Greenlined!

Mark the County Commission's approving the purchase of the Greenline by taking a Google Earth based trip from Midtown to Cordova,



Or if you want to explore it yourself (without getting up), check out the route in Google Maps, or play with it in Google Earth.

3 observations:

1. the organization called the Greater Memphis Greenline seems marginalized in the recent progress. They have rated nary a mention in the most recent stories. Meanwhile, Shelby Farms is all over the story, as fundraiser and manager, after little mention before (other than as eastern terminus). Something is missing here. Perhaps, as the deal with CSX came closer, the quasinonymous purchase group called Memphis Community Connector gave their funds to Shelby Farms who in turn donated them to Shelby County. But why is Greater Memphis Greenline, after being the apparent public face for so long, now barely mentioned? Doesn't matter as far as Greenlining goes, of course, but the true story would help the next citizen activist push the boulder up and over the hill.
   


2. Fewer and fewer articles refer to it as "the Greenline". Recent stories have called it a walking trail or the CSX trail. On top of that, I've heard rumors that Shelby Farms will rename it. While I'm neutral about the last issue (if it is an issue), I'm not neutral about this (if it is an issue). Greenline is a great simple name. Greenline.
   


3. Shelby Farms' stewardessship could mean the Wolf River Bridge is repaired much more quickly, which would be a very good thing.
   
   
   
   
   
   Crossing the Wolf is the Greenline's premier "wow!" moment.
   

Green Space

I received an email recently from the Natural Resources Defense Council announcing their program called Picturing Smart Growth. It's a series of smart growth visualizations in 70 different communities, showing the path from the not so bright present to a much smarter future.

One of their featured scenarios is in Memphis, and specifically, a street around the corner from Stax and Soulsville (College Street? The actual street isn't listed.)

The first transition, from the present


to the first phase,


is what really caught my eye.

The trees not only beautify the street but alter it spatially, becoming architectural.

This spatial effect was confirmed for me by the great Suburban Nation

These trees are not intended merely to be decorative; rather they are included to create spatial definition when the buildings fail to do so. The trees narrow the space and provide a natural vault that contributes to the pedestrian's sense of enclosure and comfort.

So Memphis, space and cash poor but tree and land rich, could move inexpensively toward a smart, built future by planting trees as the official "Phase I" of all our neighborhood rebuilding. Even if they're just regularly spaced seedlings, the young trees will be placeholders for the space that will emerge beneath their vault.

Plus an ordered, ritual planting could provide a very immediate, on-the-ground beginning to charrette implementation. A simple, tangible, visible groundbreaking.

Seeds of Blight

There's a fight against blight in the Eastview Neighborhood, just north of East High.

Eastview is a very visually distinct place. If you travel Walnut Grove at all, it really sticks out. Not because it's a bombed out urban wasteland, but because it has no trees. It has never had any trees*. Not many shrubs either.

This "feature" has always set this barren streets apart from neighboring streets, which might be one neighborhood if half hadn't been visually tagged as something so much different. The streets' age (around 50 years old), architecture (Cape Cod cottage in both), layout (quasi-cul-de-sac) and connections (the rental area is joined to the homeowner area by interior streets, not just Walnut Grove) do not set the areas physically apart. In fact, it's possible they were all built as part of the same development.

It's the trees that set them apart.

From outer space the rental homes (see below, lining the left and bottom) today look the same as the day Yuri Gagarin flew over, with that fresh subdivision look; the interior home lots (on the right and top) have changed as their trees and shrubs grew.

But on the ground, the bare homes are decaying; the lush homes are stable.

I'm not blaming the treelessness for the decline. But for half a century the landlords, wittingly or not, have marked these streets as different, perhaps even a problem, along tree-lined Walnut Grove.

In Eastview, landscape has been legacy.

* along Eastview Drive, 3 or 4 houses now have willow trees in their front yard. These are the only trees I saw in front of the rental houses. Willows sticking out along the curving, suburban-style, mostly barren street have added to the visual distinction of the neighborhood. A Leave it to Beaver ghost town.

Crib Notes for Sustainable Shelby

Mayor A.C. Wharton launched the Sustainable Shelby initiative a week ago. Hopefully it will give a strong and sustainable political voice for walkability, mass transit, increased density and other means to sustainable neighborhoods and urbanism.

However, besides its brief website and this Memphis Flyer article (read the last paragraph for a huge challenge to real sustainability -- the gap between earnest words and oblivious action) I can't find much of an online voice for the initiative.

