New Stories for the Queen City?
by Matthew Slaats

Cities hold their stories in a multitude of ways. At times they are expressed through architectural markers that point to moments of development and change. Think of church spires reaching for the sky, brick facades along a main street, or a row of houses lining a neighborhood. At other times the story is told through its people. Voices are heard on street corners, in restaurants, and across the aisles of stores that define a place. Much of the Hudson Valley is understood in relationship to its history, the vitality of which seems to permeate the region’s every surface. These ways of knowing eventually merge to give a city a certain identity that is constantly changing but not easily shed.

Having long suffered from the loss of industry and the effects of urban renewal, Poughkeepsie is a city where new narratives are currently being rewritten. When one thinks about the city, it is easy to refer to issues of crime and decay that dominate the newspapers, but there are other stories that need to be told. Rich social and cultural traditions have long been overlooked. One just has to taste the mix of Latino, Italian, Caribbean, and African American foods to sense the depth of these connections. The waterfront is another frequent topic of conversation, as city government works to imagine what it could be. And there are a multitude of other efforts to rethink the city. In a city defined by such diversity, it is how these different groups and their stories meet that will ultimately come to define a new way of thinking and being in Poughkeepsie.

Middle Main Revitalization has been leading an effort to do just that. A program of Hudson River Housing (the nonprofit shelter and housing organization created in the 1980s), Middle Main is a community development initiative to energize and catalyze efforts in the long-suffering middle section of Main Street in Poughkeepsie. Led by Elizabeth Celaya, the program has been building coalitions of residents, business owners, and city officials to focus attention on the plight of the neighborhood. Over its two years of existence, Middle Main has invested significantly in the area, bringing knowledge combined with a sensitivity to those who live and work there. In 2010, they established Open House Poughkeepsie, an ongoing series of events that provides ways of experiencing Poughkeepsie in new ways. In the first year, this consisted of performances by hip-hop and traditional Latino dance groups, artists installing work in business storefronts, and tours of the neighborhood. In 2011 they emphasized beautification, with over 60 volunteers helping to create murals, clean vacant lots, remove trash from local streams, and celebrate the unique character of Poughkeepsie. Beyond that, Middle Main has distributed grants to local property owners to renovate their buildings, turning vacant spaces into now vibrant businesses.

Another ongoing project is a collaboration between Clearwater and the Fallkill Watershed Committee to study the Fallkill Creek. Originating in northern Dutchess County, the Fallkill meanders through the woodlands of Dutchess County before meeting suburban and then urban areas in the City of Poughkeepsie and eventually joining up with the Hudson slightly north of the railroad station. Along the way trash, chemicals and water runoff collect in the stream. In early 2011 a process began to realize the Fallkill not just as a waterway, but as a community asset that would bring people to the water’s edge and address issues of water quality. In collaboration with the Urban Landscape Lab at Columbia University, the Fall Kill Creek Planning Project—through public meetings, research, talking with residents, and walking the creek—will create a master plan for a walkable green corridor and designs for selected pilot sites along urban stretches of the waterway in the city.

Another effort to write a new narrative is being led by the Poughkeepsie Farm Project, initiated in 2010 to bring together organizations and residents to improve the food system of Poughkeepsie. While the vibrancy and fertility of the rural Hudson Valley surrounds the city, many residents cannot easily access that abundance. Building Bridges to a Hunger-free Poughkeepsie looks to shorten that distance by connecting the rural and urban spaces through farmers markets, community gardens and food programs. The group, working under a USDA grant and motivated by “the shared sense that, in the City of Poughkeepsie, food and/or nutritional insecurity is an issue for too many residents,” is presently organizing community workshops and presentations around the subject of easy access to healthy food for all.

An event from the Building Bridges to a Hunger-free Poughkeepsie campaign of the Poughkeepsie Farm Project.

The arts have long had a major cultural presence in the Hudson Valley and specifically Poughkeepsie, and have often served as a tool for development, tourism and business. PAUSE is a Poughkeepsie-based organization that focuses on decaying urban neighborhoods and resituates the discussion by creating partnerships with artists and local residents to re-see and rethink the city as a whole. The project creates opportunities for artists to lead local community organizations and residents in writing new narratives for places that have long been forgotten. In 2010 PAUSE received permission from the City of Poughkeepsie to use a vacant lot at 535 Main St. as a site for arts and culture. Coming and going, the arts have begun to inhabit the lost space. Artist Karen Brummund worked with a local fourth grade class at Governor Clinton Elementary to create a video projection at the lot using images from the local neighborhood. In the future, the site will become a community space with a garden, stage, and space for meetings At the same time PAUSE is engaging local youth by developing projects where they have an active role. A project called Follow My Lead works with local High School students to create a kit for younger generations growing up in Poughkeepsie. In the fall of 2011, the artistic collective Next Question will be working with residents to produce a local guide to the City.

The geographer David Harvey talks about a geographic unconsciousness—the relationship between ourselves and the spaces we live in that helps define our personalities. He makes the point that the types of cities we want are the types of people we will be. Yet, he stresses, these worlds are constructed, which means they can be reconstructed. It is only a matter of taking action and finding the will to awaken this desire. Poughkeepsie is now a place where this effort is actively taking place. A narrative of blight and decay is slowly being replaced by a vision of possibility and creativity—an opportunity for its people to take ownership of the city and give it new meaning.