I've been doing some research into Council Housing in Nottingham and have written this guest blog for the excellent Municipal Dreams site. Enjoy.
Showing posts with label Cities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cities. Show all posts
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Monday, 6 January 2014
Detroit, Always On My Mind
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| It is fairly typical to see building like this on most blocks |
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| The green clapboard house to the left was occupied, surrounded by abandoned and demolished homes |
This piece on the FT (registration, free) has been sitting in my pile of "things to read properly" for nearly six months but it's definitely worth checking out. It's a good read and has a striking main picture to boot. The key moment for me is this quote from a middle-aged firefighter, David McLeod, regarding his move out of the city to the surrounding counties,
"Everyone who can afford to leave has left. The only people remaining are poor or sick or criminals"The broad point here is right.
But the key missing word in Mr McLeod's comment, however, is "Black".
As this article and map shows, the divide between poor, decaying and Black Detroit and richer, successful, and White Oakland County is incredibly stark. I talk a bit about this here but the map is a brilliant articulation of the issue. If you're at all upwardly mobile in Detroit you "got out" years ago and moved to the more prosperous and probably safer suburbs. Sadly this has the impact of making the city you left behind even more impoverished until it gets into the sorry state it's in today. And even more tragically, even if you're geographically not living in a particular city you will often make calls on the city's services: roads, schools, museums, parks etc; without necessarily financially contributing to them. This is relevant to us here in Nottingham (see what I did there?) with our phenomenally tight boundaries - I've covered this previously here.
Talking of museums, I was incredibly pleased to see that the exhibits in the fantastic Detroit Institute of Arts may have been given a reprive. The museum is an amazing little oasis of (free) culture and stimulation in the midst of a challenging area of the world and I'd be really sad to see this particular family silver sold off even given the dire straits the city is in.
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| Hard to photograph but stunning when up close and a real tribute to Detroit's industrial heritage |
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| I'd never seen any of Claus Oldenburg's work in person before - pretty incredible |
... but some of the hope that I think he shows for the city is really well captured in a (longform) article from the middle of last year again in the FT (registration, free). I'll let you read it yourself but will share a couple of the key points here;
"...Whole Foods, the organic supermarket chain, opened its first-ever store within Detroit’s city limits. The occasion was marked with street parties in its midtown neighbourhood. Others, including Detroit’s impoverished black majority, may feel less excitement about the arrival of an outlet some call “Whole Pay Check” because it is so expensive"
"Students of the “new urbanism”, such as Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class, which argues that cities are the best Petri dishes for new ideas and innovation, say their revival is assisted by a generational shift in US culture as well as deeper economic trends. Florida, who now lives in Toronto, just 250 miles north of Detroit (but still a million miles in terms of its vibrancy), grew up in suburban New Jersey in a second-generation Italian-American family. Like so many other immigrants, his parents fled the claustrophobia of Newark for the freedom of the suburbs. “To them the city was a ghetto – it was stifling and crowded and dangerous,” says Florida. “But to my generation, the suburbs represent a kind of poverty of living and it is the cities, rather than the suburbs, where you can breathe freely" "
"Technology is also an ally. The big out-of-town retail centres once spelt the death knell of Main Street. But the rapid shift to online retailing is now rendering many of them obsolete. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, at least a tenth of America’s remaining 1,000 enclosed malls will shut in the next seven years, mostly because of the internet. That is why people like Gilbert put so much emphasis on “place making” – creating a spectacle out of the street life that only cities can offer. It means good food, open-air events and renovated parks. Out go the discarded needles. In come the open-air chess boards. “American cities are becoming more and more European in their sensibility,” says Florida. “It is all about lifestyle.” As the new urbanists put it (somewhat annoyingly), the US urban revival is driven by the “3Ts” – technology, tolerance and talent."Do read the whole article - it's a great piece of writing and offers a vision for the future that I find very exciting.
Friday, 6 September 2013
Nottingham City Boundaries
I was fascinated by this new article yesterday. Apart from the total astonishment that Nottingham Tories have actually managed to up with a policy proposal, I was even more impressed that it's one that I can broadly support.
I think there are some tweaks to be done to the actual map proposed but anything that sorts out the frankly mad political boundaries of the city and conurbation has to be a good thing. I droned on at length about this here so won't rehash it all but suffice to say, sign me up to the campaign!
I think there are some tweaks to be done to the actual map proposed but anything that sorts out the frankly mad political boundaries of the city and conurbation has to be a good thing. I droned on at length about this here so won't rehash it all but suffice to say, sign me up to the campaign!
Thursday, 5 September 2013
Out of Town Shopping
Fascinating article here which taught me some of Nottingham's retail history I didn't know.
When I was in America, the impact of an almost wholesale move to out of town shopping was one of the things I really disliked - showing people I met photos of Sherwood high street or the pedestrianise city centre almost always elicited wistful sighs of longing...
And you can look closer to home at cities like Sheffield where the impact of Meadowhall has been to turn the city centre into a shadow of its former self.
When I was in America, the impact of an almost wholesale move to out of town shopping was one of the things I really disliked - showing people I met photos of Sherwood high street or the pedestrianise city centre almost always elicited wistful sighs of longing...
And you can look closer to home at cities like Sheffield where the impact of Meadowhall has been to turn the city centre into a shadow of its former self.
Monday, 22 April 2013
Book Review: The Unfortunates
The Unfortunates by B S Johnson
I was at a gig the other week, seeing Eels at Rock City who are one of the first bands that I remember buying a record by. I was reminiscing to my friend about the day that I still distinctly remember of going to buy the CD in Coulsdon (where I grew up) on the Monday after school - I had five one pound coins in my wallet and I know that I could get a further £5 from the cash machine outside the TSB next door to the Woolworths. Two now defunct brand names you won't find on our high streets any more. Thanks to my somewhat unusual method of keeping my CDs not in either alphabetical order nor chronological order of release (pace, High Fidelity) but in chronological order of purchase I know that this is the thirteenth album that I ever bought.
Because I still love the physicality of CDs and vinyl almost as much as I love the printed word, and in a slightly-late and somewhat off-kilter tribute to Record Store Day I thought I'd do a book review of a novel that celebrates the physical form in a word of Kindles and downloads.
The other reminiscence I've been indulging in a lot at the moment is, of course, for my trip to America. Being back in the daily grind of WorkOne and WorkTwo (see the footnote here). I think the best memories in some ways are for the travel rather than the arriving: in particular for the day I spent driving, flying and travelling by train in California.
