Jeran Artery posts in Out in Wyoming about his experiences as a DNC delegate

My fellow Wyoming prog-blogger Jeran Artery at Out in Wyoming will be posting this week about his experiences as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. His first post was on Sunday. Look for more in the days to come. He promises lots of photos!

The Fix scores winners and losers at the DNC podium

Chris Cillizza on The Fix at the Washington Post parses the speechifying winners and losers at the DNC at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/09/04/democratic-national-convention-day-one-winners-and-losers/

I liked Julian Castro, mayor of San Antonio. I'd vote for his twin brother, too, if I lived in his Texas district. I'd vote for their Mom! Also, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and the First Lady were terrific.

Who were your faves?

Democrats discuss the arts today in Charlotte at ARTSspeak@DNC

From Bob Lynch of Americans for the Arts: Madeleine Albright, Gov. Quinn, Bernie Williams, and Mayor Kevin Johnson will speak at the Arts Action Fund panel at the DNC (DemConvention) today at 3 p.m. EST. ARTSspeak will be a hit! FMI: http://bit.ly/OZ2beB or #DNC2012.

Will Dem butts fill all of those seats Thursday night at B of A Stadium in Charlotte? We did it in Denver

An AP story by Julie Pace in this morning's Denver Post said that Democratic Party officials are concerned that Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte will not be filled when Pres. Barack Obama accepts the Democratic Party nomination on Thursday night. The stadium seats 74,000. That's a lot of seats to fill with Dem butts, or at least Dem butts and da butts of other curious Tarheels.

Anything short of a full house on the final night of the Democratic Party's national convention will be instant fodder for Republicans eager to use empty seats as symbols of waning voter enthusiasm for Obama.

Democrats have been fretting for months over whether the president can draw a capacity crowd at Bank of America Stadium. Polls show voter enthusiasm is down, as are Obama's crowds for his battleground state campaign rallies.

Obama advisers insist the stadium will be filled when Obama delivers his speech. Vice President Joe Biden also will speak Thursday night, along with Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who will vouch for Obama's national security credentials.

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Thursday's event is certain to draw comparisons to 2008, when Obama accepted the Democratic nomination before a capacity crowd at an 84,000-seat stadium in Denver. There was little concern back then over whether Obama would fill the stadium, in part because he was easily attracting tens of thousands of people to his campaign rallies across the country.

This time around, Obama's crowds are far smaller. He drew his biggest audience at his campaign kick-off rally in May, a 14,000-person crowd at Ohio State University. About 13,000 people attended Obama's rally on Sunday at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The campaign says the size of Obama's events this summer have purposely been kept low. Large rallies are more expensive and security requirements are more intense for a sitting president than a candidate.

I waited in line for hours to get into Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium on that warm August evening in 2008. The crowd was impressive, and I took some terrible cellphone photos to prove it. My technical skills haven't improved, nor has my equipment. I'm sure we'll get tons of smartphone and Instagram pix from Charlotte this Thursday. Meanwhile, ogle these pix from DNC Denver 2008.

Lining up at Denver's Mile High Stadium

Dem delegates on the 30-yard line (see anyone you know?)

Jesse Jackson almost buried by media types

Sen. John Kerry, who will speak Thursday night in Charlotte

"The Daily Show's" John Oliver, in a blur (I was moving fast)

Live from the hummingbirdminds bunker -- not-so-live coverage of the DNC from Charlotte

To my readers:

You may have noticed that I did quite a bit of posting last week about the Republican National Convention in Tampa without the bother of leaving home. Many thanks to Meg Lanker-Simons at Cognitive Dissonance out of Laramie, who scooped all of us with interviews with former Repub Chair Michael Steele and NBC's Chuck Todd, and that post-convention Q&A with Clint Eastwood's chair. Also thanks to Progress Florida, who maintained a web site about goings-on in the streets during the RNC.

