Market on the Green nonprofit supermarket from ProMedica Health System, Toledo

Market on the Green is located in the ProMedica Ebeid Institute building, which is in a low income neighborhood, separate from but near some of the system's hospitals.

I was re-reading a past blog entry on hospital planning in the Salt Lake City area ("Hospitals as urban anchors/revitalization levers, not usually, but with great potential to serve communities in important ways: Examples are two forthcoming projects by Intermountain Health and University of Utah Health") and among the best practices it mentioned for activating the first and second floors beyond traditional medical series, I listed the "Market on the Green" supermarket in Toledo.  

I must have found out about it from this Wall Street Journal article, "Take Two Aspirin—and a Serving of Kale." 

Given that supermarkets run by cities--proposals in Chicago, New York City, and DC--are all the rage it's important to look at what works and what doesn't.  This piece discusses the failure of urban markets ("Grocery stores in cities: the failure of the "15 minute grocery store"").  Also the opportunity of food cooperatives as an alternative model ("Revisiting Takoma Junction and the Takoma Co-op development issue | A chance to start over").

Yard sign announcing a household's support for the Wasatch Community Food Co-op.

Food coops do need initial capital and that can be hard to raise.  

The Wasatch Community Food Co-op finally opens this month--they've spent 15+ years organizing, raising capital, and finding and building out a space.

And there is the public market model ("Eastern Market DC's 150th anniversary last weekend | And my unrealized master plan for the market").  

In distressed areas I think that model is adaptable and adoptable as a way forward because you divide the various functions into departments, called "market stands," and from an entrepreneurial standpoint they can be run by individuals rather than "the city," and with fewer capital requirements compared to running a grocery store as a single operator.

City-run supermarkets.  I am skeptical about city-run markets because the profit margins are so low--I tried to get a creative donation from the supermarket business cooperative in the Intermountain States, along with some of their local affiliates, and they lamented their extremely low margins of 1.5% or less, and that was before the effect of tariffs and now the War with Iran which impacts both transportation costs and consumer spending even more.

And because cities aren't known for innovative management in governmental matters.  Running a retail business is a stretch beyond that, although it can be addressed by hiring people with industry experience.  But letting people with a retail background act like retailers is still a tough decision for a city government.

Public markets are a truly rare form of public-nonprofit management.  Most public markets are owned  by the city but operate with independent management.  For those that don't, half are probably successful and dynamic, like Reading Terminal Market and Lancaster Central Market, and the others, and I would include Eastern Market DC where I served on the board for 13 years, static--even though Eastern Market seems to always be rated highly in consumer voting contests ("Shop, savor, and stroll these 10 must-visit public markets," USA Today).

Managerially, one of my favorite examples is the Milwaukee Public Market.  

It was built by the city and run by a nonprofit, but the nonprofit was overwhelmed and management shifted to the Milwaukee Downtown Business Improvement District, and it gets high ratings ("Milwaukee Public Market gets back to business," "From one market to another: Milwaukee Public Market’s advice for Brookfield," Milwaukee Business Journal).

Reading the second article, archive.ph version for those without access, you can tell they really get it.

"I think taking this as a model and plopping it anywhere, it's not always going to work in every setting, every environment, every city," Schwartz said. "These are not always easy operations."

We've had the benefit of time, reputation and experience. We've also developed this into not just a place where people can get food, but we can host regular events and cooking classes. We embrace an outdoor element for experiences, whether it's the Palapa at St. Paul Fish Co. or a beer truck outside. So, I think you have to be multi-dimensional.

At Eastern Market in DC there is zilch innovative design associated with the individual stands.  

Not so for St. Paul Fish Company at Milwaukee Public Market.  

Brand promise is communicated and strengthened by a strategic choice of seafood creature sculptures.

Turnover and new tenants is not always a bad thing. It's sometimes a mutual, "Hey, I'm gonna do this for a few years, experience it, and then I'm gonna concentrate on another brick-and-mortar." There's a level of rotation that adds freshness and newness. It can be beneficial. Probably 34% of our tenants are originals. We always try to find a mix of not only the right food products, but also ownership, representation and businesses that will help add something from the neighborhood, not just the market.

If you are a true destination for residents and people from out of town, I think you need to embody as many types of experiences as possible and cast a wide net, whether it's for families who are coming in from out of town or somebody who lives in a condo that's popping over here to have a glass of wine, grab a steak and make it at home.