I'm currently reading and hugely enjoying a book that celebrates the physical form par-excellence, is a semi-autobiographical reminiscence and is set in Nottingham. What's not to like! B S Johnson wasn't ever a household name in his lifetime and certainly isn't now but appears to be having something of a renaissance especially around this novel in particular.
The novel's main conceit is that it can be read in any order through the chapters being entirely loose in the binding. The first and last chapters are marked as such but the others can be shuffled and read in whatever order you desire.
The power of the reminiscence and the fading or growing of memories and re-ordering of them in our minds is of course a hugely powerful force in the novel and is enhanced by the pseudo-random order of the chapters. Some of the chapters are only a page long, others a couple of dozen. The action centres around a football match in an unnamed Midlands city which is usually understood to be Nottingham and I enjoyed in particular trying to place some of the locations identified - or spotting how things have changed in the forty or so years since the novel's setting. Johnson was a jobbing football journalist and so spent a lot of time bouncing around the country to different cities reporting on different games. The merging of different cities and locations is one that has become familiar for me as the memories of my America trip start to fade a little: "But I know this city! This green ticket-hall, the long office half-rounded at its ends, that ironic clerestory, brown glazed tiles, green below, the same, the decorative hammerbeams supporting nothing, above, of course! I know this city! How did I not realise when he said, Go and do City this week, that it was this city?". The match and its reporting are mixed up with stories of Tony, the narrator's dead friend and includes flashbacks (or are they not flashbacks, I'm just reading it in the "wrong" order?) to their times together.
(Incidentally, I like the way that 'City' = The football team from a particular city but 'city' = the conurbation itself. I always laugh when people at work talk about football from the weekend and refer to 'City' or 'County' or 'United' and expect you know what they're talking about. This is, of course, just an excuse to link to my favourite 'IT Crowd' episode of all time, "Are We Not Men", couple of good clips here if you've not got time for the full episode at the first link)
The non-linear narrative of The Unfortunates is all part of the experience of reading the novel but it does make for a challenging read - there are lots of moments when it isn't at all clear what is going on. I'm naturally going to struggle to give clear page numbers or references to the quotes below, but give the book a go and you'll find them in time...
Jonathan Coe has written a very helpful introduction to the edition I have which includes the following passage: "So, what exactly was taking place on 'the inside of his skull' as Johnson went about the task of reporting his football match that Saturday afternoon? Memories of Tony were unfolding, certainly, but not in a structured, linear way, and they were interrupted at random by the action on the pitch and his attempts to start writing his match report. It was this randomness, this lack of structure in the way we remember things and receive imrpessions that Johnson wanted to record with absolute fidelity. But randomness, he realised, is 'directly in conflict with the technological fact of the bound book: for the bound book imposes an order, a fixed page order, on the material'. His solution, as always, was simple and radical: the pages of The Unfortunates should not be bound at all".
"Always, at the start of each match, the excitement, often the only moment of excitement, that this might be the ONE match, the match in which someone betters Payne's ten goals, where Hughie Gallacher after being floored nods one in while sitting down, where the extraordinary happens, something that makes it stand out, the match one remembers and talks about for years afterwards, the rest of one's life. The one moment, the one match. A new beginning, is it?". The inevitable bathos that follows this passage is no less crushing for its predictability: "But already I suspect the worst of these two sides, now as they kick off I doubt they can play well enough to make this a memorable match...". I'm no football fan so don't know if this is an accurate representation of what it can feel like at the start of a game but I recognise the pain of anticipate as encapsulated in the John Cleese line in Clockwise, "I can cope with the despair, but it's the hope that kills me".
"June rang on the Saturday, was it, or the Thursday before, no, quite late, we had already arranged to go, though what arrangements could we have needed to make, saying that there was no need for us to come down, on Sunday, for he had died that evening, had not recovered consciousness that morning from his sleep. but previously there has been the opposite of a relapse, three days when his mind has been virtually normal, for which she had been grateful, June, it had seemed like a miracle, though he still could not move, his mind had come back and they had talked very seriously about everything, for the first time had talked about death". This is one of the very short chapters: that passage is the totality of that chapter.
"Time! It's after two! I must get to the ground then, how my mind has taken off. Now, how to get to the ground, yes, always take a taxi in a strange city, no, not that again, in any case I have not seen any taxis here, except at the station and that's a long way away, but I did see buses with boards up for the ground at the Council House square, yes, and I ought to be able to find my way back there, yes, down there, through this alley, or crack, as some would call it, a paved alleyway, wet, it must have rained while I was having lunch, slightly, or they have washed it down no, what irrelevant absurdities I find myself thinking, just, the pavement is wet, I must take appropriate care not to slip as I descend, past shoppers, still at it, this is their great day, of course, wives and daughters arm-in-arm after camiknickers, matching, no doubt, twinsets, similar gallivanting. Radio shops, now no doubt called television shops, the half-dozen sets going, different programmes, show-jumping and swimming, those apologies for sport on television, while the only sport most people want to watch is soccer, the only real sport, the best, the pathetic ends they go to on Saturday afternoons to cover up the fact that they are not showing football". Later in this chapter (one of the longer ones) we get to see some of the writing of the match report the narrator is filing - a further post-modern trope (writing about writing: metafiction) in this fascinating book.
This isn't a comforting read; it's challenging in both form and content. But it's one that I highly recommend giving a go.
(Incidentally, I like the way that 'City' = The football team from a particular city but 'city' = the conurbation itself. I always laugh when people at work talk about football from the weekend and refer to 'City' or 'County' or 'United' and expect you know what they're talking about. This is, of course, just an excuse to link to my favourite 'IT Crowd' episode of all time, "Are We Not Men", couple of good clips here if you've not got time for the full episode at the first link)
The non-linear narrative of The Unfortunates is all part of the experience of reading the novel but it does make for a challenging read - there are lots of moments when it isn't at all clear what is going on. I'm naturally going to struggle to give clear page numbers or references to the quotes below, but give the book a go and you'll find them in time...
Jonathan Coe has written a very helpful introduction to the edition I have which includes the following passage: "So, what exactly was taking place on 'the inside of his skull' as Johnson went about the task of reporting his football match that Saturday afternoon? Memories of Tony were unfolding, certainly, but not in a structured, linear way, and they were interrupted at random by the action on the pitch and his attempts to start writing his match report. It was this randomness, this lack of structure in the way we remember things and receive imrpessions that Johnson wanted to record with absolute fidelity. But randomness, he realised, is 'directly in conflict with the technological fact of the bound book: for the bound book imposes an order, a fixed page order, on the material'. His solution, as always, was simple and radical: the pages of The Unfortunates should not be bound at all".
