Editorial by Hal Goodtree. Map from Southern Environmental Law Center.

Cary, NC – Fracking has the potential to make North Carolina a net energy exporter. But serious concerns exist about contamination of water supplies. Until those concerns are laid to rest, Cary needs to ban fracking within our town limits.

What’s Fracking?

Fracking, short for fracturing, injects water and a slurry of sand and chemicals at high pressure into rock formations. The rock formations form cracks (or fractures), creating channels for the release of natural gas, oil and other substances that can be recovered and brought to the surface for refining and sale.

Shale formations offer an enticing opportunity for fracking. The hydrocarbons in shale represent a bonanza of untapped resources for energy companies, but have been difficult and expensive to extract.

Fracking and North Carolina

Of interest to geologists and energy companies is an ancient seam of shale called Triassic basins running from Massachusetts to the South Carolina border.

In North Carolina, the seam of greatest commercial interest runs from north of Durham down through Sanford and into the Sandhills. A portion of this zone cuts through the western part of Cary.

What’s Good About Fracking

Energy independence, that’s what’s good about fracking. Geologists and industry experts have predicted that fracking could make North Carolina a net energy exporter and provide a 40 year supply of natural gas.

Don’t Drink the Water

The most serious concern about fracking is the release of toxic chemicals into water supplies.

State officials in New York, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Wyoming and elsewhere have raised serious concerns about fracking and enacted legislation to protect consumers and water sources.

In Wyoming, near a development called the Pavillion field, the EPA recently released a finding that detected contamination in test wells of groundwater.

“Residents of Pavillion long have said their drinking water stinks of chemicals and is giving them health problems. Health officials last year recommended that they not drink their water and ventilate their bathrooms while showering.” – Business Week

The Deep River shale basin in N.C. runs through the western portion of Cary and along the eastern bank of Jordan Lake. Cary gets its drinking water from Jordan Lake.

Industry disputes the EPA finding and says that fracking is perfectly safe. But legitimate concerns and the first-hand experience of farmers, landowners and consumers across the U.S. have called that blanket pronouncement into question.

What’s needed is more science – independent and peer-reviewed. Why rush into something that could contaminate the drinking water of 2.4 million people in North Carolina?

Disclose the Chemicals

For me, the biggest sticking point is the unwillingness of energy extractors to disclose the chemicals they use in the fracking process. Companies say revealing the ingredients of the mix would amount to disclosing trade secrets.

This is a disingenuous argument. Companies could reveal what chemicals they use, but not the exact amounts of each ingredient or the precise formula. If all companies were forced to disclose under the same standards, the policy would not affect the competitive balance. Lawmakers in several states have been studying this option.

Without a list of the chemicals used in the process, it’s impossible to know whether groundwater contamination came from fracking.

Disclosure is a fair expectation. N.C. lawmakers should adopt it. Industry needs to accept it.

No to Fracking in Cary

Sanford has massive deposits of shale. It could become an oil boom town.

Deposits in Cary are certainly more modest.

But until concerns about ground and surface water are set to rest, Cary Town Council should place a ban on fracking within the limits of our municipality.

An editorial opinion by the Publisher of CaryCitizen.

Cary, NC – Many readers have been asking about our endorsements in the coming election. Without further delay, here are our voter recommendations.

CaryCitizen Voter Recommendations

Here are our 2011 Voter Recommendations for Cary:

CaryCitizen recommends you get out and vote
on Tuesday, October 11, 2011.

That’s it.

It may not seem like much of a recommendation, but only 10% of registered voters in Cary exercised their citizenship privileges in the last municipal election.

Voting Myth #1: Municipal Elections Don’t Matter

In fact, the composition of the Town Council probably has more direct and everyday influence on your life than national elections. Roads, schools, water, sanitation and safety are all local government functions.

In this election, the Mayor and three Town Council seats are on the ballot.

Voting Myth #2: My Vote Doesn’t Matter

With so few votes in municipal elections, your votes counts a lot. Be a king-maker!

Do It For The Kids

Until the United States came along, people did not vote for their leaders.

Democracy had its birth in ancient Greece but was a miserable failure. European countries had Parliaments, but they were engaged in a desperate struggle with kings.

For more than 200 years, Americans have had the right to vote for their elected leaders, from lowest to highest. It has not been a smooth path to the elections of today, but freedom is not achieved in a generation.

