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Three more suburbs of Mont-Valin
tariely posted a City Journal entry in P.R. Crastina's Travels (SC4)
1. Fieldsborough once had fields. Not any more. The city planners have taken Mayor Brownstone's demands very seriously : as little grid as possible ! 2. 3. 4. Although there are still pockets of griddy resistance here and there. 5. Not wanting to be outdone, Aldergrove (where the groves of alders have long since disappeared) also tried its best to comply : 6. Although building diagonally still escapes the vast majority of contractors. 6. There too, as you can see above, a few farms hang on. But it's a losing battle, 7. The MacKinnon flower farm. (Imagine living there in the spring and summer, perfumes wafting on the breeze... and the deafening buzz of buzzy bees.) 8. 10. Last but not least, the further away from Mont-Valin and Middletown, Elmsborough has seen its growth shaped by the railway that goes through it, forcing the planners to give up a little on their ungridding fervor. 11. But they still made a valiant effort. 12. 13. 13.However commerce and some mansions owners still like a good, simple grid... 14. The school and one of the town's clinics : 14. There is one medium shopping center, at the edge of town... 15. ... but the Ste Ermenegilde church hasn't ceded an inch of its propriety -- the cemetery has been relocated, though, and the space converted to the town plaza. 16 Many ancient farmhouses have been converted : 17.The last big farm, half of what it was in its glory days, before the railway came :- 7 Comments
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Time to resume our little journey in the Mont-Valin region. North-East of Middletown, Agrestan has become a suburb of Mont-Valin, like Middleton and the other towns of the region, now amalgamated under the name of Mont-Valin, with only one Mayor, Arielle Brownstone (remember her ? the anti-grid Mayor.) Like the other cities, it was a quiet agricultural town, more like several hamlets separating big farms. That time has passed. it is now a bona fide town. 1. 2. Agrestan has taken to Mayor Brownstone's policies when building new neighborhoods. 3. 4. Some big farms did survive the onslaught of urbanisation : 5. 6. Not much industry but flourishing commerce : 7. 8. it's mostly East Agrestan that has stayed agricultural (the following picture will be from East to West) 9. 10. 10. Next time : A few shots of the other little towns, Fieldsborough, Aldergrove and Elmsborough.
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(Aaaand... we're back !) New Things in Middletown
tariely posted a City Journal entry in P.R. Crastina's Travels (SC4)
1. So, first, after deciding things had got to change in Middletown and its region, Mayor Arielle had herself built a new Mayor House. Not quite Mies Van Der Roe-ish, close to the very orthogonal Downdown, close to the very proper City Hall, but still, it was a clear declaration of intent : let’s get into the XXIst century, people – or at least the XXth ! 2. 3. Then she enticed IKEA to open a store downtown : 4. At that time, the whole eastern part of the city was still fields and woodlands. As many new people were coming to Middletown, Arielle B. rezoned it residential and commercial. But most of all, she asked the city planners to let go of the grid. Until then, the town had grown according to the good old orthogonal Vulgate, especially south of the tracks. 5. 6. 7. But it HAD to change in the new north and west parts of town. 8. A plaza illustrating the modern, curvy Mildletown was built in the middle of the first new neighbourhood, and was named of course after the daring Mayor : Arielle Plaza. 9. Arielle B. had not expected her citizens’ resistance to the Ungridding of Middletown. Despite the new roads and streets, they obdurately kept on orthobuilding for a while. 10. There were definitely mixed results. 11. At first the resistance was fierce, albeit polite. Then, little by little, it slowly faded. Tax inducements helped, and the fact that the older griddy rich migrated away from the new neighbourhoods. The new citizens were not very wealthy, but they were young and more enthusiastic about modern living. 12. 13. 14. 15. The great Ungridding battle is over now, Arielle B. has mostly won (the neighbourhood towns are going antigrid big time) and Middletown has settled back into its normal life. Quiet neighbourhoods… 16. Quiet fields (this last untouched one will likely be transformed into a bona fide park, at some point)… 17. Quiet shopping sprees in big and small markets… 18. 19. 20. And, for the daring, some excitement brought from the Outside World by the truckers for whom Middletown is a welcome stop. The Rocking Truckers Motel’s bar-restaurant transmogrifies into a disco with live bands on weeks-ends and holidays ; the local band, The Midnight Ramblers, are all ex-choir boys and began in the St-Felicity Church basement. Now, that’s modernity for you ! 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. And Arielle is happy !- 6 Comments
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- middletown
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Well, Folks, the Rapture has come. The Dreaded Black Squares From Outer Photobucket came with their dire warnings and their filthy scissors, and the cities are all invisible now. But they are still there. Their people are still there. P. R. is still there. And P. R. says unto Her People : I'll Be Back.
