"They aren't important until they are gone and it's too late"

Jim Martin writes on Instapundit:

As inexpensive as digital images are ... everyone should take the time to photograph, in detail, the historic structures where they live. The huge damage Katrina wrought to the Gulf Coast is a hard lesson for the rest of the coutry. Most of the old antebellum mansions are totally erased and will never be recontsucted. It would have been nice to have had detailed photos of them for posterity in a safe place far from hurricanes.

There are hundreds of old buildings, some on the National Registry of Historic Sites, which need to be photographed from all angles: up close, inside and outside to show minute detail of construction methods...If any of these structures are damaged by fire or storms and enough remains for restoration, architects and builders will find photos taken as special projects by archivists a great advantage.

A weekend is all many would require, a great Fall project to get started.

His parting shot, "They aren't important until they are gone and it's too late" really hits the mark, from my experience.

Especially since not all destruction of historic buildings is caused by natural disasters, and the "it's not important" argument is the one you hear most commonly from the destroyers.

But about that digital preservation project: is anyone in Greensboro up for a historic structure photoblog / digital archive? Let's make it happen. Write me.

UPDATE (smacking myself on the forehead): My neighborhood already has a digital archive of the exteriors of every house and building in it -- we started working on it last year, and Stefan-leih Geary of HCD and her assistant did the lion's share of the work. But we don't have interior records, and ours is only one neighborhood.

This Morning at the Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market

Since our kids have become teenagers and our schedules have gotten busier, we don't put as much effort into cooking as we used to. And so we don't take the best advantage of one our nicest neighborhood amenities -- the Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market on the corner of Yanceyville and Homeland Avenue.

But today was just too good a day not to go. So I ambled over at about 8 a.m., and shot this nice view of the busy parking lot with War Memorial Stadium in the background (and what a handsome piece of architecture that is).

The place was really hopping, as it is every Saturday morning from Spring through Fall. Thousands come every week.

The tomatoes and eggplants are lustrous, practially luminsescent with all the sunlight they've been absorbing for the past few months.

And these peppers looked so tasty and colorful that I was tempted to pick one up and take a big bite out of it like the host of the Iron Chef.

I always want to buy honey when I come here because I have a fascination with beekeeping that I picked up from reading book 4 of Vergil's Georgics too many times. But we don't actually eat very much honey, so I just took this picture of the sun shining through it while the vendor talked to my neighbor Tracy.

The young watermelon vendor in the parking lot seems to prefer urban dress, but I think he's realy a countryman. Either way, he's very nice, and his melons are good.

The Greensboro Principle kicks in big timewhen I'm here. What's the Greensboro Principle? It says that you can't go anywhere in Greensboro without meeting someone you know. Lately, I can't go anywhere without running into 5 or six people I know.

Among the 7 friends I met this morning was Jill Fuller, a UNCG sociology professor. She told me that not only does she come to the market every week, but she has out-of-town friends who insist on visiting whenever they're in Greensboro. It's kind of a happening for them.

The market is that kind of place -- pleasant, festive, full of local flavor (in every sense), cool, a bit funky, and just a little underappreciated by the natives.

If you haven't been there, you should really go. It's neat.

Oh, and did I mention that it has great produce? And Goat Lady cheese? and Cheesecakes by Alex? And . . . lots of other great stuff.

Northwest Greensboro Seethes with Sex Crimes and Robbery

Three crime items in this morning's News & Record caught my attention:

Item 1: two Greensboro men and a teenager were arrested in connection with the sex crimes of taking indecent liberties with a young boy and first-degree statutory rape of a young girl. The two accused men live in the northwest quadrant of the city.

Item 2: a Greensboro man was arrested in connection with the armed robbery of a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, also in the northwest quadrant.

Item 3: a teenager playing with a gun in east Greensboro accidentally shot himself.

Now guess: in which news item was city geography (east, northwest, etc.) actually mentioned in the article in addition to the addresses of the people or places involved?

Here's your answer:

GREENSBORO -- A teenager was injured Friday after he accidentally shot himself in the leg, police said.

The incident took place in a wooded area off of Holt's Chapel Road on the east side of the city.

It is the habit of the News & Record when writing these little crime notices to mention city geography whenever the crime takes place on the east side of town, but not when they happen in the wealthier, whiter west and northwest.

Two recent N&R stories have noted that all of this year's murders in Greensboro happened in east Greensboro, but I don't recall them ever mentioning geography in their stories about the many armed robberies that occur in western areas like High Point Road or Battleground Ave.

I believe that the N&R is (probably unconsciously) buying into and promoting the stereotype that northwest Greensboro is "nice," but east Greensboro is "unsafe."

Please stop it.

Remembering Last Summer at the Uffizi

Here's me in front of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence last summer.

