In This Together

It's when we start working together that the real healing takes place... 

it's when we start spilling our sweat, and not our blood.     
David Hume 

The conclusions I reached in Youth Center Demolished! Notes From a Community Planning Meeting went against my own best understandings of place making. Part ideology, part theory, part social, political, economic and other research, and part faith, I have always held to the idea of inclusion and collaborative place making (definition below). The 'more the merrier,' the 'we all bring something to the table,' the 'best leaders teach others to lead' sort of thing. You know the type. But here was this meeting, this meeting of a few brave and caring souls. And then there was my own involvement and reflection. And then there were my conclusions. 

My conclusions are not entirely clear as I re-read the post. I obviously felt that a single individual created a vision of place had the potential to showcase the best of what the town and region has to offer. This is what I thought, and I was thinking really hard. The potential for education and reflection, even in a little park like this is immeasurable I though, thinking even harder. Great dams and vast expanses of teeming deserts, river riparian areas, agricultural histories and settlements that stretch back centuries, a spaceport and ghost towns. I was really really thinking. The education panels could be gorgeous, innovative and remarkable designs. Lots of old photos, lots of place narratives, lots of histories. Then there were the gardens celebrating local food ways, and the local flora, and the gentle gurgle of healing water...

Now I am not so sure my fevered response was much a whole lot different than my beer gardens! pony rides! public place design! response that swept me up in the initial design frenzy. In a single heated sweep I set aside collaboration and community in favor of what I saw as visionary aesthetic leadership, measured as it was and aided by an almost magical illustrator. of course the meeting itself was organized by a collaborative effort. And there might have been just a dozen contributors, but they were fine contributors. Enthusiastic like myself. I have not lessened in my regard for this beautiful vision. Not in the least. It is still one of the most evocative place renderings I have seen lately, and I look at a lot of them. It is what I study. It is my passion these days. 

What I did do was sweep aside my long held place making ideas and ideals and in the process also made myself a powerful judge and jury of one. Banish the thought. How very important I must be! is what I am thinking now, thinking back (I do promise to stop with the thinking soon). Is it the fact that I am blogging about this experience? What a strange verb. Me and 6.7 million other people, according NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company (http://blog.nielsen.com). Another 12 million write blogs using their social networks. This company tracked over 181 million blogs around the world, up from 36 million only five years earlier in 2006. I got lost in this universe the other day and was astounded by the scope and the writing.  

My goal in creating this blog was to provide a platform where my some of my place ethnographic research, including field work, interviews, observations and history research in T or C could be shared. I try to teach my students that all 'researchers' bring themselves into their observations. We think about the world certain ways and in turn tell our stories from this place. But I also constantly emphasize that scholars should strive to be good observers, seeking to observe without judgement, to be diligent in their data collection and open to the emergent and persistent patters they see in their data. How's that working out for me? Over 600 people have looked at this small online field book/journal. I need to observe more, report more, write more history, and think less I think. Shut up and listen a little. 

This is what I did with Merry Jo Fahl the other day, and it was some good ass-kicking learning. I feel this way every time I hang out with Sherry Lane Fletcher, but that's a post for another day. Here is a picture of Sierra County's Campo Espinoso though, which will be the focus of a post soon. I do love the blogging universe, if only to keep a record of what I promise to do.  

The Campo Espinoso wildlife refuge. http://www.campoespinoso.org/

The idea that there are powerful place makers among us whose vision affects the physical and imagined shapes of our places more than others is a big one in the literature on place making, along with the idea that place malign must be a collaborative effort to affect real and lasting change in a community. Place making includes all of the things that a community does to create a sense of place. A sense of place, according to a pretty straightforward definition by the The National Trust for Historic Preservation, are those things that add up to a feeling that a community is a special place, distinct from anywhere else.

The question of how we collaborate to create places, our shared place making practices, is a big question that drives my dissertation research. This  it is one of the things I am most interested in learning both in a scholarly way and professionally. There is only so much you can read before you have to take to the road and look around to see how ideas play out on the ground. In theory at least, if you plan on working out in the world. There is a lot of theory on the subject of place and place making that I am familiar with, another 'coming soon!,' post. On the ground a few weekends ago I fundamentally questioned some of my basic 'it takes a village' assumptions, but then I was reminded that one page does not make a book, and I am about a  paragraph into the ethnographic story of Truth or Consequences. I have a lot of ground to cover.