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But first, thank you for welcoming back here, folks -- mattb325, randyE, kschmidt, dedgren, korver, Artimus, Larry-you-know-who-you-are, all of you who like smaller, more laid back cities ! :-) ********************************** in Middletown, commerce has known spurts of new growth each time new residentials zone were open to construction, eating away at the fields and woodlands. Thus there is no unique big commercial zone but several smaller ones all over town -- which does wonder for traffic, as residentials and commercial zones intermingle convivially. 1. This is the first commercial zone -- it has had time to grow bigger buildings, but skyscrapers are not in its future (if only because of the "no-more-than 6 levels up" municipal ordinance...) 2. Here's the hotel where P. R. is staying, in the west part of town, away from the hustle and bustle (well, very relative hustle and bustle...) 3. Let's go for the close-up of the central commercial zone. Impressed yet ? Well, the Middletownians are. 4. And by night, it's.... Well, lit. 5. 6. 7. P. R. liked this one place, with the more modern feel -- signs that things are changing in MIddletown...: 8. But mostly, the nights are not exactly blazing in Middletown (which is as well, since P. R. needs real dark in order to sleep, when on the road.) 9. Yet, things are changing in Middletown, mainly because of the friendship between the Mayor, Arielle Brownstone, and college pal become wealthy industrialist Matthew B. Celdane : she's convinced him to bring high tech companies to Middletown. Located in the west part of town, they're flourishing. 10. 11. They have struck a truce with the remaining farmers... [hmmm... trying the less large size ; seems smugmug's images are not as sharp in larger sizes.. at least mine...] 12. 13. Especially Pedriana Pharmaceuticals : 14. 15. There is manufacturing as well as Hitech, but HT is predominant. 16. 17. 18. And there is this Mies Van Der Rohe-ish building, that Arielle Brownstone loved so much that she began to entertain a burning desire to accelerate Middletown"s modernization. And that's when life began to become (a little bit...) more exciting for the town. More about that next time. Next : Excitement !
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Welcome to Mount Valin : Middletown (teaser)
tariely posted a City Journal entry in P.R. Crastina's Travels (SC4)
After almost two years of not so frenzied but lonely writing, P. R. Crastina jumped at the opportunity to travel again and meet new people. She’s been invited to the Mount-Valin region, which looks a lot like the place where she comes from : some mountain, some river, some rolling hills & fruitful plains – and lots of trees. Her first stop is Middletown – the first city founded in the region in the XIXth century. It’s the end of a long lazy summer. Last days at the lake for the kids… 1. 2. ...with sometimes an errant moose... 3. ...last barbecues with families and friends (and yes, for more than a few days ; they came all the way down from up-country) 4. ...time to reap... 5. ... and to go to all the little markets in town to get the good stuff for canning and preserving and all that automnal jazz : Next time : Middletown is not what P. R. (or its inhabitants, for that matter) would call exciting, but it has its pleasant little quirks, since, although prosperous by modern standards, it has not transitioned completely yet to rabid modernity.- 7 Comments
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Among all the cities and towns visited par P. R. in her travels, Poutine City is certainly so far the most un-fancy : a no-nonsense, daily-grind kind of city. Not actually a city in itself but the creeping eastern borough of a larger metropolis, Caraway. Poutine is not even its real name (it is Caraway East), but that’s what the inhabitants call it, because it developped quite quickly and a lot of people had to be housed fast, so the Mayor wanted sturdy : lots of prefabs and concrete buildings jammed together on a grid, the most people in the smaller space for your buck. Of course, with time, a few higher-end buildings sprouted up here and there, but most of Poutine City's architecture is downright utilitarian 1.The Grammercy Hospital (on the smallish side -- Poutine is home to 250 000 people) but there are several big clinics all around town. 2. seen from the back ; most of Poutine's sport fields are there too ; upper right, the small Grammercy College : 3. Commerce Place : 4. Still busy in the evening : 5. Industry : 6. A few family homes manage to hold on : 7. Fast Food Row : 8. There are of course all the amenities : schools, sport fields, a rather quaint but pretty little city hall, near the St-Benigne cathedral : 9. There are also places where the citizens can breathe and relax at the the end of a dutifully busy day, like the peaceful ST-Benign cemetery Park, or the Zoo (a small, urban affair, but the kiddies like it) : 10. 11. Just beside the Zoo is the the Windy Park – “thrice windy”, P. R. was told : named after the Mayor’s daughter, no straight lines in sight and always sporting a refreshing breeze (yeah, I know ; the daughter’s name is Wendy, of course ; but the Poutinians like bad wordplay). Now P. R. is going back home. Her travelling season is over for a while. She must work on her next book. And I must tidy up my plugins -- again -- or my nifty system will break down under the sheer weight of all the Stuff I DLed in the past months. I also must plot P. R 's next forays into the blue yonder, with all I've learned since I began this CJ. Thanks to all of you who followed this little CJ, liked it, commented on it, gave me pointers and cogent criticism. I will try to do right by you in ny next endeavours. I might post a few pictures of tests now and then, but mostly, I lurk here on other CJs (and surely comment once in a while !:-)
