Okay, so here's a weird disclaimer for you...

I'm going to tell this story ALL WRONG.

Well... it's not all wrong, but a little bit is.

I've heard this story four separate times and each time it's presented differently for reasons of that presentation that day, so I can't figure out what the essence closest to 'truth' really is. Suffice it to say, I will tell you the version I'd originally heard, or at least how I recall it (and we cannot rule out that this might be my crux of the issue in 'truths' ;)). However, this is the story that has inspired me to tell 'this version of truth' as it stuck with my heart.

How I best recollect it:

Once upon a time, a group of young university friends used to gather in a coffee shop on the weekends and talk about the problems we have in the world. There must be a way to solve these challenges, the students had said.

They consequently determined that if they could start some kind of project that could change one city, then surely that city could effect the whole world over time.

And, like spokes on a wheel, leading to other wheels in other spots, they drew this on a napkin. [*Oh, you'd think I could just fake a picture of such a napkin right here, given that disclaimer above, but I won't try to do that. What I'd give for that original napkin to show you. An historic tree indeed went into this plan! ;)]

Years later, Mark is an architect at this point, and in the board room with one of his clients one day, he then asked, "What do you do with the toxic containers?" And the answer was, "Oh, we bury them in a corner of the site when we're done." (An approximation here only, if you shall recall.)

Well, the corner of the site, in this case, was right beside the City's river and thus water supply.

So, Mark quit his job and went overseas. When he first arrived in Mayan culture (I don't know whereabouts or even if this happened elsewhere enroute) he was greeted by an elder who said, "I'm so glad that you've come, as you've lost who you are." (Not the true words, but the best I can do. Just go along with my making the point...)

After living now immersed in indigenous cultures for eight or so years, where everything was taught through working in circles [* insert into your mind here a well-known photo of grinning children outside with their bare brown feet all together making a circle and each child taking turns to talk about the circles they see every day in their lives.] Mark had found his 'roots'.

So when leaving to return again to his home, he met with the same man who told him, "Now go back to your life and try to figure out who put the lines on the world."

And so, that's what he did.

When he first arrived back in his old neighbourhood, he could see what the man meant. The lines were all created by straight blocks and roads... from research, a grid pattern created by conqueror types that controlled all their lives, ostensibly managed and divided as such;  most important of all: there wasn't room and no plans for town centres nor any daily gathering space for neighborhood life, not beyond little parks and odd far away venues.

There were no circles! And neighbours were 'strange'.

So, he marched across the street to the elderly nun who lived kitty-corner to him and he said (again, my own paraphrased words), "We have to do something about this!" And she said, "We do!"

And so, as my version tells it, they began a little tea station right there on her corner neighbourhood lot. Soon enough, occasional folks brought other teas and coffee and such. Then, they added a bulletin board, and recycling shelf for shoes and for books, and odd necessities to exchange; and as it expanded its 'want' they made their own teahouse right there on the lawn.

(You'll remember Mark is an architect here.)

They (by now I'm sure, involving some neighbours) built the most beautiful, breathable roof out of white, opaque, ephemeral wings—sail-like, light weight and artistic in shapes. And they spread about portable tables and chairs and chatted with tea, out of the rain and the sun.

Well, the City came along and said, "You can't do this! You need a permit. You get too much traffic in here." (This last bit is one of the parts I'm putting in this order, and may not be just right, so long as you know.)

A bit of research, some time and annoyance of neighbours eventually held things up to the light: the City in its own mandate was already supporting the exact social and community goals that the tea house and neighbourhood was achieving is spades—and with FAR less total cost. Its goals were laid out on the City's own site.

And so, long story short, Mark and community friends gathered the neighbours to calm traffic down.

They didn't know who was who in the neighbourhood yet, for the people had lived in their boxes in grids: apart from the rest for a very long time. Strangers, recall? So the tea stand folk asked the local kids who was who.

And of course these kids knew. They made a good map (not on napkins this time, as I'm sure they're all far into the story with conviction by now)... But here lived a doctor, a painter, an electrician, a teacher, and so on. And they invited them all through the neighborhood kids, going round door to door.

They got everyone's input on what to include in the designs and they chose the most-loved, home-grown pattern of all.

They gathered up paints and in true work party style, they took to the corner and reclaimed their street. They ate food and created a mandella on pavement—a painting party of traffic-taming proportions and a full color celebration in a circle to start.

So, what do you think happened from that?

Yes, the drivers slowed down! Clearly aware there were children playing and amazed by the colors they saw on their path, drivers just crawled through their neighbourhood now.

(And there may have been another, 'But you cannot do this!' obstacle here for the plot, but since I'm just 'representing' this story, I can't tell you that.)

It did all result in matching funds from the City for more neighbourhood projects to encourage this trend.

So after more time, more neighbours had circles. Intersections now applied for a want to be closed—just to paint or get married or have some gathering fun. Traffic calmed down and circles spread out. The intersections became their community hubs.

More projects were designed and 'licences' applied for... in hand made, community natural cob... Tool sheds and shelters, library stands, artworks and places to sit, all built by their own sharing and hands and a bit of good mud.

Now, for a time this may have caused small worry for some. They were building a bench by this point. What if the homeless came along and slept on their bench?

Well, that's exactly what happened, and those fortunate folk found themselves invited to parties and given a brush. The homeless few who did arrive soon became, Tom or Joe or another proud neighbour. They helped paint and plant and put garden pathways in place like everyone else rallied to do. They felt included and fed, by people they 'knew' and soon became regular neighborhood allies.

The 'Planners' marvelled as the progress went on; and so it spread through the City and onward through others who got wind of it now. This small circle start grew and became known, The City Repair Project, and a movement took hold...

And, as badly as I've told this larger-than-life, mostly-true story, I might still make you cry...

You're invited for real!

Although I've put video #7 first to capture your attention, which you'll find headered above, you'll love the whole video sequence that tells the story of City Repair, including the 'grid' in land use planning, and where you might plug in with your own plans in your neighbourhood there.

The whole series on CommonGood Media actually starts with, "Mark Lakeman (1 of 14) The Chronology of City Repair": https://youtu.be/9DGE9BtSK4Q . (Part 7 of 14 is: https://youtu (dot) be/hwX9qEeedNo in case you need to painstakingly copy this out.)

These are guaranteed to make up for my lack!

& to learn more about Mark and the work he's done since, here are just some of the projects that he, his friends, and community now, all catalyzed—once upon a time, on a coffee shop napkin in saving the world (links & current updates on many of them, including Village Convergence, at the bottom):

https://marklakeman.wordpress (dot) com/about

Cheers from me, here, and this tale about positive power from our love of more circles plus a good neighbour or two,

≈ Wez

Can you, I and our own friends do something like this—?

Oh, and I forgot to mention when I first wrote this post, by the time I heard about this going on, 263 neighborhoods had already copied their lead (in cities elsewhere as well). Village Building Convergence began after that—a week long gathering, to teach and share building techniques, now in its twenty second year. And the Transition Town movement sprang up after that, so this wheel is rolling, happy and gathering steam.