"Always, at the start of each match, the excitement, often the only moment of excitement, that this might be the ONE match, the match in which someone betters Payne's ten goals, where Hughie Gallacher after being floored nods one in while sitting down, where the extraordinary happens, something that makes it stand out, the match one remembers and talks about for years afterwards, the rest of one's life. The one moment, the one match. A new beginning, is it?". The inevitable bathos that follows this passage is no less crushing for its predictability: "But already I suspect the worst of these two sides, now as they kick off I doubt they can play well enough to make this a memorable match...". I'm no football fan so don't know if this is an accurate representation of what it can feel like at the start of a game but I recognise the pain of anticipate as encapsulated in the John Cleese line in Clockwise, "I can cope with the despair, but it's the hope that kills me".
"June rang on the Saturday, was it, or the Thursday before, no, quite late, we had already arranged to go, though what arrangements could we have needed to make, saying that there was no need for us to come down, on Sunday, for he had died that evening, had not recovered consciousness that morning from his sleep. but previously there has been the opposite of a relapse, three days when his mind has been virtually normal, for which she had been grateful, June, it had seemed like a miracle, though he still could not move, his mind had come back and they had talked very seriously about everything, for the first time had talked about death". This is one of the very short chapters: that passage is the totality of that chapter.
"Time! It's after two! I must get to the ground then, how my mind has taken off. Now, how to get to the ground, yes, always take a taxi in a strange city, no, not that again, in any case I have not seen any taxis here, except at the station and that's a long way away, but I did see buses with boards up for the ground at the Council House square, yes, and I ought to be able to find my way back there, yes, down there, through this alley, or crack, as some would call it, a paved alleyway, wet, it must have rained while I was having lunch, slightly, or they have washed it down no, what irrelevant absurdities I find myself thinking, just, the pavement is wet, I must take appropriate care not to slip as I descend, past shoppers, still at it, this is their great day, of course, wives and daughters arm-in-arm after camiknickers, matching, no doubt, twinsets, similar gallivanting. Radio shops, now no doubt called television shops, the half-dozen sets going, different programmes, show-jumping and swimming, those apologies for sport on television, while the only sport most people want to watch is soccer, the only real sport, the best, the pathetic ends they go to on Saturday afternoons to cover up the fact that they are not showing football". Later in this chapter (one of the longer ones) we get to see some of the writing of the match report the narrator is filing - a further post-modern trope (writing about writing: metafiction) in this fascinating book.
This isn't a comforting read; it's challenging in both form and content. But it's one that I highly recommend giving a go.
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
Ghost of Christmas Past
During the interregnum that inevitably features between Christmas and New Year I took the radical (for me) step of going shopping in the January sales. As I was staying with my parents down South for a few days I had the somewhat unedifying choices of Crawley, Brighton or Croydon. I finally decided to go to Croydon as I'd been working in store before Christmas in Crawley so didn't really fancy going back and the train down to Brighton felt like a bit of a drag.
It was only as I got off the train at East Croydon station that I started to think about how long it was since I was last there. I reckon it's close to a decade which was a bit sobering. For the uninitiated I grew up and went to school in this part of the world - so always have half an eye out for news from this unloved London Borough that I called home until I was 18. I never really 'came home' after University - I lived for a year in York after I finished with my studies and then moved to Nottingham for work.
Anyway, train done, I wandered down towards the town proper from the station and started to feel oddly nostalgic. But then you know when you go back to somewhere or something that it totally familiar to you but then it turns out not to be quite the same as you remember it? Very dislocating when you're convinced that something has moved. For example - I often frequented (after the age of eighteen, obviously) 'The George' pub on George Street but if you'd asked me if Croydon's tram ran down that street I would have sworn that it ran on a parallel road. As I say, very odd.
I spent many happy hours as a teenager browsing the serendipitous racks of Beanos record store (I love the bathos of the phrase in that article, "STUFF marketplace officially closed on 30 April 2010 due to too little business") and owe my love of Elvis Costello's 'Armed Forces' and the lost genius of The Beekeepers (seriously, if you want a treat then get can a copy of 'Third Party, Fear and Theft'; it's brilliant) to that place. So I was naturally very sad when it closed down and this meant that my CD shopping was restricted to popping into 101 Records. They were handily enough having a half price sale so was able to make progress on my Dylan completism for relatively little money.
I'd somehow created a further false memory for myself that Croydon was included in Owen Hatherley's smart and provocative book, 'A Guide To The New Ruins of Great Britain'. I've just checked and it's not but you should read this book anyway anyway, not least for the chapter on Nottingham.
For a much maligned placed architecturally, Croydon does have some gems of Modernism that have a real place in my heart - Apollo House and Lunar are famous for (i) being hilariously dated by their moon-landing inspired names, (ii) now housing the UK Border Agency so a key first destination for many migrants to the UK and (iii) appearing many times as filming locations for 'Peep Show'. But whilst structurally the town was looking much the same, the changing face of the shops and rest of the streetscape was striking. The closure of Allders has obviously hit a blow at the heart of the community and I kept expecting to find other shops that had long gone and moved away. Sad.
Finally, and on a more upbeat note, there are some good signs of regeneration and redevelopment happening. An active BID (a model that works well in Nottingham too) looks to have put together some good plans and is certainly very visible. And there are some great looking plans for East Croydon station (itself an iconic cantilevered building) that will improve its links to the rest of the town.
Just a collection of thoughts really but hopefully a little treat for my midlands friends...
Anyway, train done, I wandered down towards the town proper from the station and started to feel oddly nostalgic. But then you know when you go back to somewhere or something that it totally familiar to you but then it turns out not to be quite the same as you remember it? Very dislocating when you're convinced that something has moved. For example - I often frequented (after the age of eighteen, obviously) 'The George' pub on George Street but if you'd asked me if Croydon's tram ran down that street I would have sworn that it ran on a parallel road. As I say, very odd.
I spent many happy hours as a teenager browsing the serendipitous racks of Beanos record store (I love the bathos of the phrase in that article, "STUFF marketplace officially closed on 30 April 2010 due to too little business") and owe my love of Elvis Costello's 'Armed Forces' and the lost genius of The Beekeepers (seriously, if you want a treat then get can a copy of 'Third Party, Fear and Theft'; it's brilliant) to that place. So I was naturally very sad when it closed down and this meant that my CD shopping was restricted to popping into 101 Records. They were handily enough having a half price sale so was able to make progress on my Dylan completism for relatively little money.
