Seaside Institute revisitedBack to News

KM: Diane, Tell us about yourself?

DD: For the last 15 years, I have run my own business (The Town Paper) out of my home, which is located in Kentlands, one of the original “new towns” in Gaithersburg, Md. My husband and I purchased one of the first live/work buildings in the neighborhood on Main Street after spending our first eight years in a single-family home just a few blocks away. After spending a decade running around from schools to activities to home, our children were getting older and our needs were changing: more office space and less family space required. The live/work option was perfect for us. All three of our children are now out of college and starting careers and families. That places me in the early 50s age group: baby boomer. My business career started by getting involved in the community and finding a need for a communication vehicle. From that, I became a newspaper publisher. My neighborhood newspaper is now 15 years old and is circulated bimonthly to over 7,000 households. In addition, I publish another two monthly papers and a variety of specialty papers that educate the public about traditional neighborhood development. These papers are called “charrette papers” because they are often distributed before and after charrettes. All told, I have two editors, about a dozen freelance staff writers, a photographer and two administrative assistants and two designers who work with me on this aspect of my business life. Most have been with me for the full 15 years. Three months ago, I took on a new position as executive director of the Seaside Institute. This came about quite unexpectedly; however, with the slow-down in the real estate industry, my charrette paper work also slowed down. With all of my capable employees taking care of the community newspaper work, I found myself with a little free time on my hands.

KM: What is the Seaside Institute all about and how can people find out more about it?

DD: The Seaside Institute’s mission has evolved over time. At the onset, the organization was focused on creating civic programs for the Town of Seaside. An abundance of cultural programs found their footing at the Institute and have gone on to become successful independent nonprofit organizations, such as the Seaside Repertory Theater, Escape to Create, Seaside Neighborhood School and the Seaside Chapel. A few years after the cultural programs for the town were launched, and under the direction of executive director Phyllis Bleiweis, the doors of Seaside were opened to people who wanted to learn more about this new way of planning. Under her watch, dozens of seminars led by internationally recognized planners, architects and other industry professionals took place in Seaside about the principles of traditional neighborhood development (TND). These seminars were wildly successful and many new town founders can attribute their “light bulb” moment to a stay in Seaside forever changing them from conventional planners and developers to TND professionals. In addition, the Seaside Institute started recognizing professionals who had made significant contributions to the new urban field by awarding of the Seaside Prize. Currently, 24 people have been awarded the Prize and those individuals make up the “Fellows” of the Institute. A 16-member board is at the helm of the organization — all 16 are noted new urbanists and committed to the mission of the Institute. Today, the Institute remains committed to fostering discussion about planning techniques that will continue to improve the places in which we live. This is done by holding forums and seminars both at Seaside and in other cities. As time moves forward, new challenges for planners come to the forefront. This year, seminars about aging in place, agri-urbanism, street food and neighborhood security are being developed. More information about the Institute can be found on our website at www.seasideinstitute.org and information about the new seminars will be posted as dates are secured.

KM: Why were you interested in becoming the Executive Director of the Seaside Institute?

DD: First of all, I was instantly drawn to the idea of working with the founders of Seaside. Though I have never known them personally, I have an immense respect for Daryl and Robert Davis. They are not only visionaries (there are plenty of those around) but they are also implementers of their vision. For the past 30 years, they have gotten the job done and their town has served as inspiration for so many people. Secondly, the Institute has been in hibernation mode for about two years since their excellent director, Phyllis Bleiweis, retired. The recession had taken its toll on membership and donations and there was no one left to really guide the ship. That intrigued me as well. I like start-ups and the Institute is now in start-up/reboot mode. The board has been very supportive and recognizes that we are pretty much starting over. So I don’t feel as though we have to go from 0 to 100 in the first year. We will grow slowly but steadily much like the economy will.

KM: Will you continue publishing Town Papers?

DD: Yes, though I don’t expect to be publishing as many as we did in the old days. At least not for a while, and that is a good thing for me as the Institute is now taking over my life!

KM: What makes Seaside such a special place?

