East End Market in Audubon Park neighborhood of Orlando, Florida, 2016. Photo of John’s Neighborhood Bulletin Board from Haddon Heights, New Jersey, 2018. Newark Community Bulletin Board, Newark, Delaware, 2018.
My Main Street Now conference started a day before the conference officially got in Philadelphia. A visit of two new colleagues to Princeton reminded me of why I’ve spent more than half my life and the last 17 years as a Main Street leader. Evan leads a national nonprofit that takes vacant storefronts and converts them for artist studio space
Baltimore has a distinctive character with rowhouses lining many blocks. This self-serve pop-up to sell fresh flowers is an interesting way to activate public spaces and provide a service, while earning some revenue. We wanted to try an ice cream place but it was closed. So we tried the best chocolate covered berries in Baltimore. Was fun to have a
On Tuesday, October 22, 2024, Joan Garry had a talk on The Joy, Privilege and Responsibility of Nonprofit Leadership at Mercer County Community College in Princeton NJ. Joan grasps the challenges that nonprofits face at a deeper level than nearly anyone I’ve met. She also has a better understanding of the potential of the nonprofit sector to change lives. I
During a visit to Dallas we were able to drop in with our friends at Better Block. Between our last visit and this one they upgraded to a larger space. Their methodology has also been refined. Typically a 150 plus day pre-build process helps to define what people want to see happen in places they work. Then during an intensive
Never underestimate what some green astroturf and timbers can do to activate an empty or underutilized public space. We loved stumbling across this pop-up bocce court in Millburn, New Jersey. Something else they got right was clustering movable furniture, planters, and public art elements. Altogether it made a nice unexpected outdoor gathering space. Only thing lacking is to get the
A parklet is not only a physical intervention but also an economic one. To transform a parking spot on average of 250 to 400 square feet into a place for people allows getting a greater return on investment. Various studies have shown that spending by parklet users can boost revenue at neighboring businesses by 2x or 3x. This spending is
Blame Vitruvius. In his treatise De Architectura around 27 BCE, the three elements critical to architecture were utilitas (function), firmitas (stability), and venustas (beauty). While so easy to articulate, in practice this harmony in buildings and places was and is so hard to achieve. Fast forward to Colonial America. Many prototypes for buildings and plans for cities hearkened back to
Whether called a parklet or a streetery, street parking has been given way to allow for expanded outdoor dining. The use of linked pop-up tents created sizeable areas in the right-of-way where larger structures would not fit. Here the block is lined by one to three story storefronts along Maplewood Avenue with the historic Tudor-style architecture typical of the town.
This is the News From New JerseyOut my window a skinny young man in a black hoodie races to the front door of a house across the street, plops down several flimsy plastic bags, taps a few clicks on his phone, then runs off at full speed through the steady rain. A month ago this small act might have been