I'd somehow created a further false memory for myself that Croydon was included in Owen Hatherley's smart and provocative book, 'A Guide To The New Ruins of Great Britain'. I've just checked and it's not but you should read this book anyway anyway, not least for the chapter on Nottingham.
For a much maligned placed architecturally, Croydon does have some gems of Modernism that have a real place in my heart - Apollo House and Lunar are famous for (i) being hilariously dated by their moon-landing inspired names, (ii) now housing the UK Border Agency so a key first destination for many migrants to the UK and (iii) appearing many times as filming locations for 'Peep Show'. But whilst structurally the town was looking much the same, the changing face of the shops and rest of the streetscape was striking. The closure of Allders has obviously hit a blow at the heart of the community and I kept expecting to find other shops that had long gone and moved away. Sad.
Finally, and on a more upbeat note, there are some good signs of regeneration and redevelopment happening. An active BID (a model that works well in Nottingham too) looks to have put together some good plans and is certainly very visible. And there are some great looking plans for East Croydon station (itself an iconic cantilevered building) that will improve its links to the rest of the town.
Just a collection of thoughts really but hopefully a little treat for my midlands friends...
Monday, 5 November 2012
Coke
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| Coke was invented by a pharmacist dontchaknow |
I met with one of the company historians and also a representative from the CSR team who were able to give me some interesting perspective on the role that Coca-Cola has played in the development of Atlanta. Some thoughts and perspective from other cities;
- Coke made the funding for 'Pemberton Place' available which is where the 'World' is located alongside the city's aquarium and also the future site of a museum on the history of civil rights. This was part of a commitment to the downtown area as part of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. The kind of commitment to the city is similar to that of P&G and Cincinnati.
- However, Atlanta didn't suffer from race or other riots in the 1970s as many other cities did (again, see Cincinnati and also Detroit) because, "the city was too busy making money to riot" - it's always been a very business focused place that didn't suffer so many of the issues that other places did.
- The City was apparently one of the first to integrate their businesses, schools and eating establishments - again because there was a good business reason to do so.
- The company has consistently acted as a "thought leader" and catalyst for philanthropy - not always covering 100% of the cost of projects but providing a kick start for matching fundraising. (A different model than Alice Walton in Bentonville of course).
- The company has been involved in the funding or founding of various institutions including Emory University, the Centre for Disease Control and helped saved the baseball team for the city back in the 1930s.
A useful morning and some confirmation of the sort of themes that I've been seeing in other places. It's a shame I didn't manage to see some more of downtown Atlanta - it looks like an interesting city. But I've loved being in the rural part of Georgia. Tomorrow (Tuesday) is election day and I'm going with my hosts to vote first thing which should be interesting!
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| The vending machines from around the world were one of my favourite exhibits |
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Georgia On My Mind
(I promise the terrible punning blog post titles will end soon)
I'm in Jasper, Georgia staying the some contacts made through the Roosevelt Scholarship and I've been made to feel incredibly welcome - all you hear about Southern hospitality is totally true. I arrived on Friday night sorry to leave Bentonville and North-West Arkansas but I've hardly stopped since so I've not had any time to feel sad about my trip nearly coming to an end.
I'm staying out in Jasper, Georgia which is about an hour from Atlanta and is the home of the Georgia Marble Company - I'm in a company town without even planning it! The marble from here was used to make the Lincoln Memorial which I'll be seeing in a few days. The trainline to and from the quarry runs just past the home where I'm staying and I can hear a train clicking past as I type this.
On Saturday we went to the annual Chomp and Stomp festival in Atlanta - a mixture of beer festival, running event, live music and lots and lots of chilli. We were able to sample a lot (a lot!) of chilli and I also tried some of the beers from Sweet Water Brewery from Atlanta - I can recommend the IPA in particular. It was a really warm and sunny day and I could have stayed from much longer, but we were on something of a packed schedule. I really liked the atmosphere in the neighbourhood that the festival was held - a place called Cabbagetown - it felt a bit like Sherwood in Nottingham: lots of independent businesses, people really engaged in their community and some great green spaces - the kind of place that I like to live!
We had to dash off to make sure that we got to Stone Mountain in time. This is an enormous granite monolith which would be impressive enough but it also has a huge carving of three Confederate commanders in the side to commemorate the American Civil War. The surrounding park was quite Disney-fied but the mountain itself was pretty spectacular especially the walk down (we took the cable car up!) to ground level. A great view of Atlanta and the surrounding suburbs.
Today (Sunda) was a long trip again to see the Little White House at Warm Springs. This was where Franklin Roosevelt went to get relief from the debilitating effects of Polio and ended up living and working here - it was whilst meeting local people here that he was prompted to develop progressive policies like the New Deal, rural electrification and the Public Works Act.
The museum here is really impressive - telling a lot of the story of FDR and his work plus what his life was like down here. You can also travel to the original springs and bathing area where FDR found relief and also prompted the research that ultimately led to the discovery of the vaccine for Polio and its virtual elimination. I've always been a fan but today really opened up a different side of the man and his work.
Tomorrow I'm meeting with Coca-Cola at the 'World of Coke' in downtown Atlanta - worried that my Diet Coke addiction might get out of hand once I'm left to roam freely in that place...
I'm in Jasper, Georgia staying the some contacts made through the Roosevelt Scholarship and I've been made to feel incredibly welcome - all you hear about Southern hospitality is totally true. I arrived on Friday night sorry to leave Bentonville and North-West Arkansas but I've hardly stopped since so I've not had any time to feel sad about my trip nearly coming to an end.
I'm staying out in Jasper, Georgia which is about an hour from Atlanta and is the home of the Georgia Marble Company - I'm in a company town without even planning it! The marble from here was used to make the Lincoln Memorial which I'll be seeing in a few days. The trainline to and from the quarry runs just past the home where I'm staying and I can hear a train clicking past as I type this.
On Saturday we went to the annual Chomp and Stomp festival in Atlanta - a mixture of beer festival, running event, live music and lots and lots of chilli. We were able to sample a lot (a lot!) of chilli and I also tried some of the beers from Sweet Water Brewery from Atlanta - I can recommend the IPA in particular. It was a really warm and sunny day and I could have stayed from much longer, but we were on something of a packed schedule. I really liked the atmosphere in the neighbourhood that the festival was held - a place called Cabbagetown - it felt a bit like Sherwood in Nottingham: lots of independent businesses, people really engaged in their community and some great green spaces - the kind of place that I like to live!
