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

[GoodWitch58]

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!

Susan, I think you are explaining it well...thanks for all you do. I have done some work with the Trust for Public Land and their Parks for People program is just what you are talking about. It is so important for us to have open spaces, community spaces, and greenways.

You mention supporting the local businesses and restaurants. I think this is so important and we have such good ones...one more reason I think we need to make sure we do not have drive-thru fast food...some of the restaurants are already closed because of the economy...we surely do not need more to start up and then close.


Do you know about the diner up on 331? Sounds like a great addition...and one that is filling a need in a creative way.

 

[Susan Horn]

I am with the University of Florida Walton County IFAS extension office, in case you were wondering. Have a great weekend!![/quote]

Hi Brooke! Thanks for the support. I believe we crossed paths at the first ACT Walton meeting. I keeping up with ACT stories in the Herald-Breeze, and the e-mails from Kendra. Very exciting stuff.

Relative to this thread and my comments below -- I would love to see ACT Walton team up with the new Economic Development Alliance, grassroots folks, small biz owners, farmers, and see if any of those ideas below are in line with the common goals and visions of these groups.

I like to hope the TDC would participate, but so far I've been disappointed in their apparent inability to even live up to their own claims around ecotourism and agritourism.

Did you google Smart Jitney by chance? I think it's a brilliant transportation model, a patch that can use existing skill and vehicle inventory, existing roadways, and existing technology to greatly ease all kinds of transportation challenges until the next generation of technology, lifestyles, fuels, whatever, is in place.

Also, it might be good for someone with ACT Walton -- if not already doing so-- to pay attention to and consider participating in the Comp Plan amendments now being workshopped, reviewed, tweaked, etc. by Planning Department, Commission and BCC. Would be great to see some new faces at these meetings, LOL. Comp Plan amendments happen every 7 years; ours is far from perfect and here's our chance ot make it better. Theoretically, the Comp Plan is the policy document that directs what will be more specifically codified by the Land Development Code. At first glance, these pages and pages of wonky language make great bedtime reading--but it's super important in terms of what people can and can't do in terms of land use and everything related to that, which is pretty much everything.

Have a great Sunday.

 

[Susan Horn]

Do you know about the diner up on 331? Sounds like a great addition...and one that is filling a need in a creative way.[/quote]

Diner on 331? Do tell. Will it be accessible by pedestrians from the green roof enclave?