Spring is on its way. A thunderstorm yesterday accelerated the melting of the snowpack. The snow buntings have moved through. A red poll was at the feeder the other day. The chickadees have been making their spring calls for several weeks(are they saying cheeseburger? As a statistician, I think they are saying p-value). Not much ice to break in the St. Marys River but the ice breaking is going on throughout the system and the locks are scheduled to open next week.
The most unique event of spring, though, may be Lake Superior State University's Annual Snowman Burning. At noon today, officials set fire to a snowman effigy just as they have every year going back 41 years. A metal mesh form in the shape of a snowman is stuffed with shredded office paper and lit on the Friday closest to the first day of spring. Participants read poetry and engage in other commemorative activities. There's a page on facebook for it. Search for snowman burning.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Old Historical Hotels
Sometimes as we've toured around the country we have stayed in old historic hotels. I can think of three or four that were at one time elegant hotels and then got a bit rough around the edges. It was fun imagining the former glory and it was fun staying in them for relatively inexpensive prices. Some have closed, some have been restored (but of course now have to charge a lot more). One was in Hot Springs South Dakota, one was in Lexington Kentucky, one was the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park Colorado. The Stanley had some difficulty finding financing for needed renovations. I think that since we stayed there, it got its funding and is now a luxury destination.
Other historic hotels have been maintained all along. The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island comes to mind. We were recently in central Indiana and learned of (but did not have a chance to visit) the French Lick area and it's history as a destination then subsequent decline and more recent restoration. It seems one of the historic hotels there icludes a casino, which likely helped fund the restoration.
Out west, the old lodges at the national parks have remained popular destinations, despite the level of maintenance which can be spotty. Regardless of some deferred maintenance, they're still great places to stay. Old Faithful Lodge is a favorite or ours.
Maybe what makes some of these historic hotels special is that so many cool hotels burned in the old days when town fires were common (more open flames for lighting and heating, and less fire fighting prevention and fire fighting technology). Here in the Sault there was a large hotel with a classic extensive porch, but it burned to the ground. Too bad. Maybe it could now have been a great historically themed destination.
It must be tough to make a go of it as an old historic hotel. It's so much easier to be a national chain on the freeway interchange. I admit that I've stayed in more of them as we travel across the country, but if we have an opportunity, we'll look for an old hotel with more character and especially if it isn't a luxury hotel. Do the luxury hotels reflect the local scene or are they isolated enclaves?
Other historic hotels have been maintained all along. The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island comes to mind. We were recently in central Indiana and learned of (but did not have a chance to visit) the French Lick area and it's history as a destination then subsequent decline and more recent restoration. It seems one of the historic hotels there icludes a casino, which likely helped fund the restoration.
Out west, the old lodges at the national parks have remained popular destinations, despite the level of maintenance which can be spotty. Regardless of some deferred maintenance, they're still great places to stay. Old Faithful Lodge is a favorite or ours.
Maybe what makes some of these historic hotels special is that so many cool hotels burned in the old days when town fires were common (more open flames for lighting and heating, and less fire fighting prevention and fire fighting technology). Here in the Sault there was a large hotel with a classic extensive porch, but it burned to the ground. Too bad. Maybe it could now have been a great historically themed destination.
It must be tough to make a go of it as an old historic hotel. It's so much easier to be a national chain on the freeway interchange. I admit that I've stayed in more of them as we travel across the country, but if we have an opportunity, we'll look for an old hotel with more character and especially if it isn't a luxury hotel. Do the luxury hotels reflect the local scene or are they isolated enclaves?
Monday, March 14, 2011
placemaking and conservation
"The Fight for the Bay" by Naval Academy Political Science Professor Howard Ernst is a provocative, short book in which the author calls for a more hard hitting approach for environmental protection for the Chesapeake Bay. He contends that the cooperative, collaborative, voluntary, stakeholder-based approach hasn't worked and what is needed is a legal/regulatory/enforcement-based approach not only in the Chesapeake Bay but in other locales. At only 113 pages, it's a quick read that will make you think through the various approaches to environmental protection. But that's not the theme of this post.
