Just another billboard

I’ve never been quite sure what to make of this plan to build a Discovery Center, whatever that may be, in downtown Manhattan. I don’t really get the point, and have generally considered it to be a get rich quick scheme on the part of some developer or consulting firm. We’ve all seen the Simpsons monorail episode, haven’t we?

The other day, as I was rolling through western Kansas returning from Colorado, where I had gone for a brief vacation, it hit me that this is the kind of thing that all Kansas towns along the I-70 corridor do to try to lure people to stop and spend their money. Actually, it’s something that all towns in drive-through states do. If you’ve ever driven through Kansas, some of this may sound familiar:

• Ride the world-famous C.W. Parker carousel
• Visit Wilson, Czech capital of Kansas
• Shop Wichita
• See the tigers at Rolling Hills

and my personal favorite:

• See the world’s largest prairie dog!

What’s sad is that that same corridor shows so many signs of decay and neglect: abandoned outlet malls, derelict Stuckey’s, closed gas stations, porn shops where kids used to eat ice cream, etc. The fact is that people drive big, fast cars nowadays and don’t need to stop nearly as often, I suspect. It makes all of those billboards and the attractions they advertise seem just a tad desperate: please, please stop in our town and leave a few dollars. Rather than trying to attract tourists with random things, wouldn’t it just make more sense to develop the community to make it livable and pleasant for the existing population? If one does that, it stands to reason that people will stay, businesses will find it worthwhile to remain there, and the community will slowly but surely grow over time. Do we really need to join all those other towns in hanging out a shingle for a gimmick?

A not so little thing

I know the tagline of this blog reads do the little things right, and the rest will follow, but sometimes big things come along that just beg for a reaction. And, no, I don’t mean whether HyVee gets 68,000 or 90,000 square feet. I don’t want that Dial Realty vision of a downtown, either, but there’s a larger threat to our community on the horizon, namely, the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility.

Accidents at a place like that–and really, with humans involved, it’s not a question of if but when an accident will occur–could have ramifications that we would all rather not think about. As a biosecurity level four (BSL-4) lab, it will handle zoonotic pathogens, which are capable of crossing the species barrier and infecting humans. I know life isn’t like the movies, but I’d rather not test that with my own family and friends.

If you think this sounds like a bad idea and want to know more, check out No NBAF in Kansas, a local group opposed to the NBAF. If you find it all disturbing, then do something; this is not one of those times where saner heads will prevail. Your voice must be heard.

Ramps

I once heard Garrison Keillor speaking on the radio about civic activism (I think it was Keillor, anyway). He pointed out that the little improvements that occur over time in a city or town typically don’t happen by themselves, nor because the local government came up with the idea. It takes citizens who ask, lobby, and perhaps even harangue a civic entity to do the right thing with its tax money. One of the specific examples he mentioned: those ramps one finds where sidewalks meet streets. Those didn’t exist 30 years ago in most places, and even though ADA stipulates their necessity, cities are still slow to implement them globally. When I lived in Salt Lake (where I heard Keillor’s talk)–a city where every sidewalk had such a ramp, and nice ones–I always had kind thoughts for those who lobbied for them and got the job done.

If you see a perpetually dangerous intersection, a tree that blocks a view, a sidewalk in desperate need of repair, or any of the hundred other little things that need to be done in a city, it’s your job to report it. Cities don’t have people trolling the streets looking for things to do. They couldn’t afford this. Unless you live in NYC, you can’t just call 311, either. You’ll need to dig through your local government’s structure and find the right person, who, more often than not, is in my experience all too happy to have direct citizen feedback, since it beats having to clean up fatalities or other disasters. On those occasions where your call leads to direct action, you can take silent pride knowing that you likely set the ball in motion.

Flat leaf parsley? I’m in heaven

While shopping recently at Dillon’s west, I nearly fell to my knees and wept. There it was, piled between the kale and the cilantro: Italian flat leaf parsley. After a couple of years of deprivation, I can once again make all of those parsley recipes twelve months a year. Oh my!

We need an ice sheet

A while back, Manhattan voters soundly rejected a bond proposal that would have funded the construction of an aquatic/recreation center. While I would have enjoyed such a facility, the price tag was simply too high for a community of this size.

Beyond the price, however, I’d like to see more diversity in the recreational opportunities. We have pools already, perhaps not enough, but far better than many communities. In the Northeast, many communities have no public pool, while we have three in a city of 50,000.

What don’t we have in terms of recreational facilities? An ice rink. Ice sheets have many, many uses: hockey, figure skating lessons, recreational skating, short-track speedskating, etc. In summer you can kill the freezer and use the surface for roller hockey and other activities. Anyone who’s ever been around any ice rink in the nation knows that they are booked literally all day long, and often deep into the night. Moreover, they’re largely just basic large metal structures with little adornment. The only expensive system is the coils, and the cost of running them. Even dinky little towns in Canada can afford their own rinks, which speaks to their low cost.

While I was glad to hear that Manhattan is building a larger sheet in the near future, it will still be a fraction of a regulation hockey sheet. Why bother? Spend the money, build a larger sheet, and give us something to do in the winter that makes sense. I’ll vote for that.

Caucuses are fun

Tonight was the Kansas Democratic Party’s caucus for the presidential election, and I had the chance to attend and cast my vote for a certain Illinois senator. Having never done this before, it was an interesting experience, not least since it harkens back to a different era when personal participation in politics was perhaps more routine, as in, say, Athens. The attendance was clearly far more than anyone had expected, but the chaos that resulted was more than offset by the generally positive vibe in the crowd. I was proud to be among such civil people, who came out in really dreadful weather in a state where Republican candidates carry the day in presidential elections more often than not to express themselves and provide energy to their candidates’ campaigns.

Sidewalks, poor things

Winter is such a hard time for sidewalks. Between the snow, grit, excessive salt, and incessant freeze/thaw cycles, it’s amazing they survive as long as they do.

What’s really hard, however, is that so many people who have them clearly do not observe their civic obligation to maintain the sidewalk in front of their homes. Simple things like clearing snow and ice should be no-brainers, and most people at least accomplish that. That’s about where it stops, however. Walking down my street right now is a demonstration of how most Americans–not prone to walking as it is–don’t walk anywhere from November to April. There are branches stacked on sidewalks, cars straddling sidewalks, and one dog owner clearly too lazy to pick up their dog’s droppings in the winter months. That’s just nasty; there was poop everywhere you looked.

Perhaps I’m old-fashioned. My daughter, a tender six years, walks to school in almost any weather. She walked last week with her little friend when it was about five degrees outside. I’m pretty proud of her, and she’s even encouraged a neighbor friend to walk with her of late. They have grand fun cutting through some secret lawn passage to get to school even sooner. At any rate, this is what sidewalks are for, and while she’s not always happy about walking, she’s beginning to get the picture.

But Manhattan, as it passes from sleepy college town to bustling small city, is clearly selling its soul to developers who just want to drop in retail and McMansions. There are practically no traffic lights in the vast majority of Manhattan. Lights slow people down, and make it possible for people not in cars to cross major intersections. If you don’t have those, most people will drive, period. It bears repeating: putting in things like zebra stripes, lights, and decent sidewalks is not glamorous, but it does more for a city’s livability than yet another chain store.