The South, Part 2

As promised, I'm here to talk about community in the South.

Community is what planners and advocates alike really really want. In plans of every intensity and level, "community" support is of utmost importance. In other plans, such as open space building (is that an oxymoron?), the community-building aspect is held in high regard. But what is this thing we call community? How does it manifest itself in the city, and how is it created?

My belief is that nowhere will ever have the type of community that I experienced in the rural South. Everyone seemed to know each other, and as Pete from Habitat said, "If you sin in this town I'll find out before you finish sinning." Beyond being a tad creepy, that really gets to multiple facts about community in a place such as Lenoir, North Carolina: everybody knows each other, and it's all about church.

From a planning perspective, how can we create this kind of community? To a large extent, I don't believe we can. Community has to happen naturally. However, that doesn't mean there aren't things we can do to help. I of course love me my open space, but recognize we don't live in an ideal (or medieval) world where people will congregate and socialize freely and create an organic community in a public square. Parks and plazas are great for preexisting relationships or some time to yourself.

Planners should encourage "community" sites such as schools, religious buildings, and markets. These are places where you can meet someone new, maybe after realizing you have the same Saturday Greenmarket preferences or your son and so and so's daughter are in the same homeroom.

Beyond that? Well, developers getting overambitious seems to incite a lot of community anger. Maybe in the city, our best bet at community is getting angry together?

All I know is that no matter how hard we try, we will never have community like they do in Lenoir.

The South, Take 1

This is my first of a few posts on my first trip to the South. Last week, I had the privilege to travel down to North Carolina for a Habitat for Humanity build in the town of Lenoir.

After a 12 hour drive last Sunday, our group (all NYU students) was greeted with warm, welcoming arms to the church in which we were staying. Not that I've seen many churches, but this church was unlike any other. We were brought down into the massive youth lounge, which had a large stove-less kitchen, full pool table, foosball table, air hockey table, as well as couches galore and a big screen TV. We were greeted by our hosts, Aaron, the youth pastor of the church, Pete, the Executive Director of Caldwell County Habitat, and Amy, our organizer from Habitat.

Before this, I had only heard references to Southern hospitality and didn't really know what that meant. In those first introductions, I learned hospitality first hand. Our three hosts were so incredibly welcoming. Beyond that, they seemed genuinely happy to have us there, and were glad to fill us in on little tidbits about the town. They understood our Yankee ways, telling us to keep "cussing" at a minimum during our stay. Amy took pride in the fact that even though the groups came down here worked hard (and were given gym passes), each group ate so much that they gained weight.

We ate so much because people seemed to constantly want to feed us. NYU had planned a large food budget for us, but so much of that was unnecessary. We were invited to have pizza with the youth group that night, and we were brought massive lunches on the worksite each day. Each night, someone from the community would take us out or open up their church to us.

After being in New York, all this hospitality came as culture shock. Why were people being so nice? Why did people say hi as we passed them on the street, instead of keeping their heads down? It may be just how things are done down South, but I have an inkling what they have is a true community.

And for more on community, stay tuned...

Thank You Roger Lowenstein

Roger Lowenstein, the journalist who wrote the article, "Who Needs the Mortgage Interest Deduction?" in this weekend's brilliant NY Times Mag, is my hero.

No, not for his interesting and accessible analysis of the mortgage interest tax deduction, though I do thank him for that.

His article managed to be witty from time to time, but the best line was this (my emphasis):

Donald Trump, who knows everything, said that eliminating the deduction would result in "a total catastrophe" for the U.S. economy.

That just made my night.