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One of Thille's quaint trait is that there are not many bridges linking its north and south districts on the Ste-Croix River. But "to link or not to link" is a subject rather tepidly debated at the City Council, as the anti-linking party always end up successfully arguing that, since residential, commercial and industrial zones are judiciously disseminated all over, as well as essential services & utilities, it is not necessary : "Build it and they will come" is not a positive motto around here – not anymore, after the somewhat rocky beginnings of the city. And indeed, all polls, both on the Left and on the Righ Bank, give mostly the same results : the citizens are happy where they are – and the relatively sparse traffic on the two bridges (for a 400 k + population) proves it. The fact that several mayors have seen to it that both banks were nicely developed as parks, cycleways and promenades, also linking them underground in many places for pedestrians and bicycles, may have something to do with that quasi-unanimity... 1. The Upper Promenade and Cycleway : 2. Commercial Alley Parks, along the Cycleway : 3. Fun for the kiddies : 4. The other bank is nice too (windy day on the St-Croix river...) 5. Gepan Park : 6. Cycling along the left bank (you can rent bikes for free in Thille, of course, and P. R. used them abundantly) : 7. Rorlasch Park : 8. And its neighbour, the Heinley Park : 9. Heinley Park again, with its happy cyclists : 10. The Cycleway goes further along the river and follow it a while after this, right into the fields. But P. R. had enough and went back to her hotel and a hot bath for her sore muscles (pedaling against the wind, y' know...) 11.
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Today, P. R. goes to the Omega Library for a day of reading, lectures and workshops. After which she will relieve the stress with some heavy shopping and fine dining at the Blue Commercial Center. 1. The library is situated in a comparatively quiet part of the city. Its real name is Heywood Library, but its shape inspired some Greek-savvy citizen, and somehow the name stuck. 2. With its adjacent Menines Park and pretty little miniputt, everything is not high-brow-only about it. 3. 4. 5. The Menines Park : 6. Nearby, the old City Hall and the Mayor's house : 7. And then, go to Blue ! (you know, of course, why the Thille citizens gave it that nickname...) 8. Part of the Radisson chain, it's both a hotel and (on the ground floor and below, a commercial center. The fine panoramic restaurant is on the last floor. 9. The view on the river is splendid. 11. And the river banks parks and plazas not far : 12. More about those next time...
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1. There are two downtowns in Thille, one on each bank -- a good thing too, as there are few bridges linking North and South Thille (more about that later). But the real one is on the right bank of the Sainte-Croix river, i.e. North. That's where the big skyscrapers are, harbingers of Things to Come, although they have not replaced all the middle wealth commercials that came before ; some small houses even resist obdurately, but they won't last long (you have to really look for them...) 2. Hey, P. R. found some of her books in the bookshop when she arrived , near the airport shuttle (you can see a bit of the shuttle parking on the top...) 5. That part of downtown is decidedly subdued, albeit prosperous 6. 7. But this is where it's at : 8. In all modern cities, malls small and big are often places of entertainment, where you go shopping – which can be entertaining in itself – but also to meet friends, have a nice cup of coffee and some fun. Thille has developed the concept or commercial entertainment to its utmost : its really big commercial centers are also cultural centers. The case in point is the Desjardine Commerce Center, known locally as "Blue" (on the left). Its architect, Paule-Marie Desjardine, was then the rather young daughter of one of Northey Lake RISFI's "hippies", but no one laughed at her when she proposed her plan for the new commercial center. It was instead officially hailed as a splendidly daring project (dissenting voices were drowned in the applauds). Not far from it is the Omega Municipal library (on the right , also affectionately dubbed "The Spaghetti", another Desjardine's design. It hosts workshops of all kinds, literary festivals (guess what P. R. went to Thille for ?) and the Art Department of the modular regional university. 9. And you can buy a lot of Stuff in-between more highbrow endeavours : 10. We'll visit Blue and Omega next time. P. R. is feeling sleepy...
