You Ready Lakewood?
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 5:58 am
Just returned from the East Coast.
While the purpose of the trip was one of friendship not work, got some business taken care of, and saw some amazing rebuilds of cities that were lost and forgotten and written off for dead.
One things they all had in common was SAFE and CLEAN. Another thing was cities pulling together to get business in. None had anything to do with malls, and massive stores, though some had rebuilt malls, most had rebuilt and refurbished downtown areas.
The question Ken and i wondered coming back was, "Does Lakewood really have the will and the critical mass to do this?"
Well do you?
There is no magic pill, and it seems the region feels there is one. Like Medical Mart? In most areas we were in Medical Mart would be a one day conversation. Five Guys Burger would be a side note. They are seen as nothing more than another brick in a wall being rebuilt. It is not that they are not appreciated, it just seems that they understand it is nothing more than one piece. If they are coming in good, if not, there are more to find. If they are signed, good, but there are more needed.
As we attempt our rebuild, are we getting to involved in each brick, while not looking at the full wall that needs to be built. Did we put too much importance in Rockport? Rosewood? The Cliffs? So that as one fails and others limp it seems all so hopeless? Do we loose our self esteem when we voted down the strip mall along the Emerald Canyon? (Wall Street Journal claims that this will be a record year for mall store and mall closings)
Are we spending too much time and energy on meetings about it, instead of getting our hands dirty and doing it? Are we waiting for others to do the lifting, or show us the way? Are we selling the cow for a handful of magic beans? Are we simply kidding ourselves trying to dress up an ugly stepchild.
While walking through some amazing re-energizing projects I came back re-energized, with a new dedication to make it work here. For a couple reasons. 1) This city is not so far gone, we have not bottom out and I can see a city does not need to bottom out to get better. 2) Our property if we could sell it would not buy a garage in most cities worth moving to. 3) Lakewood is pretty nice, no real nice. Especially if we can repair the self esteem, that was talked about openly when this project was started.
Rick Uldrick is right, we must all pitch in and get tough on crime. One common thread, when asked how they did it, "We cracked heads..." Can we crack heads? Sharon Kinsella is right, we must also show compassion while cracking heads. Some people are not there because they abused the system, some have no choice. Ryan Costa is right, while doing it we must have fun and be willing to laugh and laugh at ourselves along the way. Ruthie Koenigsmark is right, we must not be afraid to work with what we have and make it better.
When this project started five years ago, we thought with a large group aware and pulling together we have two years of hard work. Yesterday in the 8 hour and 7 minute debrief, we still were thinking two years of hard work from the entire city and we could have some amazing results.
You ready Lakewood?
You ready to wake up and smell the coffee?
.
While the purpose of the trip was one of friendship not work, got some business taken care of, and saw some amazing rebuilds of cities that were lost and forgotten and written off for dead.
One things they all had in common was SAFE and CLEAN. Another thing was cities pulling together to get business in. None had anything to do with malls, and massive stores, though some had rebuilt malls, most had rebuilt and refurbished downtown areas.
The question Ken and i wondered coming back was, "Does Lakewood really have the will and the critical mass to do this?"
Well do you?
There is no magic pill, and it seems the region feels there is one. Like Medical Mart? In most areas we were in Medical Mart would be a one day conversation. Five Guys Burger would be a side note. They are seen as nothing more than another brick in a wall being rebuilt. It is not that they are not appreciated, it just seems that they understand it is nothing more than one piece. If they are coming in good, if not, there are more to find. If they are signed, good, but there are more needed.
As we attempt our rebuild, are we getting to involved in each brick, while not looking at the full wall that needs to be built. Did we put too much importance in Rockport? Rosewood? The Cliffs? So that as one fails and others limp it seems all so hopeless? Do we loose our self esteem when we voted down the strip mall along the Emerald Canyon? (Wall Street Journal claims that this will be a record year for mall store and mall closings)
Are we spending too much time and energy on meetings about it, instead of getting our hands dirty and doing it? Are we waiting for others to do the lifting, or show us the way? Are we selling the cow for a handful of magic beans? Are we simply kidding ourselves trying to dress up an ugly stepchild.
While walking through some amazing re-energizing projects I came back re-energized, with a new dedication to make it work here. For a couple reasons. 1) This city is not so far gone, we have not bottom out and I can see a city does not need to bottom out to get better. 2) Our property if we could sell it would not buy a garage in most cities worth moving to. 3) Lakewood is pretty nice, no real nice. Especially if we can repair the self esteem, that was talked about openly when this project was started.
Rick Uldrick is right, we must all pitch in and get tough on crime. One common thread, when asked how they did it, "We cracked heads..." Can we crack heads? Sharon Kinsella is right, we must also show compassion while cracking heads. Some people are not there because they abused the system, some have no choice. Ryan Costa is right, while doing it we must have fun and be willing to laugh and laugh at ourselves along the way. Ruthie Koenigsmark is right, we must not be afraid to work with what we have and make it better.
When this project started five years ago, we thought with a large group aware and pulling together we have two years of hard work. Yesterday in the 8 hour and 7 minute debrief, we still were thinking two years of hard work from the entire city and we could have some amazing results.
You ready Lakewood?
You ready to wake up and smell the coffee?
.