A trip to Baja California -- with its ubiquitous taco stands -- inspires one resident of a New Urbanist community to deal with his neighborhood's lack of eateries by developing a plan for a taco stand.
"When my family and I moved to the New Urbanist community of Civano seven years ago, we looked forward to strolling among the landscaped paths of our neighborhood to a local restaurant or pub. Indeed, for the first month or two, the neighborhood center hosted a café, with its handmade sandwiches and fresh-brewed coffee and tea. Without the resident population required to support such a shop, however, it soon closed.
Then rumors swirled and some meetings were held about Johan's Tavern, an English-style pub on the corner of Civano's two primary streets -- Seven Generations Way and Civano Boulevard -- to be built and operated by Civano pioneer and brewmaster Alan Boertjens. Today the vibrant yellow shell of the tavern anchors the corner, but the restaurant itself seems no nearer to completion."
"So we continue to drive to southeast Tucson restaurants that are too distant to walk to -- all in different neighborhoods, none with the ambiance inherent in the community of Civano. With a "mixed-use" neighborhood core -- where a combination of residences, retail, and restaurants was envisioned from the start -- we're as sublime a place as any for a venue like Johan's. Why then do we not have a restaurant here? What can the residents of Civano -- and any primarily residential, mixed-use neighborhood -- do to get a café or pub or other chuck wagon?"
"What our community needs is not to wait for the pub, though I yearn for it dearly. Rather, the time has come for an independent neighborhood taco stand: Tacos de Civano."