One of the problems with ratings is the tension between selling prepared food, more typical of what are called food halls, and fresh food to prepare at home, and maybe with some prepared food vendors.  A lot of the other markets do fresh food better, and most that specialize in it, like Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia or Grand Central Market in Los Angeles, do way better.  And Pike Place Market in Seattle didn't even make the top 10!

Why has Market on the Green been successful, when similar ventures fail?  

Compared to many nonprofit grocery initiatives, it's still standing after years, when many have failed long before that kind of tenure.  

It's not a grim space.  It has positive design qualities.  While it's one tenth the size of a for profit supermarket, it offers the same array of goods, even beer and wine.

It was funded by a donation from the lead philanthropist supporting the ProMedica System.  It's located in the Uptown neighborhood which is defined by USDA as a "food desert" and where they started their community development program ("Seaway standing strong," Toledo Blade). 

Originally the market didn't have a more traditional (and hopefully outdoor sign.  Now they do.

The building is owned by the health system, and the second floor has a teaching kitchen, other community services, and workforce training (two more floors for other stuff).  

They support local vendors and stock and market their products ("Farmers First Coffee release party at Market on the Green" and "Beer Sampling at Market on the Green," Toledo City Paper)--the beer sampling up in the teaching kitchen with better access controls.  

And they're innovative, unlike a lot of public markets, they offer online ordering and delivery ("Market on the Green offers online shopping and delivery," Toledo City Paper).  

I tried to have that done at Eastern Market and you wouldn't believe the pushback--"Eastern Market is all about the face-to-face experience" they said.  For some it is, for others it isn't.  Maximizing your ability to reach multiple market segments in the face of ever increasing competition is key.

The store has been open for 11 years, which is a great run so far.--and it's still going.

But it may have taxed managerial resources, because in 2023 outsourced management to a local grocery store operator ("ProMedica grocery store in UpTown Toledo gets new local management," Toledo Blade).  

As a whole the hospital system has run some  deficits and this saves them not just money, but "managerial burden," involved in running the store ("ProMedica scraps new Monroe hospital as losses mount," Toledo Blade).  Since they've cut back on plans for new buildings, sold off their nursing home division, and ended event and venue sponsorships.

Success factors for Market on the Green.  I think the key elements are (1) philanthropic donation to provide capital, (2) and to buy the building, (3) which means they can be patient, (4) because they have "patient capital" to support the business, (5) without interest fees (6) and probably no rent, (7) so, as long as it doesn't lose money on operations, (8) because of the high degree of management and board commitment separately (9) and as a key element of their place-based community development initiative, Ebeid Neighborhood Promise.

Initiatives at other hospitals include food stands within the hospital's first floor, food pantries offering free food to people in need ("Micro-markets inside health centers could be just what the doctor ordered," Grocery Dive), community gardens, and farmers markets held on campus.  St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ypsilanti, Michigan goes even further, allotting 25 acres on its campus to a local produce farmer, using some of the food in their food service program, donating to food banks, etc.

Social determinants of health.  The justification is what are called "social determinants of health," how lifestyle and other factors like place contribute to people's health/problems and providing food access reduces income hindrances that can make it hard to buy healthier and fresh foods.

According to Next City ("Why Health-Care Systems Are Funding (Or Building) Grocery Stores") such stores funded by, supported by, or run by hospital systems support both personal and community health, so it may help them when preparing their Community Health Assessment Plans required as one element of Obama Care.  From the article:

There’s been a lot of talk and research about the importance of access to healthy food as a social determinant of health. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease — all are linked to diet. So putting a full-service grocery store in the heart of low-income, under-resourced neighborhoods, where health disparities are high and persistent, seems like a sensible thing.

City incentive programs.  Rather than open and operate stores, many cities like DC and even states, like Pennsylvania (although it's not much money, especially when you consider how big the state is) have tax incentives and other programs to subsidize the cost of putting stores in less economically well off areas. This Reddit entry is great, listing the five incentive programs in DC.

There are also programs to expand the array of healthy foods available in corner stores and bodegas, who might not normally carry such products because of spoilage and other concerns, and familiarity as they mostly sold non-fresh foods.  

