Village Elders

The New York Times most emailed story for the past two days has been "A Grass-Roots Effort to Grow Old at Home," a phenomenon that shows how much of the grass roots wants to stay close to its roots in old age. The story concerns semi-official or downright impromptu groups of elderly who are conspiring to stay in their homes even after they are unable to completely care for themselves or their surroundings—sometimes upkeep of the house can be the biggest challenge. For now, this is a mostly urban phenomenon, but the suburbs is where these groups have found their greatest utility: handymen and drivers (for trips to the grocery store, to the doctor, or anywhere off the block) are often a suburban oldster's most immediate need. As the inner-ring of suburbs gets older and the next generation splits for other states, or at least other, farther suburbs, groups like this will be more necessary for older folks to see out the project they began mid-last century.

The article gives a list of email addresses for groups the reporter mentions. But anyone who is concerned for their own older neighbors can simply knock on their door and see if they need any help.

Woodstock (Re)Generation

Woodstock, Georgia is not as famous as New York's, but the Bible-belt town and the home of rock's supernova have one thing in common: they've both had to figure out how to deal with a mammoth population explosion. Considered "out in the country," barely a decade ago, the Atlanta exurb, 30 miles north on I-575, has doubled in size since then. Where many burbifying areas have been swamped by that kind of growth, Woodstock is considered the poster child of the Livable Centers Initiative, which the Atlanta Regional Commission, helped by the feds, funds "live-walk-play" districts near shopping and transportation.

Woodstock's participation in the plan was to rezone to accommodate residential buildings with retail space below, including sidewalks with room for shoppers on foot. A developer, Hedgewood Properties, already had its eye on the town. They were given the master plan and told to come back with a project that fit in. We wanted a community focused on people rather than vehicles," town planning officer Richard McLeod told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We can go down the road of being another suburban wasteland, or we can go the way of being economically and environmentally sustainable." Today nearly 1,000 homes (above, left) and condos are either underway or being planned in a lively downtown that used to shut down at the close of business every afternoon. A website dedicated to the revitalization (named, a little perversely, Olde Towne Woodstock) keeps residents and visitors abreast of events like farmers' market days, cooking classes and town council meetings. Nothing on there at the moment about a music festival.