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Thille is mostly a modern city now but a few churches hint at its past : The Old Church (Sainte Ermentrude), which was once the main piece of a fortified town, long gone since, and Sainte-Apotolska, built later by the first immigrants in the region (Polish farmers). Sainte-Ermentrude and Sainte-Apostolska were the biggest, in fact the only, towns of the place. They have been absorbed, as all their much smaller sisters, by the growing city. Those churches' proud spires, once the highest buildings in the region, are now dwarfed by condos towers and such. So it goes. 1. Sainte-Ermentrude 2. 3. Sainte-Apostolska : 4. 5. On the right bank, near City Hall (upgraded several time as the city was booming, from its first, small, pink original building), there is also Ste-Christine, a grander church, Eighteenth Century baroque style ; the fire station alarms ring louder than its bells, now. Right on the other side of the road, the Tourism Office. 6. Everywhere the mushrooming city comes right up close to the fields : 7. It is indeed a big city now nevertheless, with a keen eye for entertainment. On the right bank, in front of the City Hall Complex, the aptly albeit unimaginatively named “The Megaplex”, provides popular films and fun for all ages – having killed most of the city's other small movie theaters in the process ; 8. 9. The Moondance Century Theatre, in the quieter suburbs, has managed to survive by offering quality programming and film festivals. 10. Closer to Downtown, the Denis Rivard Convention Center (named after the first mayor) doubles as the city's Theatre and Opera (the accoustics are to die for, the afficionados say). 11. This neighbourhood is in fact the cultural hub of the city,000 and also of some of its commercial entertainement, with the Rivard Center, its subterranean semi-open commercial Plaza (never snows or rains in Thille, apparently !) and the PKO Radio Building, which also sports a small auditorium (that's where P. R. gave a few readings and lectures.) 12. 13.
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Thille : Work for the Walking Man (and Woman)
tariely posted a City Journal entry in P.R. Crastina's Travels (SC4)
1.The most striking aspect of Thille now is that almost all citizens walk to work – the Thillois are in very good health ! That was not really intended – industries came flocking in as soon as the airport was built and the city’s father scrambled to house all the people that were flocking in in their wake, with little regards to city planning. (Goober & Sons Architects made a bundle during that period !) But it worked nicely out for everybody. There is very little car traffic and the buses are almost always half-full at best (but the city has the means to keep them running and does, mostly for outsiders !) 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.- 6 Comments
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Thille : Fields of Yore & Northey Lake
tariely posted a City Journal entry in P.R. Crastina's Travels (SC4)
Agriculture in Thille is still going strong and well protected, even though it is slowly gnawed at here and there. The ancient river beds, for instance, are carefully zoned so the residential and commercial encroachments do not become irreparable (and just in case of The Deluge). 1. 2. Close to the heliport (and its commercial and residential development), clean energy in remnant fields : 3. The passenger rail line also stops in the fields: 4.The cows can't play trainspotting but at least they can hear the trains arriving in the station... 5. And now, let's go to Northey Lake 6. The first area to develop economically way back then was, bizarrely, away north and east from the airport : Northey Lake. The lake is a bizarre thing in itself : a small salted water lake, an implausible remnant of the sea that used to cover the region when dinosaurs or something roamed the land. 7. Some "hippies", as they were called at the time, came to build a Research Institute for Sustainable Fishing Industries (now known as RISFI). They had been to Japan and observed the Fishing industries there. So, with the help of a Japanese architect friend, they decided to build it on and in the water, a decision that made them the butt of many jokes from the locals – but gained them a grudging respect when they managed to pull it off. 8. The RISFI fish farms now provide excellent, fresh seafood (way inland...) to all Thille's restaurants, as well as to the whole region, and are not laughed at anymore. Bon Appétit ! 9. There is also a pigmy whales aquarium (ah, the miracles of biogenetics !) 10. 11. -
The first time P. R. visited Thille, when she was a kid, it was on the smallish side, a quiet agricultural community of little hamlets, devoted to their fields and pastures. Then it became the dormitory of Strosswald, the nearby, bigger city east of it. But those stretches of flat land also became the target of the region developers : it was the ideal place to put a bigger, more modern airport. And so farmers were bought off or expropriated, amidst much anger, demonstrations and civil disorder. But the Juggernaut of Modernization knows nothing too big not to be rolled over and so the airport came to be. And Thille began to Develop. 1. (yes, it's blurry, sorry. But it gives an idea of the lay of the land...) 2. (not Blurry...) It grew... 3. and it grew... 5. ... and now it's Mushroom City : 6. And Commute City, too. The Thille airport is a hub of communications (passengers and freight both) for the whole region, and not one but two bus shuttles link it to the city. A heliport and a big passenger terminal, at the end of a short highway, also help commuters.Thille's farmers have so far successfully kept any highways from coming farther in, as they don't want to loose any more farming land, but it's the subject of heated debates at the City Council 7. The freight station 8. Some commercials and residentials ; (the soundproofing contractors made a bundle...) 9. The Northey bus shuttle (top) 11. The heliport with it's little bit of highway (in the upper left corner, the small hotel where P. R. was staying during her stint in Thille. Thankfully, the soundproofing was excellent there too.)
