Swamped Dad

Needless To Say We Have Some Catching Up To Do

density dad is a reader-supported publication covering all things urbanism and the built environment. Topics range from housing and public transportation to land use, safe bike infrastructure, and building equitable communities.

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In the famous words of Rakim, “it’s been a long time”.

With over 60+ new subscribers in the last two weeks thanks to

for the city girls

, please allow me to reintroduce myself.

My name is Barry Greene Jr., and I am a journalist, family-focused urbanist, and creative. I am the father of a savvy little girl turning three soon and a grinning, six-month-old baby boy with the biggest smile. My wife and I met at my award-winning plant shop in Charlotte, Shades of Moss, in 2020 and tied the knot six months later.

Charlotte is a special place to us, but I am a native of Richmond, Virginia. These things and my desire to ensure families are seen in the built environment led to this newsletter, Density Dad. By centering families with young children and our vulnerable, aging population, I believe we will create safer infrastructure within our cities for all to benefit from.

This newsletter is a hodgepodge of my thoughts as a dad navigating a car-lite lifestyle and a transit-first mentality for my family. Have questions? Drop them below, and thank you so much for following my work.

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Quick Updates:

• We are officially residents again of Charlotte, North Carolina.

  • We landed a place in our neighborhood of choice, NoDa. More on that later.

• My journalism fellowship with Next City and VPM News has come to a close. While I await something that aligns with my field, I am a barista/bartender at a hotel. I start as early as 5:30 in the morning and as late as 3:30 pm. Long, grueling shifts and it’ll have to do for now.

  • Job hunting sucks. I’ve lost count of job rejections for program coordinator roles in transit, housing, food justice, etc. both nationally and locally. My entrepreneurial spirit won’t allow me to quit though.

• This has led me to beging drawing from my expertise and lived experience in transit to create Transit First Charlotte, a transit advocacy organization. We have applied for a program that gives us a shot at seed funding and landed our first board member!

  • We have advanced to the final round of this prestigious program, including coaching and mentoring. We should know something in December!

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Biking around The Queen City | Life in NoDa

I stood on the porch waiting for my wife to arrive with the keys on moving day. As she turned the corner, I gasped. A neighbor on his Brompton was headed to the grocery store across the street. I watched him arrive and roll his Brompton into the store.

Talk about a God wink.

Searching for a rental home is tough. Searching for a rental home in a city where 117 people become new residents daily is even tougher. I was headed to an interview at my current job when I saw a single-family rental pop up on Rently for same-day viewing. It was a three-bedroom two two-bath bungalow with a wrap-around porch. I pulled up the map and saw it was located in NoDa just a block from Plaza Midwood and immediately scheduled a time to self-tour it. We put in our application the same day and boom, we now call this charming home, ours for some time.

We looked at several homes and kept coming up too late as an application would be submitted while self-touring properties. We now pay just $30 more than our two-bedroom two-bath apartment in Richmond.

I’ve already biked to several coffee shops, our library, our grocery store, our neighborhood bakery and to pick up dinner. I’ve biked more since being back than my entire two years in Richmond, where I mostly relied on the bus. While there are several reasons for this, the biggest reason is due to the protected bike infrastructure nearby, which includes a rail trail, several cycling tracks, and a robust greenway system. This part of Charlotte is also pretty flat and with just three gears, my legs are grateful.

We’ve been able to walk to the playground and meet most of our neighbors who use it as an after-school hangout. We’ve taken our neighborhood microtransit service, JUMP! Transit. It is an electric 5-seater with $3.00 one-way trips or $7.00 day passes around the neighborhood and helps with last-mile situations.

nodahood_market

A post shared by @nodahood_market

We’ve walked on our date nights and to the laundromat. It’s pretty rad to say the least.

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Wrapping Things Up

I apologize for the absence. We moved in and the next week I had a conference. The next week my wife lost her grandmother. The next week we found a mouse in the house. I have a backlog of content and finally getting some stability in my work schedule. There was a stretch where I worked 5:30 am to almost 4:00 pm every day for 11 days straight.

I pushed back for dedicated days off and a schedule closer to 7 am-3:30 pm.

Content will move to Friday mornings at minimum twice a month for paid subscribers. This substack has helped fill the financial gaps and stay afloat with the salary change, and I can’t thank you all enough. I will do freelance op-eds and work out the logistics so keep your eyes peeled.

I want to end with this question: What keeps you reading Density Dad? If you’re new, what moved you to subscribe?

I need all the encouragement I can get right now and appreciate any participation.

Like what you read? Feel free to forward this along and tell a friend.

Follow me: Instagram, Twitter

Interested in Sponsorship or Writing Assignments: email barry@density.dad.

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