Optimism for Small Towns at #APA13

Posted on 13 May 2013 by JC

Special thanks to Becky McCray for fitting my guest post into her Small Biz Survival blog the first of the month.  My friends at APA STaR may also include in the Division newsletter. Oh, the stories we have to tell… 

Small town and rural planning is not city planning writ small.  Yet we are also part of the same global economy as our urban cousins, facing the same economic and demographic trends.  Over 5,000 urban and regional planners traveled to Chicago last month from all over the US and overseas for the American Planning Association (APA) annual National Planning Conference.  The Conference featured topics from the Aging of America to Zombie Subdivisions, a little something for everyone.

I felt a renewed optimism at this year’s conference.  Outgoing APA President Mitchell Silver of Raleigh, North Carolina, has been a tireless advocate questioning the way we’ve been building (and maintaining) cities of all sizes.  He’s brought in people like “reformed engineer” Chuck Marohn from the Strong Towns organization in rural Brainerd, Minnesota, to talk about why it’s bad business to apply metropolitan highway standards to small town main streets.  This year, Silver sponsored an Emerging Issues Task Force, which looked at global trends impacting urbanization, infrastructure and demographics affecting all of us in large cities or small towns.

It is easy at a large meeting like this to look to the common denominator.  Most people live in suburbs and many of the presentations spoke to the mean.  Yet I am still surprised how often small town advocates and inner-city activists find issues of common cause in employment, housing, and aging demographics.  Infrastructure in many urban areas was built at the same time as our prairie railroad towns, and is falling apart at the same alarming rate.  A presentation about wireless service in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Brooklyn, brought up the same issues with broadband access and adoption as my presentation about the Blandin Foundation’s work in rural Minnesota.

Small town development issues did take center stage at several sessions sponsored by the Small Town and Rural (STaR) Division of APA.  About 100 in attendance belong to STaR, in addition to their state or regional chapter, mostly planning commissioners, elected officials, and staff in one-person rural offices.  STaR sponsored one session, for example, on “Rural Sustainability” projects in Minnesota, Missouri and Mississippi.  Sustainability isn’t a conspiracy;  it’s the simple small town value of not eating your seed corn.  We shouldn’t sacrifice tomorrow for short-term solutions today.

“Smart Growth in Small towns” attracted well over 100 people to learn about a new comprehensive plan for the resort community of Ketchum, Idaho, population 2,689.  Highlight: in a small town, you can get out and talk to people one-on-one about what they want their community to be, something that’s impractical in a big city.  We may not have economies of scale, but it is usually easier to get things done.

Small town planning is a lot like small business planning.  You need to understand your market—what kind of place do people want to live in?  You need to understand your product (and production capacity)—do you have vacant “zombie subdivisions” platted years ago without infrastructure for modern development?  You need to understand your organization—can you move your town from good to great?  Plan your work.  Work your plan.

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Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities: Planning for Broadband #apa13

Posted on 24 April 2013 by JC

MIRC Partners Mtg Aug 2010 St.Cloud

Broadband is essential infrastructure for the 21st century. Just as paved roads, electricity and drinking water supported development in the last century, broadband communications is required for development today. Yet as author William Gibson said, “the future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed yet.” Hundreds of thousands of our friends and neighbors are still left out.

National surveys indicate about a 20% gap in broadband adoption between urban and rural areas. The Federal NTIA found that only about 55% of rural households had adopted broadband as of 2011. Local surveys in rural Minnesota found an adoption rate somewhat higher, about 64% at that time. Now, some people don’t want broadband—many think it costs too much. Others just can’t get it, or can’t get it at decent speed. Connect Minnesota mapping indicated over 60,000 households across Minnesota are UNSERVED by even baseline broadband (at least 768k down/200k up), and an additional 185,000 UNDERSERVED households with access to service no better than 3 Mbps down / 768k up). I have that kind of DSL service now and the only good thing about it is I don’t have to worry about the kids streaming illegal movies or spending all day gaming. Forget about Remote Access to my work computer.

The Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) initiative was a $6 million, stimulus-funded project put together by the Blandin Foundation, which has a long history of working with local communities in Minnesota. They drew on the New York-based Intelligent Community Forum for a framework to mobilize diverse partners across the state. The project began in the Spring of 2010 and wrapped up in the Fall of 2012, with a focus in three primary areas:

  • Education and Training
  • Technical Assistance
  • Removing Barriers to Broadband Adoption

The Intelligent Community Framework provides a “virtuous cycle” of indicators of competitiveness in the New Economy. Broadband Connectivity provides the infrastructure for Knowledge Workers to Innovate. Broadband is not a “build it and they will come” project; Digital Inclusion and Advocacy efforts help people see the wider benefits.

The MIRC project brought together a wide array of partners across the state. Most of us knew each other, but few of us had all worked together on the same project.

The project focused on 11 demonstration communities, including:

Each community received grant funding for demonstration projects

  • Some projects were capital intensive equipment projects, like a videoconferencing system in Windom that was used immediately for translation-certification classes, and the Laq qui Parle Computer Commuter mobile lab (that proved quite popular with senior citizens)
  • Some projects helped small towns implement projects that might be common in big cities, like providing remote access in emergency service vehicles, or public access to County GIS
  • Many projects focused on education and awareness. Windom helped bring in more iPads in the schools and provide wifi broadband. The Upper Minnesota Valley RDC helped the regional Public Television station look at local broadband access.
  • Some projects turned out to be learning experiences. A community web portal in Windom took longer than expected to complete (tho I do really like the results), while a company providing a simplified PC for health care didn’t work as well as expected, partly due to poor broadband speeds.

So what were we able to accomplish? Building evaluation into the project from the beginning helped track outcomes. According to the Blandin Foundation, MIRC resulted in:

  • About 100 community-designed and implemented projects in 11 demonstration communities;
  • 2,067 refurbished computers distributed—almost double the project goal;
  • over 31,000 hours of technology and digital education, training and support delivered to almost 9,000 individuals and over 2,000 small rural businesses;
  • more than 250,000 rural Minnesotans reached with messages about the benefits of digital communications technology
  • a new 16 hour online “Knowledge Worker” course
  • 60 new public wifi “hot spots”
  • A faster than average broadband adoption rate in Demonstration Communities

(Read the University of Minnesota EDA Center report pdf for more particulars.)

 

The MIRC project provides several lessons for practicing planners:

  1. Broadband is Infrastructure
  • Involve Providers in you planning the same as you would other utilities

 

  1. Broadband Access is Everything
  • Depends where you are at—check your map
  • Some communities build road, water & sewer, why not drop Fiber?

 

  1. Broadband Adoption is Not Automatic
  • Planners are good at “warm fuzzies”—get out there and do some Community Development
  • Broadband is not a “build it and they will come” project—get out there and talk to people about what they can do with broadband, and what broadband can do for them.

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Note: My thanks and appreciation to Kate McMahon (Applied Communications) and Ron Thomas for including me on their panel at the APA’s National Planning Conference in Chicago. My presentation was based on this text, more or less. Thanks also to Bernadine Joselyn at the Blandin Foundation, Ann Treacy at Blandin on Broadband blog, Bill Coleman at Community Technology Advisors, and Robert Bell at the Intelligent Community Foundation for sharing visuals and insights.
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Plan, Innovate, Get Local—Do More, Do It Better #apa13

Posted on 22 April 2013 by JC

Communities that want to compete in the Next Economy need to get a plan—not a fixed blueprint but a roadmap with clear priorities.  Support innovation with vibrant, mixed-use focal places and critical infrastructure.  Strengthen demand for local goods and services, and support your local workforce.

About 5,000 planners gathered in Chicago last week for the APA’s annual National Planning Conference. Outgoing APA President Mitchel Silver and Rep. Earl Blumenauer welcomed the assembled masses at 8am Sunday, like a church of Urbanism in the birthplace of the “Big Plan”. Prof. Xavier deSouza Briggs of the Department of Urban Studies at MIT kicked off the crowd, though, with some reassurance and some challenge in his keynote titled “Inventing the Next American Economy: Why Planning Matters and Where the Pitfalls Lie”.