In NYC Shop Healthy NYC, formerly the Healthy Bodegas Initiative, is a city program.  In Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey programs are coordinated by the nonprofit Food Trust.  In a study of bodegas in New York City:

Most consumers shopped at the bodega because it was close to their home (52%). The majority (68%) reported shopping at the bodega at least once per day. The five most commonly purchased items were sugary beverages, (29.27%), sugary snacks (22.34%), coffee, (13.99%), sandwiches, (13.09%) and non-baked potato chips (12.2%). Nearly 60% of bodega customers reported their purchase to be healthy.

It would have been even cooler, but more expensive if the outdoor sign rendered the more detailed logo, in neon.

Conclusion.  While I think these initiatives are great, as the Milwaukee Public Market director said:

"I think taking this as a model and plopping it anywhere, it's not always going to work in every setting, every environment, every city," Schwartz said. "These are not always easy operations."

pertains here too.  The reason(s) for success of Market on the Green rather than failure is because the factors that are key to their success are usually opposite the conditions faced of other ventures, for example:

• patient capital versus impatient capital
• no interest on financing versus interest on financing
• no rent versus paying rent
• knowledge and skill in operations versus good intentions
• organizational commitment versus bottom line focus

are all key factors.  Government can be a source of patient capital, but they definitely lack operational expertise.  And government grant programs come with lots of strings and reporting requirements, and usually have more demand than funds.

ProMedica has tapped Summit Foods and owner Ed Beczynski to manage its Market on the Green grocery store in UpTown.  Mr. Beczynski is a local restaurateur whose family has run Summit Foods for 25 years.  Toledo Blade photo.

Because people have to eat, whether or not a store is immediately close by, even in food store deprived areas, people have developed ways to provide access and a means to travel to existing supermarkets (Lack of access doesn't deter shoppers from visiting large grocery stores," FoodDive,  "The Influence of Foodstore Access on Grocery Shopping and Food Spending," Economic Research Service, USDA).

Retail trade areas.  Plus people's complaints of lack of immediately accessible food stores runs into the retail trade area issue--an RTA radius for a supermarket in a city is up to 5 miles, even more for specialty stores.

Granted it presumes use of a car.  But an RTA of say 3 mile radius is still an area of 28 square miles.  That's almost half the size of Washington, DC.

A three mile radius or retail trade area, drawn with 6500 Piney Branch Road NW as the central point.

During our unsuccessful fight against Walmart entering DC ("Walmart closing one of its three DC stores," with links to 11 other blog entries, and my op-ed in the Washington Business Journal, "Temper Walmart Glee With Planning") the then planning director talked about the areas they wanted to locate being food deserts.  

They weren't except in SE DC, and they ended up not even opening that store even though they "promised."  

At that time, within the radius of the store for Georgia Avenue, there were at least four Giants, three Safeways, multiple ethnic markets (I used to cycle to them at University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue to the great Latino market), a Save-a-Lot (since closed), at least two Shoppers Food Warehouse stores, two Aldis, a Price Rite (the cheap brand for Shoprite), and one Whole Foods.  Plus others on the west side of Georgia Avenue, and on the east further into Prince George's County.

There are even more options now, including an Aldi at Fort Totten, Lidl in Columbia Heights, a Whole Foods at Walter Reed, Wegman's on Wisconsin Avenue NW.

15 Minute City.  The reason the "15 Minute [Walking] City" concept bugs me isn't the aspiration--that most everything you want is within 3/4 mile walking distance which for able bodied people is about 15 minutes--it's because the provision of retail and services don't work, at least if you want them to be cost competitive at such distances.

Note that a "15 Minute Bicycling City" makes way more sense.  That's a 2.5 mile area radius riding at 12mph and an area of 19 square miles.  Pushing it out just a bit further, our Manor Park house is accessible to so many places, not just in DC, but across the border in Maryland like Silver Spring, University Boulevard, and the University of Maryland College Park, and 5 or so miles to Downtown DC, Union Station, etc.

About food stores on the nonprofit side, there are at least five motivations, a lack of stores (without regard to retail trade area), campaign promises, ideology, good intentions, and market reality.

Balancing amongst them, and creating a store that remains successful in the long term is tricky.

Things I learn going to events by closely observing and analyzing them

Movable table, but no chairs.

