It's the ability to hang out with your neighbors that transforms a bunch of houses next each other into a community. Last year, Cold Spring singer/songwriter Dar Williams released a book entitled What I Found In A Thousand Towns, consisting of what years of playing coffee shops in small towns across the country had taught her about resilient and vibrant communities. The first chapter is about Beacon, about how the city's wave of new coffee shops, bars, and coworking spaces create opportunities for the social fabric to further entwine itself among different socioeconomic groups, and for collective power to arise. "Its people know how to rally for each other," she wrote, "they know how to extend their resources beyond small, like-minded groups to people who are not like them."
The willingness of lifelong Beaconites and new arrivals from downstate to work together isn't just what helped create the kind of city that's attracting developers. It's creating the community that's pushing back against developers in most instances, packing town hall meetings and zoning boards, keeping a watchful eye to see if ordinances are being met, and not losing hope. Deep into its revival, the city remains a welcoming place, a sanctuary for those seeking the kind of community where people take care of one another and protect one another.
Shutting new development out of Beacon would be as improbable as shutting down Breakneck Ridge forever, but something has to change. Thankfully, it is changing, driven by people who don't want to see their city become an overcrowded and unstable mess, who know that feeling like you're on top of the world is great, but who also know one wrong step and you'll find out the hard way that it's a long way down.
