Urban Repair--grassroots

Some interesting ideas generated at the last Urban Repair meeting. "Wander neighborhoods and observe what goes on--then imagine what could be better." The big thing is to remember that capitalism works because projects are designed as win-win.

One that stood out as unusual was "Don't partner with anyone else" or your identity will be lost--submitted by a local ward person. Certainly has a positive and negative side--yes, small groups who try to team up with biggers in Northeast Ohio (and probably many other places) do tend to get subsumed and have their goals and agendas folded into oblivion. But surely isolationism hasn't solved anything yet either.

Another one that caught my eye--be more friendly--rang true. Political and social factionalism do indeed interfere with community-building efforts and actually seem to result in a sort-of isolationism-by-group...the old us-and-them phenomenon. But where do you start? Where does a factional approach come from? As a person who writes about business leadership, I can almost guarantee that it starts with business and community leaders who are territorial. When the model at the top is truly participatory, the people tend to pick up on the fact that efforts to court favoritism won't succeed. It's like when kids learn not to lie because lying gets them in trouble--they usually quit.

I especially like this one: "Do critical-mass walks in neighborhoods where drugs and gangs prevail or anywhere people feel unsafe." How about if we start with downtown!? I reported here a while back about a visitor from another country who was here for a conference and said he felt nervous walking around downtown at night (not even late) because the only people he saw were homeless/vagrant.

I hope the Urban Repair project gets legs soon and we can see some of these ideas put into action. Read more
here