I'm gearing up to provide the same service during the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. Last night in Denver, I bade adieu to several Wyoming Democratic Party delegates on the eve of their departure for the convention. Jeran Artery, Kate Wright and Ken McCauley promised to keep in touch via the usual e-means. I have no reason to suspect that they won't keep their word, although once they hit the ground in Charlotte, time will speed up and they will be caught up in a wave of speeches and floor votes, not to mention the sea of  hors d'oeuvres they will be forced to consume at the endless flurry of receptions sponsored by unions, conservation groups, feminist organizations, civil rights activists and other nogoodnik socialists.

But they will keep us posted because they are Democrats and they will make sure that the blog posts get through, come hell or high water or mounds of Carolina BBQ ribs.  

You can get the news feed from Netroots Nation (9 a.m.-4 p.m. EST, Tues.-Thurs.). The NN folks are live-streaming from Charlotte. NN promises this:

We’re teaming up with Democracy for America this week in Charlotte to provide a live studio where progressive leaders, pundits, and your favorite bloggers and reporters will join us for progressive conversations. You’ll hear from folks like Rep. Keith Ellison, Rep. Donna Edwards, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Sen. Jeff Merkley, Van Jones, Lizz Winstead, The Nation’s Ari Berman, Gov. Howard Dean and more.

The live coverage will be hosted by Cliff Schecter, founder and president of progressive public relations firm Libertas LLC, best-selling author (2008′s The Real McCain), nationally syndicated columnist and regular pundit on such shows as The Young Turks on Current TV, The Majority Report with Sam Seder and Take Action News with David Shuster. Cliff is also a co-founder of Washington DC’s progressive radio station, We Act Radio (AM 1480).

If you want to test your knowledge of N.C. (the Old North State), you can take this quiz here. I didn't do too well, although I did get the trick question about Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. I grew up with NASCAR, y'all. BTW, if you Dems get bored, the NASCAR Hall of Fame is located in Charlotte.

More later...

Happy Mama Conference in N.C. for mothers of kids with real, but invisible, brain-based disabilities

This sounds like a fabulous retreat for mothers (and possibly fathers) of kids with ADHD, OCD, SPD, and so on. From the "Easy to Love but Hard to Raise" blog that I write for occasionally:

The Happy Mama Conference & Retreat will take place July 28–29, 2012, at the Rock Barn Golf & Spa, in Conover, North Carolina. Here’s what the retreat is all about, as described on the Happy Mama website, www.if-mama-aint-happy.com :

What: A CONFERENCE that focuses on your needs as the mom to a child with a very real, but invisible, brain-based disability, like ADHD, ADD, OCD, ODD, FASD, PBD, SPD, PDD, or one of the many other overlapping conditions that make parenting your child an extra challenging situation, and a RETREAT, where we’ll provide you with wonderful food, spa opportunities, fun activities, and camaraderie with other moms who know exactly where you’re coming from.

Why: Because parenting children with invisible disabilities is an extremely stressful, isolating, and emotional job and one which can impact your health and well-being in a negative way.

The retreat, hosted by DRT Press (publisher of Easy to Love but Hard to Raise) and the website {a mom’s view of ADHD} (founded and edited by Penny Williams) and supported by a growing list of sponsors, including CHADD and the Catawba Valley Medical Center, will offer the perfect blend of education, support, and pampering.

Saturday’s speakers will cover: “Parenthood, Stress, Health, and Resiliency,” “Advocating for Your Child in School,” and “How to Be Happy: Calming Techniques for You and Your Child.”Sunday will be devoted to fun and pampering, which may include spa treatments, relaxing by the pool, gem mining, hiking, yoga, horseback riding, or kayaking.

Doesn’t that sound fabulous? I can hardly wait!

Sharon Barbary Bryan registered for the conference, but has since found out that she’s unable to attend. Sharon is donating her conference registration and on-site lodging, approximately a $350 value, to a deserving mom! The retreat organizers are running a contest to determine what lucky mama will be the recipient of Sharon’s generous gift. Here’s how it works: Follow this link. Nominate a special needs mama whom you feel deserves to attend the retreat, by writing a sentence or two in the comments field (of that post, not this one!) explaining why she needs a break. The contest will run June 1 – June 22.