I talked to Merry Jo Fahl, district manager of the Sierra Soil and Water Conservation District, about the still-under-construction but open to the public Healing Waters Trail. (From which the "Healing Waters Plaza' gleefully took its name.) I am, in addition to all of the other things I am attempting to do these days, trying to be useful to the community I am researching. ,  Being useful, collaborative and so on are part of a new model of research that universities are, in theory, encouraging. In theory means that it sounds great in vision statements. 

Collaboration between researchers, or the University we represent, and the communities where we do our research if it is not in a lab or library, is not a new idea by any means. But it is one that is re-emerging with considerable force. In practice what it often means is there is a lot of money for corporate collaboration and research, where dollars come into the university, not so much for history and humanity types who go out into communities. But it sounds great, and I personally believe it, so I offered to write a brief institutional and cultural history of the Healing Waters Trail for promotion, education and the like. 

As I sat down to talk with Merry Jo, and she recounted the incredible journey of collaboration and hard work and years that great place making projects demand, I was reminded that my best ideas about places are not my own, but are learned. They are hard lessons that people have learned over years, and I am learning mine. The good one are always the hard one. 

In an interview with Sid Bryan of Pelican fame, a place maker of considerable might, I asked what he thought made for sustainable and great place making practices. And he said it started with people who were committed to sticking around. In another interview, I asked a local resident why she stayed, and she replied that you either decide to pack it up, or you dig in a little harder, and accept that we are all in this together. I will write soon about Healing Water Trail, which I plan to hike with my girl the week after next. Here is a note from the T or C City website that asks readers to envision places that we can create working together, digging in our heals, and spilling sweat. Or in my case, words. But sharing visions can create realities, or so this place narrative goes...

Envision a trail that...

...celebrates the ancient healing traditions of the hot mineral springs, connects us to native and migratory birds and wildlife along the Rio Grande, and brings us to a park for quiet reflection of those who have served our country.

...weaves together a multitude of historic, cultural, artistic and natural elements into a unique tapestry.

...offers numerous amenities for residents and visitors alike, including:

• Enhanced quality of life.
• Relaxation for body, mind and spirit in the hot mineral waters of restored bathhouses.
• Enjoyment of public art of the WPA era and present time.
• A healthy place to bike, walk, jog and play.
• Access to the river for fishing, boating and bird-watching.
• A step back to the times of the pit dwellers, the Apaches, the dam builders, and the natural healers who shaped this place.
• A stroll past buildings and homes listed on the National Historic Register.
• A replica of the Vietnam Healing Wall for quiet meditation.

This vision could become a reality...

In January 2008, a group of local citizens representing broad interests in Truth or Consequences began to make this vision of a Healing Waters Trail a reality.

The overarching goal of their efforts is to produce a "Healing Waters Trail Plan," which will be used to acquire funding and to implement the trail. This plan will answer questions concerning a variety of issues, including what route the trail will follow, what the trail will look like, how the historic and natural resources along the trail will be preserved and highlighted, how the trail will be maintained and protected, and how to address trail safety.

The project has received support from the City of Truth or Consequences, the New Mexico Soil and Water Conservation District, and the National Park Service, and it continues to gain momentum as more local residents offer their ideas and suggestions.

Youth Center Demolished! Notes from a Community Planning Meeting

At the Site of the Old Youth Center. Photo by Tita Berger 25 August 2012

 

Old Youth Center Site/New Public Park Space

Community Design Workshop

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

Sponsored by: 

Workshop Agenda

August 24 Friday Evening

6 pm to 8 pm

• Welcome and Introductions
• Community input and discussion on existing conditions and issues

• Community ideas on programming of park space (community needs and users)

August 25 Saturday

9 am to 10:30 am

•  Presentation of inspirational ideas on vibrant public spaces, parks, and placemaking.

10:30-2 pm

• Community works in small design groups facilitated by a design team member
•  Workign lunch provided with music

2 pm to 3 pm

• Each design group presents their ideas/concepts

3 pm to 5 pm

• Community and Design Team formulate a preferred design plan based on the design groups' concepts

The Design Team will take the preferred concept, refine it, ad present it to the community and city commissioners a a future public meeting. Be sure to provide your name and contact info on the sign-in sheet if you would like to be informed of this presentation. 

