What Can We Do to Help our Community during the Economic "hard times"

[GoodWitch58]

Here is a story I heard yesterday morning. I wonder what we could do here in Sowal to energize our economy...I bet if we put our minds to it, we could find something similar to what these young people did in their home town.

Applying Peace Corps Ideas To Hometown In Need : NPR

Anyone have some ideas. What would you like to see happen in Sowal? Maybe if we came up with better ideas, then we would not always be fighting the ideas that aren't so good...what do you think?

 

[TooFarTampa]

Great article & thread goodwitch!

I have been thinking about the "what can we do?" subject a lot lately, but I only come up with standard stuff like donating to food banks, shopping at the stores that I really want to see survive, etc. I'm sure collectively it helps but it is not really proactive at all.

i guess the way to start would be to identify the needs and the imbalances in the local economy. What's neat is that SoWal is small enough that a concerted effort by a few people might actually make a difference.

 

[barefootguy]

I'd like to see these empty lots that are found in so many of the new communities turned into neighborhood gardens. When I was a kid in the Chicago suburbs we did this. Take a chunk of land, divide it up, run some irrigation and let people have a garden to grow their own veggies. One thing we'd have to deal with here, besides the HOA's, would be the poor soil, but I'm sure there would be creative ways to bring in some good soil.

 

[2bohemians]

I'd like to see these empty lots that are found in so many of the new communities turned into neighborhood gardens. When I was a kid in the Chicago suburbs we did this. Take a chunk of land, divide it up, run some irrigation and let people have a garden to grow their own veggies. One thing we'd have to deal with here, besides the HOA's, would be the poor soil, but I'm sure there would be creative ways to bring in some good soil.

We've been saying this for a few years now! With so many lots for sale, why not? Each community having their own "community" garden. It would be imperative that if you take from the garden, you must be contributing your share in some way.

 

[GoodWitch58]

Great article & thread goodwitch!

I have been thinking about the "what can we do?" subject a lot lately, but I only come up with standard stuff like donating to food banks, shopping at the stores that I really want to see survive, etc. I'm sure collectively it helps but it is not really proactive at all.

i guess the way to start would be to identify the needs and the imbalances in the local economy. What's neat is that SoWal is small enough that a concerted effort by a few people might actually make a difference.

Yes, I think a lot of us have been thinking that way. I know many have made some significant changes in personal behaviors...so, we can make some changes in community behaviors.

I am tired of working through the local government system in a reactive way. It seems everything I have been involved with was a reaction to some inane decision...no traffic signals at Highway 395 and 283; the horrible big blue signs; banning a play, etc., etc.


My thought is if we band together as a community and present better ideas to the local government, then just maybe we could avoid these kind of things in the future.

If the problem is that we need more and cheaper food available (I am not sure at all that that is problem) but, if it is, then is a fast food drive thru, the only answer to that problem. I don't think so.

We need to look at what has happened to our community because every square foot was allowed to be developed with no overall plan for what the end result would be.
This kind of thinking and behavior needs to end if we are to maintain what makes this county unique and attractive as a place to vacation and live. We need to maintain green space, not just because some of us like open sky and green trees, but because it is a vital part of our eco-system.
Community gardens, more parks, building that is compatible with the community standards....all are important.
Here is an article in today's Florida Trend that speaks to some of what I am thinking about. I hope we can all work together to make some more good things happen.

A Price Tag on Nature - Environmental Economics - EPA - from Florida Trend, Florida's Source For Business News

 

[scooterbug44]

I think there are 2 major things we need to do:

1) Focus on truly being a community - whether that means stocking a food bank, adopting a charity that is facing less funding, keeping your ears open for job opportunities for your neighbors (or creating some), spending your money locally, supporting local businesses, or finding ways to help your friends and neighbors emotionally and financially. It's easy to get caught up in your own troubles and forget that others are in the same situation or worse - and that there are things you can do to help them. Sometimes a small favor can have big dividends.

2) Work on smart growth and planning for the future - some would use hard times as an excuse to throw rules and regulations out the window and leave us worse off in the future because we have squandered or damaged resources. Slow times are when we need to be smarter than ever about planning and focus on quality instead of quantity. Quality endures, quantity and rushing is what gets us into these messes and hurts reputations.

 

[Susan Horn]

I cannot tell you all how happy it makes me to see the great energy and ideas on this thread. Thank you all.

 

[Chandra]

I'd like to see these empty lots that are found in so many of the new communities turned into neighborhood gardens. When I was a kid in the Chicago suburbs we did this. Take a chunk of land, divide it up, run some irrigation and let people have a garden to grow their own veggies. One thing we'd have to deal with here, besides the HOA's, would be the poor soil, but I'm sure there would be creative ways to bring in some good soil.

The Genesee County (Flint, MI) Land Bank is and has been doing this exact thing -- turning vacant and abandoned properties into community gardens and other development opportunities for the last few years.
Home

One of our local developments is currently being explored as a case study for creating a more sustainable community by using permaculture design and incorporating edible gardens and other elements. If someone is interested in finding out more about this, you can pm me.

