From Here

So the project booklet has been completed. All the interviews are done and the semester is almost over. Yet, I don't think I'll forget about this school project as quickly as the rest of the papers and end of the year projects I'm working on. This mainly has to do with the fact that doing this project made Fort Wayne a visual map for all of the concepts of creativity and community I learned in class. When I'm working downtown, I can't help but think of the writing of Don Mitchell when I see a homeless person walking by. I think of Oldenburg when I see my friend enter his third place and greet everyone he knows (which is most of the people in there). I think about Edward Soja's comparison of Los Angeles and Amsterdam, and how I want Fort Wayne to lean more in the direction of Amsterdam and have it's "stimulus of confusion". 

Asking people about Fort Wayne made me feel like people care about it. I admit that I'm someone who is looking forward to living in a new place since I've lived here my whole life, but I'm glad that people have places they love here and are willing to voice their opinions on improvements and changes that can be made. I have hope for Fort Wayne. I think developments such as Parkview Field and the hope of riverfront development are steering the city in the right direction. Change, improvement, or keeping what's good here good relies on the people, and their willingness to take responsibility for the city. It can be easy things, like not littering by the river, that can make the city better for everyone to live in. 

If you care about Fort Wayne, I encourage you to get involved and participate. If I leave this city, I hope I leave people behind who will continue to support local events such as Buskerfest and the Zombie Walk and who support local businesses such as the Friendly Fox or the unique downtown bars, such as the Brass Rail. If you have any power in decision making, I encourage you to take into consideration viewpoints and opinions from those who are in their 20s and early 30s if you want them to remain here in the city. 

New Ideas

When I started this project, I was curious to see what ideas the different people I interviewed would have for places in Fort Wayne. After interviewing everyone, I'm starting to see how their views effect how I personally view Fort Wayne spaces and places. For instance, yesterday I went to Headwater's Park with my family to find a newly planted tree that is dedicated to my grandparents. We found the tree on the side of the park behind the jail, very close to the river, and right next to a space that one of my interviewees had just told me about. There is a small, already built in amphitheater space right there next to the river. As long as I have lived in Fort Wayne, I don't remember this space being utilized for anything. I don't even know how many people know about it, but I think it's a space that has potential.

From my interviews, I've gathered that downtown Fort Wayne, or near downtown is where most of my interviewers have their favorite places, and it's the area that was talked about the most in discussions of improvement and new developments. Now as I see places downtown, I see the potential that others see in them. 

These are all the places and the potential places and spaces I got to talk about and learn about throughout my interviews:

1. Clara's Pizza King - a personal favorite of mine. Great pizza and a unique atmosphere (the have bench swings for some seats).

2. Forest Park- If you want to see some of the most beautiful houses in Fort Wayne, I encourage you to check out Forest Park Boulevard. 

3. Parkview Field - It's now TinCaps season! There are also summer concerts here.

4. The Embassy Theatre - Arguably Fort Wayne's most breathtaking concert venue.

5. The Rivergreenway - Along with Parkview Field, this was one of the most popular choices. A great place to ride bikes along and see the beautiful landscape along the river that you can't always see from a car. 

6. The Brass Rail - For the music lover and 21 and over crowd, this is a favorite of many people I work with. It's a cool downtown spot on Broadway.

7. Local coffee shops, such as the Firefly, Old Crown, and the Friendly Fox. A great way to support local business. 

Areas of Potential Improvement

1. Reopening the old movie theater on Calhoun Street.

2. More places for the under 21 crowd.

3. River development and an increase in downtown living.

4. More bike friendly roads and drivers, plus more money for bike trails.

5. Handicap friendly sports complex next to the Grand Wayne Center.

6. More recreation on the rivers. 

I learned so much about what people see in the Fort Wayne community. I don't usually pick up the newspaper and read about 20 somethings' opinions on the community, so I'm glad this project gave me a way to start conversations about community in this age group. 

City Centers

In class yesterday, we were comparing and discussing the cities of Amsterdam, Los Angeles, New York, and Fort Wayne. This tied in nicely with my community project because we were focusing on city centers and a lot of my interviewees have talked about downtown Fort Wayne. After reading an article by Edward Soja titled "The Stimulus of a Little Confusion", I discovered that Amsterdam seems like the most ideal place to live out of these four cities because of it's city center. The squatter movement that occurred there has placed a diverse group of people from different economic backgrounds into this space, who are able to thrive on a more under the radar economic market. In Amsterdam, you don't have to be super wealthy to live in the downtown space, because the city has compromised with the people and allowed the squatter movement to occur and for people to lay claim to housing. Los Angeles is missing a strong and vibrant city center, and is having more difficulty solving the problem of the widening gap between the rich and the poor. In New York, one can also see this wide gap.

So what about Fort Wayne? In my latest interview for my project, I discovered that housing or where people live is very important to city development. According to John Felts of Visit Fort Wayne, only 3% of people who work in downtown Fort Wayne live downtown. In my interview with him he stated that: 

"Fort Wayne is undergoing big changes right now, especially downtown. The downtown riverfront development will transform our city forever, as shopping, dining, and trails will be added alongside our rivers, which will bring more people downtown.  

While riverfront development may take several years to build, Fort Wayne is moving its efforts to increase downtown living. Locals want to see more downtown dining, shopping, and entertainment, but the lack of “feet in the streets” has slowed the process. More people are visiting downtown, there’s no question about it, but we still have ways to go. Once living comes to fruition and there is more consistent foot traffic downtown, I believe the dining, shopping, and entertainment will quickly follow."

