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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

As in Peerless, one of the tire joints in Manhattan. This isn’t a better business bureau blog, nor am I seeking to endorse any business in particular, but when someone provides service like I got yesterday, you just have to give them some props.

J and I got in the car after work yesterday, and I noticed a rather severe pull to the left. This may have had something to do with the completely flat front left tire. It was 5:00 p.m., and I thought, great, there goes half of my Saturday trying to get this fixed. I changed the tire, threw the salty, gritty, flat mess into the hatch, and went to fetch the children. Around 5:40 or so, we were passing Peerless Tyre on Anderson, so I thought perhaps I could at least drop it off and get it out of the car. I said that to the guy who took it from me, and he said, nah, just come back at 6:00 when we close. I came back as instructed, it was fixed, they put it back on, and for a whopping $11.00 that saga was over.

Choosing local or regional businesses such as this always has an upside, as I discovered yet again yesterday.

I’m rarely ever on campus so I’m sure this is old news, but I just found out today and thought I’d mention it. I saw an ad for Go Green Curbside Recycling. Best wishes to the entrepreneurs - it’s been at least, oh, about 10 years since the last private attempt at this. The history has been that the business lasts until the individual graduates and moves on. At least it’s an option again for residents who don’t have the time to make the trip to Howie’s.

I haven’t been there yet, but the food is delicious (according to two people I know).  The restaurant,  della Voce, is on Poyntz, just east of Gaia Salon.

It’s been a difficult adjustment living in Manhattan in terms of air travel. Sure, we have an airport, but there are so few flights that it’s rare that one can find an itinerary that actually works from Manhattan. More often than not, it’s off to MCI in Kansas City, which is two hours away at best. Not having lived more than an hour from a major airport–and often, much closer–in about 15 years, it’s still a learning process in terms of planning.

So my point here isn’t that Manhattan should have more flights. That’s a silly thing to request, since it’s simply a question of profit. We would, however, benefit from more options when it comes to airport shuttles. It’s simply too costly and environmentally unsound to drive a private car over four hours to catch a flight, so a shuttle should be a viable option. Trouble is, I believe that Manhattan has one and only one option, that being Roadrunner. Nothing against Roadrunner, but I have a hard time believing that with a large military base, a major university, and the I-70 corridor this region could not support at least one more shuttle service. Competition would be good. Beyond lowering the price, perhaps, it would mean more scheduling options and more incentive to offer comfort and other little perks.

This was certainly an unusual experience. Last night, while getting out of the car with the family to have dinner at Little Apple, I looked down and saw a rather oddly crumpled dollar bill laying on the ground. I had parked around the corner in front of the little salon tucked behind Little Caesar’s, so it was kind of a quiet spot. It looked like someone had accordioned the dollar origami-style, but I figured it was just that way since someone had jammed it in their pocket or something.

So, not one to reject free money (I even pick up nickels), I picked it up. I uncrumpled it a bit and saw that there was a piece of paper inside. It read:

This dollar is for you - a small gift for you from me
What you will do with it - that, I’ll never see
It’s just a small reminder that there are people out there who care
I hope the joy it gives you - you will go out and share.

I’ve got one part of that covered: I’m writing this post to share this random bit of generosity. Somehow just putting it in my wallet or buying some candy for the kids seems like a waste. I feel like I should do something more significant with it, lest I be cursed for seven years or something.

Can’t do much with a dollar, but I’m thinking I should use it as seed money for some sort of collection. I’m looking for suggestions. Anyone have ideas? One thought I had was to ask anyone who reads this and knows me to toss in a couple of bucks and see how much I can pull together for some local charity such as the Breadbasket, CASA, the Women’s Crisis Center, etc.