Can you remember back to Jan. 2009? The Smart Growth Task Force hosted a well attended three day conference and workshop with Michael Shuman providing a framework for thinking about the Village business base. We learned new terms like “leakage”, “the 6 Ps”, “BALLE” (Business Alliance for Local Economies” and “LOIS” (Local Ownership Import Substitution). And, most of the participants left the meeting full of enthusiasm and new ideas.
So, where are we now? Did we lose momentum – maybe we expected the visioning process or the new Village economic development position or the proposed Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) to step in and save us.
Actually, we can do a few things individually to make a difference. I like “the 3/50 project” that was recently mentioned at a Chamber of Commerce meeting. The idea is to pick three local businesses and commit to spending $50 a month at each one of them. It’s an interesting concept that might work well as a small piece of our overall smart growth efforts. Take a look (http://www.the350project.net/home.html) and let [us Blog readers] know what you think. (You can post your responses as comments to this post.)
For more information on the Jan 2009 Smart Growth meeting -http://www.yellowspringsohio.org/docs/Going_Local_in_Yellow_Springs_Summary_Report.pdf.
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3 comments:
There's that "short attention span" again.
nancy and I came up with a idea but it fizzled, not due to a short attention span or lack of interest. It fizzled because it was difficult getting around some of the ways to apply it (by a third party).
I think sometimes it isn't so much the short attention span as much as the practicality, the objections, the hurdles, the complacent disinterest, etc.
Village council did not create an "economic development position". They created an economic SUSTAINABILITY position. Don't think that the change in terminology is insignificant.
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