One section of the book includes contributed essays from activists in the Chesapeake Bay area. One of these essays is by Anne Pearson in which she describes how establishing sense of place (although she didn't use that specific term) helped residents come together to define the kind of place they wanted (a "heritage landscape"), which in turn directed land use planning discussions which in turn set up environmental protection for that area of the bay. It was not a straight path, there were obstacles the process had to overcome. She presents a good case study on how the community came together to "agree on how to protect the essentials of place, while at the same time allowing beneficial change to occur." The placemaking activity built community as well as protecting the place.
One section of the book includes contributed essays from activists in the Chesapeake Bay area. One of these essays is by Anne Pearson in which she describes how establishing sense of place (although she didn't use that specific term) helped residents come together to define the kind of place they wanted (a "heritage landscape"), which in turn directed land use planning discussions which in turn set up environmental protection for that area of the bay. It was not a straight path, there were obstacles the process had to overcome. She presents a good case study on how the community came together to "agree on how to protect the essentials of place, while at the same time allowing beneficial change to occur." The placemaking activity built community as well as protecting the place.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
ain't got no soul
To paraphrase a rock and roll song, a part of a city I visited recently ain't got no soul.
I'm sure the big box strip malls really didn't stretch on for miles in every direction, it just seemed that way. Every national brand of big box retailer was there. What wasn't there was any kind of visual appeal or sense of place. It really was just a monotony of parking lots, six-lane roads and big boxes that all looked alike. The exact opposite of a special place. I'll take our quirky town anytime.
I'm not a purist. I do sometimes shop at the big box stores in Gaylord or Petoskey or Traverse City for things we cannot get from our local retailers. But there they don't appear to go on for miles and miles. Even in the suburbs of big cities, they don't seem quite as monotonous as it did in this particular town. Then I thought 'maybe it's a sacrifice area.'
What I mean by a sacrifice area is an area turned over to a particular use and that use is concentrated in that area to keep it just in one spot. For example, dirt bikes are not appropriate every where in the forest. There are those who think they are not appropriate anywhere in the forest, but dirt bike users pay taxes and rather than close them out entirely -- or worse, driving them to practice their activities surreptitiously -- perhaps we can find a spot in the forest in which dirt bikes are tolerable. By saying to the dirt bike users 'here's somewhere you can pursue your sport, please do it there but only there,' maybe we can bring dirt bikers into the fold of recognized stakeholders that abide by the decision making process.
People (including me, sometimes) shop at big box stores. Should we have a sacrifice area to that pursuit? Hmmm...no, I don't think so. Let's work with the big box interests to somehow work them into a place. There are stories of even the biggest of the big boxes or the most bland of the blandest national fast food chains being worked into the local scene. They're not doing us a favor by locating their store in our community. We're doing them a favor of working with them so that they can come to our community and make money.
My visit to this remaining un-named town was not completey without merit. Nestled in amongst the big boxes was a local Mexican restaurant. For all I love about where I live, access to Mexican restaurants isn't part of it. I had excellent, inexpensive tacos carne asada in a restaurant that wasn't done up to look like a Mexican restaurant. It was a Mexican restaurant.
I'm sure the big box strip malls really didn't stretch on for miles in every direction, it just seemed that way. Every national brand of big box retailer was there. What wasn't there was any kind of visual appeal or sense of place. It really was just a monotony of parking lots, six-lane roads and big boxes that all looked alike. The exact opposite of a special place. I'll take our quirky town anytime.
I'm not a purist. I do sometimes shop at the big box stores in Gaylord or Petoskey or Traverse City for things we cannot get from our local retailers. But there they don't appear to go on for miles and miles. Even in the suburbs of big cities, they don't seem quite as monotonous as it did in this particular town. Then I thought 'maybe it's a sacrifice area.'
What I mean by a sacrifice area is an area turned over to a particular use and that use is concentrated in that area to keep it just in one spot. For example, dirt bikes are not appropriate every where in the forest. There are those who think they are not appropriate anywhere in the forest, but dirt bike users pay taxes and rather than close them out entirely -- or worse, driving them to practice their activities surreptitiously -- perhaps we can find a spot in the forest in which dirt bikes are tolerable. By saying to the dirt bike users 'here's somewhere you can pursue your sport, please do it there but only there,' maybe we can bring dirt bikers into the fold of recognized stakeholders that abide by the decision making process.
