I just finished reading the cover story in the current Chautauqua WORD, and I am encouraged.
WORD editor Steve Lafreniere surveyed a sample of people under 30 about their hopes and fears for the future and their opinions on what needs to be done locally "to remake Western New York into an economically sound and culturally attractive place to live and work." I'll give you some snippets of their responses, but you really should read the whole thing, no matter where you live. Some of the ideas are really spot on.
Q: What would you like to see done differently locally?
A: Successful/profitable businesses now housed in the mall should receive tax incentives for relocating to the downtown area...Look at avenues such as actual, real businesses that provide goods and services to people locally, instead of people coming into this area once a year, or once in a lifetime, and spending a few hundred dollars...buying locally grown and produced food...abandoned factories and houses should be torn down or sold at low prices with stipulation that they be fixed up within certain time limit...
Q: What would you like to see on the increase locally?
A: Buying 60-70% of our food locally...opportunity, support for creativity, innovation, and entrepeneurship to keep young people from leaving the area...positive attitudes, people taking pride in the area...more support for local institutions, including libraries as centers for community events
Q:What is your biggest fear for the future?
A: A return to feudal-style anarchy...poor decision making with regard to transitioning to different forms of energy...climate change...being able to pay for medical expenses...permanent unemployment
Q: What is your greatest hope for the future?
A: Our great natural resources in close proximity...that people with ideas and real solutions will come to the forefront...human ingenuity and problem solving ability
These young people have got it going on. They already know things it took me an awful lot of years to learn. Maybe because our current problems are all they've ever known. I hope they don't all pick up and move to bigger cities to seek their fortunes. We need them right here to lead the movement towards greater local sustainability, to make their hopes and dreams happen right here. I really believe that if communities everywhere started looking after their own in a responsible and sustainable way, we would live in a radically improved world.
I do have a couple of random comments that came to mind as I read this article. I hear the complaints about the focus on tourism, but I think anything that improves the area can be turned into an asset for local residents as well as visitors. If tourism that motivates the local activity, it is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as someone picks up the ball when the tourists leave. As a newcomer actively searching for what's going on in the community, I have found that there are lots of options, year-round. More than I have the time or desire to immerse myself in. And those not satisfied with what's available are free to make something else happen! Starting a new restaurant may not be an economically viable option, but you can organize your own Thai dinner party at any time. The Jamestown Unitarian Church has held a couple of dinners in the past year, open to the public, featuring fabulous foods of India. Just be open to every possibility for enriching the local culture and see what happens.
About the substandard houses, is it possible to create a small scale urban homesteading program in a city like Jamestown? Meaning, making vacant but repairable houses available, cheaply, to people willing and able to make the repairs and upgrades in a certain amount of time, and then I live in the property for a minimum of 5 years. It requires a commitment, not just an opportunity. I know this is done in larger cities, with mixed results. Seems to me it would work best where the available properties occur in blocks, so that the whole neighborhood gets an upgrade. People are unlikely to jump at the chance to improve and live in one lonely property in a sea of decay, but if several properties in the same area are undergoing transformation, it changes the dynamics. I ran across this article online from several years ago and found it interesting, though I haven't yet really researched the topic. But it fits with the idea of making your hopes and dreams happen right here. What are the possibilities?
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