If you are interested in attending whether you win this contest or not, please don’t hesitate to register now. Registration is just $129 until July 1. If you are “in the business” of ADHD, FASD, ASD, or other brain-based disorders and wish to become a retreat sponsor, email happymamaretreat@gmail.com

for their sponsorship package

Biased statements (and proposed legislation) don't just scare away gay people -- they scare away everyone

Some Republican Legislators talk up economic development but also sponsor and support anti-gay legislation. They may want to rethink that strategy.

Interesting article by Melissa Maynard in stateline.org about the crucial role that businesses play when it comes to the gay marriage debate.

Washington state recently passed a gay marriage bill that had support of the governor, key Republican legislators and high-profile businesses such as Microsoft, Boeing and Nike. Bill sponsor Sen. Ed Murray, a Democrats, said this is "how we got moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats to vote for this."

LGBT activists have been successfully lining up business support for years. It's paid off in Washington, Maryland and New York. There's now a looming battle over the issue in North Carolina. On May 8, voters will decide whether to further codify the state's gay marriage ban by putting it in the state constitution.

These are all big states with a strong corporate presence. These businesses want to attract the young workforce and "fear being left behind in places seen as backward by gay workers and other young employees who feel strongly about the issue."

While Wyoming is not exactly a hipster destination (with the possible exception of Jackson), it runs a risk that its biased attitudes may hinder attempts to land new businesses. None of us lives in a vacuum. Outrageous statements travel like wildfire in our social media age.

Stephen Dull V.P. with North Carolina-based VF Corp. (a Fortune 500 company) put it this way: "If you're sending a signal to the world that you're biased, it just doesn't scare away gay people. It scares away everyone."

When it comes to downtown revival, we have to start thinking like farmers

An urban planner wants us to think like farmers. Crop yields, stuff like that.

A rural conservation institute with desert roots works to revive our city centers.

A city collaborates with urban and rural entities as it seeks ways to fill a gaping hole in its downtown. 

That's the odd combination of interests that gathered yesterday for "The Dollars and Sense of Downtown Development" at the Laramie County Public Library in Cheyenne. 

Urban planner Joe Minicozzi conducted the PowerPoint presentation. He's V.P. of the Asheville, N.C., Downtown Association. He was introduced by Sheridan's John Heyneman, project manager of the Northern Rockies Region/WY Program of the Sonoran Institute. He, in turn, was introduced by Matt Ashby, planning services director of the City of Cheyenne.

In the audience were downtown business owners, civic activists, government types and interested bystanders such as myself (full disclosure -- I also am a government type who works at the state arts council). My daughter Annie, too, an 18-year-old budding singer/songwriter who finds politics interesting. Not sure if there are other artists in the room, although if would behoove them to attend events such as these. The arts play a huge part in any downtown revival. Just ask Asheville, with its 30-some galleries and public art works and performing arts centers and outdoor street festivals. Go ahead, ask.

Think like a farmer. That's what Asheville's Minicozzi tells us. Think about production per acre. Think about tax policies. 

Do we have to?

Yes we do.

He's studied Cheyenne, and is here with the help of a grant from the State Historic Preservation Office, sister agency to the Wyoming Arts Council. He's looked at the numbers and Cheyenne's coffers would get a much better yield if it was planting businesses downtown instead of on Dell Range.

This appeals to the locavore in me. This appeals to the "shop locally" part in me. It appeals to the artscentric part of me.

The homegrown Laughing Seed Cafe in downtown
Asheville (from The Painted House blog) 

Another thing -- those businesses planted in any city's Central Business District (CBD) tend to be more entrepreneurial and are usually launched by local entities instead of some far-away corporation. 

He has nothing against Wal-Mart, Minicozzi said, but noted that Wal-Mart does one thing very well, and that's "getting money back to Arkansas." You could also say the same about Target (Minnesota) and all the big box stores. 

