Annapolis Capital Punishment

She's an Annapolitan but also lives in Leuven, Belgium where she is completing her doctoral thesis and this piece from Contributing Editor Jane Shey gives her urbanist perspectives gained from living in both places:
My Return to a Livable Community

This week I returned to Leuven and I could feel some of the tension and stress that built up while traveling in the US melt away. As I rode the bus from the train station to my home, I felt like I saw the town of Leuven with new eyes. I was struck once again by the human scale of my city.

The main street has two way traffic and no parking. The lane going to the train station is strictly buses and the lane traveling away from the train station only allows cars the first 5 blocks and then it is buses only. On either side of the street are trees and some decorative flags so the visual picture is a nice balance between historic buildings, the green of trees, pedestrians, bikes and some vehicular traffic. It was busy but not hectic and certainly not a ribbon of traffic.

I thought of my time in Annapolis and so often the picture in my mind is traffic on Rowe Blvd, West St., Forest Drive and even Main St. on a busy weekend. And then of course, there are all the parked cars and if they could see, they would have the best view of the historic district and the water.

My first night back in town, it was the semi-final World Cup game between Germany and Spain. I went to the Old Market in the center of the city which was filled with probably a thousand tables. Almost every place in the square is a bar, restaurant or cafe. For this game, many open the window to the bar and place a TV on the window sill and the patrons crowd around to watch the game. I joined about 100 people that were gathered around one of the auxiliary TV’s next to a portable bar. We could buy a drink and stand by the TV cheering on our favorite team.
It was a beautiful night and it was fun to be outside surrounded by Flemish buildings. Most of them were decorated with flags from the various World Cup qualifiers and there I watched a football game. I didn’t know anyone in that group but it was fun to be with people, many of whom were speaking in different languages and together we shared our appreciation of football ["soccer"].

I thought for the next World Cup it would be great to take the parking area between the dockmaster’s office and the Susan Campbell Park and set it up with a screen to watch the games. With historic Annapolis and the water as a backdrop, there would be no better way to watch the World Cup, enjoy a drink and spend time with friends. Maybe in four years, we will have an even better US football ["soccer"] team and a great venue to watch the games.

Jane Shey
Leuven, Belgium
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