I agree that to have a thriving city center, it's vital to have people living in it. The question will be what kinds of new housing will be available and who will be able to afford it? Will Fort Wayne follow Amsterdam's lead and have a diverse population of people living in downtown or will it cater to the wealthier population in order to bring more money into downtown? Another one of my interviewees, Isabelle Kauffman stated " My mom and I talk about all the time that if they really want people to move to the downtown area, then they need to have a grocery store in that area" So affordable housing and businesses to support the people who live there, like grocery stores, can help bring people back to downtown Fort Wayne so that it can develop in other areas, such as entertainment and dining.      

Pop Up Spaces

As the weather gets nicer and we're finally able to return to outdoor spaces, we find that there are a lot more places that we're able to enjoy. People flood the parks, eager to walk around and see spring flowers or play sports like tennis and soccer. There are more people riding around town on bikes and from what I've observed a lot more people walking around downtown during the days and evenings. Over the weekend I attended a student carnival at Ball State University and it got me thinking about how the spaces and places we enjoy don't have to be permanent. A one day, two day, or one week event can transform a space like an empty field or parking lot into a completely new space, like a carnival or outdoor concert. 

This time of year is when we see pop up public spaces and more places upon back up for the spring and summer seasons. There are outdoor concerts at the Foellinger Theatre again, the parks invite us to spend free time enjoying the nice weather, carnivals and festivals start to happen again, and ice cream stands open back up. And always a hint that warm weather is here is the presence of food trunks lining the streets downtown to feed a hungry lunch crowd. I personally love the reappearance and opportunity to return of all of these places and events, and find there is much more to do now that I don't feel trapped indoors. 

So congratulations everyone for making it through the horrible winter! It's time to go back out and enjoy the spaces and places in our community that have been covered in snow for months. The outdoors can be a great space in which to create or enjoy pop up public places and events. Here in Fort Wayne there's all the summer festivals at Headwaters, such as Germanfest and the Three Rivers Festivals, there is the Rivergreenway and many bike paths to enjoy, parks such as Foster Park and Lakeside Park, and many other things!

Visit to New York

Over spring break, I had to opportunity to visit a close friend in New York City. She grew up in Fort Wayne with me and moved to NYC for college when we graduated high school in 2011. Since she was not on break she had class and rehearsals, so I spent a lot of time walking around, taking in all the sights and sounds of the grand city. I know people often talk about the amount of people in NYC, but I couldn't get over the amount of places! I have lived in Fort Wayne all of my life so I know about the majority of places here and it's hard to find new places. I couldn't get over the amount of new places I could potentially find in New York, not to mention the variety of these places. In my time there I visited the Met, a beer garden, a club on the Hudson, and a swanky hotel bar decorated like a parlor of an old school explorer. Although most of those things I just mentioned were bar related, there was a lot I could do that didn't have to do with alcohol or being old enough to drink. One day I visited the High Line on the Hudson River, which is an elevated park/ walking path built on an old railway line. I loved the idea of this space because it incorporated the idea of reusing and reinventing space. I think it's a project that other cities can learn from, because it sparks creativity to have to use something that's already there and turn it into something different, and it's good for the environment to put plants and vegetation in a place that doesn't have a lot of it. It's also a space that encourages activeness and isn't focused on commercial gain. I think it's a great public space. So not only was my trip fun, it also helped me think more about spaces and places and what possibilities are out there that I haven't seen in Fort Wayne yet. It reminded me about what I learned at DID about cities learning from each other and sharing ideas. I know NYC is much bigger than Fort Wayne and has a population to support many more places, but I still think that we can be inspired by some of the public spaces and innovative city projects there.

Downtown Improvement District

My first step was contacting the Downtown Improvement District office. I am familiar with DID because I have worked beside their office for almost two years. My basic questions going in were: 

1. What does DID hope to improve on (goals, focuses)?

2. How do they go about improving the downtown area?

3. What kinds of public space do they hope to create through their projects?

Last Friday, March 14, I met with Frank Howard, Director of Marketing, Environmental & Business Services at DID. I was met with a pile of very helpful brochures that covered most of the questions I had. Frank explained the different projects DID does, and what their goals are and what their mission is. Throughout our talk I jotted down some of the things Frank reiterated about DID. These include:

1. DID aims to have a creative impact on the community

2. They hope to foster economic development by acting as a mediator for downtown business. They aren't looking to make a profit, so they look out for the best interest of all the business.

3. They have multiple community partners, who they help through marketing and coordinating

4. We talked about Buskerfest and how the idea for it came about. This brought up city improvement includes city to city communication, with different cities sharing ideas and implementing projects that have been successful in other cities. Frank also talked about how having buskers in a city is a way of telling if a city has "made it" culturally, which I thought was interesting.

5. DID aims to keep events low cost and accessible.

6. Through their Clean and Green program they want to maintain a clean and safe environment. 

What really struck me throughout this interview was the level of optimism I felt and that Frank conveyed as he discussed all the different aspects and components of DID. From what I have seen from the events I have attended (Buskerfest, Fright Night, HolidayFest) people want these type of things to happen. There were large turn outs and people really seemed to embrace the events.

Introduction

Hello! Welcome to my Creativity and Community project page. Here I will document the different steps I take and interviews I conduct for the making of a brochure about the Fort Wayne community. I chose this project because I am interested in other's opinions about the spaces that fill Fort Wayne. What places do people really enjoy in Fort Wayne? What might they wish that Fort Wayne offered? I have lived in Fort Wayne for my entire life, and I'm still amazed and delighted to find new spots that I haven't been to before. I'm interested to see what spaces people in Fort Wayne like to inhabit or where they might like to inhabit. Improvement is a word that's constantly on my mind while thinking about this project because I think Fort Wayne has a lot it could improve on, especially when it comes to catering to adolescents. I hope the project will create a space that generates thoughts and conversations about the Fort Wayne community, for thought and conversation is where change is fostered.