"They exploit existing tax systems," he said. He shows some funny PowerPoint visuals which illustrate that those systems are not part of our DNA and are not chiseled in stone like the Ten Commandments. Nobody even seems to know how they started. Minicozzi had a chance to talk to the Laramie County tax assessor earlier in the day during some meetings with city and county government leaders. The assessor didn't know the history of tax policy -- not unusual. 

"Development follows the path of least resistance," and that tends to be suburban and exurban development. That's where the open land is and that's where big box stores are built and the big box stores have corporate lawyers and tax experts who know how to take advantage of local policies. The city claims a victory and sees that tax revenues roll in from the big box retailer and then it's time to lure yet another one (Menard's anyone?).

But when crop yields are compared, downtown is a much better investment. But arcane tax policies punish developers who wants to rehab buildings and fill vacant upper stories with living units.  

Minicozzi had a simple message for us: "We can change tax policy."

During the past two decades, Asheville's downtown development plowed ahead despite daunting tax policies and stubborn banks. Asheville traditionally was known for "trains, tourism and tuberculosis." Trains brought tourists to this mountain community. They also brought TB sufferers escaping the vapors of low-country Carolina. TB sanitariums sprang up. The Biltmore Estate was built. Presidents and rich folks and people struggling to breathe all sang Asheville's praises.

Then came the post-war suburbs. An interstate highway ripped through the center of Asheville and "killed downtown." Minicozzi shows us photos of downtown Asheville in the 1970s and 1980s. Vacant buildings. Those that remained were covered by ugly aluminum fronts. Not a pedestrian to be seen.

A few visionaries came to town and used their own money to get things started. They had to use their own money because city leaders and banks kept saying the same thing: "that won't work downtown." A few buildings were rehabbed into small businesses and housing units. A non-profit real estate development group was formed. Classes were held for kids to learn about the history of downtown.

Still, it was an uphill battle. Some young entrepreneurs wanted to open a vegetarian restaurant. Banks told them to go away. Their attitude seemed to be: "This is western North Carolina -- where's the barbecue?" Still, they persevered and opened the Laughing Seed restaurant. It's now a mainstay in Asheville's downtown. Many other restaurants followed. Cafe too, and galleries and living spaces and craft breweries and all the rest. Tax revenue is huge. The numbers are much larger per acre than they are in outlying areas.

Minicozzi urged us to think of precision agriculture. "Why spread fertilizer in the suburbs and grow weeds when you could be doing it in the city and grow tomatoes?" 

Minicozzi had lots of local stats. He's promised to send the presentation via e-mail. I'll share that with you when it arrives. He's done similar research and presentations in Laramie and Sheridan and communities in Montana (Bozeman and Billings) and Colorado (Glenwood Springs).

When "the hole" came up, as it always does at these kinds of events, John Heyneman noted that downtown Bozeman faced a similar situation. A 2009 natural gas explosion flattened four businesses on one city block along Main Street. A young woman was killed. Everyone had different ideas about what to do with the big hole. But now it's being filled. Heyneman said that other cities have faced similar circumstances, and could serve as models for Cheyenne.

Cheyenne residents can get involved in the city's Historic Placemaking effort. For more info, you can talk to urban planner Jan Spires at 307-637-6251. You can also watch for new streetscaping surrounding the Dinneen redevelopment on 17th Street and Lincolnway. You can see details of this $956,000 public-private partnership at Dinneen Downtown.

Architect's rendering of Cheyenne's Dinneen Building looking west in Lincolnway

Asheville's Joe Minicozzi speaks about downtown revival Dec. 1 in Cheyenne

Asheville, N.C., complete with downtown, sunset and mountains (Cheyenne has those, too).

You may only know Asheville, N.C., as the fictional Southern Gothic town of Altamont, Catawba, in Thomas Wolfe's famous novel "Look Homeward, Angel." That's how I met Asheville, as a young college student in the South reading my way through all of Wolfe's books. Interesting to note that the city's "favorite son" was not such a favorite after his thinly-veiled portrayal of some 200 Asheville residents in the 1929 novel. The hubbub caused Wolfe to stay away from his hometown for almost eight years.
 