As mentioned in the previous entry, last Saturday was the Celebrate at the Confluence event sponsored by Seven Canyons Trust, held at Three Confluences Park on Salt Lake City's West Side.

I went.  While I was there the turnout was pathetic, which underlies the recent entry, "There should be community bulletin boards in commercial districts (and other places)."

I found out about it from a posting on NextDoor.  Again, I don't subscribe to various social media sites, where I may have been able to get information about it.  But what about all the people that get those notices, where were they?

Compared to the "grand opening" event four years ago, there were way fewer public organization participants, only one food truck, BUT a beer tent, and like before, music on the plaza.

I still enjoyed it, not just because of the beer, but because part of my enjoyment comes from the analysis.

Some of the things I learned:

• Movable tables and chairs are really cool, pioneered by Bryant Park.  But put out more chairs than two per table.  Larger groups will take chairs from empty tables, leaving nowhere to sit.
• If you want to make that particular park great, it needs to be regularly programmed.  Including activities for Spanish speakers, who make up a goodly segment of the population in the Greater West Side.
• There were only four groups with booths.  Three were issue related: Seven Canyons Trust, Jordan River Commission, and Utah Rivers Coalition.  Plus booths for doing stuff by Make Salt Lake, a makers space.
• The City Parks agency and other city agencies like the Mayor's Office or the Councilmember weren't represented.  Neither was the Glendale Community Council, which has banners up on the street.
• In 2022, the independent convenience store across the street marketed bait for fishing.  They don't anymore.
• They had corporate volunteers from Goldman Sachs and Delta Airlines--the major operator at Salt Lake International Airport.  Sugar House Park needs to develop similar relationships.  A couple people from Delta flew in from NYC, probably mostly for a vacation and service credits, but they weren't needed based on the turnout.
• I need to bring my own bag or backpack to events and shouldn't expect a booth to be offering bags
• Too many temporary recycling cans, not enough trash cans.  It would have been a good time to put those posters about what is appropriate to recycle and what isn't as an environmental education opporunity (and SLCGreen, the sanitation department could have been an exhibitor)

• Provide larger rolling carts (like from Home Depot) to help exhibitors move stuff from their vehicles to the site and back more efficiently.
• Some big events--and this wasn't--have ATM machines.  What about creating temporary phone charger setups?  I guess my battery is getting too much use and is starting to lose its charge.
• Usually the corporate volunteers get lunch provided by their firm.  Do they contract with food trucks for it?  If not, they should because that increases the demand and profits for the food trucks, making it more worthwhile to come out to the site.

• The beer garden area, granted it was on a hill, didn't have chairs and just a couple of tables.
• This was an unusual event with beer in a Salt Lake City Park.  It's allowed, not brought in by individuals, but as a special event permit.  Usually in a fenced off area.  They didn't have a fenced in area, but "signs saying no beer past this point."  With monitors at those points.  It seems a lot more chill to do it that way.
• I figured a cheat code on beer--I don't drink much anyway so it wouldn't matter to me.  Bring a couple different plastic cups to be able to have the same type as they use on the site, and bring your own beer and surreptiously pour one for your own consumption.  
• Although to be fair, Fisher Beer, a great brewpub in the city, charged the same prices at the event that they do at their brewpub.  But if you drink a lot, and its cheap swill type beer, the idea of bringing your own might pay off.

Music

• The Main Street Approach trainings I went to said that special events have to provide something to do, something to eat and drink, music, and restrooms.
• The problem with music is that depending on how loud it is it competes with everything else.  The exhibitor booths were placed too close to the music--even though it wasn't particular loud--so that it was hard to talk and hear, especially as those of us who age are losing some of our hearing.
• Place the exhibitor booths farther away from the amplified music
• As part of the music offerings, why not have one or two slots for karaoke, to get more community involvement.
• Provide larger rolling carts (like from Home Depot) to help musicians move their often heavy equipment like amps and speakers from their vehicles to the site and back
• Does it make more sense to provide a set of speakers that people can just connect to?
• The handwashing station had soap and paper towels, but no water.
• Technically this is a design issue for tent manufacturers.  The stage was set up with a 20 foot wide? tent.  It had three poles on each side.  If the middle poles were replaced with hard clear plastic instead of metal, view of the performers would be less obstructed. You can't see it in this photo, but the lead singer/guitarist often stood right in front of that pole.
• The items in the Silent Auction weren't that great.

