[Ccpg] [cityrepairla] CITY REPAIR: Synchronicity in Action

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

CITY REPAIR: Synchronicity in Action
by Bob Banner

I attended a presentation last month in SLO by Mark Lakeman, a representative
of City Repair, of Portland which is doing some very wild and radical things.
One main feature is how neighbors have reclaimed their neighborhoods by
taking back the public space of the intersection. Yes, you heard me right, the
intersection that is basically for cars; yet since we have been so 
inundated by
the car culture we have forgotten about parts of our common public space.
Neighbors came together in Portland and simply reclaimed the space since it 
was the
natural outgrowth of a people’s movement to find more common space in their
neighborhoods. He showed us photographs of people painting an intersection or
having a kiosk on the public grass strip to notify people of pot lucks, events
or whatever, a library or garden or cob-built benches. We also purchased a 13
min. video from City Repair that we will be showing at various films in the
near future.

Anyway, I won’t go into all the details but just imagine the possibilities
and imagine the empowerment that something like this would entail, the 
power and
joy and social capital in this reawakening of how people have lived for
thousands of years before a Roman grid evolved and cars inhibited our flow of
conversation and our need for community. The two-hour presentation was 
exhilarating
since it just wasn’t about reclaiming space (“making place from 
space”) but
it also revealed a neighbor creating a solar tea house, [for a photo of the
solar tea house see hopedance issue #47.], cobbed dwellings for the 
homeless and
then there was the mobile T pony with a beautiful winged roof that could
travel to different neighborhoods and/or parks for people to hang out and 
gather
under the shadow of the winged roof.

So I’m thinking about all this the next day when I rode my bike to go to the
post office. I decide to sit down on the bench that looks out over the
traffic, while watching people cross the streets and listening to the 
drummer who was
just outside the mall’s sacred line private property.

It’s percolating in me as I’m also thinking about the end of oil and our
transition to a post carbon world. I get back on my bike and head home and
suddenly I see Matt come out of his car. He had initiated a block party two 
summers
ago. He and others closed off a particular street and had a party with bocce
ball, hotdogs, basketball, yakking and simply hanging out with our 
neighbors. I
could have simply waved and rode on that day as I often do, but I stopped. I
chatted about City Repair enthusiastically and he spoke about doing another
neighborhood party. After some enthusiastic banter I gave him City Repair's 
url
(cityrepair.org) and headed home. Before I got home I saw about five kids
about six years old who were selling cookies. I couldn’t pass them by 
because City
Repair was on my mind. I stopped to listen to them giggle as they were
experimenting on how to sell their cookies to me. And when I gave them a 
dollar they
all had to check it out. I couldn’t help but juxtapose the previous 
night’s
presentation atop this neighborhood scene blossoming in front of me.

And then the next morning the thread of synchronicity was once again quite
active. As I rode my bike to the post office I saw two acquaintances on a big
front porch and we greeted each other. I usually would simply ride by since my
mantra of “I’m too busy” is frequently in gear. But this time I
uncharacteristically asked if I could join them. Of course I wanted to talk 
about City
Repair and sure enough Greg had already heard of them, while Dan spoke about a
group who are looking for some expandable apartments for an urban cohousing 
that
had recently organized. Was I dreaming? Greg mentioned that he had often 
wished
he could paint his intersection. Some of his neighbors were either walking by
or riding their bicycles. He’d invite them up to the porch to keep up the
bantering. In 45 minutes there were about 8 of us chatting about all sorts of
things, stories of political humor, the election, or what we can do, have a 
kiosk
on the corner with fruit, flyers, some books, and on and on... I recall Greg
was saying how often times people may have the same wish to reclaim public
space but it takes an event or meeting to galvanize such ideas into action, or
sometimes as simple as a conversation that can galvanize momentum. No more 
than
30 minutes passed when a new neighbor came to the porch and when the
conversation turned to public space and intersections (again) he said that 
he thought
about it often. Greg and I just looked at each other conspiratorially and
nodded.

It was certainly amazing to have a number of these synchronous events occur
not even 48 hours after the City Repair presentation. I’ve been living in 
this
neighborhood for more than seven years and still I don’t know a lot of my
neighbors. But rather bemoan the fact of my shyness (or neurotic 
alienation), here
was an opportunity calling that in a way demanded that I get out of my way
(again) so that we can create community wherever we live.

My heart opened to the possibility of knowing more about my neighbors and
chatting with them and simply talking about stuff so we wouldn’t feel so
disconnected. The slide show presentation penetrated me somehow. It planted 
a seed. I
saw the signs, the synchronicity and enjoyed a peculiar opening to a
possibility. Thoughts of how to do this in the springtime swelled within 
me. Perhaps
you too have experienced these moments of possibility?

And then I could understand how the neighborhoods in Portland started to
explode with creative solutions after the first one was planted. We simply 
need to
have one project planted; after that more will simply evolve. And especially
since we’re on the subject of the end of oil, what better way to satisfy our
basic needs in a village like environment, right in our own neighborhoods,
rather than continually be dreaming or fantasizing about "buying land in the
country with friends," ad nauseam...

If anyone is interested in forming neighborhood groups, talking to neighbors,
starting a potluck party, closing off the street, bringing music, discovering
which kinds of fruit trees are in your neighborhood... If you find out if
anything has already been created in your neighborhood go to MIT’s new 
website
iNeighbor.com. Or post it to the hopedance listserv or join the new City 
Repair
in LA listserv. Or call us.     m
Bob Banner,
Publisher of HopeDance
544-9663
hopedance at aol.com
ps. I have a FREE ticket to attend the 10 day gig in Portland (go to
cityrepair.org or see the large ad in this issue of hopedance for details) 
and will
give it to the person who wants it the most. Contact us, fill out the
application and mail it to us no later than February 15th.