The Design Team:

CommunityByDesign: Charlie Deans, NMMS (New Mexico Main Street) Urban Design Associate, 520-444-1267. Paige Winslett, Lanscape Designer/Community Planner

WH Studio: William Powell, NMMS Architectural Design Associate

Milagro Design: Lisa Flynn, Architectural Illustrator

************************************************************************************************************

The above is a fairly exact replica of the agenda for the community design meeting that took place on the last weekend in August. The meeting was not well attended, despite the critical importance of the site as the "heart" of downtown and the Historic Bathhouse District. (For a lengthy reflection on the "heart" of places, see The Death and Life of Ordinary American Towns: Part II) There were about a dozen people present. A dozen is about .001% of the population. The ideas were plentiful and the group lively regardless. 

This was my first participant/observant planning experience. I was a little better at the participating than the observation, which I generally try to check, although not always successfully. The more that I thought about the meeting, the more I was taken with a single great idea that was presented there. And the more I reflected in my own will-to-design manic excitement, let's put the pony rides here! and the beer garden there! the more that I considered the process as process, whose end was not a design, but a method that moves the process forward in an efficient way, but also strives to be inclusive and democratic. 

Years ago, I asked the very first person that I pitched the idea of a place study on Truth or Consequences what he would identify as the most important aspect of good place making. He said that good communities have good leaders. He had worked in New Mexico communities for thirty years and this was the most important thing he knew about good places. I countered with the idea that everyone brims with this potential. Maybe, he replied, if they have a good leader. 

************************************************************************************************************

The Lee Belle Johnson Senior Recreation Center

Day One: 

The design meeting was held at the Lee Belle Johnson Senior Recreation Center. According to the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Hot Springs Historic Bathhouse District, the Senior Center at 301 Foch Street is a Works Projects of America (WPA) project completed in 1938. The "former Hot Spring Community Center is one of the best examples of the Spanish-Pueblo Revival style in Sierra County (Sec 7, pg. 17). The completion of the project was held up by labor shortages due to the work on the Carrie Tingley Children's Hospital and construction of a new courthouse. "The completion of the project prompted boosters to envision that Hot Springs might emerge as a convention center in the Southwest," the short history adds. It was the Hot Springs Women's Club, who had "advocated...a centrally located public place for residents and visitors alike to read and socialize." This is an intriguing glimpse into history, especially the idea of a place to read. 

Day 1 was a few hours on a Friday night. Charlie Deans of New Mexico Main Street (NNMS). NMMS sponsored, organized and facilitated the charrette, along with the local Truth or Consequences Main Street board, headed by the extraordinary Linda DeMarin, and the City of Truth or Consequences. Charlie is a quick thinking, enthusiastic and friendly guy, all good facilitator qualities. City manager Juan Fuentes began with a presentation about the cost of demolition and the remaining monies, which was not too much I gathered from the collective follow up questions. I missed the main presentation, having driven in a little late. 

Charlie spent the remainder of the time given a little background, and facilitating  a site brainstorming. This began with a site overview. We looked at maps, and Charlie  talked about space, connections, visibility and other considerations. He of course mentioned that the heart of downtown was, quite literally, at stake. The thing Charlie discussed at the most length was how people imagined this space could be energized and activated downtown. I have always been a fan of the "art in public places" in New Mexico, and wish a sister organization could be started called "people in public places." He urged his small audience to think about context, from streets to history. He encouraged participants to think about programming--the context-specific and event-specific ways that space will be used. In other words, the the how and why and when people use public spaces.

Charlie Deans from NNMS listens intently to the participants. 

Day Two: 

Day Two began with a Power Point that Charlie and the design team (see agenda above) had put together after the first round the night before. Granted, the team had a good foundation of experience, but it was still a nice bit of visual and theoretical work on the town and the site. 

The participants. 