I get wary of anybody touting the “Next Economy”, since I cut my teeth in grad school 20 years ago touting the “New Economy”… but we still don’t really get it. Briggs highlighted the challenge of Global Competition, highlighting education, research & development, immigration reform, and fair trade/intellectual property. Again, not much new there… even when he tied it back to Commodities vs Innovation. This ought to be basic Econ 101, but I’m constantly amazed by how many professionals fail to distinguish doing “more” from doing “better”.

We have to do both. We have to increase economic activity. We have to improve economic activity. One strategy or the other, putting all our eggs in one basket, is a dead-end road.

Covering some heady studies from OECD and Brookings and others, Briggs highlighted communities like Boise, Provo, and Seattle, that were doing well across the board with positive indicators like Patent Growth, % of population with a BA, and average annual job growth.

Then back to more Econ 101, with basic vs non-basic sectors (“Traded sector” vs “local service”). Why Rochester, NY, and Kodak crashed and burned compared to San Diego’s sunny sector strategy. Briggs suggests we focus on Traded sector strategies: Cultivate, Leverage, Expand Access (local supply chains), and work on upgrading local services. I felt like I was back in grad school at CU, but otherwise smart people still haven’t got the message. Hence, the good professor’s “Costly Myths About Building Local Prosperity-Economic Growth and Jobs”:

  1. Our City/Town/Region can compete if we lower the cost of doing business (the old logic of attraction).
  2. If we invest in education and support “entrepreneurship,” the next economy will materialize (genius-of-the-market logic).
  3. To get jobs and growth, we need a strategy that’s all about attracting and retaining tech companies (sector logic).

Briggs’ responses are in the prezi linked above, in Part 2, fairly evident and not at all overly academic.  Go take a look.  I don’t agree with all of it, but overall it’s mostly news because it’s still news.  It’ll give you something to think about.

By the way, it was so nice to see the presentation on Prezi. #DeathByPowerpoint

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Edit: APA’s take on the Opening
The Lincoln Land Institute weighs in on planning, economic development and the innovation economy.
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Back to the Buffalo Commons

Posted on 25 March 2013 by JC

Wyoming Population Change 2011-12

After years of outmigration, people are moving back to the Great Plains, the vast dry expanse of prairie once discounted as the Great American Desert.  Today our desert is giving Middle East deserts a run for their oil money with fast-moving shale plays opening up new opportunities in the heart of North America.

The US Census estimates that my once-home state of North Dakota with its Bakken shale is the fastest growing state in America right now.  North Dakota grew by 2.2% from July 2011 to July 2012, followed by Texas (1.7%) and Wyoming (1.6%).  (They throw Washington DC & their 2.1% growth rate in there, too, but DC isn’t a state yet.)  While migration slowed down during the mortgage crisis, a lot of people, like me, are following jobs.

Here in my new home state of Wyoming, about 6,000 more people moved into the state last year than left.  Natrona County (Casper) in the center of the state is well-situated to serve the strongest areas of the current oil play and posted the strongest population growth.  Laramie County (Cheyenne) is benefiting from exploration of the speculative Niobrara shale, which extends down into Colorado, but also has a more diverse economy.  The Wyoming State Economic Analysis Division has tracked migration up and down with the changing economy over the years.  ”Severe recession” in 2009 slowed population growth in 2010 and 2011.  The economy improved in 2012, but continued pressure on the energy sector is putting up cautionary signs.  Things are good now, but we’re not terribly confident about the future.

When we look at statistical areas (Metropolitan MSAs or Micropolitan areas), rather than at counties overall, we definitely see evidence of the growing energy economy.  Midland, Texas, with a 4.6% population increase was the fastest growing MSA in the US last year.  Casper, Wyoming, at 3.0% was the 8th fastest growing MSA, with Cheyenne, Wyoming, at 2.2% growth close behind.  Williston, North Dakota, in the heart of the Bakken shale, grew 9.3% in just one year as the fastest growing Micro area, with Dickinson, ND, up 6.5% for the 3rd micro slot.