Show your children you value American democracy and pass along to them the privilege, responsibility and joy of Election Day.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Cast your vote on Tuesday, October 11, 2011.

Find your polling place online if you’re not sure where to go.

Review where the candidates stand in our Cary Candidates series.

Friend Cary Votes 2011 on Facebook. Pass it along to your friends.

“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” - Winston Churchill

Hal Goodtree is Editor & Publisher of CaryCitizen.

Cary, NC – Municipal and County elections are coming up on Tuesday, October 11, 2011. Every vote counts and it’s a busy time here at CaryCitizen.

The Importance of Local Elections

Voter turnout is typically low in off-year, local elections. But arguably, local elections are the most meaningful and important choices we get to make at the ballot box.

County and town governments deliver many of services we use every day – water, sewage, waste, zoning, education. They are all on the ballot on October 11.

Here’s to a dream that Cary one day leads the nation in voter turnout. To that end, we’ll be covering the elections (as different from politics – we leave that to the other guys) over the next two months – who’s running, where to get more info, where to vote, etc.

To get the ball rolling, we’ve created a 2011 Cary Votes Facebook event. Join the event and help us remind everyone to vote in local elections on October 11.

A Busy Time at CaryCitizen

Election season is a busy time at CaryCitizen, both for our publication and for our commercial services.

I’ve been hired through CaryCitizen Business Services to take pictures of Mayor Weinbrecht for his re-election campaign.  True to the CaryCitizen spirit of non-partisanship (and free enterprise), any other candidates who need campaign pictures are invited to contact me. We also have an amazing pool of contributing photographers – see our Contributors page for more info.

As for campaign advertising, we are open to all candidates for public office. We will continue our policy of not accepting attack ads (not that we’ve ever see any in Cary, of course. Too civilized).

For advertising inquiries, please contact Lindsey Chester. Please be advised that space is getting tight for September and October.

Hal Goodtree is publisher of CaryCitizen.com

Cary, NC – Last Sunday, News of the World published its last issue. The 168-year old newspaper was shuttered after allegations surfaced of police bribery and hacking into the cell phones of crime and terror victimes.

If this is journalism, count me out.

Murdoch Leads the Way

For more than a decade, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has been the Leviathan of major media journalism. His sharp-edged, controversial style of news enraged many, but captured a growing share of world markets.

Over the years, the Aussie publisher has acquired The Times of London, The NY Post, The Wall Street Journal and other prominent media properties including Harper Collins, 20th Century Fox, Fox Broadcasting and SKY Deutschland.

Other major media empires bemoaned the rise of Murdoch. But in a time when the influence and profits of newspapers were on the decline, Murdoch was successful. News Corp properties made money and moved elections.

As time passed, Murdoch’s competitors continued to deride him on the one hand while adopting his tactics on the other.

Sensationalism Sells

Call it tabloid journalism if you like, but the legacy of Rupert Murdoch is a major infusion of sensationalism and controversy into daily news.

The goal is not to tell an accurate story, but to agitate. That’s the goal: get people upset. Controversy sells.

Liberal and conservative news organizations across the land now follow this credo like an Eleventh Commandment.

Murdoch’s Undoing

Sensationalism in news is all about framing – how you see a story. And having a point-of-view is just fine, as long as you don’t call it fact.

But News Corp went too far. Way too far. Allegations of police bribery and phone hacking have swirled for years. Now there is action in the UK courts and Parliament.

Since shuttering News of the World last week, Murdoch has had to give up his bid for outright ownership of BSkyB, Britain’s leading pay-TV network. He has also been forced to accept the resignations of two top executives – Rebekah Brooks, a longtime confidant and editor of News of the World at the time the hacking scandal occurred, and, on Friday, Les Hinton, top executive at Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

On Friday, it was also revealed that the FBI is looking into News Corp phone hacking of 9/11 victims in the U.S.

News organizations around the world are watching the rapid unravelling of Murdoch’s fortunes with a mixture of horror and glee, what the Germans call Schadenfreude. There is widespread feeling within the business that Murdoch’s comeuppance was long overdue.

But journalists would be wrong to celebrate. His failings infect the entire news industry.

Read More

I’m a daily subscriber to the print edition of The Wall Street Journal, owned by News Corp, so I’ve had to go elsewhere for coverage of the Murdoch story.

