MCLA Students Plan New England's First "Better Block" Project

Eagle Street Rising leaders Richard Doucette and Felipe Aedo. Photo credit: BT&C.North Adams, MA, will be the site of New England's first "Better Block" project, thanks to a team of students at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. The students are enrolled in Prof. Elena Traister's Green Living Seminar, and they are working together as a class to carry out the Better Block project on Eagle Street on April 27.

I am really excited about this project, as it's an indirect outcome of Imagining North Adams and the assistance we've lent to Prof. Traister and her class. I can't wait to see the students' ideas in action.

For more info, download Berkshire Trade & Commerce's excellent coverage of the project, "One-day face-lift for Eagle Street (PDF 3.8M)." And if you're in the area, please join us on April 27th!

New Lecture Series on "Place-Based Prosperity" Launches This Week

You never know where an idea will travel.

Since wrapping up "Imagining North Adams," we've heard from people as far away as British Columbia and Georgia who heard about the project and wanted advice for launching similar festivals of their own. Now the fun continues with an idea that traveled locally: from the festival's temporary storefront on Main Street to a classroom on Church Street at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Presented with a choice of themes for their spring Green Living Seminar Series, Professor Elena Traister's students chose to focus on the connection between a place's design and its sustainability. The resulting lecture series will kick off this Thursday with the first of twelve lectures on the theme of place-based prosperity.

Lectures are free and open to the public and feature such renowned speakers as Andrés Duany, founder of the New Urban movement, and Charles Marohn, Executive Director of the nationwide organization known as Strong Towns. Join us for an eye-opening view of the ways in which our decisions shape our city's environmental, economic and community well-being.

2013 Green Living Presentations

All seminars begin at 5:30 p.m. in Murdock Hall, Room 218, unless otherwise noted.

1/24/2013

The Return of Placecraft

Jennifer Krouse, founder of Steepletown Studios and Imagining North Adams
Ian Rasmussen, land-use attorney and founder of Urban Cartographics

1/31/2013

Strong Towns

Charles Marohn, Executive Director, Strong Towns

2/7/2013

Short-Term Action, Long-Term Change

Andrew Howard, Team Better Block

2/14/2013

Green Certification: The Sacred and the Profane

R. John Anderson, Principal at Anderson Kim Architecture & Urban Design
Stephanie Boyd, Director of the Williams College Zilkha Center

2/21/2013

The Original Green

Steve Mouzon, Principal, Mouzon Design

2/28/2013

The Agrarian City

Andres Duany, Principal of Duany Plater Zyberk & Company (via Skype)
Jennifer Munoz, Director of the Growing Healthy Garden Program

3/7/2013

The Environmental Argument for Smart Development

(This presentation will take place in Sullivan Lounge)
Lee Sobel, Real Estate Development and Finance Analyst at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Jon Ford, Principal of Morris Beacon Design

3/21/2013

Shared Space

Norman Garrick, University of Connecticut, Professor of Civil Engineering

3/28/2013

Legalizing Main Street

Caleb Racicot, Tunnel-Spangler-Walsh & Associates, Senior Principal

4/4/2013

Revitalizing Downtown

Russell Preston, Design Director at Principle Group; and Judy Grinnell, President of Hoosic River Revival

4/11/2013

Mobility

Aurash Khawarzad, Associate at The Project for Public Spaces and Founder of Change Administration and TrafficCOM

4/25/2013

Panel Discussion: Place-Based Prosperity and the Future of North Adams

Padraic Steinschneider, President of Gotham Design & Community Development Ltd.
Mayor Richard Alcombright, City of North Adams
Representative Gailanne Cariddi, Massachusetts State House
Wendy McWeeny, Executive Director of the Partnership for North Adams 

101 Imaginations

The "guest wall" in Gallery 107 is lined with kraft paper and a simple question, "What do *you* imagine for North Adams?" One hundred and one people have contributed their thoughts so far, including visitors from abroad (Germany!) and neighbors from home. You can see their visions in the slide show below.

If you haven't participated yet, come on down. The gallery will be open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through September 22nd, as well as for our special events and by appointment.

• Fridays: 12 noon - 6 pm
• Saturdays: 10 am - 6 pm
• Sundays: 10 am - 4 pm

There are only 17 days left in the campaign for "Imagining North Adams." We've raised $735 so far; can you help us reach $800 before the week is through?

A Tough Question with a Hopeful Answer

A wonderful and talented friend asked Wednesday, "Let us know how us West Coasters can help with your big event!!!"

I'm not normally slow to think of ways that people can support "Imagining North Adams," but the question stumped me. "Imagining North Adams" is a very local endeavor whose needs mainly consist of volunteers and funding. The only one of those that can be easily carried out long-distance is funding. And yet what would connect prospective donors to a grassroots effort in an underdog town that they've never heard of?

It took me a couple of days to figure out that I had it backwards. What wouldn't connect people to a grassroots effort in an underdog town that they've never heard of? Our little city has had it rough for a long time and is trying to make a better future for itself, as many people are trying to do in their own lives nowadays. People, families, neighborhoods, villages, towns, and cities... nations, even. Who isn't trying to secure for themselves the hope of a better fate?

I'm fairly realistic about what we can accomplish with this project. One three-week festival isn't going to shape solutions to all of the challenges that North Adams faces. But the festival will get us talking. It will spread ideas. And it will give us tools to take our dreams for the city and turn them into action. That much, I know the festival can do, because we've seen these tools help other cities advance toward their goals. Some of our advisors and volunteers have even been part of those developments.

They are with us because they know that progress doesn't have to be made up of leaps and bounds. It can be constructed by depositing grains of sand, one by one, until you've got a full-blown beach. So maybe that's the answer to my thoughtful friend's question. A dollar would help, if you've got one you can spare. We'll take those dollars and build a beach from them, so to speak.

Who we are

Berkshire Trade & Commerce article (PDF - 1.1MB)

Eagle Street Beach Party, July 2012Ways to help

Online donation via Fundly

or mail to the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition:

Northern Berkshire Community Coalition
Attn: "Imagining North Adams"
61 Main Street, Suite 218
North Adams, MA 01247

Sponsorship Opportunities (PDF - 150KB)

"Imagining North Adams" in the Media

On behalf of everyone who's pulling together to make this festival possible, I'd like to extend warm thanks to the press and local leaders who are getting behind the endeavor. First, Berkshire Trade & Commerce; then Rep. Gail Cariddi; and now the latest: the Berkshire Eagle. Your interest and support mean a lot.

Berkshire Trade & Commerce article by John Townes (PDF - 1.1MB)

"Something You Should Know," hosted by Rep. Gail Cariddi and Councilwoman Marie Harpin, will air on Northern Berkshire Community Television (Ch. 17) on Monday 8/27 at 7:30 pm and Tuesday, 8/28 at 2:30 pm.

Berkshire Eagle article by Laura Lofgren, August 23, 2012.