The Deleted Scenes - New and Old #164
When I was at the Strong Towns/CNU conference last week, at one point a couple of people and I were talking about fragmented municipal governance and metro areas, and one of them brought up the term “boroughitis.” I’d never heard the term itself, but it hails from New Jersey, as I do, and I’m not surprised. New Jersey is famous for its strong “home rule” culture and its hundreds of municipalities, which inefficiently duplicate many functions of government. Even Chris Christie wanted to consolidate some of the state’s redundant localities! While New Jersey and the Northeast/New England have this general tendency, “boroughitis” was coined in reference to Bergen County, which alone is home to 70 distinct municipalities. The article is mostly about history—this goes back to the 19th century—but a bit at the end on the current era (there have been a few municipal mergers in recent years, for example). Interesting read, on a bit of trivia that actually matters. How Coffee Became a Joke, The Honest Broker, Ted Gioia, May 5, 2024
This was fun to read having just come from Seattle and seen the ridiculous lines for the fake “first Starbucks”—mostly for the tourist activity and not the coffee, since it’s the same menu. But then there’s the “Starbucks Reserve” shop with a bunch of complicated sweet drinks that go for about $13. Different doesn’t mean better. We’ve actually just sort of gotten into coffee—buying whole beans, grinding them each time we make it (with a pretty nice Oxo grinder that was a free gift from my wife’s company). And I’ll tell you, semi-properly made decent whole-bean coffee, black or with a splash of real cream, is as good as or better than almost any standard coffee-shop coffee. Even the good ones. Even the roasteries. A little more Starbucks fun:
Fun fact: my parents used to buy the brand of olive oil that Starbucks uses for this drink, and not long after the partnership was announced the quality of the olive oil on the store shelves dropped. What a waste. That good stuff belongs in sautéed broccoli rabe! Anyway. This is a fun read on a light but nonetheless serious topic. Small Town America, A Nomad on the Loose, August 29, 2017 This is a pretty short blog post, but I’m always interested in commentary about/impressions of small towns from people who aren’t necessarily urbanists or land-use people in any deep sense. I think this qualifies. Interestingly, he combines “rural” and “small town,” which I actually think is a correct understanding of what small towns often are—tiny examples of urbanity in rural areas.
Also this:
Check out the post. The fall of the frontons: What happened to jai alai?, Palm Beach Post, Hal Habib, May 17, 2022 In trivia that doesn’t matter all that much, I found this article because I had no idea what “jai alai” was or meant—I knew it only from the pretty good IPA you may have seen. Turns out it’s a sport whose player base has steeply declined over the years:
What kind of sport?
I guess that’ll mean something to someone. Another fun read, and the sort of thing I naturally find interesting: things once common that have become rare. Related Reading: Thank you for reading! Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to help support this newsletter. You’ll get a weekly subscribers-only piece, plus full access to the archive: over 1,000 pieces and growing. And you’ll help ensure more like this! You're currently a free subscriber to The Deleted Scenes. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
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Monday, June 3, 2024
When incremental improvement yields magic ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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New Urbanism and Urbanist Media
Tuesday, May 21, 2024
The professional urbanism world needs to speak to the average American ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Seattle Addled
Monday, May 20, 2024
I know which American city *isn't* my favorite ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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