We Are Neighbors

  This week's blog is more of a Q&A on a topic I have been asked before but did not, until now, have a really good comprehensive answer. Many thanks to specialists with the Missouri Conservation Department who responded. Q: We have a neighborhood here in one of our historic districts that has street trees that are damaging the sidewalks.  We are going to facilitate a meeting for the neighbors to discuss how to handle this.  Do you have a contact in the extension who might now about what kind of trees are appropriate to plant along a street that won’t pop up the sidewalk or street with their roots?  I know it’s asking nature to not do what it does, but that’s where we are." - Laura Mize, Neighborhood Specialist, City of Excelsior Springs, MO  A: My suggestion is to plant nothing in the "death strip." My apology for my snarky remark, but seriously I can think of no good tree to plant in that area. I am copying my urban go-to guy, Jon Skinner. -- Hank Stelzer, Unive

I frequently get asked, “What exactly is a neighborhood?” The question has more options than you might think. For some,  neighborhoods are defined by the city itself as a way to organize residents and others have historical names or based on a nearby school or park. Some neighborhoods have more residents than my entire hometown of Ash Grove, so does that make all of Ash Grove just one neighborhood? Many communities have subdivisions with names alongside subdivisions that also have Homeowners Associations (HOAs) for governance. In many towns, no effort has been made to define or identify neighborhoods or associations. This we know for sure: neighborhoods are specific geographies. Legal definitions may be suitable sometimes, but practical ones are better.  DEFINITION ONE In her book on neighborhoods, Emily Talen, a professor at the University of Chicago, offers a clear definition. A good neighborhood will have eight qualities: 1. It has a name. 2. Residents know where it is, wh

  In his book, “Abundant Communities” John McKnight tells a story about returning from a ten-day trip and stopping at a grocery store on the way home to buy produce.  But when he gets home, he discovers his garden has all of the produce he can eat right in his backyard. Asset-based Community Development considers first the local talents and gifts in your neighborhood. It begins by looking at what is strong, not what is wrong in your neighborhood. This begins by discovering what your community has and building on those talents and strengths. The odds are you have someone in your neighborhood who can fill any need. For example, who do you know in your neighborhood that could teach a class on growing a garden? Would they be willing to teach neighbors if they are good at it? Whom do you know that could teach others how to organize an event?  Whom do you know that could lead a neighborhood art project? Whom do you know in the neighborhood that could host a gathering in their home or garage?

I grew up in Ash Grove from the 1970s through the 1980s. I managed a newspaper in Willard during the early 1990s. I have lived in Republic since 2003. I can confirm that these towns have changed a lot. “You Can’t Go Home Again” is a book written by Thomas Wolfe. In it, he tells the story of an author who returns home only to discover that the town residents are mad at him because they see themselves in some of his stories. Then he writes this famous line: “Back home to time and memory which cannot be recaptured.” For example, no matter how detailed or pleasant my memories are about the friendly small-town experience of growing up in Ash Grove, the town has changed because people have changed. Those lazy, hazy days of the 1980s can never be recaptured. I can hop on a 10-speed bike and ride all over town, and it will not matter. I can cruise Main Street at night with my window down, playing music, and it will not be the same. I may even get pulled over by a local officer, but t

  According to a just-completed study by Save Your Town, rural people were twice as likely to say they were optimistic about their communities’ future as negative. Continuing lack of housing, inactive downtowns, and population losses ranked the highest as rural community challenges, joined by lack of childcare. The ongoing need for workers, support services, and usable buildings, stiff competition from online businesses, and marketing ranked as the highest challenges to rural small businesses.  Defying stereotyped media profiles of poverty, crime, and drug abuse as the primary rural challenges, rural people continually ranked these near the bottom as community challenges.  Rural businesses innovate. Far from stuck in their ways and out of date, the most common business assets listed in 2023 were innovative ideas and up-to-date marketing techniques.  Although rural economic development often centers around jobs, it was one of the least-mentioned challenges in this survey. Rural people m

  Americans are a somewhat miserable group right now. The share of people who say they're 'very happy' has tanked this past decade to just 12 percent of the population. But there are some trends among those cheeriest 40 million Americans from which the rest of the nation can learn. They tend to be older women who believe in God. They also value marriage, community, and close personal ties. That's the finding of a new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll, which follows other research that shows the happiest people have strong emotional ties to others. A Wall Street Journal-NORC poll found that the happiest Americans are older women. The survey of 1,019 adults found that 56 percent of Americans rated themselves as 'pretty happy,' and 30 percent selected the glummest option of 'not too happy.' The sliver of 12 percent of 'very happy' Americans stands out. First, women are broadly happier than men, and those aged 60 and above are happier than younger adults

BY JEN COLLIE “I have a challenge for you,” my neighbor said to me one morning at our Garage Coffee. I don’t see myself as a natural risk-taker, but I was interested to hear the challenge at least. Homemade pop-tarts were the special that day; I had baked two kinds–cherry and brown sugar cinnamon. My neighbor wanted me to try making s’mores pop-tarts. Since we all agreed those were the best flavor anyway, surely the homemade version would be fantastic if I could pull it off. As I said, taking risks is not exactly my strong point. I tend to be the risk assessor in most situations. I try to foresee all the obstacles, minimize the hardship, avoid the injury if possible. Even something as simple as trying out a recipe carries a good bit of risk considering the time involved, the ingredients wasted, and the possibility I might not have any goodies to offer at the coffee shop if they turn out to be disgusting! But this challenge sounded fun, and if I succeeded, it had the bonus of blessing m