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| People enjoying the early Autumn sun |
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| That is a lot of chilli that's been eaten! |
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| A not very good picture of the carving. The white mound to the left is a man-made ski-run... |
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| A pretty humble house, even for the 1930s. |
Tomorrow I'm meeting with Coca-Cola at the 'World of Coke' in downtown Atlanta - worried that my Diet Coke addiction might get out of hand once I'm left to roam freely in that place...
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
North-West Arkansas Preconceptions
Something of a packed day today including some serious pre-conceptions squashed, a mini-road-trip and me being presented the Freedom of the City of Bentonville...
As per yesterday's brief update I've had most of my original ideas about this part of the country challenged if not totally blown away today. One of my work colleagues told me before I left the UK that for a while he was planning to move here for work and was really looking forward to it. I looked at him a bit strangely and was somewhat sceptical. Well, I'd probably join him on the plane if given the chance now - seriously. Well, maybe I'd hold out a little longer for the Chicago option but this is a strong second!
I met with three people from Bentonville City Council - Troy Galloway, the Director of Community Development, Mike Churchwell who heads up Transport and finally Mayor Bob McCaslin.
A few thoughts and things learnt;
- Bentonville downtown is brilliant - could almost be a facsimile of a 1930s small-town America used for a film set but it's a living and breathing city centre mixed-use location - shops (including what looks like a great bike shop. I've not allowed myself to go in - there's only so far I can stretch my baggage allowance on flights...), restaurants, bars and offices. I note the irony that this is exactly what opponents of WalMart say their presence destroys but here it is, in their own home-town. A few pics inc one of the original WalMart (a five-and-dime store that's now a museum);
- I knew that WalMart either explicitly or otherwise encourage their suppliers (CocaCola, P&G, Unilever, Kraft, Nestle etc etc) to have an office here but I didn't know how big they were (up to 400 people) nor now many companies have in fact co-located in the Bentonville/Rogers/Fayetteville/Springdale are: around 1400 in total! There are some interesting parallels here with Boeing's supplier base in Seattle and how venture capital and legal firms have strong presences in Silicon Valley.
-The City's daytime population pretty much doubles with the commuter influx into the City from surrounding locations but the focus at the moment has been to manage that traffic through more road building rather than any attempt to move people out of their cars. The team know that this is next but haven't yet been able to find a way to ease people out of their cars and into public transit in quite the way we've been able to do it in Nottingham and Europe more generally.
- The City's relationship with WalMart is generally very strong but hasn't always been so - back in 2005 the company was working with central government to secure improvements to a particular road and had secured 80% of the funding - the remaining 20% to come from the City. Unfortunately no-one had thought to engage with the team at the Council which led to some red faces and hasty rejigging of budgets...
- The Mayor spoke very passionately and from a position of knowledge (he headed up a Bentonville team for Kraft for many years) of the good things that WalMart do and how they operate in an ethical way. I directly asked if WalMart put people out of business and he said that wasn't the case. Like many people I've read books like 'The WalMart Effect' and been sceptical about the value that big-box retailers bring to the consumer landscape so it was great to be challenged in a knowledgeable way on those views.
- The Mayor presented me with the Key to Bentonville - as per the photo at the top of this post to celebrate my visit. This was obviously a huge surprise and a great honour.
There's loads more info and detail that I captured but that'll do for now - safe to say that I'm hugely looking forward to my next few days here in NWA!
PS - managed to find some beer at the brilliantly named County Line Liquor today so I'm back in the game on that front. I'm in Benton County as indicated on this map so there are a number of options around but none that are hugely close! I learnt today that there's a ballot inititive (referendum) to make the county 'wet' at next week's vote.
PPS - longtime readers will be excited to hear that I got a haircut today - a snip (haha!) at $13.
Houston Food
Just a brief post to talk about some of the amazing food that I consumed this weekend just gone. I'm fairly sure that I've put on a lot of weight so far this trip and this weekend won't have helped. Back into cycling and running when I get home I think!
In no particular order, we went to the following places with my capsule review alongside.
Empire Cafe. An excellent lunch and chance to catch up with Brad and Louise, nice shady patio too and what looked like a great strawberry flavoured soda for the kids.
Hugo's. Wow. Just wow - what a great place. A cool vibe, with a mix of couples, families and business meetings. I had the Barbacoa which featured some of the tastiest lamb I've had in a long time and also enabled me to learn a new word - cilantro. Oh, and the Oaxacan Rita margarita was excellent - a real smoky taste.
House of Pies. This was a welcome addition to the afternoon when flagging from a full day (with a two-year-old) at the Museum of Natural Science. I can personally vouch for the Apple and the Texas Pecan Fudge looked suitably artery filling...
Rudy's BBQ. This place was an excellent Saturday night choice - real rib-sticking stuff but unpretentious and laid-back. You order at the counter and get a kind of plastic crate to load your meat up into - we had a mix of moist brisket (to die for!), ribs and sausage. Plus the sides were excellent too. You lay your own table with butcher's paper and get stuck in - highly recommended!
Finally, we went for a brilliant brunch at a Mexican place and I had the best virgin Bloody Mary I've ever had - if only I could remember the name of the place! My Huevos Rancheros was phenomenal - perhaps second only to 'Kiosk' at the end of my road in Nottingham, as discussed here - but then I would say that wouldn't I!)
I knew that Houston had a rep for good food but I hadn't realised quite how great it was going to be - no wonder they eat out the most of all Americans!
The other surprising thing about Houston was how green it was. We went for a walk in Hermann Park but even outside this the streets were very green and leafy - a function of the kind of neighbourhood I was in I suppose but even so.
In no particular order, we went to the following places with my capsule review alongside.
Empire Cafe. An excellent lunch and chance to catch up with Brad and Louise, nice shady patio too and what looked like a great strawberry flavoured soda for the kids.
Hugo's. Wow. Just wow - what a great place. A cool vibe, with a mix of couples, families and business meetings. I had the Barbacoa which featured some of the tastiest lamb I've had in a long time and also enabled me to learn a new word - cilantro. Oh, and the Oaxacan Rita margarita was excellent - a real smoky taste.
House of Pies. This was a welcome addition to the afternoon when flagging from a full day (with a two-year-old) at the Museum of Natural Science. I can personally vouch for the Apple and the Texas Pecan Fudge looked suitably artery filling...