These days, Thomas Wolfe's neighborhood and his mom's boarding house and his father's stone-carving workshop all are on the city's walking tour. But that's not the city's only claim to fame. It's been called one of the most livable cities in the U.S. by all of those magazines that track such things. Modern Maturity calls it one of “The 50 Most Alive Places To Be” while Rolling Stone names it the “New Freak Capital of the U.S.” Recently, the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins announced that Asheville is one of its top choices for expansion. This means that Asheville must be another one of those “bikes, (snow) boards and beers” destinations like Fort Collins, Burlington, VT, Flagstaff and Bend, OR. It is one of those “best outside towns” according to Outside Magazine.

One of the city’s many claims to fame is its thriving downtown. Most of its historic buildings did not fall to the wrecking ball during America’s urban renewal craze. They now are inhabited by small businesses, including some 30 art galleries and a slew of cafes and restaurants. This town of 83,000, only a bit larger than Cheyenne, keeps its downtown alive with a variety of performing arts events.

How do they do it? Glad you asked. On Thursday, Dec. 1, Joe Minicozzi will explain it all for you. He’s the executive director of the Asheville Downtown Association. You’re invited to hear him speak from 4-5:30 p.m. Thursday in the Cottonwood Room of the Laramie County Public Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. His topic will focus on the return that taxpayers receive for investing in downtown. The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), City of Cheyenne and the Sonoran Institute brought Minicozzi to Cheyenne to analyze downtown’s property tax benefits.

My first question might be: what are the property tax benefits of a giant hole in your downtown?

In case you’re wondering, Thomas Wolfe did spend some time in Wyoming. In June and July 1938, Wolfe and Edward Miller, Sunday editor for the Portland Oregonian, trekked by car to 11 national parks. Yellowstone was one of them. The journal of Wolfe’s experiences were discovered with his belongings after he died in September 1938 of complications from tuberculosis and the flu. They were published by the University of Pittsburgh Press as “A Western Journey: a daily log of a great parks trip, June 20-July 2, 1938.” The Virginia Quarterly Review featured an article about Wolfe’s journey in its August 2009 issue. Here’s a sampling:

The text of “A Western Journey” is full of astute descriptions of dramatic western scenery—“the bay-bright gold of wooded big barks,” “a valley plain, flat as a floor and green as heaven and fertile and more ripe than the Promised Land,” “vast, pale, lemon-mystic plain,”—but the people of the American West fascinated Wolfe as much as the scenery. He describes women feeding deer outside the hotel, the Indian children begging for pennies, the diverse spectators at Old Faithful, the motorists who stop along the road to play with the bears, “a quaint old gal named Florence who imitates bird calls,” the man who pulls his son back from a geyser (“Don’t lean over that, I’ll have a parboiled boy”). Wolfe’s deep interest in people was also apparent to Miller, who later commented, “What stood out to me was the enormous kindliness of the man, his intense sympathy for the average, untalented, decent person."

Thomas Wolfe admiring "Old Faithful" in Yellowstone National Park, June 1938. (Thomas Wolfe Collection, Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, NC.

Wolfe is long gone. His books remain vital along with landmarks of his life in Asheville. Not sure what lessons Cheyenne can take from Asheville, but I’m going to be there Thursday to hear about the possibilities.

Militarized police continue to attack unarmed Occupy protesters

Illustration of the continued militarization of our police forces. While this may look like a phalanx of armed soldiers closing in on a nest of well-armed jihadis in Afghanistan, it is instead armed Chapel Hill police moving against a handful of unarmed Occupy Chapel Hill "sympathizers." More disturbing details here.

Public-private partnership aims to accelerate "creative placemaking" all across the U.S.

I, for one, like terms such as "creative placemaking." It heats up my blood, embiggens my hopes for a better America.

Some big foundations have joined with the National Endowment for the Arts (and several other federal agencies) to establish ArtPlace, a nationwide initiative "to accelerate creative placemaking across the U.S."