People (including me, sometimes) shop at big box stores. Should we have a sacrifice area to that pursuit? Hmmm...no, I don't think so. Let's work with the big box interests to somehow work them into a place. There are stories of even the biggest of the big boxes or the most bland of the blandest national fast food chains being worked into the local scene. They're not doing us a favor by locating their store in our community. We're doing them a favor of working with them so that they can come to our community and make money.
My visit to this remaining un-named town was not completey without merit. Nestled in amongst the big boxes was a local Mexican restaurant. For all I love about where I live, access to Mexican restaurants isn't part of it. I had excellent, inexpensive tacos carne asada in a restaurant that wasn't done up to look like a Mexican restaurant. It was a Mexican restaurant.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
a sure sign of spring
One of the unique features of our small town is that we still have walk-up/drive-up eateries that close for the winter. Kind of charming. So a sure sign of spring is when they begin to re-open for the season. Had lunch today from one of the faves -- West Pier Drive-In. They have excellent (and very large) burgers and great onion rings. I haven't been training to eat that much so only got the bacon cheese burger (which I always split with a special person). Later in the season, when we've worked up to it, we'll get a burger and onion rings.
Following the reasoning of the previous post, West Pier Drive-In makes the west pier a multi-purpose destination. Watch the boats approach the locks and get a nice burger. And across town there's Clyde's Drive-In. That's a real multipurpose destination for spring, summer and fall since it's at the Sugar Island Ferry Dock at Rotary Park. Watch the boats, eat at Clyde's, play at Rotary Park, go fishing, enjoy paddle sports in-between the islands.
Speaking of non-chain restaurants, our town has several food entrepreneurs. In fact, other than fast food, there's only one national chain of casual dining. The rest are locally owned, some of which buy local foods as available. For example, Clyde's and Frank's Place sell bison burgers from Circle K, a local bison operation. Go entrepreneurs!
Following the reasoning of the previous post, West Pier Drive-In makes the west pier a multi-purpose destination. Watch the boats approach the locks and get a nice burger. And across town there's Clyde's Drive-In. That's a real multipurpose destination for spring, summer and fall since it's at the Sugar Island Ferry Dock at Rotary Park. Watch the boats, eat at Clyde's, play at Rotary Park, go fishing, enjoy paddle sports in-between the islands.
Speaking of non-chain restaurants, our town has several food entrepreneurs. In fact, other than fast food, there's only one national chain of casual dining. The rest are locally owned, some of which buy local foods as available. For example, Clyde's and Frank's Place sell bison burgers from Circle K, a local bison operation. Go entrepreneurs!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
A Nice Placemaking Meeting
Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the "Placemaking Summit" sponsored by Northwest Michigan Council of Governments. More than 200 municipal and county officials from NW Lower Michigan attended. It was a great conference. Key note speakers included Fred Kent, President of Project for Public Spaces (www.pps.org). Sessions covered the role of festivals, way finding for towns and regional corridors, tactics for placemaking, case studies, role of placemaking in economic development and more.
My biggest take home message was that places need to have multiple activities. PPS calls it "layering," adding amenities to facilitate many activities. In fact, they say that a place should support 10 different activities in which people can engage with each other. One example is that a dog park shouldn't be just a fenced in area for dogs to run off-leash, it should support interactions between the dogs' humans by providing play space for the kids, long benches that the dogs' humans can sit together, maybe even an ice cream stand. (The ten activities don't have to be big activities, reading the paper (well, OK, your kindle), conversing, people-watching, eating, etc. are all activities that draw people to a place and thus draw more people to the place.
That makes me realize that as we work to promote, say, rec trails, we should look about how we can enhance people interacting with each other or other compatible activities.
Another take home message was that buildings need to open up to the spaces around them. Our new city hall in the old fed building is practically right on the river, which is the very symbol of our town. We need to be sure that the city hall is connected as a space to the river. Otherwise, it may as well be on the south side of town?