I do know that Doug Farr's book Sustainable Urbanism will be the official text for the initiative and I also know that Portland economist Joe Cortright spoke at the kickoff. Unfortunately, Sustainable Urbanism costs $75 and the kickoff has passed.

Luckily there are several online sources that might give us an idea where Sustainable Shelby is heading:

• This interview with Doug Farr on Smart City Radio, where he talks about his book and the key LEED-ND (ND for neighborhood development) rating system. Since I fear the word "green" will be used as PR cover for business-as-usual -- whether regressive (white-flight, sprawl) or destructive (demolition, clearcutting) -- I'm glad that host Carol Coletta questions him whether LEED-ND favors greenfield development over infill and brownfield development.
• The slides from Joe Cortright's presentation. I understand they weren't actually presented at the kickoff because the projector didn't work, so you can see something the attendees couldn't.
  

TheoGeo on the Bryant Park Project

Go see TheoGeo's audio slideshow, Where I Live Now: Memphis, featured on NPR's Bryant Park Project.

Great voice for radio.

The Riches of Cooper-Young: Cause 1

The fewer boundaries there are that separate citizens, the better, because creativity thrives when people encounter one another from different parts of society...

Steven J. Tepper,
on the conditions under which creativity flourishes,
on Smart City Radio

Variety of housing cost is part of the reason Cooper-Young has become a viral, creative, rich Memphis neighborhood. It trends towards Memphis affordable. It blends socially and economically with nearby neighborhoods. No one is out of place in Cooper-Young.


And part of the reason that South Main is not-so-vital is its lack of that variety. (One suggested solution.)

Livable Communities Survey

The Coalition for Livable Communities - which represents a diverse group of local stakeholders - supports the development and redevelopment of healthy, vibrant, and economically sustainable communities in Shelby County. We do this by educating residents, building consensus on a shared vision of livable communities, and promoting public policies that further that vision.

We are conducting an online survey on the "livability" of Memphis neighborhoods, from which we will gather and analyze information to help us develop outreach and policy programs that promote neighborhood improvement and sustainability. Take the survey.

Although the results are anonymous, all participants who provide their email addresses at the end of the survey will be entered into a drawing for a gift certificate at the Memphis Pizza Cafe.

In addition, we're offering a free pizza party - pizza and drinks for up to 25 - to the neighborhood or community organization most identified in the survey responses.

The Blessed Stump of Seattle Street

I saw this very beautiful stump while checking out the Seattle Street project's open houses last Sunday.

It's a prime target for guerilla gardening, although the guerilla may have to empty a bag of soil in it first.

Greenlines and Planning: A Brief Conversation with Mary Wilder

This is an email conversation I had with Mary Wilder, citizen, activist, former interim State Representative and present candidate for City Council. It is not an endorsement. Picking candidates is an exercise I leave for the reader and myself.

What part did you play in the establishment of the Vollintine-Evergreen Greenline?

I started gardening up on the space before VECA owned it. Several other neighbors started mowing the grass. Then VECA got the NPI grant. I was the coordinator working with a committee of volunteers. Bob Schneider and I were the ones to negotiate the purchase of the V&E Greenline from CSX in 1996.

How far towards Downtown and towards Raleigh does the old railroad right of way extend past the VE Greenline? Does the western end extend past the Sears Crosstown and I-240? Does the eastern end extend to the proposed Wolf River Greenway?

The Greenline is the old M&O then L&N then CSX. It was the second oldest rail line in Memphis stated by Robertson Top in 1856. It ran from downtown where the MATA station is now out to Raleigh Springs.

It is abandoned from St. Jude’s downtown out towards Raleigh/Barlett. St Jude’s has purchased sections and built across it. Boral Brick on Hollywood still uses a section of the rail line.

Have there been any efforts to extend it in either direction?

When it was abandoned in 1983 VECA asked the city to buy the rail line for a bike trail. They were not interested. At present I don’t know of any effort to secure/purchase the rest of the abandoned line.

I see from the VE Greenline web site that that greenline was purchased from CSX Railroad. CSX is also the railroad that owns the right-of-way for proposed Memphis Greenline. There's been a lot of talk that CSX's asking price is much too high for that right-of-way. Are you seeing a difference in CSX's price or attitude with the Memphis Greenline than with the VE Greenline?

I don’t know if there is a difference. The price is high for undevelopable land. My question is: has the City or County started the rail banking process with the Federal Transportation Department?

You want to be the new City Councilperson from Super District 9-3. What would you specifically do as Councilwoman to make the Memphis Greenline and Wolf River Greenway a reality?