As noted in the agenda, the presentation included 'inspirational ideas on vibrant public spaces, parks, and placemaking.' Charlie had a few examples from Project for Public Spaces (PPS), "a nonprofit planning, design and educational organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities." (http://www.pps.org). I am a big fan of this site and the projects it highlights. Place matters noted Charlie, but people matter more. The community is the expert when it comes to places, he added. The goal of the planning meeting was to create a place, not a design, something akin to a living room for the community, a comfortable place where people can sprawl out and feel at home, locals and visitors alike. (The 'sprawl out' comment was my own interpretation). Charlie often referred to the lists that had been writing on flip board paper the night before, and sought additional input on place history and place memory. 

Friday Brainstorming

The rest of the day was spend in the design process. Three groups, armed with a map of the site and downtown, a transparency laid over the map, a set of really nice high quality markers (design pens!) and a design team facilitator, were tasked with the job of taking the ideas presented and realizing them in a conceptual design. At this point I should have assumed my observer role, and faithfully journeyed from group to group, noting patterns of behavior and action, capturing elements of how this group of a little more than a dozen was enacting place on a one-dimensional surface. But I was too busy with my own group (all women, all fabulous), designing the ultimate park. And I do mean designing! We had Lisa Flynn, an architectural designer out of Santa Fe who owns Milagro Design, taking our ideas and rendering them beautifully, almost like a fairy-tale illustrator bringing ideas to life on the page. 

It was heady stuff, and we jumped right in. It felt, and I have really pondered this, because I have thought through this meeting to very lengthy and uncertain ends, a little like getting someone else's money and getting to spend it. Like Vegas on someone else's buck. This was just me, of course, I really hope this post will elicit at least one comment from another participant. Other groups took some time to list goals, and there were, on the whole, really extraordinary ideas and a tremendous enthusiasm.  I will take a minute to post the majority of the photos I took, which were far too few, because they do a good job of capturing some of this energy and spirit. I might have taken more pictures had I not been so engaged with creating the BEST-PLACE-EVER.   

Participants participating in design.

Rendering ideas in full color.

Design Group hard at work.

Layers of ideas. 

Design Group presentation, with design elements. 

Healing Waters Plaza

The best-place-ever feeling got dimmer and dimmer that longer I thought about the meeting, the longer I thought about one particular design, and the more that I processed my own experiences. But on the day in question, I was so delighted with my group (I am not sure how the other groups worked together, I sensed some monopolizing, but as I noted I was so damn busy participating I had very little time to observe), it was hard not to get caught up in the moment.

Early on Day 2, Sazi from the Sierra Grande came by to participate. After listening for a good while, she reminded the group that people came to the Sierra Grande, the best and most elegant of the town's bathhouses, for rejuvenation and relaxation. They came, and put a good deal of money into the local coffers, in order to sooth their spirit and heal their bodies and souls. While the event-driven desires of the groups as a whole (fiestas! events! music ! movies on the back wall! fountains!) were understandable and welcome as evidence of community-building, they did not perhaps reflect what the town really had to offer. We have a park with many of the amenities already in place, she remarked, so why were we striving to create another one, even if it was a newer and better model? What about ideas of conservation and education? 

Another of the groups participants had mentioned the conservation work that Ted Turner was doing, and Sazi reminded the group that a great many people who came to the area were deeply interested in the the history of the area as both a 'southwestern/western' place and as a desert place. Why not, she asked, take the park back to the beginning? Create a habitat with some park features for meditation, places to sit and walk, with a lot of places near the Senior Center for educational material and signs. The well (there is a well in the corner of the lot, a very exciting feature) could be used to create a water feature, and the whole place could be showcase for healing and sustainability of self and environment. Sazi had to leave, but designer Lisa Flynn made the ideas come to life with colored pens (see rendering below). 

Ultimately, the day ended with a not a great deal of consensus on what should happen with the space in order to make it a place. The presentation of the soft greens and flowing waters of the conservation park had a profound effect. The enthusiasm shifted, as certain elements were celebrated, such as having a stage for events and music, and water features, of course, but there was an element of thoughtfulness that dampened the full-throttle design work of the day. The name of the place, the Healing Water's Plaza, in light of the urban/downtown/river Healing Water's Trial that is the town's newest attraction, was verbally endorsed. 

