A village square is a place to watch and be watched. Michael Webb, visionary architect and connoisseur of urban spaces, writes of how “the actors and decor have changed over the centuries, but the need for a stage has remained constant.”

Our unassuming plaza stirs an enchantment of belonging to something larger. This place is a rich mix of the familiar and the unexpected. The usual star players, the supporting actors, and the surprise cameos add to the allure of this familiar territory. The predictable idiosyncrasies of fellow actors – some endearing, others irritating – tie the people who live here to this place that they intimately know and, through knowing, come to love in that sometimes begrudging way only the familiar can elicit. . . .

Bill Gates is quoted as saying in 2010, “The Internet is becoming the town square for a global village of tomorrow.” In 2017, Apple announced that “Apple stores, around 400 of them, will be redesigned to become ‘town squares’ where people can use free wifi, learn more about their Apple products and hang out with friends.” And when Elon Musk bought Twitter and renamed it X, he was talking about how it would be the “digital town square.”

Town square? Speakers Corner? Or perhaps the Coliseum? It’s our call.