county where unemployment last month was 13.3 percent.

Reminder of terminology: “Commuter rail” typically means a passenger train akin to the inter-city Amtrak service, although some commuter rail uses newer technology, and the cars are usually less comfy. Stations are relatively far apart compared with subway, streetcar, light rail service. But don’t call it “heavy rail.” That’s a term for a system with a powerful electric rail down there with the tracks. It’s the “third rail,” the kind you should never, ever touch – hence the expression, “Social Security (or any other untouchable policy) is the third rail of American politics.” Subways, not commuter trains, tend to be “heavy rail.”

Progressive zoning plans – not here

The city of Miami last night adopted a zoning code overhaul, called Miami 21. Here’s the Miami Herald article on it. Why should folks around here care? Here’s why:

The new zoning overhaul is what’s called a “form-based code.” Raleigh is about to write one. Cabarrus County already has one. So does Davidson. Miami is the largest city, so far, to adopt one, but Denver is likely to adopt its own comprehensive form-based code in a matter of months, says blogger Mike Lydon. It’s an approach to zoning that many progressive cities are taking on. Should Charlotte?

A form-based code bases rules that govern planning and zoning on buildings’ form, not their use. In other words, what goes on inside a building (residence? office? store?) is less important than how the building fits in with what’s around it.

For instance, it says parking lots have to be behind new buildings, and the buildings have to sit at the sidewalk – which makes walking down the sidewalk more attractive, thus encouraging people to walk instead of drive.

Form-based codes also generally use an approach with a weird-sounding name that makes plenty of sense – a “transect.” It means you look at which areas are intensely urban, or completely rural, or somewhere in between and design things such as streets, sidewalks, even storm water management, based on how urban or suburban or rural an area is. It prevents, for instance, plopping a highway designed for intercity travel (think I-277) into a dense urban core. To move traffic there, it would say, use a high-capacity boulevard. (Think Champs-Elysee.)

Just as important, when adopted, a form based code is a plan with teeth. It overlays the city’s expectations for urban density or suburban density or rural density onto the whole jurisdiction, complete with the zoning rules that govern those areas. So the “plan” isn’t just a guideline but is a legal requirement. Imagine that!

One of the leaders of Miami’s effort was the dean of the University of Miami School of Architecture, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, a luminary in the New Urbanism movement.

Here’s a link to the Web site for the code itself. And if it rains today and you’re looking for some meaty reading, here’s the pdf for the code itself.