The Uffizi is one of the great art museums of the world, and in the summer draws many thousands of visitors daily. When we were there, we ran into Steven Spielberg and his lovely wife Kate Capshaw.

Oh, and we saw a lot of great paintings, too -- but we stuck to the Botticellis and early Italian Renaissance painters, as well as a few Caravaggios. It's easy to get overwhelmed in places like this.

The Uffizi does not have any place to park. At all. How do they do that? Just something to think about.

Saving What's Left on the Gulf Coast

Some of my local preservationist friends are brainstorming about how to save the historic sites and structures along the Gulf coast that were wrecked by Katrina. Mike Cowhig wrote,

Sue Schwartz points out that one of the untold stories is the destruction of historic structures along the coast of Mississippi. Check out the website for Mississippi Heritage. Many of the historic structures that survived the storm are now threatened with destruction by the bulldozers doing the cleanup. One of their biggest needs is money to fund surveys so they can figure out what can and should be saved.

Sue has suggested a Greensboro fundraiser: sounds like a great idea.

David Preziosi, Executive Director of the Mississippi Heritage Trust, says that checks can be mailed directly to this address:

David Preziosi
Executive Director
Mississippi Heritage Trust
P.O. Box 577
Jackson, MS 39205

Just put "Recovery Fund" on the memo line of the check.

You can also make a donation at the National Trust for Historic Preservation's website.

Thank you, Butch Simmons

We all like to jump down city staff's throats when we think they're doing something wrong (I do it myself quite frequently), but we almost never thank them when they do something right.

That's too bad, because every city hall employee I know is extremely hardworking. I can't tell you how many times I've seen city staff at after-hours or weekend neighborhood and community meetings.

So I'm taking this opportunity to thank Walter "Butch" Simmons, the head of the city's department of Engineering and Inspections, for following through on a project in our neighborhood.

The city recently bought the former VFW property in our neighborhood across from the Greensboro Farmers' Curb Market to use it for parking city vehicles. The neighborhood objected, then asked the city to meet a number of conditions because we were worried about the property's appearance.

Butch met those conditions, spending $9,000 on landscape improvements to the property, and removing at our request some railroad ties that were uglifying the place.

The city did a good job. Thanks, Butch. And thanks to Assistant City Manager Bob Morgan, who answered the neighborhood's sometimes testy questions on this issue so politely.

Update: The Troublemaker has a different view of Butch, and of city employees generally (via Cone).

Update II: Here's a photo of the site:

Curb Appeal

One of the least expensive ways to improve the value of your property is to landscape it well. I've often thought that much of makes a "bad neighborhood" is really just bad landscaping; I've seen horrendous properties almost miraculously transformed by good landscape design.

You can get some advice on maximizing your curb appeal here:

Hey, it's from the NC Cooperative Extension Service, and the Greensboro Library, which means you already paid for it. You might as well get your money's worth.

Yes, it's on the east side of town, at the corner of Benbow and Lee. But it's a very nice library branch. We promise not to shoot at you.

Katrina's Cultural Toll

Frederick Starr in the NY Times grieves over the cultural and architectural losses that Katrina has wrought:

[New Orleans] faces the loss of some of America's most notable historic architecture. Maybe not in the French Quarter, which may emerge relatively intact, or the Garden District, which was spared most of the flooding. The dangers lie in neighborhoods like Tremé and Mid-City, which extend along Bayou Road toward Lake Pontchartrain and are rich in 18th- and 19th-century homes, shops, churches and social halls. They have been badly hit by the violent winds or torrents of water. And so have hundreds of other important buildings and vernacular structures throughout the city and across the breadth of South Louisiana and the Gulf Coast...

Louisiana, especially South Louisiana, is a living archive of American social and cultural history, and not just in its buildings. In no other state is the proportion of people born and raised within its borders so high. As a consequence, they are something that is ever more rare in a homogenized and suburbanized America: the living bearers and transmitters of their own history and culture. Katrina, and those fateful levee breaks in New Orleans, put this all at risk.

Of course the human toll taken by Katrina is infinitely greater than the loss of buildings, and Starr writes movingly about that, too.

Starr's attachment to New Orleans and its people began to grow when he bought a historic house in a marginal area and worked with old and new residents to improve the neighborhood. They came up with a neighborhood motto -- "Be nice or leave" -- and started their own neighborhood festival. His experience will resonate with many of Greensboro's historic district dwellers -- it certainly does with mine.

In the long run, Starr is optimistic about his city:

I expect [the people] too, will return, and that life in New Orleans will go on, with all its precariousness and sense of fragility and, yes, with all its relish for the moment.

Read the whole thing.

Update: Waterfall has a personal remembrance and photo of a house lost in Gulfport, Mississippi. Hat tip to Slowly she Turned.