My biggest take home message was that places need to have multiple activities. PPS calls it "layering," adding amenities to facilitate many activities. In fact, they say that a place should support 10 different activities in which people can engage with each other. One example is that a dog park shouldn't be just a fenced in area for dogs to run off-leash, it should support interactions between the dogs' humans by providing play space for the kids, long benches that the dogs' humans can sit together, maybe even an ice cream stand. (The ten activities don't have to be big activities, reading the paper (well, OK, your kindle), conversing, people-watching, eating, etc. are all activities that draw people to a place and thus draw more people to the place.
That makes me realize that as we work to promote, say, rec trails, we should look about how we can enhance people interacting with each other or other compatible activities.
Another take home message was that buildings need to open up to the spaces around them. Our new city hall in the old fed building is practically right on the river, which is the very symbol of our town. We need to be sure that the city hall is connected as a space to the river. Otherwise, it may as well be on the south side of town?
Monday, February 28, 2011
Prompts
I was browsing the bookstore shelves the other day, not really looking for anything in particular when I noticed a book called 1000 Awesome Things. It's about ordinary, everyday things that happen to us and are easy to take for granted but when one stops and thinks about it are, well, awesome. I briefly leafed through the book and one that caught my attention was one of my favorite things "finding $5 in a jacket you hadn't worn for a while." The book is about reflecting on the positive little things that can help you smile in spite of yourself.
Seems to me that the idea is similar to the sense-of-place approach of intentionally thinking about what's great about your place, going out of your way to interact with those special features of your place and encouraging others to do likewise.
When encouraging others to think about a topic, we teachers often use prompts. If I were trying to get students to think about their places, I might use a prompt such as "What special feature of our region do you find yourself visiting most often? What draws you there? How do you feel different when you're there?"
Sometimes these prompts can become community projects. Historical conservancies in the UK have prompted people to think about their place by using an ABC approach -- A is for _____, B is for _____, etc. a picture/icon and perhaps a short bit of text (for examples, see http://www.england-in-particular.info/abc/ab-abc.html) . The result is a professionally done book or poster with contributions from local residents of that place. The posters are then displayed around town and offered for sale, with the proceeds going to the conservancy. Another approach I seen used is a map based on residents' personal points of interests they want to share. Similarly, a timeline -- a map in time -- could show individuals' thought on events of general interest. The 1000 Awesome Things idea could be a prompt: "think of 5 awesome things about our place" and a collection of such things would make a nice overview of what people see in their place. While the poster is meant to be displayed around town and offered for sale, the other prompt-based projects would be naturals for user-contributed ("Web 2.0") sites.
I'd be interested in seeing examples of these kinds of web sites. Thanks in advance for sharing such examples.
You know, is it OK to post comments on this blog...
Seems to me that the idea is similar to the sense-of-place approach of intentionally thinking about what's great about your place, going out of your way to interact with those special features of your place and encouraging others to do likewise.
When encouraging others to think about a topic, we teachers often use prompts. If I were trying to get students to think about their places, I might use a prompt such as "What special feature of our region do you find yourself visiting most often? What draws you there? How do you feel different when you're there?"
Sometimes these prompts can become community projects. Historical conservancies in the UK have prompted people to think about their place by using an ABC approach -- A is for _____, B is for _____, etc. a picture/icon and perhaps a short bit of text (for examples, see http://www.england-in-particular.info/abc/ab-abc.html) . The result is a professionally done book or poster with contributions from local residents of that place. The posters are then displayed around town and offered for sale, with the proceeds going to the conservancy. Another approach I seen used is a map based on residents' personal points of interests they want to share. Similarly, a timeline -- a map in time -- could show individuals' thought on events of general interest. The 1000 Awesome Things idea could be a prompt: "think of 5 awesome things about our place" and a collection of such things would make a nice overview of what people see in their place. While the poster is meant to be displayed around town and offered for sale, the other prompt-based projects would be naturals for user-contributed ("Web 2.0") sites.
I'd be interested in seeing examples of these kinds of web sites. Thanks in advance for sharing such examples.
You know, is it OK to post comments on this blog...
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