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Smallville : Water, water everywhere
tariely posted a City Journal entry in P.R. Crastina's Travels (SC4)
1.The youngest Zabnis, groomed to become mayor after her father, is Cora, the Elder Zabnis' grand-daughter, who's been the town's mascot since a very early age. But she's not one for nepotism. She studied successfully as an engineer and landscape designer. She's begun to work for the city in the Park & Recreation Department and is making her way up from the trenches, so to speak -- at some point she worked on the dredging of a few swamps. One she replaced by a small but welcome rustic amusement park in the middle of town, Cora's Play Pond : 2. The other she tried to keep as much as possible in a natural state and it is now Cora's Park (both names were put up to a city-wide vote and those are the names which won). 3. 4. But there is are still plenty of places left where Cora Zabnis will be able to exercise her knack for taming waters, as the city grows : 5. Some she will left as is, I guess 6. 7. 8. And some of Smalville's waters will stay proudly untamed, like the Coyla... 11. ...or some of the original swamps... 12. ... or St Narcissin's Waterfall : 13. 14.- 11 Comments
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Smallville : Remnants of the Past
tariely posted a City Journal entry in P.R. Crastina's Travels (SC4)
Among the first settlers, very early on -- we're talking beginning of the Nineteenth Century, here -- there were priests and clerics, as usual. A contemplative order, the Narcissinists (following the rule of Saint Narcissin, an ascetic) built their community in the woods. It lasted about thirty years, then a fire destroyed the Abbey and the pious brothers moved closer to town. But the place is still a touristic attraction and also a magnet for painters and photographs, especially in winter, when the rock formations become sheathed with ice, and shine with fantastic, prismatic colours. P. R. of course and alas, was there in the summer... 1. 2. 3. 5. 6. Another remnant of the religious past is St-Vincent -- another ill-fated church ; but that one fell because of a design flaw -- and I mean the roof literally fell -- just during its inauguration, killing more than forty faithfuls (they were buried there). Superstitions flew around it for a while and it was a forbidden place (where the city's youth love to dwell !) The good thing is, it protected it from urbanization although the building stood right in the middle of what was becoming a very busy part of Smallville. After some struggle with avid realtors, the whole place was turned into a park. As what is left of the building has been certified solid, the interior of the church, with its carefully tended lawn, is now the setting for summer concerts -- classical music, of course. The accoustics are quite good. 7. 8. 9. As the terrain was a bit on the marshy side (perhaps a cause of the catastrophe : insufficiently compacted soil ?), it was drained thoroughly -- the pipes are hidden underneath of course, but the architect who oversaw the works (guess who ? Yes, Viktor Teynman) had a romantic well built along the paths. It's now called the Lovers' Well -- the kind where you get your wedding photographs taken and throw some change in. Once a year, the well is dredged and the sometimes surprising amount of small change is used for the park's maintenance.- 16 Comments
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1.Agriculture is still a vibrant economic part of Smalville's economy. In an alluvial plain, the earth is fertile, and once the temperamental rivers and the swamps had been tamed, Smallville became the bread basket of the Eden region. 2.The Country Fair is a year long tourist attraction 3. Rolling fields 4. 5. Smallville is very proud of its big and very efficient water treatment system. 6. However, some farms are being slowly caught up by the creeping urbanization : 7. The local beer, the Zabnis (surprise !), made from for local hops, is quite good -- and high in alcohol content. P. R. had some problems with that... 8. More farms... 9. 10. There is also good cheeses in the region, Here's one of the numerous cow pasture, with the remnant of a tamed swamp : 11. 12 Another farm with cows : 13. The Local Food Movement is very much alive in Smallville.That's Peter Nagy's Farm, the main producer of artisanal cheese in the region. 14. Also, the kids like to pet the lambs...
