Ghost of Midnight

Side-by-side neighborhood photographs taken this year and in the 1930s provide great insight… each pair worth 2,000 words, I guess. Check out Depression Era Streetscapes, a project of University of Vermont Professor Thomas Visser. The site covers much of Burlington, Vermont, USA.

Mia Moran of Channel 5 News WPTZ captured the essence of what we’re after with Front Porch Forum in a piece broadcast last night. And bonus points to her and cameraman Nick for braving our home during the toddler bewitching hour. If you have trouble watching this video (on WPTZ’s site), hold tight… [...]

And in another take on related matters, Peter Krasilovsky reports on two more city sites: Pegasus News in Dallas and CitySquares in Boston. CitySquares co-founder Ben Saren reports 300 advertisers paying a flat 25 cents/click.
To date, neighborhoods out of the downtown district do best, like Jamaica Plain and Harvard Square. “There is a [...]

Nearly a quarter of private-sector, non-farm jobs in Vermont are in micro-enterprises, according to the Association for Enterprise Opportunity and reported by Leslie Wright in the Burlington Free Press today. The number of such businesses grew about 8% from 2001 to 2003.
A micro-enterprise employs fewer than five people and requires $35,000 or less in [...]

Some places have a great sense of community, but most neighborhoods in America, me thinks, do not. A new book, Applebee’s America, seems to agree:
“Life is changing too damn fast,” Cindy Moran told us one day at an Applebee’s restaurant in Howell, Michigan. A single mother of two, Moran was one of the dozens [...]

From an interview in .net magazine with Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake:
Community building is also what got Yahoo! so interested in Ludicorp’s creation and although Yahoo! has got some of the best technical resources behind it, Caterina believes that skills and money don’t guarantee users. “The interesting thing about acquisitions of this kind is that you [...]

Josh and Zoe live around the corner from us with their two tots. I saw their original posting in our neighborhood forum asking for help moving from their rental across the street to their new home. We had planned to stop by to help schlep a few boxes, but one thing led to [...]

I realize that Halloween was a few weeks ago, but severed-hand stories keep dropping in my lap. So… it all started with a message on the South Union Neighborhood Forum from Sue Burton and Jan Schultz:
“The morning after Halloween we found a green hand on our porch (pretty scary)! Maybe it’s a “special gift” [...]

Burlington Telecom is a young internet provider that is bringing fiber optic broadband all the way to the home. This is the latest and greatest technology and it’s cheap! BT also offers telephone and “cable” TV (no copper). And the kicker… this innovative high tech outfit is owned by… the citizens of [...]

Trade associations form when a group of businesses in the same field feel a need to work together to (1) get a better shake from government and/or (2) get group discounts from the vendors that serve them. Professional societies serve the same purpose for individuals. Last I recall, the United States has an [...]