Park/Urban Design/Maintenance

• Note that the Park has great design features wrt "the water}, allowing people to get close to the water in some areas, to view it from higher up in others, and where you don't want people to walk, incorporates native plantings.  It's okay to have one off special treatments for particular parks, depending on land and design context.
• Speaking of plantings.  Damn good.  Pretty much damn good too for the interpretational signage, which makes sense because the park is one of the newest in the system, so it was able to get new signage following the more recent guidance in the Salt Lake City Parks, Open Space, and Trail Signage Guidelines.  They didn't have to pay to replace older signage, which is always put on the back burner.
• There isn't a good gateway sign for the Park.  Salt Lake City Parks don't have dominant gateway signs at parks.  They have a blade sign with small type as their newest version.  It would disappear among the plantings, and can't compete with the commercial signage next door and across the street.  I suggest using a sign sized just like the V&L Auto Repair location next door.
• The standard size is 7 feet tall and 18 inches wide.  Too small.

The V&L Auto Repair sign is in the distance, but on the street, would dwarf the typical 7 foot tall city park entry/gateway sign.

I'm just dying to be able to put a parking garage style neon sign at the entrance to Sugar House Park, or on buildings we hope to develop in the future.

• Speaking of gateway signage, there should be a sign on the east bank of the Jordan River Parkway Trail.
• The interpretation signage at the Park should have included gnarly photos of before.  Most government communications tries to be positive.  And planning documents.  Show bad practice. People need to be able to see before and after to understand the depth of improvements and change. 
• One interpretation sign is slightly broken.  Were I holding an event, I'd try to do a walk through with enough time beforehand so that such problems could be fixed in advance.
• On the Parkway at the trail point where the bridge across the Confluences connects to the east bank of the River, there is no Jordan River Parkway trailhead sign.
• Restrooms and signage would enable the site to serve as a formal trailhead as part of the Jordan River Parkway.
• There were temporary porta potties, but if you want to make the park great, it needs a permanent restroom.  
• There are a couple of blank walls, one for the scenic overlook on the north side of the confluence, one on the south side, the retaining wall separating the Park from the abutting auto repair shop.  Seems to me an opportunity for public art as a way to ward off the potential for (more) graffiti. 
• This also relates to my point about thinking creatively about incorporating public art into facilities.  This would be an art program, safety and maintenance program all in one.  See: "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Five | Planning for Public Art as an element of park facilities" and "Gaps in Parks Master Planning, Part Six | Art(s) in the Park(s) as a comprehensive program."
• Another opportunity may have been with a creative/artistic set of bicycle racks rather than the traditional hoops.

Fish decorative bicycle rack, Education Center with mural, 

Colorado Lagoon Park, Long Beach, California

A lot of empty space on that wall is perfect for graffiti.

• Even in 2022 I recommended that Parks invest better in walking and biking connections to the park, including crosswalks.  It still pertains.

 

• People had dogs, could we create street furniture appurtenance "hooks" for them to be tied to?
• As I have been recommending since 2003, electric plugs should be placed in tree boxes for more connections.  That would allow lighting for display booths and later hours.
• They do have a main box supporting electricity needs for the stage.
• Electrical connections should be provided for food trucks to reduce negative environmental impact including noise.
• As plantings have grown since the park opened in 2021, signage is obscured.  Make sure it's visible through pruning.
• The entrance to the park is set up as an upside down Y, connecting at an inner walkway.  Right there they have a bicycle rack.  A bicycle rack should really be placed more on the side of the space.
• Maybe they think it's okay in terms of its relationship to the Plaza, not the walkways.

Visitor center/trailhead/restroom facility

• Next door to the park is an old bungalow, that doesn't seem to be kept up very well these days.  But they allowed a bike valet service to set up in the front yard and there was an ambulance on call for first aid parked in the back yard.  I don't know if the City or Seven Canyons Trust or another entity owns that house.  But someone should.  It could be converted to a visitor and community center for the park.

