OutTakes
by Edd Merritt
April 8, 2010, page 6.....

It’s been a “neighborly day in this beauty wood.”

My furnaces have had a relatively easy year of it so far – both the one in my house and the one in my chest.
The heater in my heart is fired up about how to plan an East Charlotte community. I don’t think I’m alone in that regard. It has been an interesting venture for those who attended the planning meetings. These meetings, thanks largely to moderators Jim Donovan, Dean Bloch and LandWorks’ David Raphael, have produced a raft of ideas. Creativity abounded, coupled with a dose of immediacy from Clark Hinsdale’s presentation on his family’s property in the village area. He was careful to address community development (I use the word cautiously, meaning it here in the broadest sense) with his family’s plan to sell some of their property. And seldom, if ever, did anyone in the audience get on the “nimby” bandwagon.
The notion of building a neighborhood of our own, something we’ve all had a say in from the beginning, does present a challenging task. And the fact that everyone, from renters to major shareholders like the Hinsdale family, is actively involved says something about the notion of community. So far, we’ve kept the concept alive. And the longer we work toward it as our goal, the better off we’ll be.
It’s a task that I find more doable than the ones facing our nation. So far, disagreement has generally been limited to a genteel discussion of where village boundaries lie.
I’m on a five-member group whose goal is to suggest how we “E-lotters” will organize ourselves to come up with a plan. Jennifer Adsit has been tenaciously searching for planning processes from other towns so that we don’t reinvent the wheel. Trina Bianchi has carefully wordsmithed our documents. Heather Manning has reminded us of the desire to expand the role of the Grange in the community. Matt Hough and I have attempted to view a village in a broad scheme, how it fits into the town. And we’re ready to bring something back to the community.
I’d like to survey East Charlotte residents to get a sense of how they see East Charlotte, and do they anticipate significant change? Should there be concentric rings of residence, agriculture and natural areas, or should it all be mixed together? What are people’s priorities? The community members at the three meetings laid out approximately 15 action steps with a number of individuals enthusiastically stating their preferences for working on particular items. We don’t want to lose that momentum. Yet, at the same time, we don’t want to start things that we can’t finish. That could kill enthusiasm faster than H1N1.
I hope that my desire to help get a plan underway locally isn’t shortsighted in light of the difficulty our country seems to having in doing a similar thing across its vast empire, a nation so mixed in terms of belief and practice that I wouldn’t wish the task on anybody.
For contrast, take our little corner of the world – Baptist as it may be.
I walk into Spear’s Store each morning not knowing exactly what sentiments I will encounter. They often come from the person perched on the “throne” next to the counter. Many days there is a “next-sayer” itching to lead the discussion but patiently waiting a turn in the “crab apple seat” at the end of the wine rack.
Taxes and town boards often receive the brunt of vituperative remarks, but the subject changes like the weather: oil prices, snow removal, a recent wedding, kid duty, new wine or a boy friend out-the-door all get play. If the throne had ears, it would be the “Encyclopedia East-Charlottica.” I hope Carrie Spear doesn’t have a hidden mike nearby.
But, this is what community is all about, isn’t it? Much as I may disagree with what’s being said at the moment, I’m pleased the speaker feels comfortable enough to air his or her thoughts.
I listen to politicians, and I seldom get that same sense of willingness to test their audience’s response. By the time they’ve whitewashed their words in beltline drivel, they’ve accomplished little more than giving too many TV analysts too much to blabber over between commercials. At least March Madness ends. Politics goes on interminably.
In her book Hands on the Land: A History of the Vermont Landscape, Jan Albers says that we “transform it (wilderness) into a working landscape, subject to human actions, the minute we enter it.” Because people can’t live in a wilderness, we “need to turn our attention to understanding how to preserve and promote human environments that provide beauty and community.”
Beauty and community: easy to say, a challenge to accomplish. But it makes sense, and it kindles the embers in my furnace.

My backyard is a factor
Where an actor of note
Can take off his coat
No need to pretend

- Mose Allison, “My Backyard”