DD: Until I took this job, I had not spent much time in Seaside. I visited for a few seminars — maybe a total of 14 days. My impression of it then was all about the architecture and the planning, and I was suitably impressed. This little town on 80 acres in the Florida Panhandle has had more distinguished architects working on it then, probably, Washington, D.C. It is amazing to read the list of internationally renowned architects who have built a house or civic structure there. Since September, I have visited three times (my home base is still in Kentlands but I will travel to Seaside almost monthly) and with each visit I have come to see the “real” Seaside and understand how special it is. The residents (even though for many this is their second home) are very engaged in what goes on there. They are bright, inquisitive and involved. I don’t know if it is the town itself that has drawn a certain type of person there or that interesting people breed more interesting people, but the place is a gold-mine for talent. Also, it is beautifully located on the Gulf and blessed with wonderful weather. While it is celebrating its 30 anniversary this year, Seaside continues to evolve and many projects are currently underway, which makes the town feel ever-vibrant and creative to work in. The original founders (the Davis’s) live in San Francisco but visit Seaside often and stay involved on a daily basis from afar. The work for them remains ongoing, and I think that adds to the “special” part of this town.

KM: What are some goals, ideas or programs you would like to accomplish as the new Executive Director of SI?

DD: I would like to engage our Fellows more in our programming. This group is unusually talented and most are still fully involved in their fields. We need to get them back to our seminars more often. The seminars in the past have been largely educating people about the new urbanism — i.e. NU 101 and 102 lectures. This was absolutely necessary at the time as education about new urbanism was difficult to find and other models, like Seaside, were difficult to find. Now more new towns exist and the education about new urbanism has become more mainstream. It is our goal to start new discussions under the Institute roof. Discussions about aging in place, agri-urbanism/food security and how to design communities that will be more energy efficient. We want to engage the greatest thinkers in multi-disciplinary fields to find solutions to these issues and, then, distribute what we find to the world. We want to continue to use Seaside and its sister communities along the Panhandle as a living laboratory to test some of the initiatives in place — just as Seaside has always been at the forefront of new ideas. It is my goal to engage some of the younger new urban planners and others in related professions to assist us in our programs. And, also, the idea of creating a new town network — linking representatives from new towns nationwide — is something I hope to get off the ground in 2011.

KM: We sponsored a Seaside Institute seminar in Carmel, CA a few years ago. Will SI continue this type of educational outreach?

DD: Yes. We are committed to partnering with other like-minded organizations to foster community building anywhere we can help.

KM: What is the “Seaside Prize” and when is the next event?

DD: The Seaside Prize is an annual award given to someone who has made significant contributions to the quality and character of communities. Award winners include people like Vincent Scully, Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Peter Calthorpe, Ray Gindroz, Stef Polyzoides, Elizabeth Moule, the Davis’s, Jane Jacobs, Hank Dittmar and other ground-breaking visionaries. It is quite an esteemed group of people and the Prize is always awarded in Seaside. The next Seaside Prize is January 28-29, 2011. As a special note to this coming year’s event, Seaside will be kicking off its 30th year anniversary and a dozen of the early leaders have been invited back to Seaside to speak at two forums. It is going to be a memorable event.

KM: What is the Seaside Pienza Institute?

DD: The Seaside Pienza Institute was founded in 2002 and comes under the umbrella of the Seaside Institute. The Pienza Institute convenes an interdisciplinary group of professionals to visit beautiful, historic environments in order to distill lessons that can guide 21st century development. Pienza, the first Citta Ideale (City of Ideas) of the Renaissance, is the primary subject of study as it continues to provide lessons for town building.

KM: What’s your favorite city and why?

DD: Hmm. That’s tough question for two reasons: I have not had the opportunity to really get to know many cities well and different cities have become “favorite” to me for different reasons. I love living in Kentlands for my family life. Especially because I now have a 2.5 year-old granddaughter who loves to visit me because of all of the action she finds right outside my front door. Also, I spend weeks without needing to get in my car, which is the reason I wanted to live in a neighborhood like this to begin with. It took a while for Kentlands to get there, but we are now “there.” I love Washington, D.C. as a place to visit. We only live 30 minutes from the big city, and I feel good about that, even if I don’t go there very often! I now love Seaside. It has become my home away from home and I have found that I like having that type of place to go to. I’m not a good vacationer because I get bored easily and am always looking for things to do. My visits to Seaside allow me the luxury of being at the beach but working and energized. It’s a great combination.