• An example is how the University Neighborhood Partners program of the University of Utah has its office in a similar bungalow next to Jordan Park ("University of Utah University Neighborhood Partners program and community revitalization in West side Salt Lake City/County").  Although it doesn't seem as if it is designed to be a space open to the public.
• You could at least have some open hours and access to restrooms even if the building is closed.  The historic house across from Draper Centennial Park
• More parks should plan for this kind of co-location

Public restrooms for the Draper Historic Park, Draper, Utah

are located on the back of the Sorenson Home Museum

Conclusion.  All in all, I had a fun day.  I got to make many observations.  I picked up some great collateral materials which help trigger ideas for Sugar House Park.  (Couldn't get big printed documents from Utah Rivers Council, will have to go to their office.  I also noticed a printout for "Tabling Guidelines."  I hope I can get a copy.)  And a beer in a beautiful setting at a decent enough price.

Most importantly, incredibly great weather.  It was gorgeous day to be out.

Daylighting creeks in Salt Lake City: Creating the Three Confluences Park

Last Saturday was the Celebrate at the Confluence event sponsored by Seven Canyons Trust, held at Three Confluences Park on Salt Lake City's West Side.

Seven Canyons Trust worked with the city to create the park by daylight the confluence of Red Butte Creek, Emigration Creek, and Parley's Creek at 900 West  ("Salt Lake City’s newest park is now open — see where three creeks meet on the west side," Salt Lake Tribune).  It opened in 2021.

The Trust grew out of a University of Utah planning design studio, which focused on the concept of daylighting creeks throughout Salt Lake Canyon.

The Wasatch Front is full of canyons and creeks.  The creeks, fed by snowmelt and rain, empty into the Jordan River which in turn flows into the Great Salt Lake.  Area communities capture this for the bulk of their water consumption.  (Once they are past the canyon, rain and stormwater, plus water releases from the canyons, make up the water flow.)

An 1800s citizen movement to protect the watershed.  Because of citizen concerns in the late 1800s about the quality of water supplies because the creeks and rivers were mostly used for dumping waste including dead animals, and the denuding of canyon forests for wood, they advocated for the creation of national forests as a way to protect the water supply.

Phillips Arch in the boundaries of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.  Photo: Tim Petersen.

Today Utah is a leader in trying to overturn federal ownership of public lands.  These days that's particularly ironic, because at the State level and the State's representatives in Congress, including the particularly odious Senator Mike Lee, Utah is a leader in trying to get federal public lands given to the state.  And the state (and Senator Lee) want to develop these lands as much as possible ("Thanks to Utah, Americans are about to lose their public lands," Moab Times-Independent).  

For example, the State supports the reduction in size of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument ("Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Under Attack from Utah Members of Congress," Earthjustice).  And it suggested that the federal lands in the Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons--also used by for profit ski resorts in the winter, should be converted to state control.  To what ends...?

The State of Utah funded an ad campaign promoting its preference for federal lands being "returned" to the state.  Note that the State Constitution says federal lands should always be federal ("Here’s how much Utah is spending on a public relations campaign for its lawsuit seeking control of public land," Salt Lake Tribune).

Forest Service changes to increase for profit use of forests at the expense of conservation and public use.  Moving the US Forest Service to Utah ("The Forest Service Is Moving to Utah. Here’s What That Means for Our Public Lands," Outside) and the firing of scientists there ("Forest Service Sheds Research Capacity in Move to Utah," PEER) furthers this agenda.

How the Trump Administration is selling the move: "USDA Prioritizing Common Sense Forest Management, Moves Forest Service."

Undergrounding into pipes creeks and rivers.  But I digress.  In many urban areas, starting in the 1800s, creeks and rivers were covered and diverted into underground pipes.  

In DC, that's happened with Tiber Creek.  Someone who worked in a building abutting the old creek said you could hear it sometimes.  

In my Manor Park neighborhood, a creek at Fort Slocum was undergrounded--but the area still has a high water table and flooding--we had to install two sump pumps as a result of that and increasingly "robust" rain events.

DC still has other streams, even if it doesn't have an active daylighting program.  The Anacostia Watershed Society, Anacostia Riverkeeper, and Washington Parks & People lead efforts to remove litter and improve water quality for creeks that run into the Anacostia River.

Rock Creek Conservancy does the same for the DC and Suburban Maryland sections of the Potomac River Watershed, alongside the Potomac River Conservancy.

