THE PROJECT OR INITIATIVE My project is about the timeless space of youth and imagination. I want capture the excitement and unlimited potential we all felt as kids. The swing, represents a universal activity and the feeling that I am talking about. I want to paint 3 images, of different kids swinging in 3 site […]
The Charleston Parks Conservancy (website) was created in 2007, fulfilling the vision of South Carolina philanthropist Darla Moore’s desire to “connect people to their green spaces.” IfYouWereMayor.com sat down recently with Harry Lesesne, Executive Director of the Conservancy to talk about the organization, how it works, how it relates to the City of Charleston’s Parks […]
Recently, IfYouWereMayor.com had the opportunity to meet with a small group of residents from Charleston’s Wagner Terrace neighborhood. They were gathered for an introduction to the “Mosquito Fleet,” the elite group of African-American fisherman who supplied most of Charleston’s downtown area with seasonal catch for more than 100 years. During the mid-twentieth century, the Ports Authority […]
At IfYouWereMayor.com we are curious how cities throughout the world work to create and cultivate livability for all residents, and how these strategies might translate to the cities where we live. Our own research suggests the right balance rests in five basic tenets: transportation, education, economic opportunities, housing & neighborhoods, and arts & culture. In […]
THE PROJECT I am advocating the creation of a public utility that would provide internet service to Charleston and the surrounding area. This has been done, for example, in Chattanooga, TN. Chattanooga has the highest internet speed in the Western Hemisphere and provides service at a reasonable cost. According to the Washington Post, the cost […]
THE PROJECT A program of community-based outreach and enhanced communication to increase ridership on the CARTA Route #20: King Street/Citadel Line, including: (1) installation of benches at 4 stops which lack them; (2) community education; (3) enhanced QR Code linking route and stop information in pubic places; and, (4) business partnerships. WHO BENEFITS Residents of […]
IfYouWereMayor.com is very keen to know how creative Charlestonians can be, since our research has found that Arts & Culture is one of the top five categories that make a city livable. As we countdown to the Art Matters Mayoral Forum, organized by the Charleston Regional Arts Alliance, (and scheduled for June 9th at the […]
A recent article in the New York Times (you can read it here) covers a rather new development in local governance called Participatory Budgeting. The process, which has found its way into several US and Canadian cities, began in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre in 1989. The concept has residents determine how to spend portions of […]
A lot can happen in a city during the course of a week. At IfYouWereMayor.com we’ve been taking a bit of inventory at this psychological milestone of Passover and Easter in the “holy city.” Waking up from the region’s relative slumber of winter is a heady, dusty, and sneezy time. The seasonal changes bring farmers’ […]
Henry Grabar writes, in his most recent Science of Cities column for the online magazine Next Cities (here), that some researchers are trying to reduce a city’s image to data points. Their thinking is to develop a metric that captures a city’s image precisely, so the “brand” can be used to attract various audiences – […]