Rudy's BBQ. This place was an excellent Saturday night choice - real rib-sticking stuff but unpretentious and laid-back. You order at the counter and get a kind of plastic crate to load your meat up into - we had a mix of moist brisket (to die for!), ribs and sausage. Plus the sides were excellent too. You lay your own table with butcher's paper and get stuck in - highly recommended!
Finally, we went for a brilliant brunch at a Mexican place and I had the best virgin Bloody Mary I've ever had - if only I could remember the name of the place! My Huevos Rancheros was phenomenal - perhaps second only to 'Kiosk' at the end of my road in Nottingham, as discussed here - but then I would say that wouldn't I!)
I knew that Houston had a rep for good food but I hadn't realised quite how great it was going to be - no wonder they eat out the most of all Americans!
The other surprising thing about Houston was how green it was. We went for a walk in Hermann Park but even outside this the streets were very green and leafy - a function of the kind of neighbourhood I was in I suppose but even so.
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Palo Alto: In a city of the future / It is difficult to concentrate
The subtitle of this post is from the 'Palo Alto' by Radiohead - one of my all-time favourite songs from my favourite band - you can see the lyrics here. (There's more on my musical taste here). There's a great line in that song about how "everyone is made for life" - I've just been at the house of the person who wrote the original code for what became Yahoo! Mail - it certainly was an impressive space.
I always intended to spend some time in Silicon Valley and I had some good meetings set up but it was primarily intended as bit of a staging-post for my trip to Yosemite National Park. So I only planned to be here for two nights. I'm now regretting that a bit as I've really loved the brief time that I've been here and I could make it a longer stay. Oh well, put it on the list for a return visit... I particularly love the sense of confidence and progress that was what made me like Chicago but the amount of green space and community minded activities is also very attractive. Now if they just could get some public transport going...
It's been really interesting to spend some time with my Servas hosts Joyce and Chris and their two children - my last Servas hosts of the trip actually so I'll be sad to lose that part of the experience. Their home is lovely and I was made to feel very welcome including being invited to a local author's book reading (hence the visit to the Yahoo! Mail home).
The meetings I had set up were not until around lunchtime so in the morning I took the opportunity to walk 'The Dish' a local park (named for the large radio telescope at the top of the hill) and joggers' paradise that's actually part of the Stanford University campus (and sits just over the Stanford Linear Accelerator - the predecessor of the Large Hadron Collider). We set off about 9am and it was already very hot - a couple of shots below but they don't really capture the attractiveness of the location very well.
I then had a lunch meeting with a couple of people from Cupertino City Council. Cupertino is famously the home of Apple (hence the shot at the top of the page) and it was a very interesting chat. Headlines;
- California's Proposition 13 is crushing investment into schools and other desirable activities for cities by limiting increases in property taxes (much like our own Council Taxes) unless the house changes ownership. A crazy piece of legislation that the state is still paying the price for more than 30 years later. This drives a lot of the decisions and context that the city has to operate in.
- Apple run a highly comprehensive commuter bus service for their employees as far San Francisco. This is essentially of course a privatisation of what should be a public service. (Healthcare, anyone?)
- Cupertino doesn't really have a 'downtown' so the Council and the Chamber of Commerce are jointly working on a 'Main Street' project to create a focal point and broaden the tax base of the city.
- Palo Alto has a working 'dark fibre' network with nodes all over the city - this is exactly what Nottingham wanted to do with its (sadly unsuccessful) Super Connected Cities bid. I got some details and the contact name which will be really useful for the team back home to enable us to press on with this project.
- The City is using its high level of tech and IT people and businesses to run 'Hackathons' to bring together people to collaboratively solve local problems using the City's data and policy objectives.
Sunday, 30 September 2012
UFCW
In the UK I'm a member of USDAW - the shopworkers' union. So when I knew that I was coming to America I asked the team there to see what contacts they could get for me in the US union movement. They put me in touch with the UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers) union in Detroit, Seattle and Chicago. I made an appointment in Detroit for 10am on the Friday on the basis that I was arriving in Detroit late afternoon on the Thursday.
What I hadn't banked on was the hilarious journey from Cincinnati to Detroit - what should have taken about 4 hours took over 12 featuring delayed then cancelled flights and my bag being delivered to a different terminal than the one I arrived in. Still, I got there in the end and was made very welcome by Janet and Jeff, my Servas hosts in Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is a university town about 40 or so miles west of Detroit. Janet in particular was a fount of knowledge about the area and things to do. I went out for a drink with their son who is about my age and currently studying to be a lawyer at the university. One of his friends is currently the deputy campaign manager for a candidate for the Michigan Supreme Court (we agreed that electing judges was a bit mad!). The race has been enlivened by a campaign video made by the cast of The West Wing - you can see it here.
Tired and a bit dislocated I didn't really want to drive the 50 minutes to the UFCW Local 876 offices in Madison Heights (located north of the City). But I'm really glad that I did - it was a fascinating morning. I met with Rick Blocker, the Secretary-Treasurer and also Roger Robinson, President and their team and asked them for their views on the current political situation nationally and locally and what this means for their members. They also took me out to lunch at a local restaurant which was beyond the call of duty.
A few thoughts / ideas from the discussions I thought worth capturing;
What I hadn't banked on was the hilarious journey from Cincinnati to Detroit - what should have taken about 4 hours took over 12 featuring delayed then cancelled flights and my bag being delivered to a different terminal than the one I arrived in. Still, I got there in the end and was made very welcome by Janet and Jeff, my Servas hosts in Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is a university town about 40 or so miles west of Detroit. Janet in particular was a fount of knowledge about the area and things to do. I went out for a drink with their son who is about my age and currently studying to be a lawyer at the university. One of his friends is currently the deputy campaign manager for a candidate for the Michigan Supreme Court (we agreed that electing judges was a bit mad!). The race has been enlivened by a campaign video made by the cast of The West Wing - you can see it here.
Tired and a bit dislocated I didn't really want to drive the 50 minutes to the UFCW Local 876 offices in Madison Heights (located north of the City). But I'm really glad that I did - it was a fascinating morning. I met with Rick Blocker, the Secretary-Treasurer and also Roger Robinson, President and their team and asked them for their views on the current political situation nationally and locally and what this means for their members. They also took me out to lunch at a local restaurant which was beyond the call of duty.