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Since the middle of the Nineteenth Century, there have been several waves of settlement in the Eden Bay region, mostly Europeans. First the French, then the English, then Poles, Ukrainians, Italians... It has trickled down somewhat now, but people are still coming in from all corners of the world, lured by the opportunities and the quality of life in the region. Each wave of immigrants brought its own culture and, in Smallville, it shows in the name of the churches. Of which there are many -- at some point, Smallville vas nicknamed the City of the Bells, for each hour and half-hour was ringed in everywhere. Now only the Cathedral Sainte-Adèle has this privilege --fortunately, because sleep would be hard otherwise. P. R. didn't visit every small church and chapel, but only the main ones. 1. The baptist church, St.Temperance, and its park : 2. 3.The Lutheran church, St.Ephrem, close to the old City Hall & police station, and to the mayor's house. Three generations of Zabnises have played in the nearby Serenity Park. 4. 5. En route to another church, P. R. went through the more secluded Melancholia Park; by then, she was getting the nagging feeling all the city's parks had been designed by the same landscape artist. And... those names ! 6. In the middle of the town, close the the new City Hall, there is St.Antoine -- which was the main church before the Cathedral was built. 9. 10. Closer to the outskirts of town, the small St.Saturnina, with coloured glass windows imported from Italy at great cost by the Italian community. 11. The austere St.Tomàs church 12. Most churches are neighbourhood churches, with few parishioners now. Some have even been decommissioned. This one, St-Ephrem, has been converted into a small art gallery and concert hall. 13. One of the smallest, St.Apostolska, near the Wessermeyer College. 14. St.Gilda, right in in what is now one of Smallville's busy commercial neighbourhood. 15. 16. At the point, P. R. got confused. Hand't she already seen that church ? Yes, St.Ardua, near the Towers : Ardua and Gilda were twin sisters, the legend has it, and the Italian community, then in full swing, decided that there would be sister churches. Which is somewhat confusing indeed for tourists who walk around without a map -- like P. R. 17. St Ardua and the Towers are graced with one of the big city park, Fortitude Park. There, P. R 's questions about the builder of the city's parks were answered : indeed, it was the same man, Viktor Wessermeyer, a German-Polish immigrant of the very early TwentiethCentury, who lived a long and productive life, albeit a sad and bereft one. A poet as well as an architect, and a romantic at heart with a rather somber inclination, he favoured a particular path design, interlocking circles or half-circles supposedly figuring infinity. O....K.... P. R. thought to herself after thanking the kind old gentleman who'd enlightened her at length. At least, there are parks in Smallville ! 18. The design was reproduced when the Towers were built, as an hommage. 19. P. R. had been directed to the cemetery where Wessermeyer had been buried -- the old one, close to St-Adèle : there are almost no cemeteries left in the city, they have all been pushed to the city limits. But that one was kept, enclosed in walls and transformed into another park, where admirers of Wessermeyer can come and meditate on his grave. Jim Morrison's it ain't, but still, faithfulls come each year on his anniversary ; Wessermeyer had been famous enough as a poet to deserve that, and have a college named after him. As per his wishes, a tall dark tree was planted near his tomb. 20.