The designers and team leaders, architect Will Powell and urban design associate Charlie, landscape architect and community planer Paige Winslett, with architectural illustrator extraordinaire Lisa Flynn, were tasked with creating a design based on the ebb and flow of ideas of the day. I look forward to seeing the ultimate design that Main Street comes up with and hearing what more community members have to say. I found myself still thinking about the conservation park while I was walking through the Rio Grande Nature Center the Sunday I returned to Albuquerque, and later in the week at the beautiful Old Town Plaza. 

What makes a great place? This is a question I have set out to explore in my place study on Truth or Consequences. It is not a question that is easy to answer, or maybe even possible to answer except in part. But it is a question that is worth asking, because our places are our context. They tell us who we are, where we have been, and who we want to become. The are us. 

I can imagine taking a book to the Healing Waters Plaza Conservation Plaza, and meeting a friend to walk the Healing Waters trail at this place, and socializing here. And I can imagine the Fiestas happening on the hardscape of the streets and adjacent parking lots, and replanting some of the grasses every year after the Fiestas are over. But I could not have come up with this idea, because my skills and leadership do not turn this way. So maybe it does take all of us, and sometimes with enough of us someone gets it right. 

The Healing Waters Conservation Plaza comes to life.

The Death and Life of Ordinary American Towns: Part II

Historic Photograph of Hot Springs, New Mexico

http://hotspringsfestival.com/historic_hot_springs.html

The intention to write about the town planning meeting that took place on August 24-25th, 2012, will be thwarted for a day or two. Late as it already is, there are a few more background notes on historic preservation, planning and revitalization to add. A review of the charrette will follow in the next post. A comment made by Charlie Deans, New Mexico Main Street Design Associate and meeting facilitator sparked this post. Charlie said that the space where the now-demolished Youth Center and former Senior Center once stood was both literally and figuratively the heart of Truth or Consequences. The heart of Hot Springs.  

Hearts are a powerful metaphor because they speak to basic needs like blood and air, but they are also used to speak to other essential needs like love, companionship and relationships. The conversation I was reminded of when the “heart of town” was evoked was about the demolition of the Albuquerque Alvarado Hotel. A writer in the local free newspaper, The Alibi, likened the demolition to stopping the beating heart of the city. The heart of any city, even a still heart, is downtown. This is how American colonial town and cities, first built or booming, were arranged. A center place is evident across culture, time and place. It is where communities come together to discuss our shared trial and tribulations. No matter how deserted or run down, no matter how built up or sprawled out a city becomes, the heart remains in downtown. 

 I wrote about Albuquerque’s downtown revitalization while taking my first course in the Historic Preservation and Regionalism certificate program in UNM's School of Architecture. The executive director of the Albuquerque Downtown Action Team, the organization that heads the revitalization efforts, emphatically insisted that places cannot exist without a heart, any more than a foot can exist on its own.  I was reminded of Plato's body politic, a metaphor of body and function loved by Greeks and others throughout the ages. Heart and head and hands and arms, from the single body to the teeming metropolis, all are connected and dependent but recognizable in parts. The summer before, in a cultural landscape documentation course, former Santa Fe County planner and cultural landscape visionary Arnie Valdez likened an acequia to the heart of a community, with arteries sending the lifeblood of water to grow food, but also to grow families and communities. 

View of Santa Fe Plaza in the 1850's, ca. 1930
Gerald Cassidy (1869-1934)

  

Albuquerque Uptown, with its pretend chaco-canyon masonry and its pretend second story businesses, and its pedestrian-friendly business-block model that draws shoppers is a hip place to shop, but it is merely a facade of what eary and mid-century American downtown's looked like. It is thriving, but it is "Up" town,  and ultimately little more than an outdoor shopping mall. No matter where you live or go in Albuquerque, be it an "old" town neighborhood, south valley or suburb, Midtown or the Heights, places in a city are defined by their relation to downtown.  When hearts stop beating, even figurative or symbolic hearts like downtown or community ditches, other things die too.

The Death and Life of Ordinary American Towns: Part I post explored some of the history of the destruction wrought by plans that were going to "save" economically depressed downtown's carried out in the 1960s and 1970s.The title is a take on the iconic planning text written by Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961). Jacobs bashed the government-led destruction of the historic built environments of downtown's across America, and the replacement of vibrant diverse communities with sterile efforts at “rational” planning that were miserable failures. Race and class were always at play, although these elements, like today, were mostly obscured by rhetoric of development. 