Here are some other places if you’d like to delve deeper into the News Corp story:

• Montreal Gazette – Twin Resignations Rock Murdoch
• The Guardian – UK tabloid and rival of The Sun broke the hacking story.
• Financial Times – News Corp Faces Prolonged Inquiry in U.S.

I can’t say that any of these sources paint an unbiased picture. But what newspapers are unbiased?

Note: After this article was published on Sunday morning, Rebekah Brooks was arrested in London. Also Sunday, Paul Stephenson, the head of the Metropolitan Police (also known as Scotland Yard) resigned in a new phase of the News Corp story. 

An editorial by Hal Goodtree, Publisher of CaryCitizen.

Cary, NC – My friend Pagliacci, a professional photo journalist, wrote last week to mock me about our lack of coverage concerning the murder of Nancy Cooper. “It’s the biggest story of the year and you missed it!” he crowed.

Au contraire, my sad friend. We chose not to cover it. Here’s why. 

1. Profiteering from Tragedy

Where is the line between news and sensationalism? When does normal news coverage morph into profiteering from tragedy?

In our book, we stay away from stories whose main or only merit is sensationalism, controversy or tragedy. Those stories may get lots of web views, but they damage the community in which we all live.

Since the local newspaper has the bad-news franchise locked up, we focus on the good news – Education, Arts, Non-Profits, Sports, Business – community stories of achievement, success or even healing. We featured Nancy’s Butterfly Fund Gala in our weekend events coverage last week. That’s the fund set up as a memorial to Nancy Cooper.

2. The Crime That Launched a Thousand News Stories

Meanwhile, a handful of our local mass media outlets latched onto the Cooper murder story like junkies on crack.

The story has dominated the evening newscasts. The News & Observer lists more than 200 stories on a keyword search for “Nancy Cooper.”

Taken together, local mass media has likely published a thousand stories on the murder. I’m tired of seeing Brad Cooper’s face on my Facebook home page and on the front of the N&O. There is more to our community than Brad Cooper.

3. Cary’s a Baaaaaaaaad Town

The subtext in much of the major media coverage of the Cooper story is the notion that Cary is a baaaaaaaaaad town. Our allegedly beige exterior hides a secretly depraved core. The News & Observer loves this thread. It’s been a staple of their coverage for years.

They’ve even pushed that message down to the Cary News. As if we hadn’t gotten the word in the previous 200 stories, the Cary News spelled it out for “friends” on Facebook on Sunday:

Meanwhile, 61 other things went on in Cary just this past weekend. Scant coverage of that (except here).

I was at Herbfest on Saturday. The place was packed, but I didn’t see a lot of baaaaaaaaaad people. Not very beige either.

4. Disservice to the Cary Police

In perhaps the most shockingly cynical twist to their narrative, the newspaper trashes the police department (and it’s not the first time).

They talk about the “unrelenting spotlight” on “the Cary Police Department, accused of incompetence and bias.” Who said that? Brad Cooper’s attorney.

He’s supposed to say that. But, thankfully, neither the judge nor the jury was buying it.

The headline could have read “Cary Police Vindicated.”

5. Why Read It?

As Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht pointed out in his blog,

“I believe the newspaper did a hatchet job on one of the premiere communities in Cary, Lochmere, especially in the story ‘Case was Lifestyles of the “Popular” and “Affluent”‘.

And it’s not an aberration. The newspaper coverage of the Cooper story was hand-in-glove with their coverage of the Bowden story, the Wachovia bank robbery story, the Wake County Board of Ed story and on and on.

For advertisers, one has to ask if this same local newspaper actually reaches the hearts and minds of the people of Cary anymore. For many of my neighbors, it reaches the recycling bin, that’s for sure.

If you feel the way I do, take action by saying NO to the N&O. Unlike them on Facebook and unfriend them on Twitter. Cancel your print subscription. I get The Wall Street Journal delivered to my house 6 days a week, all year, for $149.

Or maybe we should collect all those nasty issues of the N&O and have a big bonfire. On July 4th. Call it our Independence Day.

And that’s how I feel about the coverage of the Cooper story, Pagliacci.

Story and pictures by Hal Goodtree, Editor of CaryCitizen.

Cary, NC – What is news? At its most basic, it’s anything that’s new.

Newsworthiness is another issue. Some publications think only controversy is newsworthy. I beg to differ.