A few thoughts / ideas from the discussions I thought worth capturing;
- There's more to Detroit's current economic woes than just historical racial tensions and recent economic issues. I had assumed that the City's decline had started back in the late 60s with the racially motivated riots and been compounded by gradual white-flight and then the issues with the auto manufacturers in the 2000s had been the final straw. What I learnt from the team at the UFCW was the role of corruption ("graft") in the intervening years. I'd not picked up on the multiple scandals involving ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick but it looks like he's culpable to a certain extent for the trouble that Detroit finds itself in now.
- There are huge powers available to the State Governor to appoint a 'Emergency Financial Manager' who can override any sort of negotiated agreement or contract with the Unions no matter how carefully negotiated or finely balanced to move forward to a balanced budget.
- Another Detroit Mayor, Coleman Young, as well as being responsible for the (slightly hilarious) People Mover seems to have been a driver for the White Flight out of the city (or at least not working to prevent it) back in the 1980s.
- We also talked a lot about the concept of a Food Desert in Detroit. There are limited numbers of grocery stores in the City and that, coupled with a limited public transport network and a reliance on food stamps for food purchases means that the urban poor often end up eating junk food rather than nutritious sustenance.
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Take Me Out To The Ballgame
I'm delayed by about three hours leaving Cincinnati to get to Detroit via Chicago so thought I'd do a few lines reflecting on the baseball game I went to the other night.
(I make no apologies for the hackneyed blog title. I entered into the whole baseball experience fully embodying all the cliches available to me...)
I'd pre-ordered my ticket from the UK so picked it up from the box office the day before. It didn't look like I needed to as the ground was only about 10% full at the start of the game. I spent some time before going into the seating area checking out the stadium - it is absolutely massive and very impressive.
I was prepared for some of the ceremonial stuff and enjoyed the fact that there were two ceremonial "first" pitches...
It wouldn't be an authentic baseball experience without some terrible mass-produced beer so I wandered down to the concession stands to see what was available. I've become used at this stage for being asked for my ID all the time when buying alcohol and the production of my UK driving license usually confuses people (and not just because the photo makes me look like an axe-murderer...). However, the reaction I got from the guy at the bar in the ballpark was the best yet. He looked at me with total amazement and then said in a voice of wonder and curiosity, "You're from another country!?". I didn't really know what to say to that other than confirm it and again ask for my beer. He seemed in a daze for the rest of the transaction.
The team mascot for the Reds made an appearance at this stage - have fallen in love a little bit with 'Mr Redlegs' so it was good to see him in person...
At this point the national anthem was about to be sung and played - I was a bit conflicted about this moment - it's obviously not my national anthem so didn't quite know what to do. However, when 18,000 people all stand up, put their hand on their hearts and sing along you don't stay sitting. I have to say I felt a bit moved by it - we're not very good at that sort of collective public experience (Olympics aside) in the UK so I like that other countries can do it so easily.
The game now started proper and I was pleased that I actually understood a good 70% of what was going on. All the stats left me a bit confused but I basically understood what was happening and even predicted that one of the Milwaukee players was going to try to steal a base (unfortunately so did the pitcher and he was quickly out).
The rest of the evening was enjoyable enough - but given that people say that a day out at a cricket test match is boring (I totally disagree) I wasn't totally enthralled by the play all the way through. There was however loads of stuff going on around the ground and on the big screens - including: virtual three-card-monte to win Skyline Chili; a standing ovation given to an army veteran who was attending the game; a live "kiss-cam" where if the big screen camera focused on you you were obliged to kiss your partner and the 'seventh-innings-stretch'.
Cincinnati easily won the game and showed no mercy to Milwaukee - there was no sportsmanship on display - booing the opposing team getting a run is apparently totally acceptable...
An authentic America experience ticked off the list. Later in the trip I'm going to the Rice Owls play football in Houston - can't wait! A few final photos of the view from the stadium.
(I make no apologies for the hackneyed blog title. I entered into the whole baseball experience fully embodying all the cliches available to me...)
I'd pre-ordered my ticket from the UK so picked it up from the box office the day before. It didn't look like I needed to as the ground was only about 10% full at the start of the game. I spent some time before going into the seating area checking out the stadium - it is absolutely massive and very impressive.
I was prepared for some of the ceremonial stuff and enjoyed the fact that there were two ceremonial "first" pitches...
It wouldn't be an authentic baseball experience without some terrible mass-produced beer so I wandered down to the concession stands to see what was available. I've become used at this stage for being asked for my ID all the time when buying alcohol and the production of my UK driving license usually confuses people (and not just because the photo makes me look like an axe-murderer...). However, the reaction I got from the guy at the bar in the ballpark was the best yet. He looked at me with total amazement and then said in a voice of wonder and curiosity, "You're from another country!?". I didn't really know what to say to that other than confirm it and again ask for my beer. He seemed in a daze for the rest of the transaction.
The team mascot for the Reds made an appearance at this stage - have fallen in love a little bit with 'Mr Redlegs' so it was good to see him in person...
At this point the national anthem was about to be sung and played - I was a bit conflicted about this moment - it's obviously not my national anthem so didn't quite know what to do. However, when 18,000 people all stand up, put their hand on their hearts and sing along you don't stay sitting. I have to say I felt a bit moved by it - we're not very good at that sort of collective public experience (Olympics aside) in the UK so I like that other countries can do it so easily.
The game now started proper and I was pleased that I actually understood a good 70% of what was going on. All the stats left me a bit confused but I basically understood what was happening and even predicted that one of the Milwaukee players was going to try to steal a base (unfortunately so did the pitcher and he was quickly out).
The rest of the evening was enjoyable enough - but given that people say that a day out at a cricket test match is boring (I totally disagree) I wasn't totally enthralled by the play all the way through. There was however loads of stuff going on around the ground and on the big screens - including: virtual three-card-monte to win Skyline Chili; a standing ovation given to an army veteran who was attending the game; a live "kiss-cam" where if the big screen camera focused on you you were obliged to kiss your partner and the 'seventh-innings-stretch'.
Cincinnati easily won the game and showed no mercy to Milwaukee - there was no sportsmanship on display - booing the opposing team getting a run is apparently totally acceptable...
An authentic America experience ticked off the list. Later in the trip I'm going to the Rice Owls play football in Houston - can't wait! A few final photos of the view from the stadium.