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Smallville : Commerce et industry
tariely posted a City Journal entry in P.R. Crastina's Travels (SC4)
1.In Smallville, you generally live close to the place you work in -- and you often go to work on foot, as I said earlier. For some, the early morning jog can be quite picturesque : 2. 3.The construction of the Heliport brought some trouble, concentrating a lot of commercials in the same place, but it was soon resolved by a carefully planed rezoning of the whole town, mixing residentials and commercials. 4. ...but true to their origins, the City Fathers didn't have the county fair rebuilt somewhere else... 4. 5. Some big commercials are even built close to the city limits: 6. Here is one of the quiet neighbourhood, despite being where the Agricollege (left), and the Sainte-Claire Hospital, park and church are situated. 7. The industrial zones have been planned the same way , in order to get people to live close by : 8. They're mostly high tech, low-polluting industries (the Clean Air ordinance is severely implemented in Smallville). 9. 10. 11. The greener industries love to be as close as possible to the fields : 12. The Schriefer Industries' Headquarter (upper left), the first of the two agressively green city building, opposite the Gatureck Fire station : 13. And this is the other one, more recent, Floss Inc.: Next : Agricola...- 5 Comments
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Smallville : A serviceable city
tariely posted a City Journal entry in P.R. Crastina's Travels (SC4)
Smallville is not so small. In fact, it's the second most populated city in the region after Eden Bay which is the Real Thing with mucho skyscrapers et al. (its excuse being that it's where the big seaport is ; but you won't get to see it : P. R. 's pictures of it were destroyed in a fatal computer crash). It was already an urban area when her sisters towns were still villages, and has kept on being the main commercial center (after Eden Bay, of course). For a long time, it was also where people went for their health or their education. Its attraction has lessened now but it still is where you get the best services. 1. Police, (one of the two) hospitals, Kendrick football stadium... 2. And very early on, it got The Cathedral, St.-Adele -- in more religious times, it was an important symbol, and there was a heated regional debate on which town would get it. The rather overblown Town Hall was built later on, to the envious snickerings of the neighbouring towns. 3. Perhaps you noticed the bowling alley, in the previous picture. But Smallville's citizenry can practice (relatively) more strenuous sports : 3.1. The Municipal Stadium 4. And then, there came The Airport, one of Zabnis Senior's grand projects, with the canalization of the Mathis river. 6. But it never went beyond the grass phase, because Eden Bay then built its own -- faster, and directly in concrete, no grass stage ! The City Council then overrode the Mayor, counter-proposing a heliport which would shuttle people to Eden Bay's airport. St-Jerome grass airport now is used by the local piloting school -- and gives air rides for your birthday, and parachuting (P. R. had fun.) 7. The heliport turned out to be a commercial boon for the city that had a big growth spurt at the time. Traffic became hectic, parkings popped up everywhere, pollution rose, the citizen grumbled... The Mayor took drastic measures ; "If you unbuild them, they will stop coming" he said, in a memorable council seance. He itched up parking fees, tripled the bus services (with “green” buses, too) and demolished almost all parkings in town (the last big one, underground, is at the heliport, in fact.). Astute rezoning also helped -- not concentrating commercials or industrials in one place. Smallville is now a walking city. More than two-third of the population walks to work and the bus services are slowly ramped down. And so, like her sister towns, Smallville is now a green city. Very green. Extremely green. 8. Either where the Mayor (Zabnis Junior now) lives... (it's his daughter's birthday -- Cora Zabnis-Letellier ; she's beeing groomed to take over after him. But more about her later.) 9. ... on the outskirts of town ... 10. 11..... or in the middle of the town :- 6 Comments
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1. The Coyla, north-west of the city, was the first to be (relatively) tamed by bridges, and then the settlers began settling in earnest. It meant dealing with water -- a lot of water, beginning with the Mathis River and its many swamps (in the whole Eden Bay region, swamps were the bane of the first settlers.) The Mathis was especially prone to flooding, and very early on the first mayor, Zabnis Senior, decided it would be completely canalized. 2. 3. To convince the citizen to fork out their hard-earned money for the long-lasting, costly project, he had a sample built --his detractors derided it as “Zabnis' Folly”, but were overridden by the people. The Mathis would be vanquished ! 4. The work proceeded at a reasonable pace during the elder Zabnis' life. 5. Nice promenades were built along the canalized waters : 6. 7. 8. Zabnis Senior was reelected five times, but he would not see the end of his pet project. His son, Zabnis Junior, took the mayor's mantle after him and thought he would finish the job. But times had changed, something had been blowing in the wind and as the flooding had been reduced almost to nothing -- the engineers had begun, of course, with the sectors most prone to flooding -- the younger, greener generations wanted the river to keep on flowing free. A serious political struggle begun about a part of the Mathis which was now in the middle of the city, but still was a birds' refuge. A compromise of sort was reached : 9. After that and the changing of the guard, the Taming of the Mathis was no more first and foremost on the City Council's agenda : younger councillors were busier with commerce and industry projects. 10. And the river stayed otherwise free : 11. 12.