Pretty Killers

In late summer, the orb-weaving spiders really get going. Five of them have taken up residence in our Sweet Autumn Clematis, whose scent attracts plenty of prey. Here are a few shots of those beautiful, venomous arachnids:

Greensboro Neighbors Help Katrina Refugees

This just came in the mail from my neighbor Mebane Ham:

At 6:30 this morning I received a phone call from the Volunteer Center. Greensboro was going to be receiving 300-500 evacuees from the New Orleans area and needed some help. Could I find 10 volunteers to help set up the sleeping cots for these unfortunate victims?

No problem, I said, trying to wake up and figure what planet I was on, much less where I would find folks to give up their Saturday during a holiday weekend. Yet, knowing what neighborhood I live in, I figured it wouldn't be a problem.

And actually, it was no problem at all. With a few well placed phone calls and a little bit of a wait for the American Red Cross, we were off setting up mats at the Coliseum. By noon we had almost 400 mats set up and waiting for their occupants.

As of this email our New Orleans guests have not arrived but are expected late today. Much support will be needed to care for our guests. Everything from serving food, finding more perrmanent shelter and transportation.

Please give the The Volunteer Center (373.1633) a call if you can offer any time or services.

Thanks to everyone for their willingness to help. You are what makes this neighborhood GREAT!

Here's a photo that Mebane took of the sleepy volunteers getting organized:

Greensboro is full of people and neighborhoods like this, you know. It's one of our little secrets.

UPDATE: The Governor makes it official, though the N.C. Helping Neighbors Fund. Hat tip to Mark Binker.

Local Red Cross Training Hurricane Katrina Volunteers

This comes from Donna Newton of the Greensboro Neighborhood Information Center:

The American Red Cross is offering a 3 day training for volunteers who are able and willing to take a 2 to 3 week assignment to go to Louisiana to provide disaster relief. They will pay all travel expenses. The training for next week is full. However, they will be training frequently over several months and expect that the need to send volunteers will continue for many months. If you are interested and can devote the time to this effort, I encourage you to call the Red Cross and get on the list for training. The local number is 333-2111. Just tell them you want to speak to someone about the disaster relief training.

Of course, they also need money and blood donations, so anything you can do will be valuable.

If you want to send money, Instapundit has a huge roundup of charities.

Max Thompson, RIP

Longtime Aycock resident and neighborhood advocate Max Thompson has died.

Max was one of the founders of the Aycock neighborhood association and was a tireless advocate for the neighborhood he loved. Fisher Park architect Carl Myatt has called him a "bulldog" for the causes that he believed in, and he is a local hero to many Aycock residents.

Max is the person most responsible for the presence of the Hendrix Street footbridge which connects the Aycock and Fisher Park neighborhoods. He pushed, cajoled, and argued with city staff, elected officials, and railroad executives for years to see that the new bridge was built after the old one was condemned and demolished. He was constantly told that it couldn't and wouldn't be done.

But it was done.

Max did it. He also saw to it that the area around the bridge was properly landscaped. Here's how the entrance the bridge looks now on the Fisher Park side:


Max knew instinctively that keeping our neighborhoods connected was essential to the neighborhoods' vitality. The bridge is used constantly by residents from both sides of the bridge, and has been instrumental in recent improvements to nearby Chestnut St.

Max will be sorely missed, but must not be fogotten. Carl Myatt has suggested the Hendrix Street bridge be named after Max, and I think that's a great idea. I only wish we'd done it while Max could have appreciated it, too.

Update: Here is Max's obituary from the News & Record:

Mr. J. Maxton "Max" Thompson Jr., 62, of Greensboro, died at his home in Greensboro on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005.

A memorial service celebrating his life will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Tabernacle Baptist Church.

Born in Guilford Co. to Joseph Maxton Thompson Sr., and Frances Sellars Thompson, Max graduated from UNCG with a degree in Political Science. For years he was owner and operator of Millpoint Nursery. He was an avid fisherman, loved baseball and for years coached little league baseball. He was a large supporter of restoring War Memorial Stadium. Max used to sing in a Barber Shop Quartet and was a member of the local Barber Shop Quartet chapter. He was past president of the Aycock Neighborhood Assoc. and past chairman of the Zoning Commission. Max was also very instrumental in the replacement of the Hendrix St. Bridge.

He was preceded in death by father who died Feb. 16, 2005, and his brother Tyler Thompson.

Those left to cherish his memory include his son, Sam Thompson of Carrboro; his mother, Frances S. Thompson of Greensboro; sisters, Page Thompson of Greensboro and Toni Thompson Dingley and her husband, Emmett of Virginia; aunts, Ann Thompson of Greensboro and Willis T. Durham of Burlington.

The family will receive friends at the church following the memorial service.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Aycock Neighborhood Assoc. c/o Chuck Newell 704 Cypress St., Greensboro, NC 27405.

Hanes-Lineberry Vanstory Chapel is assisting the family.