A Month of Saturdays

Sometimes, I just like to drive around with my camera and see what’s going on around town on Saturday mornings.

Inevitably, I take more pictures than can possibly end up in stories, but they’re all newsworthy, at least to me.

So here’s my Editor’s Journal for the last month: Stories that didn’t get told.

Saturday March 12

The pear blossoms were in full bloom and I drove downtown to take some pictures for a story about the Cary Arts Center.

Right across the street is the Community Pocket Garden. Winter onions were looking sturdy and pansies were ready for planting.

Also downtown, construction continues on the Cary train station. The upgraded depot will open in late summer 2011 and feature full service ticket agents and baggage check.

The town is rich in sculpture. Some is permanent, but much of it is on-loan to the community. I like figurative art, and the strong lines of the bull in front of city hall caught my attention.

Saturday, March 19

I love it that Morrisville Mayor Jackie Holcombe does her own social media for her town. Checking Facebook on Saturday morning, I saw that Morrisville was having a roadside cleanup. When I visited mid-morning, they had already counted 122 volunteers and untold bags of trash.

I was on my way to take a few pictures of the new stretch of Morrisville Parkway, but had to stop to get a picture of Hatcher Grove Baptist Church, one of the most storied congregations in the Triangle. The sun was in and out of the clouds on this particular Saturday morning.

Saturday April 2

Yesterday was cool and beautiful with a clear, windy sky. I wanted to visit both Cary Farmers Markets.

I started with the market downtown. Enthusiasm was high under the big, old trees and fresh produce was in abundance.

Before getting back in my car, I had another one of those moments where I just had to take a picture, this one of the iconic house/antique store on East Chatham.

Across town, things were hopping for the spring opening of the Western Wake Farmers Market.

I’m always amazed at the variety of things for sale in addition to fresh produce. A new vendor this year is the Sausage Wagon. Next time I’ll know not to eat breakfast before I head out with my camera on Saturday morning.

What’s Newsworthy?

Events like the opening of the farmers markets or a town clean-up next door may not be news in Raleigh, Sacramento, New York or Paris. But it is news about our community, interesting to us because it’s where we live.

Hope you enjoyed this edition of Editor’s Journal!

Story by Hal Goodtree, Publisher of CaryCitizen.

Cary, NC – People say to me, “Hal, CaryCitizen.com is pretty cool. Did you build it yourself?”

Yes, I did. “Did it take a long time? Was it expensive?”

I did it in a weekend. It’s all open-source (i.e. free) software plus a little custom code.

“Can you build a website for me?”

Absolutely.

40 Websites Later

Before there was a CaryCitizen, there was Goodtree & Co., Inc.

Between the two entities, we’ve built more than forty websites for business and organizations large and small, like North Hills, Garden Supply and many local realtors including our friends Ann & Amy.

Now, we’re pleased to announce the official opening of CaryCitizen Websites.

It’s a Team Approach

The same people who publish CaryCitizen work on our websites for business. See the credits on our CaryCitizen Websites page.

4 Reasons Why  You’ll Like Us

Here are four reasons why clients like our websites for business:

1. Open Source – Holds down cost, speeds development time (generally under a month)
2. Tight Design – Every site we build is unique, but all share a tight, well-designed look.
3. User Friendly – Easy to update, easy to change things around.
4. Search Friendly – All our sites have excellent search visibility, concise keywords and built in stats.

Get Social

Maybe our strongest skill is that we know how to engage a community. If you want to reach a specific audience, we can find the right pictures and words, the right mix of social media including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to achieve your business goals.

More Info

Get more info on the CaryCitizen Websites page.

Contact Us

If you’ve been wanting to update your website, now might be the golden moment.

Email Leslie Huffman for more information about CaryCitizen Websites.

Opinion by Hal Goodtree, Publisher of CaryCitizen. Photo by Keith Kissel under a Creative Commons license.

Cary, NC – The headline, splashed in big letters across the top of Wednesday’s newspaper, read,

“EASLEY CONVICTED OF FELONY”

In small type underneath, it explained:

“Former Governor to pay $1000 fine for one campaign finance violation.”

Really?

When I hear felony, I think of murder, robbery, kidnapping. When I hear $1000 fine, I think of an expensive parking ticket.

Was this fair reporting?