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1. For a long time the main industry in Smallville was logging, on Mount Harrelson. Once almost clearcut to death, it is now taken care of, replanted, and listed as "Renewable resource". Of course, the alluvial plain was also deforested in order to build the new Smallville (once bridges had been built on the Coyla). But three generations of tree-loving Mayors (the Zabnises, of which more later on) saw to that, and as you could see in the previous entry, the city is green enough. Now on with the logging. (Mostly a picture dump from P. R.'s memory album, if you don't mind, guys and gals. Xmas is looming ever near...) Here's the source of the small stream that helps bring the logs down to Lake Harrelson : 2. 3. 4.... where it all happens 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.Logging roads... 10. 11. 12. 13. Logs, logs everywhere... 14. 15. And finally, the people without whom none of this could occur : loggers hard at work.. 16. 17.
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1. The third and last town where P. R. Crastina stayed, in that golden half-year of her first big residence as a writer, way back then, was Smallville.. 2. ...Another part of the amalgamated city of Eden Bay, under the aegis of Mayor Zabnis -- all three generations of them. Please forgive the small pictures : P. R. had only a small, non-digital camera at the time -- beginning writer, almost a student's budget... y' know... 3. It was another pretty, quiet and green town : 4. 5. 6. with only two honest-to-God skyscrapers to its name (and the oldest citizens grumbled a lot about those) : 7.They were all from old Polish farmer's stock, and their parents could still remember the humble, agricultural beginnings of the town. Almost nothing is left of it, only the Adamcyk Farm, north of the Coyla river, which no bridge had yet crossed, at the time. 8. 9. 10. 11. But the river would have to be bridged, and it was, once the forestry industry came to the region and logging began in earnest, as wood was (and still is) the main resource of that part of the region. Next : Logging.
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... and then, after having had her fill of culture in buzzing Zinfandel, P. R. went back to her writer's residence in Martin Falls, and it was once again peace and quiet and green, and lazy summer days along the river for the last two weeks of July. August she would spend in another “borough” of Eden Bay, Villeray. Villeray, on the other hand, and in the North-Eastern corner of Eden Bay, looks like this (teaser...)
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Escape From Martin Falls : Zinfandel revisited
tariely posted a City Journal entry in P.R. Crastina's Travels (SC4)
Around her third week in Martin Falls, that long ago summer, P. R. began to feel antsy. She soon understood what she was going through : it was the Green Blues Attack. Too much green ! Too much peace & quiet ! So, as she had done while in Kathy Vale, she escaped again to The Big City, Zinfandel. But this time she decided to do the Kultur thing -- no more follies at the amusement park. Let's go highbrow, she thought. Museums, art galleries, theatre (the live kind, not the movies...) and music : first night, the Opera -- Cosi FanTutte. Then, realizing the Science Museum blue dome was just on the other side of the track with its reclaimed banks -- parks and bike paths--, she went there the morning after. Then it was the Oceanographic Museum --with a little detour by the Aquarium. In the afternoon, a movie theatre beckoned, but P. R. resisted virtuously and went instead to the Museum of Arts & Crafts (they take their arts & crafts very seriously in Zinfandel, she thought : what grand building !) Then not far, there were the City Archives, with a big “Zinfandel through the Ages” exposition .P. R. is a sucker for old engravings and nostalgic sepia photos, so she went. There she met an interesting older gentleman, who directed her to a smaller museum, not as frequented but worth the visit for its semi-private collection of Seventeenth and Eighteenth century miniatures. “Well, as long as they provide magnifying glasses...” They did, so she went (it's the small Mediterranean looking building...) The older gentleman turned out be the curator of that little museum and an excellent tour guide. There is a nice park close to it, but she was feeling a little tired -- and the day was getting hotter, so she went and did some laps at the Municipal Swimming Arena to get the kinks out of her back. The day after that, as she wasn't yet Kultured out, she went to the Gavern Art Museum, close to one of the many city libraries -a modern, all glass one (in summer, Museums are decidedly cool, aren't they ? ) And then she went back to her hotel, because she had kept the whole last day for the pièce de résistance : The Zinfandel Gallery, a multi-media, multi-shopping, multi-restaurants, multi-everything she had been told about enthusiastically while in Kathy Vale but had declined visiting during her first escape to the Big City. In prevision, she had booked her room at the nearby Karhu hotel. (in fact there were yet two other museums in the vicinity, but she called it quits). Oh my, multi it was ! (and multi-levelled : the shopping was all underground.) After that, a culturally satiated P. R. went back to Martin Falls, more than ready ready to tackle more weeks of lazy, quiet greenery !- 12 Comments
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