Building better communities is a long, hard slog

The My Lincolnton Blog (North Carolina) has a couple of sadly interesting blog entries right now.

"Place of Betrayal" about the ganging up on and closure of a cafe/coffeehouse popular with young people. He talks about the Witches Brew Cafe as a community asset building an inclusive community with a sense of commitment and responsibility. Apparently, many downtown businesses felt threatened by the youth clientele... of course, then they wonder why people don't shop there? Youth become adult consumers...

And A Day to Remember" is about the Lincolnton Apple Festival--the first part interesting and got me thinking how much fun an apple festival could be. After all, who doesn't love candy coated and caramel coated apples? (especially dentists!).
Photos copyright James R. Powell.

But the Festival took a negative turn when the police shut down a DJ booth, because kids were dancing to the music. Reminds me of Footloose, although in that movie, there weren't racial overtones.

Sad stories. But they do show the power of blogs to keep the light on issues that the powers-that-be, with the complicity of local newspapers and other media, often keep quiet.


Index Keywords: placemaking