ArtPlace believes that art, culture and creativity expressed powerfully through place can create vibrant communities, thus increasing the desire and the economic opportunity for people to thrive in place. It is all about the local.

ArtPlace invites Letters of Inquiry from initiatives involving arts organizations, artists and designers working in partnership with local and national partners (in fields such as economic development, transportation, neighborhood development, entrepreneurship, sustainability, health, etc.) to transform communities. 

To apply: http://www.artplaceamerica.org/loi/. Requests must be submitted by November 15, 2011.

Here are some examples of some cool creative placemaking projects already underway:

Creative Work Fund in northern California

Lakota Art Market at Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in S.D.

Farm/Art DTour in Sauk County, Wisconsin

And this Whirligig Park in Wilson, N.C.

The Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park Project from Gerret Warner on Vimeo.

Better smile, pardner, when you call my home place "desolation"

Sunday's Denver Post featured a story about the food deserts that are created in the city by fleeing grocery stores. We're now facing the same issue in Cheyenne, now that the downtown Safeway closed its doors. If you live downtown, the closest grocery store is more than a mile away at the Albertson's on Yellowstone. Or further -- Cole Square Safeway or the Super Wal-Mart on Dell Range.

Several concerned citizens started a group to find a store for downtown -- or start a food co-op. Not sure what's happening with that effort.

I was dazzled by a few lines from the Post story:

But the city faces a challenge that some other big cities don't: geography. With no major cities nearby, Denver — and the rest of Colorado — is far from most food distribution hubs.

"Trucks have to drive a long way to get to Colorado," said Drew White, supermarket analyst with Sageworks Inc., based in Raleigh, N.C.

"You're a big city in the middle of desolation," he said.

Desolation? Colorado's Front Range boasts has some of the richest farmland in the West. The big problem now is that there are houses and highways and Wal-Marts (even grocery stores) sitting on most of it. Huge irony in the idea of an abandoned safeway in Denver sitting on top of land that could grow enough fruits and veggies for the entire neighborhood. Another irony in the idea that a new Super Safeway in the Denver burbs carries foods shipped thousands of miles away from non-desolation areas such as Raleigh, N.C. The land that the store sits on could grow enough food for everyone in the neighborhood. Except the coffee beans for the double mocha latte at the Safeway Starbucks. Still must import those coffee beans.

I wrote about this just the other day. I don't seem to get tired of the subject. I like growing things and cooking and eating and making fun of people who call Colorado "desolation." If Mr. White thinks of rich high plains land as desolation, what would he think of Cheyenne? Most of the land surrounding our city is too high and dry and cold to be used as anything but grazing for cattle and bison. Still, some of us are daring the elements to make a dent in our own food desert. And there are farms and ranches on nearby land of richer soil and lower elevations. There's the North Platte Valley's Wheatland and Torrington. And then there are the small farmers of northern Colorado. Not sure if the green-thumbed folks at Wolf Moon Farms have considered the fact they're living in desolation.

Yesterday, I bought some of my plants at Kathy Shreve's Star Cake Plants on Snyder Ave. in Cheyenne. I noticed the signs posted along Pershing and thought I'd stop in. How big can a backyard plant sale be, especially in the small backyards in the city's central core?

Plenty big, it turns out. Kathy grows all kids of seedlings in her house and in her backyard greenhouse. She also has a garden ready to go. Tables were crowded with pepper and cauliflower and broccoli seedlings. Other tables featured rows of peonies and dianthus. Groundcovers, too. For tomato seedlings, we went into her cozy greenhouse (barely room for two) and pulled out tomato seedlings and some potted plants for shandy areas. I bought two trays full of seedlings, stuff I'm not starting myself, and went on my merry way. It was a cool, windy morning. It smelled like rich earth, though, with a hint of spring.

Interesting to note that one entrepreneurial master gardener in central Cheyenne's food desert can sprout enough seedlings to grow veggies for hundreds of people.

Such abundance here in this desolate land.