 

Net Migration - Laramie County, Wyoming 2006-10

The US Census also released estimates recently from the American Community Survey (ACS) of county-to-county migration patterns in 2006-2010.  The Wyoming economy was stronger in the first years of this survey period, then went into recession as noted above, before recovering.  Even so, it is interesting to see where the ACS found people are being attracted to, and from, Laramie County, Wyoming.

The greatest number of people moved to Laramie County from Albany County, home of the City of Laramie and the University of Wyoming, followed by Larimer County, Colorado, home of Fort Collins and Colorado State University. While people do tend to move to adjacent areas when they do move, it makes sense that a lot of college students would move to Cheyenne after graduation.  The next largest gross source of migration is Santa Barbara County, California, home of Vandenberg Air Force Base and likely source of new airmen for F.E.Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne.

The most attractive location for people leaving Laramie County was Natrona County (Casper), followed by Larimer County, Colorado, and Albany County.  Casper’s oil jobs are likely attractive and kids have to go to college to come back for jobs.  On a net basis—this was a time of net outmigration—Laramie County lost more people from Natrona County than we gained.  We also had a net loss to adjacent Weld County (Greeley), Colorado, and Carbon County (Rawlins), Wyoming, as well as Harris County (Houston), Texas, a traditional headquarters city of the oil industry.  Laramie County did gain more people from Santa Barbara and Albany counties than we lost.  We also gained a large number of people from Macomb County, Michigan, in the Detroit metropolitan area, as well as net growth from Salt Lake County, Utah, and Fremont County (Riverton/Lander) here in Wyoming.

Where do we go from here?

What does the future have in store, for my county or for yours?  It seems safe to say people will continue to follow jobs, if not as readily or often as before the mortgage crisis, so watch the employment numbers.  The Census Bureau’s estimates of the components of population change also hold some hints.  We know many rural counties show net negative natural change (fewer births than deaths), but school enrollment seems a better indicator of future rural population trends.  Here in Laramie County, I’m most intrigued by the large net gain in International migration, more than twice as much as Albany County, the next largest destination.  While I would expect the University of Wyoming in the City of Laramie to attract international immigration, I suspect Laramie County’s number may be related to the air force base, as it includes net movement of Armed Forces population.  However the numbers add up, we’re bound to see change.

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Sunday’s Lament

Posted on 24 March 2013 by JC

Methodist Church, Byron, Michigan

A Sunday Lament

Dear Lord, Please give me a church
Like my forefathers had, so long ago
Where they learned right and wrong
Love the sinner, hate the sin

Dear Lord, I understand some folks
Stand themselves up, shout out their faith
Play loud music and socialize
That’s just not how I was raised

Dear Lord, In my Father’s church
We got up early, wore our Sunday best
Sang old gospel songs and prayed to ourselves
And they taught the Book, the one you wrote

Dear Lord, I watch your troubled church
Trying to all people, all things be
Trying so hard to love and be loved
They forget all about your Word

Dear Lord, Please give me a church
Like Jesus said, a house of prayer
A community of faith and good works
A safe port in troubled seas.

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Free Is Good: @__NoraJane Struthers Party Time

Posted on 19 March 2013 by JC

Nora Jane Struthers, lately of Bearfoot Bluegrass Band, is out and about with her upcoming solo album.  So out with some old (music) to make way for the new (music) due out mid-April.

NoiseTrade Exclusive Music Give Away!

To cel­e­brate the re­lease of my up­com­ing album Car­ni­val, I am giv­ing away my first album for free on Noise­Trade and as a bonus, you will also get the un­re­leased track “Party Line” off the new album!

Click on over to Nora’s site for the link to her 2010 self-titled disc download.  H/T to Country Fried Rock for the free-view.

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Acoustic, Alt.Country, Bluegrass and the Texas Blues—JC’s Americana Turns Ten

Posted on 5 March 2013 by JC

KRFC-FM Homegrown Radio

Alison Krauss’ Choctaw Hayride instrumental sprang to life through the monitor speakers in the studio at 7pm Mountain Time on the 1st Tuesday in March, 2003.  It was the first week on the air for KRFC-FM in Fort Collins, Colorado, and my first time on the air, as a volunteer DJ.