In the interim...

I think there are 2 major things we need to do:

1) Focus on truly being a community - whether that means stocking a food bank, adopting a charity that is facing less funding, keeping your ears open for job opportunities for your neighbors (or creating some), spending your money locally, supporting local businesses, or finding ways to help your friends and neighbors emotionally and financially. It's easy to get caught up in your own troubles and forget that others are in the same situation or worse - and that there are things you can do to help them. Sometimes a small favor can have big dividends.

2) Work on smart growth and planning for the future - some would use hard times as an excuse to throw rules and regulations out the window and leave us worse off in the future because we have squandered or damaged resources. Slow times are when we need to be smarter than ever about planning and focus on quality instead of quantity. Quality endures, quantity and rushing is what gets us into these messes and hurts reputations.

These are excellent suggestions! What you describe is transect based planning. Thank you. It's not too late to get input to the Planning Department and County Commissioners. Please let them know that you support transect based planning and/or analysis as an option for determining compatibility AND to go even further, as a tool for creating a New Vision for Walton County! The County is currently going through the EAR amendments. This means that the opportunity has arrived for the citizens of this county to decide how they want this county to grow. There is already a group of concerned citizens that have come forward with the idea of adopting this type of planning, but the BCC needs to know that this is what people want. For more info. visit this thread http://www.sowal.com/bb/local-government/32503-transect-based-planning.html or Center for Applied Transect Studies

If you want to find out more about how you can support this effort, pm me.

 

[Susan Horn]

I would like to add something I've picked up in my research around all this -- smart growth, transect, local food, placemaking, etc. I think doing this well has great significance to our quality of life and our ability to diversify our economy. But I'm not sure I have the demographic lingo-chops to state this well. If I stumble, someone with a better vocabulary or deeper grasp of this, please step in and help me out.

Anyway. It used to be that states, counties, municipalities would invite business and industry to locate there via various incentives like tax breaks, infrastructure, special zoning, come on in and pollute our town, it's fine if you bring jobs, etc. While bringing jobs and economic activity, this practice also brought enormous cost to taxpayers, and look what happened when those businesses went offshore or shut down, leaving blight, greyfields, brownfields, and unemployment in their wake. Anyway--the thinking of the time was that people moved to where the jobs were, and vacationed elsewhere if the job-town was gross.

Today, the creme de la creme that many communities and businesses want to attract -- the "digerati" and the "creative class" -- choose where they want to live based on quality of life, and then figure out how to make a living via amazing communication technologies. Then, if enough of these folks choose a certain area, the best cleanest greenest high end businesses will locate there, near the brain trust they want access to.

So what are the qualities of a given location that these creatives and digerati find most important when choosing their home base?

1. Vibrant public realm -- parks, open spaces, internet cafes, restaurants, public gathering and meeting spaces, a commons where internet, cellular and realtime networking and exchange of ideas is fostered. (We have a little of this going on, and I believe would benefit from more.)

2. Proximity to natural beauty (we've got that going on, and I hope we manage to take good care of it!) so they can take a mini vacation every afternoon or weekend.

3. Thriving and varied cultural/arts scene -- galleries, films, music, plays, etc. (I'd say for the size of our population, we're doing well in this area too.)

4. Walkability, bikability, public transit (okay we don't have public transit, but we do have some of the other two, and it would be very easy for some clever entrepreneur to put in place a smart jitney system right quick as a small-town alternative to a bus or train or trolley system -- Smart Jitney, I think you can find it if you just google it, a very bright idea IMHO)

5. Good schools, options in education, and not just K-12 but lifelong learning. (We have a long row to hoe in this department.)

There are probably other parameters but I can't bring them to mind at the moment. The idea is, plan for/allow/encourage/empower the creation of vibrant, diverse, mixed-use walkable places, and the people and businesses will come.

Everyone wants the economy to improve. As best I can tell, we absolutely MUST diversify beyond tourism if we ever hope to be anything more than a glorified banana republic (the beaches are our bananas I guess). We need to keep tourism strong, protect and enhance the reasons people like coming here (beautiful beaches, nature, rare lakes, forests, trails, clean air, starry skies at night, bike paths, etc.), and at the same time do what it takes to make our location an attractive one for digerati, the creative class, and the future oriented businesses they will in turn attract.

I don't know if I've managed to explain this very well or not. Help me out here, anyone who can. Thanks!

 

[SeaGrant Brooke]

Great Ideas

I am very glad to see so many great ideas coming out of the community. There is a great push and support for helping the community during these times. Keep the ideas flowing and I will add some input as well. Chandra brought up some great points and a great time to get involved. Supporting your local businesses is definately a place to start. Hopefully with farmers markets and a building response to buying local needs we can work towards creating those community gardens. I am very interested in yoru ideas and hopefully can work toward making some of them work out. If there are any topics you all are wanting my research on or general information let me know and I can search my university databased and other people in my networks who might have examples or helpful infomation. You can PM me or email me bsaari@ufl.edu. I am with the University of Florida Walton County IFAS extension office, in case you were wondering. Have a great weekend!!