Imagine you are a farmer. Your daddy was a farmer, and your grand-daddy was a farmer. You hope your son will be a farmer, because farming has been a good living for your family. Then one day your neighbour drills a hole and starts pouring sewage into it, ruining your ground-water. That would really piss you off, wouldn’t it?
Now imagine you run a tourism business. Your advertising shows a quaint, Colonial town, with low, Georgian buildings, narrow streets and plenty of trees and gardens. Then one day, your neighbours start construction of huge, multi-storey buildings, ruining the character of your “historic” town and threatening your tourism business. Would that piss you off?
Surprisingly, the answer from everyone I’ve asked has been “No!”
Am I over-reacting? Or are we just not concerned about the health of our economy? Montreal relocated its Downtown to save its historic district, today a major part of its tourism offering. The same is true for New Orleans, Miami Beach, Greenville SC and Havana. Panama has preserved both the oldest settlement on the Pacific, Panama Viejo, and Historic Panama, both touristic treasures. Perhaps it is time for us to first define, and then protect the heritage we talk so much about, but seem completely disinterested in preserving.
January, 2016
Pat Rahming : From The Black Book 
6 comments
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January 19, 2016 at 8:26 pm
Michael Diggis
Pat – provocative thought!…we need to continue our discussion and put out our “design Ideas” concerning this issue.
Thanks,
Michael
January 19, 2016 at 10:25 pm
Pat Rahming
Agreed. Let me know when.
January 20, 2016 at 3:15 pm
Sue McCrea
You are right. Now how do we start?
January 20, 2016 at 4:51 pm
Pat Rahming
The first step is to express your opinion publicly, so that other people see that there is an issue. At present, few people even think of Downtown as anything but a Central Business District. The fact that it is valuable product in the business that brings us 77% of our income never arises. However we express ourselves publicly, we must begin to talk about the importance of our Historic District. At least that’s what I THINK.
July 17, 2016 at 2:25 pm
Christine
Once again, I agree. I was constantly at odds with colleagues when the Atlantis was being built and later when the plans for Baja Mar were made public. Unfortunately, each time people could not appreciate the merits of the argument and got stuck on the idea that I was criticizing their party…notwithstanding I didn’t use the language of partisan party politics. Sigh.
I keep searching for the ideas bank….one that decision makers consistently review and pull from to move us forward, knowing that good ideas for the development of our country are not restricted to elected officials or members of political parties. (I know, I know.) Let it be optionally anonymous if that will help people to put forth ideas and others to not get stuck on the person putting forth the idea, as we are inclined to do.
July 17, 2016 at 3:55 pm
Pat Rahming
Countries are not built with “ideas”. They are built around principles. Most of those principles are developed or expressed in the effort to satisfy the main reason people come together in cities and countries; to satisfy their individual needs for the five basic needs outlined by Maslow. We all want to have something to eat, to feel safe, to be a part of a community, to feel valued and to achieve our potential. The job of the country is to find ways to satisfy those needs. That is what should drive the so-called “ideas”, not the nonsense we get lost in with sectarian concerns.
The principle driving Downtown, for instance, is the provision of a place for commerce, a celebration of and repository for the story of the community, the celebration of the achievements of the community, the display of the community’s personality (usually through cultural display) and the symbols of sovereignty. Without these, there is no Downtown, just a shopping center for a part of the
populace.
What is needed is not someplace for the “leaders” to go for “ideas”, but the institutionalizing of the conversation between those “leaders” and the rest of the community. That is one of the things real Local Government facilitates. Again, without it, there is no real governance.
Thanks for reading my words, and my best in your political endeavors.