The folks behind KRFC had worked for many years to bring community radio to the Front Range, after Colorado State University had given the college radio station back to the students.  I noticed a story in the paper about this odd collective, screwed up my courage to do a demo tape (remember cassettes?) and by the grace of the music gods was selected for a 2-hour show every other week.  Thus was JC’s Americana, Alternating Tuesdays on KRFC, brought to life.

I had no idea what rabbit hole I had got myself in to.

I took the Americana music I had heard on KGLT in Bozeman and on KFJY in Grand Forks (before the ’97 flood)—acoustic music like Emmylou Harris, alt.country like early & late Johnny Cash, bluegrass like Alison Krauss and Texas Blues like Robert Johnson—threw in Colorado acts like Halden Wofford & the Hi-Beams and came out with a whole lot of music fun.  I got to listen through a lot of music from all over the world preparing for each show (moving to 1-hour each Wednesday night part-way through).  I got to learn how to run a mixing board, record live acts & interviews (never got good at that) and try to finesse sound levels for souvenir discs.  We didn’t have fancy equipment, or ProTools, but we had heart and soul.

A lot of other people played similar, but different, music on KRFC.  The program grid read like many other volunteer-run, community stations, yet unlike any other.  We had a roots-oriented, slightly AAA (Adult Album Alternative) morning mix, and a roots-oriented, slightly Progressive Rock afternoon mix, and a whole host of whatever you couldn’t hear on commercial radio morning, noon and night. There was also the usual lefty “news” programs, with a yeoman’s effort of local events programming.  We were old and young, agitators and apolitical, acoustic and electric.  We fought and played and complained about each other and stood up for each other in bringing this family to life.

I was also bringing my own family to life, that week in March.  After Tuesday night’s radio show, I had a wedding to get ready for the following Saturday.  My wife has stuck by me longer than I was able to stick by KRFC.  Career challenges at my day job led me to move her and the kids from Colorado after three short years on the air, but I’ve never left behind my love for Americana music, or KRFC (lurking on the web stream).  Now that we’re back in the neighborhood, I hope to do what I can to help out the little station that could.  And enjoy being closer to some great live music from Fort Collins & the Front Range.

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Bearfoot, Back at Avo’s

Posted on 9 February 2013 by JC

Bearfoot at Avo's

Who says you can’t go home again?


Fast Tube

It’s been almost a decade since I had the pleasure of dining at Avogadro’s Number in Old Town, Fort Collins.  But when I walked back in the door the other night it was just like yesterday.  Local free “newspapers” still line the wall. The staff behind the counter are still friendly and appropriately counter-cultural.  And the burgers are still to die for.


Fast Tube

Avo’s is not just another Northern Colorado college-town sandwich shop. Avo’s is the center of the Northern Colorado small venue live music universe. Avo’s is a sandwich shop connected to a stage connected to a bar. Avo’s has been a great friend to KRFC-FM live local radio.  Avo’s is simply acoustic music nirvana.


Fast Tube

Avo’s is also good in the kitchen, and I had the good fortune the end of January to catch the Bearfoot Bluegrass Band at Avo’s.  Bearfoot’s set list started strong and never let up, from straight-up bluegrass to Hank Williams classic country to high-energy original string band magic.  The Bearfoot Band came out of Alaska about 14 years ago and won honors at Telluride a few years back.  Members have come and gone over the years, and the sound has matured into a comfortable “newgrass” vibe with fiddle-player Angela Oudean of Anchorage at the center of this little acoustic universe.  At her side now is guitarist Todd Grebe (Todd Grebe & Cold Country).  Co-founder Jason Norris picks a mean mandolin and newcomer Megan McCormick takes the rhythm guitar acoustic or electric.  Non-Alaskan vocalist Nora Jane Struthers (of whom I’ve said “can melt butter with one sultry glance”) has since moved on for a solo project.


