Thought for the Day

“In San Francisco, a home becomes your bedroom, the city is where you live.”

--Planning Commission President Ron Miguel, SF Chronicle, 6/27/10

Proximity Breeds Contempt or Sympathy?

A common theme of anonymous comments on the Enquirer news stories is that downtown residents are bums. A typical comment would be ones like this after Margy Waller's editorial last month:

My area tour of that area involved trying not to step in spit and hoping I did not get robbed and of course being asked for any spare change by different drunks. -gailannmoe

If you walk down your neighborhood shopping street (assuming you have one), how many people would say greet you as you pass?

I ask because, in my neighborhood, it is a lot of people.

And how many of them are different than you in class status, accent, or color?

Yesterday, while making my way in the rain, with my hands full and keeping track of kids, some guy was hassling me for money. And it was no big deal but it bothered me a bit and I was rude in return. I regretted that because I didn't want the kids to see that, but it occurred to me that this was the most disturbed I have been on the sidewalk in a while. For the most part, everyone I meet treats me civilly if not kindly.

The people on the street could fill every classification on a census form. And sometimes, when you see the same person many times you begin to have an acquaintance. Its not like we become close friends or anything, but it is good to have acquaintances, and we will say hi and maybe comment on the weather or sports.

We've had situations wherein we become close to someone who was an acquaintance. It can be something that grows slowly over time, or it can be sudden, when we are thrust together in some emergency or a community event. And it is great to get to know people more intimately, even if we will never become close friends. Once in a while a closer relationship will emerge.

These people fill my consciousness and sometimes my dreams. Some people's faces say a lot without speaking, others come with names and family histories and more. Through this casual proximity, I have a growing sense of sympathy and concern for my neighbors. It is the open nature of the sidewalk and the public daily places that make it possible to have many many acquaintances without having to get too close to them...unless we choose to. And making an acquaintance into a friend must be a choice.

Russ Alley

 

I think I know OTR pretty well. But everyday I notice new things. Sunday, while walking down Republic Street, between Green and Liberty, I noticed this gated alley. I am generally negative on privatized public space, but was pleasantly surprised by this short section of alleyway. Places where 2 alleys intersect in the middle of block are usually pretty unsafe places anyway.

I think all the buildings that surround this alley are part of a project called St. Anthony Village, which is a "renter equity program" consisting of 28 apartments. From what I have seen, it is a peaceful part of the neighborhood.

Here is Russ Alley on an auditor's map. It runs e/w below the yellow highlighted building and a few other buildings. The gated section runs from Republic Street to Goose Alley:
 

1635 Republic, gate on alley:
 

The eastern end of the alley, here unfenced to the left of this red building, runs out to Vine Street:  

Long Line for The Bodies Exhibit

If you weren't in the long line waiting to register your children in a magnet school program, maybe you were in the insanely long lines of cars waiting to get into see The Bodies exhibit at the Museum Center. When I drove by today at about 1pm, the line of cars was backed up all the way out the long driveway and around the corner, past the Job Corps building. The two very large parking lots out front were very close to capacity.

I don't support the show because I don't trust the Chinese government and they did not get permission from the people or their families. I suppose in China, the State owns everything, even your lifeless body.

Privacy in the city

Jane Jacobs spends a lot of time writing about the need for the city to accommodate strangers. When I first read this, I thought she was giving too much attention to a minor topic. I mean, you can always pull your shade, right? But the longer I live in the city, the more I see that the issue is much deeper than that.

People want the freedom to become friends with only the people they choose. They do not want to share all their private lives with all the neighbors. A good city neighborhood allows people to know lots and lots of acquaintances, but importantly allows those people to also have private lives.

Perhaps I am being to abstract to make much sense, so I will try an example:

The playground. At a well designed and well-attended playground, your child can meet and play with lots of other kids, and if you wish you can strike up a conversation with other parents, while they sit in the shade and watch; or you can sit and mind your own business. However, if play is limited to private areas such as yards, courtyards, or even to inside, then the parents are forced closer than they want to be to the other families. Families in this situation may choose to stay isolated, rather than open their private space to all kinds of strangers.

Residents of small towns, are forced to be intimate with neighbors. This could be good, but it could also be bad. See, I would rather choose who I become intimate with.

Suburbanites have the choice of following their little kids to the neighbors yard, (if you want to supervise them), or you can drive them to the local park to play. The real result of this arrangement is that families pick neighborhoods that are full of people very similar to themselves. Then, forced intimacy is more likely to be ok.

The advantage of city life is the huge variety and degrees of friendships that are available. Because you are not forced into intimacy with everyone, the range of people you feel comfortable living next to is much more diverse.

Why young families leave the city

Smart City, an NPR type radio show out of Memphis, had a show today on Kids in Cities. The guests first stated that their study was limited to parents who are middle class (those who had choices on where to live). Then, they divided this group into 4 types of parents:

1. Parents dedicated to the city who would never live in the suburbs.
2. Parents dedicated to the suburbs who would never live in the city.
3. Parents in the city who may move to suburbs as they grow a family.
4. Parents in the suburbs who are dissatisfied and may move to the city.

They continued to discuss how to attract those in the latter 2 groups, especially #3, (retaining those already here). They believe the key issues are:

1. Safety
2. Space
3. Schools

I might also list:

4. Herd mentality: Regularity, homogeneity, dependability of suburbs.
5. Cars: People cannot disconnect from the necessity for all activities to involve driving. Also: cars are still required in most cities and keeping a car here is more difficult.

I think the three main issues are extremely important for retaining families, and I plan on discussing each one in successive posts.