In the 1960s however, the good forces in federal government (you know the good forces, the level-headed, thoughtful, largely accountable and transparent folks who strive to make government work for people because the government is the people? no? anyway...) got together to protect America's historic buildings and archeological sites. Early preservation efforts were very nationalistic, which meant that issues of who and what counts as historic, iconic or important were pretty narrow. But preservation has always been local and grassroots, and remains that way. The passage of national legislation was a big step in giving communities the tools to make preservation happen locally.

Historic preservation happens when people and communities protect and preserve places. These are buildings, districts, cultural landscapes, artifacts or other things, like stories or views or traditions, which reflect elements of our shared cultural, social, economic, political, archaeological or architectural history. Preservation strengthens local economies, increases economic and environmental sustainability, fosters beauty and community pride, promotes history, and makes stronger communities. Historic resources are defined as districts, sites, structures, objects or buildings that are greater than seventy-five years in age, and are significant in local, state or national history, architecture, archeology, engineering, or culture. History encompasses all cultures, all economic classes, and all of the cultural,  social, political and private activities that form the background to the present. It is our job to make that history visible, the happy, hard, easy, brutal, generous, hard times and good times history visible  in our communities so it can inform us. I am obviously a convert, but for good reason.

Drawing from the National Park Service Santa Fe Trail Comprehensive Plan

 

The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA) is meant, according to preservation scholar Dr. Robin Elizabeth Datel, to retain diverse elements of past, to perpetuate the distinctive identities of places, to involve people in preservation, and to promote conservation. It does not, contrary to popular belief by the less-than-level-headed, give government the right to control private property or tell property owners what to do. Only local governments can impose restrictions, and these are rarely too onerous. They are also generally welcome. Properties in officially designated historic districts and neighborhoods tend to hold their value much better than other properties, and people pay more to live and retail in these areas because of aesthetic and other regulations. Santa Fe has one of the oldest local oversight boards, and their property values and tourist industry are pretty good.

The Passage of the The National Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places, the list of National Historic Landmarks, and State Historic Preservation Offices. The New Mexico Historic Preservation Division (http://www.nmhistoricpreservation.org) "identifies and protects New Mexico's cultural resources, including its archaeological sites, architectural and engineering achievements, cultural landscapes and diverse heritage. We help communities identify, evaluate, preserve, and revitalize their historic, archaeological, and cultural resources. Preservation happens locally. It is site specific—your building, your block, your town, your landscape. It is built on partnerships. … access to the information you need to help preserve New Mexico's diverse cultural heritage, encourage community revitalization through re-use of existing buildings and enhance heritage tourism opportunities." 

Preservation at Work in Truth or Consequences

 

New Mexico MainStreet Program (http://nmmainstreet.org) is a “grassroots economic development program that assists communities in revitalizing their traditional commercial neighborhoods.  A program of the New Mexico Economic Development Department, MainStreet works throughout New Mexico to help affiliated downtown organizations create an economically viable business environment while preserving local cultural and historic resources.”  Truth or Consequences is a MainStreet community in New Mexico. The national main Street organization has a terrific page on the National Trust for Historic Preservation website (http://www.preservationnation.org) that talks about how and why Main Streets matter to local sustainability, and why historic preservation is key economic revitalization in downtown areas. A vibrant downtown keeps the rest of the town and city, from the big box retail areas where Wal-Mart and Walgreens are, to the neighborhoods where we live, sustainable and vibrant. We need all of our parts working if the whole is going to thrive.

Preservation is not about museums and old buildings, although it can be. It is really about making sure we take the time to create places that matter. Powerful places tell us who we are, and where we came from, and where we are going. All of our town’s should be places that matter, and should be powerful places. And that is what people are trying to do with preservation and economic development, with Rotary Clubs and RC & D councils. There is a lot to learn. Everything here was new to me a few years ago. But it brought me to Truth or Consequences, because I am curious about what is going on in this place. It is a place that matters to me. A little more every week. There were some very interesting things that went on at the town planning meeting a few weeks ago. I will write about it with haste, and soon!

http://newgraffiti3dwallpaper.blogspot.com

The heart of the town, after all, is at stake.