Old Brick Houses In Johnson City

The old Tree Streets neighborhood in Johnson City is full of architecture that imitates classical Greece and Rome. You can see the columns and porticoes in many houses, especially the more affluent. Some houses in the neighborhood go back to the 1800s. I think that the preponderance of the red brick is somewhat regional. The last three pics are of the oldest home in the neighborhood. It looks like its been neglected. These big houses remind me of the coop houses I knew from Madison and Austin. I like a place where many people reside but you had your own private space. And you got to interact with other folks in the common spaces. Its not for me anymore but I think families or other groups should be coop housing more. And we would retain the old good houses more and spend less on housing costs if we did.

Revitalization in Johnson City Downtown

Old spaces getting remade to modern businesses in older sections of Johnson City, Tennessee. I love this city and its changes over the years. Run Down meeting the modern again and again. The Southern Craft restaurant and brewery has great food and beer. The barbecued meat is as good as I've eaten anywhere in Texas. America is a consumer based economy. A lot of what people buy helps businesses that reproduce an unsustainable economy. Unsustainable economically, ecologically, and culturally. I often think I fall into that destructive pattern when I eat too much meat, especially smoked bbq. We all have our preferences. I buy few new clothes but lots of folks love picking out the latest fashions. If we want people to have the freedom to purchase what they want and keep it sustainable we need to have renewable energy sources. Until then I'm going to pick choose bbq over things like a new car or new clothes. Well maybe a new shirt or two.

Local farmers trying to make a more sustainable economy and setting up shop in a real rundown section of Johnson City. I hope this lasts.

The Ball Park in Johnson City

First you see some public housing out of the last century. Small home feel with open spaces and there's a big public pool right down the road. Better than the big complexes in Cabrini Green style but I don't think collecting a bunch of poor people together in any style is good public policy. Its not good for the people living in that area. It's not good to have schools fed by large numbers of poor kids. And the adjacent properties you see in later pics do not make for a good location for anybody. Imagine that being across the street all the time. I post these images of America because I see the beauty in these scenes. But I bet the kids who grow up there don't see it that way. At least they have the baseball games next door that they can go to. But they're probably not spending a lot of money and time there.