If you’ve been following the debate on this site about the new high school building, you have found there are people who say: “We shouldn’t build a new high school.”
Change the subject and there will be people who would say, “We shouldn’t finish the hospital.” There are people who also say, “We shouldn’t do streetscape on the square.” Or, “We shouldn’t build bike and walking/running trails,” or “We shouldn’t build a sports complex,” or “We shouldn’t pave streets,” or…
I’m sure there are many other things on various “shouldn’t” lists, which raise the question: What should we do?
Make a list, in order of priority, of five things this community ought to do in the next three years.
For what I think is the most thoughtful and useful list, I’ll buy that person a meal in the form of a $15 check.
by James Grob
01 Jun 2009 at 17:34
RE: Gary Spurgeon’s Blog, “What should we do?”
FIVE THINGS FOR DAVIS COUNTY
By JAMES GROB
1. Davis County should have free live music on the square in the evenings every weekend from Memorial Day through Labor Day. All types of music should be featured, from country to hard rock to orchestral to children’s music to show tunes, a different act and different genre each weekend. Local musicians should be featured as much as possible, but outside musicians can be brought in when there are no local acts to fill the bill. Different local vendors can be allowed to set up a cart to sell their goods if they so choose. Live music brings people together, if only for a couple hours on a Saturday evening.
2. Davis County should select two or three of the most positive things about the area and launch a massive advertising campaign designed to arouse the interest of both tourists and businesses. Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and most importantly, Internet advertising should be utilized. Promotion should be tied in with the Honey Creek and Rathbun promotion as well as the Villages of Van Buren County promotion. It needs to be noted that Bloomfield is a perfect half-way point between those two attractions. Of course, Bloomfield needs to find some things attractive about itself worth selling.
3. Davis County should take advantage of the outstanding deer hunting in the area and create packages for hunters to come in for guided hunts in the fall. Deals can be made with local farmers and landowners for access and local business for food, lodging and entertainment for these out-of-state outdoorsmen. At the same time, similar deals can be made with local farmers and landowners to utilize the outstanding fishing at farm ponds in Davis County. “Go farm-pond hopping in Davis County,” sell packages to out-of-state fishermen and guide them to ponds all over the county, as well as Lake Fisher and Lake Wapello and rivers and streams in the county. The same kinds of deals can be made for lodging, food and entertainment. There can be different packages for family fishing excursions or for hard-core fishermen excursions, etc. Regardless, give these vistors the royal treatment.
4. Davis County should host a playwriting contest, a poetry contest and an art gallary to display and sell the works of local artists of all kinds. All these things can be tied together to attract artists to the area, and the county should eventually set up an artist’s retreat, where artists, poets and writers at all levels are encouraged to come in and reside for a period of time very cheaply, as long they produce work and interact with the community. Educational workshops can also be set up.
5. Davis County should host a huge slow-pitch softball tournament every summer, with a very big purse for the winning team — make the purse bigger than any similar tournament in the midwest. Make sure it’s a two-day tournament, so overnight stay will be encouraged for every team. Treat these vistors like kings and queens, wine and dine them and entertain them. Entry fees can be reduced depending upon how far a team travels to play.
by R.P. McMurphy
02 Jun 2009 at 00:48
Ditto.
Grob for Mayor!
by James Grob
02 Jun 2009 at 15:30
Mayor? I just want that $15. I’m hungry.