Let’s Consider Mike Easley’s Career

Governor Easley served two terms (2000-2008) during some of the best years and also some of the toughest times in state history. In fact, his career of public service dates back more than 25 years.

In 1982, Easley was elected as district attorney, the youngest ever in state history. USA Today named him one of the top “drug busters” in the nation, battling South American cartels under a threat of death.

In 1992, he moved up to the state’s top law enforcement job: Attorney General. He served in that position for eight years.

As Governor, Easley had many notable accomplishments. According to the National Governors Association:

Easley used targeted, performance-based initiatives that generated more than 25,000 new jobs and $4 billion in investment for the state, earning North Carolina the title “State of the Year” and No. 1 “Comeback Kid” from Southern Business and Development Magazine in 2005. Easley also reduced class size in grades K-3, implemented the first statewide pre-kindergarten program for at-risk children, launched an effort to reform the state’s high schools and introduced measures to improve North Carolina’s students performing at or above grade level on ABC tests.

Easley was born in 1950 in Nash County, NC, the second of seven children. His family grew tobacco. He graduated from UNC Chapel Hill and earned a law degree cum laude from NCCU, where he was the editor of the law journal.

Is Easley a saint? No. Did he make some iffy decisions and have some slippery friends? Probably.

But did his long public service career merit a two-year scalp hunt?

Why Traditional Media Takes Such a Negative Slant

Controversy juices newspaper sales.  I heard a senior editor, in a moment of rare candor, give an example of the connection between controversy, editorial policy and sales: when they broke the story about First Lady Mary Easley’s cushy job at NC State, they sold twice as many newspapers as the usual run.

So Wednesday must have been a great day at the newspaper – they got to use the words “Easley,” “convicted” and “felony” in a gigantic headline. Print another 50,000 papers!

That’s not fair news. After two years of “investigation,” hundreds of man hours and tens of thousands of dollars, all the newspaper got was a wrist slap for Easley and a thousand dollar fine. Even the newspaper admits they shot a blank:

“After weeks of negotiation, the case boils down to one helicopter flight.”

And,

“State, Federal Probes End”

Now they’re gunning for Governor Perdue. When I met her in Morrisville a few weeks ago, she struck me as hardworking, unpretentious and sincere about her job.

Not Left or Right

I heard from people on both sides of the political spectrum all day. This letter in the StarNews in Wilmington captures the feeling:

It’s not helpful when the media has an agenda that distorts the news and prevents elected officials (Democrat or Republican) from doing the business of their office. It is a significant factor in the polarization of America and the gridlock in government.

Using that power solely to gin up sales diminishes investigative journalism everywhere.

That’s the real crime here.

Why I’m Thankful Today

This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for all the Cary citizens who have helped us bring a little sanity back to news in our own town.

I am thankful for the common sense of my neighbors.

What Do You Think?

What do you think of traditional media’s negative slant on the news? Let me know in the comments or send me a note.

Story by Hal Goodtree

Cary, NC – Some of you may have noticed a special 1 Year Anniversary logo flying from the CaryCitizen masthead. That’s because this week marks the beginning of our second year.

It’s really been a community project, so we thought we’d share a little info about the year past and talk about our goals for the future.

Statistically Speaking

CaryCitizen launched on July 24, 2009. Our first story was on Lazy Daze.

Since the beginning, we’ve relied on the community to spread the word. Thank you, pioneer readers, for helping us have a great first year:

• Story Views - 234, 693 (includes web views and email reads of our stories)
• Absolute Uniques – 55,669 (total number of unique visitors to carycitizen.com)
• Subscribers – 1,262 (includes Facebook Fans, email subscribers and Twitter followers)
• Ad Impressions – 469, 259 (number of times ads have been shown on the website)
• Click-Through Rate – .53% (national average is .25%)

Right now, we’re running at 22,634 Page Views per month. 52% of our site visitors come from Google search (we’re an accredited Google News source).

Keeping it Positive

Our mission is to tell the true story of the town everyday. It’s a story of families, hard work and accomplishment.

We published over 700 pieces in our first year about arts, food, history, events and the people who are making a difference in Cary.

Building Contributors

We’ve grown through the efforts of a growing staff of dedicated correspondents and contributors from across the community.

Our photographers crisscross the town almost daily covering sports, events and business. We’ve connected with talented writers in music, film and news. The Calendar is the first complete directory of events in town.