I would look into the rail banking process at the federal level. I would see what has been done to date and I see what is holding the process up. Is it just money -- the purchase price?

What do you think is a reasonable amount of time to complete either project for at least walking trails?

I don’t know. We just started mowing our area and the cinder bed served as the walk way.

So how would you work with Councilpeople from other parts of the City, parts that may not even have the Greenline or Greenway in them, to make this happen?

The V&E Greenline draws people from around midtown. Greenways are not neighborhood specific. I would try educate council on the economic benefit and the community enhancement of usable green space.

Speaking of green, do you think the laws and enforcement we have in Memphis now are adequate to protect our urban forest? It seems like we still have a lot of clear-cutting going on.

Did we ever get an urban forester? I would want to promote the best urban forest laws and policies we could.

I noticed on your campaign website that you want to re-establish the Planning Commission. Why would this improve on the present Land Use Control Board and other planning organizations and systems?

Land Use Control is not a Planning Board. It is a zoning board to review land use in context of existing zoning or approve zoning changes. A Planning Commission is a citizen, government, business based policy board or commission that in conjunction with a planning staff (OPD)
develop the long range growth plans for the City. These plans then become ordinances that guide the development of the city. We are developing now in a spot zone method with no guidance from a legislative Growth Plan.

I see. Would there be a "judicial" compliment to the Planning Commission -- a place for interpretation and exceptions and appeals? I'm probably blinded by the one-off disasters of the LUCB, but it feels like the exceptions granted are where we get killed.

Normally-judicial is judicial, and goes to court. The Landmarks ordinance is written that way but City Council has given themselves the judicial role. Until that is challenged in court, City Council has placed itself in that judicial review role, which is why they spend 75% of their time on land use issues.

Filmmaking and Architecture this Weekend

Architecture: The (rescheduled) AIA Chalk Art Festival

The Downtown Chalk Art Festival will be held this Saturday, September 22, 2007 from 9:30 am - 12 noon at the Memphis Farmers Market / Central Station Pavilion 545 S. Main Street.

Memphis Heritage & AIA Memphis are coming together for a fourth year to celebrate architecture and design throughout Memphis. Each September we offer a fun and educational series of activities for the public from hands on activities to lectures.

The festival is free to participants.Competition is limited to the first 50 teams. Competition is limited to the first 50 teams.

Filmmaking: Li'l Film Fest 7

Li'l Film Fest is a quarterly, theme-based film festival, focusing on highlighting our local talent while showcasing interesting happenings around town. Our goal is to encourage and inspire Memphis filmmakers while engaging a local audience in order to strengthen our artistic community.

The Li'l Film Fest (this is the 7th one) is this Saturday (22nd) at 2 p.m. at the MeDiA Co-op, 1000 South Cooper.

Theme: Rhymes With Pelvis
Duration: each film is 5 minutes or less
Prizes: Jury Award ($200)
Audience Choice Award ($200)



Live From Memphis

Neighborhoods: Seattle Street Project Open House

Cooper-Young Development Corp is having an open house Sunday, September 23, 2007, 2PM to 5PM, for the houses they have built on Seattle Street in western Cooper-Young. The addresses

1008 seattle Street
926 Seattle Street
932 Seattle Street

They will have two additional homes available that are under construction as well as the plans and lots for the remaining three.

If you're interested in seeing what my Festival beer purchases and a committed, creative neighborhood can do, you should mark this down for a walk-by. And a house-buy.

Bonus: they're Rozelle House adjacent.


Architecture: An Architectural Treat

FfOR Board member and architect, Jack Tucker will be on hand Sunday, Sept. 23 to share stories about his mentor Fay Jones at the Memphis Heritage/AIA Home Tour of Barry Gildea’s house. The home located at 5715 Sycamore Grove in East Memphis gives us an exciting opportunity to see Jones’s work here in Memphis.

See the Friends for Our Riverfront's post for more information.

A Neighborhood Map of Memphis?

Does anyone out there know if a neighborhood map exists for Memphis? Offline or online is okay.

2007 Neighborhood Leadership Conference

MLGW is hosting the 2007 Neighborhood Leadership Conference, "Protecting Yourself and Your Neighborhood" on Friday, August 3, 2007 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at its Training and Development Facilities, 4949 Raleigh LaGrange Road.

Sessions include "Reclaiming Neglected and Abandoned Properties", "Future Leadership - Generation X, Y and Next" and "Using Technology".

Download the conference brochure for more information.