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
City of Contrasts
I've been in Cincy now for a couple of days and I've gone through a range of emotions about it. The Monday morning (after the Oktoberfest admittedly) I was surprised at how quiet the city was - there was almost nothing going on for a Monday morning rush-hour - certainly compared with New York of course but even for a comparable UK city it was eerily still. My earlier post covers some of what I did the rest of the day which certainly give me a different physical and social angle on the city. I could definitely live in the Mt Adams area of the city
For yesterday I decided against my original plan of going to an outlet mall - I've already brought far too many clothes so decided I didn't really need any more - and planned on exploring more of the city. I first went up the Carew Tower - a hidden gem if ever I saw one! It was hard to find out how to actually get up the tower and I was somewhat sceptical of the rickety lift and handmade signs directing me up to the 49th floor. On arrival and once I had paid the extortionate entrance fee of $2 the views from the blustery observation deck were fantastic. An attraction that in any other city would be hugely publicised and probably be five times more expensive. A couple of sample pictures.
It looks like a prosperous and thriving city which at times it certainly feels like but as you see below at other times it definitely doesn't! There is an exhibition in the lobby of Carew Tower which gives a really interesting context to the building. The design is classic 1930s French Deco - which was trendy in the US for about 18 months. The speed that the building was constructed at meant that it was the height of fashion for a very brief period of time. The building has gone through a series of different uses and fortunes over the years but retains pretty much all of its charm and style - including some excellent glazed porcelain decorative arches from Rookwood Pottery - a company established in the city in the 19th Century and still trading (albeit with a number of different locations and owners over the years).
I then decided to walk up to Findlay's Market in the north of the city. Again a historic organisation (and a good place to get lunch) but I was also interested in seeing how the neighbourhood would change as I moved north of the city centre. I wasn't disappointed. From is a socially and racially mixed and fairly vibrant city centre I quickly moved into an almost exclusively Black neighbourhood and one that obviously is struggling. Some obvious signs of decay and also something of a renaissance but at times it didn't feel like the best of places to be.
This old pool hall has obviously seen better days...
And there are a number of 'missing' houses where there were obviously so decayed that they've had to be knocked down.
The interesting thing is that on the wooden picket fence you can see in the photo there is a sign for the Cincinnati City Centre Development Corporation who are evidently working hard to transform the area.
From a strict economic point-of-view of course, reducing your building and housing stock (especially when they are dilapidated) increases property values and encourages use of the neighbourhood in new ways. The Development Corporation is based directly in this neighbourhood and surrounding their (pretty plush) offices there already seems to be some gentrification going on. Their website here directly talks about land-banking and assembling plots for redevelopment. Ed Glaeser talks very helpfully about this kind of regeneration activity in his book, 'Triumph of the City' and I've covered 'Planned Shrinkage' before along with my thoughts on Nottingham's own areas of urban decay.
The area I walked through (which I think is known as 'Over-The-Rhine' - Cincinnati has a large German population, dontchyaknow) could be great: some historic (and huge) buildings and great access to the city centre. And various bodies are putting a lot of effort into trying to transform it. I hope they're succesful.
The Market itself was a little disappointing - very quiet and not a huge range of food on offer. I even managed to resist the Belgian waffle stall...
The walk back brought me through Washington Park and the frankly incredible Music Hall. Again, a clear influence from the German population in its architecture.
Just so my day wasn't all architecture and urban regeneration I popped into Nicholson's Scottish (!) pub in the afternoon - it claims to be Cincinnati's first gastro-pub: a dubious claim to fame if ever there was one! Some reasonable beers however.
A pretty packed day and I still had the baseball game at the Great American Ball Park to come - a report on that later today I hope.
For yesterday I decided against my original plan of going to an outlet mall - I've already brought far too many clothes so decided I didn't really need any more - and planned on exploring more of the city. I first went up the Carew Tower - a hidden gem if ever I saw one! It was hard to find out how to actually get up the tower and I was somewhat sceptical of the rickety lift and handmade signs directing me up to the 49th floor. On arrival and once I had paid the extortionate entrance fee of $2 the views from the blustery observation deck were fantastic. An attraction that in any other city would be hugely publicised and probably be five times more expensive. A couple of sample pictures.
It looks like a prosperous and thriving city which at times it certainly feels like but as you see below at other times it definitely doesn't! There is an exhibition in the lobby of Carew Tower which gives a really interesting context to the building. The design is classic 1930s French Deco - which was trendy in the US for about 18 months. The speed that the building was constructed at meant that it was the height of fashion for a very brief period of time. The building has gone through a series of different uses and fortunes over the years but retains pretty much all of its charm and style - including some excellent glazed porcelain decorative arches from Rookwood Pottery - a company established in the city in the 19th Century and still trading (albeit with a number of different locations and owners over the years).
I then decided to walk up to Findlay's Market in the north of the city. Again a historic organisation (and a good place to get lunch) but I was also interested in seeing how the neighbourhood would change as I moved north of the city centre. I wasn't disappointed. From is a socially and racially mixed and fairly vibrant city centre I quickly moved into an almost exclusively Black neighbourhood and one that obviously is struggling. Some obvious signs of decay and also something of a renaissance but at times it didn't feel like the best of places to be.
This old pool hall has obviously seen better days...
And there are a number of 'missing' houses where there were obviously so decayed that they've had to be knocked down.
The interesting thing is that on the wooden picket fence you can see in the photo there is a sign for the Cincinnati City Centre Development Corporation who are evidently working hard to transform the area.
From a strict economic point-of-view of course, reducing your building and housing stock (especially when they are dilapidated) increases property values and encourages use of the neighbourhood in new ways. The Development Corporation is based directly in this neighbourhood and surrounding their (pretty plush) offices there already seems to be some gentrification going on. Their website here directly talks about land-banking and assembling plots for redevelopment. Ed Glaeser talks very helpfully about this kind of regeneration activity in his book, 'Triumph of the City' and I've covered 'Planned Shrinkage' before along with my thoughts on Nottingham's own areas of urban decay.
The area I walked through (which I think is known as 'Over-The-Rhine' - Cincinnati has a large German population, dontchyaknow) could be great: some historic (and huge) buildings and great access to the city centre. And various bodies are putting a lot of effort into trying to transform it. I hope they're succesful.
The Market itself was a little disappointing - very quiet and not a huge range of food on offer. I even managed to resist the Belgian waffle stall...
The walk back brought me through Washington Park and the frankly incredible Music Hall. Again, a clear influence from the German population in its architecture.
Just so my day wasn't all architecture and urban regeneration I popped into Nicholson's Scottish (!) pub in the afternoon - it claims to be Cincinnati's first gastro-pub: a dubious claim to fame if ever there was one! Some reasonable beers however.
A pretty packed day and I still had the baseball game at the Great American Ball Park to come - a report on that later today I hope.
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