Sponsors, Advertisers and Civic Leaders

Thanks to all the businesses and public officials who have so generously supported our mission to bring fair, entertaining and useful news to the citizens of Cary seven days a week.

News From You

Many of our best stories start with a tip from a CaryCitizen reader. Community-sourcing the news is in our DNA. Keep those emails coming!

Year Two

Looking ahead, we have big plans for our second year.

We’ve gained accreditation from the NCHSAA (NC High School Athletic Association) are look forward to expanded coverage of fall sports at Cary High and Panther Creek.

Look for a monthly Fashion Report starting this week.

And, we’ve just begun to roll out our Shop Cary initiative – stories in the paper and signs in the stores promoting business in town.

Tell a Friend

Best thing you can do to support CaryCitizen is tell a friend. Still a few people in town who don’t know we exist.

Happy First Anniversary, CaryCitizens!

Story by Hal Goodtree. Photos by Karl Fisher.

Cary, NC – Our town is full of communities: Cary Photographic Artists gathers a community of photographers. The Downtown Community Garden gathers a community of philanthropic-minded green thumbs.

There are shopping communities as well. Last week’s “Summer Nights” at Preston Walk showed a path toward making shopping communities more meaningful, and from a business standpoint, more popular.

Create a Gathering Place

Preston Walk created an instant gathering place by closing off part of the parking lot, having a band, setting up some booths for vendors and making opportunities for children to play.

Merchants opened their doors and invited the public in for free things like wine tasting at Sip, gelato for kids at Henry’s and tasty offerings from Stonewood Grill and Biaggi’s. Over two hundred people showed up, the evening was dry and a good time was had by all.

From Parking Lots to Communities

Preston Walk didn’t invent the parking lot festival, but the warm response and solid attendance shows that they’re on to something.

In an event-series like “Summer Nights,” designed to draw a regular neighborhood crowd, why not attract some of Cary’s other communities to join in? CPA, the Community Garden, the Cary Players, SuperSkippers, Friends of Page Walker and many more could set up tables and make some new friends.

Cost: Zero. Benefit: Priceless.

Suddenly, a commercial event becomes more like a weekly community fair. A Facebook page and fan base can’t be far behind.

The Importance of Cross-Promotion

Naturally, these events create some cross-pollination between devotees of different businesses within the shopping community. That benefit could be greatly magnified by an active and continual effort.

Most shopping developments are unfriendly to pedestrians. You can walk from Stonewood Grill to Henry’s Gelato, but few people do. A little cross-couponing could change that.

Why would Stonewood want to send its customers to Henry’s for dessert? Because Henry’s would be sending Stonewood new customers for dinner.

Call this the “piazza effect.” There’s something grand about having dinner in one place and dessert at another. Throw in a little shopping and you have an evening, not just a meal.

The developer who can deliver that experience will have something unique in Cary.

Our friends at North Hills in Raleigh demonstrate this principle. Their Beach Music series draws thousands of people on Thursdays. And it’s great for the restaurants, bars and stores.

The Ideal Shopping Community

Like North Hills, the ideal shopping community has the parking around the outside and the stores on the inside facing a central plaza.

Spokes from the central hub into the parking lots invite people to park near their favorite stores and enter the community just steps from their own cars. Wide, tree-lined paths provide good sight-lines and easy access.

Lively hubs need a central focus. A fountain, a small stage or a kid-friendly sculpture give a plaza a unique signature.

Kid-friendly is crucially important. That’s why interior roads hurt the piazza concept. Parents want to be able to sit an have a glass of wine while the kids romp on the statue. Crossing an active roadway does not feel safe.

And the central feature needs to be informal enough for kids to romp on – not gaze up at. Good public features of this kind include “Alice in Wonderland” outside the Central Park Zoo (where I romped as a tot) and this crazy head from a plaza in Paris.

Sculpture in public places should be kid-friendly, like this giant head in Paris, France. Photo by Hal.

Shopping Communities – It’s a Growth Business

Go Local initiatives are gaining strength across the nation. Local communities of business, defined by a common geographic location, can ride that wave.

“Summer Nights at Preston Walk” is a first for our community – a weekly festival event in a commercial development. We wish them continued success and growth through innovative community engagement.

Take a look at a short slideshow covering the event by Karl Fisher.