Fast Tube

Bearfoot’s latest album, American Story, came out in 2011 on Compass Records.  They play in Scottsbluff on Valentine’s Day, and at the beautiful historic Ellen Theater in Bozeman on 16 Feb.  Old time, folk, western swing, roots music of all sorts. Catch ‘em if you can.


Fast Tube

Bearfoot also sounds like they have friends all over, they’re just that sort of friendly folks.  Local artists Mike Finnders (Finnders & Youngberg) and Alex Johnstone (Spring Creek) opened with a fun-filled romp on guitar and mandolin.  Mike even had what I would nominate as the best anti-Blake Shelton Traditional Country song of the month: “I don’t want the love you won’t give until I cry”. Hehehehe.

Good golly how I have missed live music. Live music is the one thing that can take each of us home again.

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Not Every Tool Is A Hammer

Posted on 28 January 2013 by JC

It’s said that when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.  Who said it first is up for debate, but it is said. And it is sad, because the aphorism rings true.

The designer’s dilemma is finding new solutions for old problems.  The good folks at Placemakers recently considered this in part by questioning how we ask people questions.  Steve Jobs famously observed that many people don’t know what they want until innovators show them.  So we shouldn’t be surprised when people tell us what they know instead of what they really want:

We actually devalue participation when we don’t solicit the information that breeds meaningful discourse. Or forces the discussion of competing interests. Or limited resources. Or property rights. In asking, “What would you like to see here?”, we simply ask for a wish list that will never be adequately fulfilled.

We need to do better. We need to more effectively play the role of psychoanalyst, drilling down to information that’s actually useful: What kinds of things would residents like to be able to do? What problems would they like mitigated? What potential byproducts of change are they afraid of? How can your city better serve you?

These are the questions that lead to meaningful design criteria. Which is what breeds meaningful design.

If you ask a man with a hammer what he wants to do, he’ll probably say he wants a better nail.  If you ask a man with a car where he wants to go, he’ll probably say he wants a better road.

We who deem ourselves designers—of technology or places—would do well to ask better questions. It is not our place to tell people they have to use a hammer or a screwdriver, a bus or a train.  We do our best when we get to the heart of the matter.  Do we want to bang on nails all day, or do we want to fix the places we live?

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Diverging Diamond Dropping In On Cheyenne

Posted on 14 January 2013 by JC

The Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI) seems to be the “next big thing” coming in traffic engineering, and it’s coming to Wyoming.

I’m a confirmed skeptic.  The idea of the DDI is to reduce left-turn conflicts and increase traffic through-put by crossing traffic lanes (diverging) across an interchange.  If you’re traveling east-bound, for example, you “diverge” from US-style travel-on-the-right to UK-style travel-on-the-left across the interchange then back again after left-turns complete their enter/exit movement.

The DDI looks good on paper.  The location where WyDOT is going to install this innovation is a conventional diamond interchange with several large truck stops and serves an urbanizing area of Cheyenne, just north of the Colorado border.  All those trucks, combined with tourists and busy commuters, can be a mess.


View Larger Map

There’s a similar interchange off I-90 on the east side of Rapid City, South Dakota, that I’ve regularly stopped at the last several years.  Big truck stop, fast food, short-cut into town, I’ve sat and waited out congestion there so I was glad to see new construction in process.  SD DOT built what they call a “Single Point Urban Interchange”, similar to a diverging diamond, but with a big, wide bridge and big, long off-set left turn lanes, that are utterly confounding, confusing, and I’m sure very, very efficient in moving traffic.

Modern round-abouts in the US have been criticized for similar reasons.  They’re new! They’re different! People don’t understand them!  I haven’t bought those arguments against roundabouts—people get used to them. I don’t want to summarily dismiss the DDI in the same way.  What we have isn’t working so well so we have to look at new ideas.

However, some other really smart people have criticized the Diverging Diamond as just more lipstick on the pork barrel politics of our modern transportation system.  It may be better bacon, but it’s still a pig.

Wyoming DOT is hosting an open house Thursday 17 January, 5-7pm, at the Romero Community Center, 1317 Parsley Blvd, Cheyenne.  If you’re in the area, you might want to check it out.

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