RFK Jr. may be willing to swim in it.  I think it's still premature ("Kennedy Swims in Washington Creek That Flows With Sewage and Bacteria," New York Times).  But ever closer, at least for the River, except that it took a major step backwards when a wastewater line burst, flowing into the River for weeks before it was repaired and contained ("A Huge Sewage Spill Is Over, but Contamination Lingers in the Potomac," NYT).

Daylighting.  For 20ish years at least, there has been a movement for daylighting--restoring these creeks and rivers.  Seoul is particularly famous for removing a freeway that had been built on a river.  In 2020, the Catharijnesgel Canal in Utrecht, Netherlands, was restored after being filled in during the 1970s to create a 12-lane freeway.  Etc.  

Before and after, Cheonggyecheon Restoration Project.

I think I first came across the concept in an issue of the Urbanite, a magazine that focused on Baltimore urbanism, which sadly went defunct as a result of the 2008 Great Financial Crisis.  

In "The Urbanite Project 2010" "Architect Gabriel Kroiz and environmental lawyer Eliza Smith Steinmeier proposed daylighting Harford Run, a stream that runs under Central Avenue, and turning it into a lively community recreational space."

 3 Confluences Park today and the site in 2007.

Jordan River.  Separately the Jordan River Commission has been charged with restoring the Jordan River (and Utah River in Utah County) as it flows to the Great Salt Lake.  One thing they did that's really cool is the Jordan River Parkway trail along the River from Utah Lake in Utah County to the Great Salt Lake in Davis County--I've ridden parts of it but then I got sick and couldn't bike ride--over 60 miles.

View of the 3 Confluences from the east bank of the Jordan River/Jordan River Parkway Trail.

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.

Underpasses don't always have to be grim, forgotten interstitial spaces

Freeway underpasses, spaces, and abutments tend to be grim and dingy interstitial spaces.

Some places have parking.  Others homeless encampments.

A homeless encampment on West Crowther Avenue and the 57 freeway in Placentia, CA will be cleaned out tomorrow. Workers cleaned out an area near there on Wednesday, April 1, 2020. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register)

Toronto has the Bentway under the Gardiner Expressway ("How Toronto transformed a highway underpass into a vibrant public space," Fast Company). (Still air quality issues.)  

I think the Bentway was first conceptualized as a winter feature.  But maybe the intent all along was year round use.  Photo: Bernard Weil, Toronto Star.

Miami's Underline predates The Bentway.  It was first a service road and then bike and walking path underneath the Miami Metrorail.  Metrorail is elevated because of the water table, and the line follows old railroad right of way.  It will be 10 miles long when finished.

There are a bunch of murals in places, on abutments, etc.

This is in Salt Lake.

This roadway underpass in the Central Ninth neighborhood abutting Mead Avenue has painted abutments, a ground treatment and a futsal court.

Public art adorns a freeway overpass and abutments on I-15 in Las Vegas Nevada.  Las Vegas Review Journal photo.

Freeway underpass abutments in Utah constructed of red rock and red tinted concrete, referencing geological history and regionally significant building materials.

Sometimes rocks, to discourage homeless camping.  Also Salt Lake: the underpass over the railroad tracks on 400 South.

Public art incorporated into an overpass, Loop 202 Freeway, Phoenix.  

Photo: Sky Schaudt, KJZZ:  "Q&AZ: Who Designs The Artwork Along Arizona Freeways?)"

Rendering, "Perked-up underpasses to link Detroit neighborhoods," Detroit News.

And Tampa, "Overpass art may be coming to St. Petersburg," Tampa Bay Times.

Sacramento, before and after.  The CalTrans Transportation Art webpage is a great resource.

Painted abutments complemented by plantings. 

 'Second Summer Reflections' is a public artwork created by local artist Andrew Frazer on the underside of the Mega-Bridge in Picton as part of the Wilman Wadandi Highway. The design was painted on the columns supporting the 382-metre-long bridge over a two-month period in late 2024.  

Mural painted freeway abutments, Great Rivers Greenway, St. Louis.  Report: Economic and social impacts of developing the Brickline Greenway

This is what I was looking for originally, painted abutments.  But Flickr's photo search function has stopped working, at least for me, on photos uploaded a long time ago.  I know I have painted abutment examples from Detroit, Toronto, and Salt Lake, but they aren't coming up in searches.  Very very frustrating because I pay for the account.