It was 4:15 p.m. yesterday afternoon. Snowflakes were drifting down and there was already a line of 50 people waiting outside the North Lansing Police Precinct gymnasium in the February cold for food. Some of them had already been there more than an hour and the distribution was not set to start for another 90 minutes or so.  On this Friday night, we were not celebrating the bright lights of the gridiron, but instead trying to fulfill the basic needs of the less fortunate.

I had the distinct honor of …

My hometown of Indianapolis has been a logically designed community based on traditional geometric shapes ever since it’s designer Alexander Ralston first put pen to paper. Monument Circle (source of the ‘Circle City’ nickname) sits at the heart of the original mile square, with a radiating street pattern extending outward from there, though it becomes more grid-oriented in the midtown areas. Later, an outer loop (not circle) was created by Interstate 465 and a near perfect oval was constructed for high-speed excitement and adventure in the suburb of Speedway. Because of Monument Circle and …

Have you returned your form yet?
Take a look at the Census Bureau’s interactive map – how does your neighborhood compare?

Urban areas tend to lag behind in their Census count.
Here’s an interesting Census-related story from The New York Times about the anticipation surrounding the count in New Orleans. “Ever since this city was full of water and nearly empty of residents in September 2005, the true size of New Orleans has been a matter of wild uncertainty. Even today, population estimates can swing by the tens of thousands.”
-KG
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Thanks to Rust Wire reader Mark Golbach for pointing out this quirky but interesting map from the Floatingsheep blog:

What do those little dots represent? The relative concentration of listings of bowling alleys in the Google Maps directory, the Floatingsheep tells us, which are heavily concentrated in the Rust Belt. The highest index value is in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Michigan.
Like the folks at Floatingsheep, however, I have no idea what this means. Interesting though.
-KG
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RustWire recently reported on Step Trek, the annual hike of Pittsburgh’s city steps. The popular narrative surrounding these steps tells that the outdoor staircases were built in the pre-automobile era, and were the main route for walking to and from work. The emphasis is usually placed on the bygone era aspect.
I went exploring a set of city steps in the area of South Oakland on Sunday, and found ample evidence that these steps are very much in use today. And, as Kate mentioned in her post, these steps are indeed …

Like to write?
We want to hear about promising initiatives in your town.
We want to hear first-person accounts of the fallout in Detroit.
We want to hear about why you moved back home.
So many great photographers have stepped up. Are there any writers left out there without blogs?
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Despite some criticism and a tough campaign, Braddock’s unconventional mayor won in Tuesday’s primary, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
He captured 294 votes to his rival’s 103 votes.
“Mr. Fetterman’s detractors were vocal in their criticism of him, accusing him of trying to become ‘Braddock’s landlord,’” the Post-Gazette reported.
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Read about this group of urban planning students and their travels (so far) to Pittsburgh and Youngstown.
They’re on the road this week and still headed to Cleveland, Detroit, and Flint!
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This article in yesterday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette discusses the redevelopment of the Carrie Furnace site – “an expanse of blast furnaces that once produced as much as 1,200 tons of iron per day for the former Homestead Works of U.S. Steel.”
The 168-acre parcel is now owned by the county and is close to being ready for development, the article states, in the final stages of environmental cleanup.
What will replace the furnaces, which operated for 102 years?
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Welcome to the Gateway City, St. Louis, Missouri, home to Nelly, William S. Bowdern and some fabulous architecture. Above is the city’s modest city hall. The city built this building in 1890, when it outgrew “the municipal barn,” according to the city’s urban design and planning agency.
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