Movers & Shakers

Civic vision honed at Palmer coffee shop

January 6, 2006

JOEL DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Each Wednesday morning, a small group of people faithfully gathers in a downtown Palmer coffee shop to sip drinks, nibble snacks and tell mischievous jokes. It's not obvious by looking at them, but they're also up to some serious business.

Hailing from all walks and all professions, the group members aim to sharpen their ideas while refining an unfolding vision for what the city of Palmer should look like. These people are generally well connected to centers of art, culture, local politics and nonprofit organizations.

Consisting of public officials, private businessmen, community leaders and clergy, this informal club is gradually altering the landscape, architecture and civic flavor of downtown Palmer. The whole project happens informally at first - one coffee refill and one brainstorm

at a time.

Local pastor and social activist Howard Bess started the group in the early 1990s in an effort to enlist fellow residents to help guide the social and economic development in Palmer. Over the past 12 years, the faces have changed, but the ideas generated around the table are still shaping Palmer.

From the recent formation of the Palmer Museum of Art and History and the Palmer Arts Council to parking solutions and landscape designs, the group takes half-baked ideas and pours them into physical form.

Bess and longtime friend Tony Pippel, who now sits on the Palmer City Council, are the longest-standing members.

&#8220A lot of ideas generated in those morning discussions later become a reality in Palmer,” Bess said recently. &#8220I really believe it has been a powerful group for change.”

Sociologists agree that informal power structures are often more effective than formal governments and often give formal government ideas and direction. A 2002 report out of North Carolina A&T State University's Social Sciences Institute explains that informal power structures are harder to define but may carry far more effective energy and resources for change.

That energy of social change frequently runs stronger through personal connections and networking than it does through the halls and committees of government, a fact that members of the Palmer groups believe is especially true when it comes to generating fresh ideas.

Former Mat-Su School Board president Mike Chmielewski said he enjoyed kicking around education concerns at the weekly café gatherings when he served on the school board. It provided a more informal, free-flowing arena for ideas, he said.

&#8220The value of coming here is that there are no rules,” Chmielewski said during the most recent gathering at Vagabond Blues. Everyone in attendance seemed to agree that the lack of structure helps foster lively banter, while keeping speakers on their toes.

The unique combination of community leaders and public officials allows the coffee club to intersect with local governmental bodies in a way that generates ideas and ultimately informs the direction of public policy and private ventures.

&#8220Government responds to people,” Pipple said. &#8220I get a lot of ideas here and I take them back to city hall.”

Many of the coffee club brainstorm sessions have worked their way into the city of Palmer's comprehensive plan. From landscaped boulevards to cultural centers, countless elements of the plan were first hatched during the Wednesday discussions.

The goal to create a community-run Palmer radio station is another idea spawned from the Wednesday meetings and a group of Palmer residents is currently working on that project.

The morning banter is as varied as the people sitting around the table. On Wednesday, Bess wanted to talk about encouraging an old-time barber shop to land in Palmer, a place where folks could swap stories, jokes and local concerns. It's a dream for now, but that's how most of the group's projects start out.

For now, Bess said the Wednesday meetings are held in the open at Vagabond Blues so that anyone who wants can pull up a chair and join the discussion. Sometimes, he said, the group is known to grab an unwitting bystander to weigh in on the topic of the day.

&#8220Ideas are powerful but ideas need to have a place where they are defined,” Bess said. &#8220This group allows for that.”

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266 or joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.