There should be community bulletin boards in commercial districts (and other places)

Flyers on a light pole, 2100 block Highland Drive, Sugar House, Salt Lake City.

It's so much harder to find about community events and such with the decline of traditional newspapers.  Some alternative weeklies used to publish lists, some much better than overs, others maybe just a feature listing a couple.

One such feature, sadly no longer a part of the editorial program of the Salt Lake City Weekly, led me to participate in a canoeing event on the Jordan River ("Canoeing on the Jordan River, one of the events from Latino Conservation Week in Salt Lake County").  ... that was before I was sick, and I biked there--it was about 8 miles away.

The Salt Lake Tribune has a feature listing select events, but it doesn't come out until Saturday.  

Now you have to subscribe to all kinds of feeds to get that information.  I can't even get through a day's email, so I don't do much social media--in itself bad because if I republished entries on Instagram and Substack I'd have way more readers--since blogs have been supplanted.  If only I could afford to pay someone to do it for me....

These days, libraries are good places for posting this kind of stuff.  And that's about it.  The Millcreek Public Market on the ground floor of the City Hall has a pillar that people post flyers on, just like light poles.  That's about the closest to community bulletin board I've seen in a civic building other than libraries.

Commercial places with a more community vibe, like coffee shops, certain restaurants, local food stores, etc., have bulletin boards

I hate to admit that I haven't read any Jurgen Habermas. He introduced the concept of the “public sphere." Based on an analysis of coffee shops in the 1800s England and France, "he theorized that democracy emerged and could continue to exist in a healthy form only if there was a space that was outside the control of the state, where deliberation and the exchange of ideas could freely occur."

In 2011, "Community cleanups (and other activities) as community building and civic engagement activities," seeming about cleanups and such, I also wrote about spaces for community organization and protest, and listed a variety of ways to communicate beyond the traditional media.  From the piece:

I am thinking along this kind of framework, from the personal to the group, but somehow the other dimension of support/expression vs. opposition and resistance needs to be incorporated:

- individual expression (graffiti, letter to editor, social media))
- group/community (block party, mural, neighborhood parks, street fairs, community media, smart mobs, pirate radio, etc.)

- community bulletin boards and community media -- providing space for such in civic and commercial spaces, e.g., bulletin boards in parks, libraries, etc., and do you have to get permission to post things? 

- public assembly (Hyde Park type speakers corners, public squares in cities, college campues, etc.)
- resistance/opposition, including suicide bombings in public space/transit infrastructure, what the IRA did in their London bombing campaign, wilding, riots, also celebrations, i.e., college sports related, that get out of hand, etc.). [Note that in Planning in the Public Domain, Friedmann distinguishes between radical practice, which accepts the existence of the state; and revolutionary practice, which does not]

Left: Bulletin board, Lamplighter Coffee Roasters, Richmond, Virginia. 

Right: concepts from Planning in the Public Domain.

2. Planning for community spaces in libraries and recreation centers, for meetings (yes we do that already), but what about spaces for community organizations located in libraries and other public buildings, bulletin boards sure, but how about galleries for local artists and other exhibitions, or spaces for regular exhibitions (that could rotate around the city) on community issues?  

3. What about having some funds available, like what the Humanities Council of Washington does, for community curation projects, for projects on urban issues, etc., that can then be shown in such facilities?

Urban Sustainability traveling exhibit, Montreal at a farmers market, 2010.  Sponsored by the Écomusée du fier monde. 

(The ecomuseum concept is worthy of a separate blog entry of its own.  At that one, I found a copy in the public communications area of the executive summary of the then Province of Quebec bicycle plan, "Making cycling a mode of transportation in its own right," while not necessarily transformational for Canada, certainly was wrt the US.  It's out of print and off the Internet but I'm trying to track down a copy.)

4. Or something I've said for about 5+ years, that all libraries should have collections of materials specific to their communities. The Georgetown branch of the DC Public Library has the "Peabody Room" which is a focused collection on Georgetown. But all libraries could have a filing cabinet full of stuff and finding aids.

5. Public squares, pocket parks, etc., in neighborhood commercial districts. E.g., I will take some responsibility for failing to advocate for this in the H Street NE revitalization plan, or for not thinking of the need for an expanded public space around the 2nd and N Streets NE exit at the New York Avenue Metro station in NoMA.

6. Having funds to support community festivals and events, even on a smaller scale.

7. And micro funds to support micro community projects. (Although ANCs do have some funds for this.)

8. How Arlington County government agencies exhibit in force at the Arlington County Fair. Or how some Baltimore City government agencies exhibit at Artscape.

In 2020, I wrote a series about building blocks for commercial revitalization, including "Part 2 | A neighborhood identity and marketing toolkit (kit of parts)."  I list what I think should be all of the elements of a complete identity program for commercial districts.  That has two relevant items:

3. Include directory/place/events identification signage at transit stations and in bus shelters. 4. Include directory/place/events identification signage at public buildings in the area such as libraries, schools, parks, human services offices, etc.

But I didn't specifically list a community bulletin board as a distinct element.  In 2018, in "Why not post outdoor Community Information Boards at public buildings and sites?" I mentioned kiosks and bulletin boards.

Bulletin board at the Queens Plaza bus station, Liverpool.

Bulletin Board, Mount Pleasant Plaza, Washington, DC.

Community bulletin board behind Hampshire Langley Shopping Center on Kirklynn Avenue, Takoma Park (Takoma Langley Crossroads). It might be that the big board is run by the shopping center. The smaller box to the right is managed by the community association.

Bulletin board at the Rhode Island Avenue pedestrian bridge trailhead, Metropolitan Branch Trail. Most are bike related.  I believe this was put up by the DC Department of Transportation. A community Little Free Library has been placed to the right of this sign.

Kiosk in Adams Morgan at the corner of 18th Street and Columbia Road NW.

Information board, Sligo Creek Trail, Montgomery County Maryland.

I've been thinking again from a public communications need in an environment with limited options, that public parks should have community bulletin boards too.  

This is something I will put on my long list of projects to pilot at Sugar House Park.

But I wrote about that too. I can't find a photo, but there is a community information board at every park site in Takoma Park, Maryland.