As usual, good article Bill! I think most cities need to seriously consider the ROI (Return on Investment) to the community before considering any public project. ROI can contain Intrinsic and Economic values where the budgeted amount needs to be sensible.
Do we know what we want to be? I always ask the question- do we want to be like Huber Heights with all the housing developments? Or do we want to be like Tipp City?
Well, Huber Heights is certainly no town to look up to. It's a housing development run amok, and its demographics show that it's not a hometown. Its population is highly transient, and it has no character; I would happily buy you lunch if you can show me where your favorite "downtown" Huber Heights eatery exists. Tipp City isn't without its challenges, either; talk about a food desert. The nearest grocery store is south in Vandalia or north in Troy.
Do we know what we want to be? I am not completely sure. I think there are visions of our community that are more competing, rather than complementing. I truly believe that there are those that value future residents over current residents and that causes us to value their wants and needs over the people who live here.
The recent Crawford Street shared-use path is a workable example. Existing residents weren't clamoring for that improvement, rather it was done as something in an aspirational plan that is going to try to attract new people here.
Mr. Lutz, you have shown an unfortunate bias by describing the minority of residents (28%) who believe the nation is on the right track as "smart". What opinion does that imply for the majority (57%) who believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction? I think it best that you simply state the statistics without adding your subjective judgements.
My sincerest apologies....that was in excusable typographical error on my part. I meant to state that 28% was "small" not "smart". I understand your concern and I have fixed it. Thank you for letting me know.
As usual, good article Bill! I think most cities need to seriously consider the ROI (Return on Investment) to the community before considering any public project. ROI can contain Intrinsic and Economic values where the budgeted amount needs to be sensible.
Thank you Stu. You are right, calculating these ROIs are important, but often include intrinsic items that can be hard to measure.
Do we know what we want to be? I always ask the question- do we want to be like Huber Heights with all the housing developments? Or do we want to be like Tipp City?
Well, Huber Heights is certainly no town to look up to. It's a housing development run amok, and its demographics show that it's not a hometown. Its population is highly transient, and it has no character; I would happily buy you lunch if you can show me where your favorite "downtown" Huber Heights eatery exists. Tipp City isn't without its challenges, either; talk about a food desert. The nearest grocery store is south in Vandalia or north in Troy.
Do we know what we want to be? I am not completely sure. I think there are visions of our community that are more competing, rather than complementing. I truly believe that there are those that value future residents over current residents and that causes us to value their wants and needs over the people who live here.
The recent Crawford Street shared-use path is a workable example. Existing residents weren't clamoring for that improvement, rather it was done as something in an aspirational plan that is going to try to attract new people here.
Mr. Lutz, you have shown an unfortunate bias by describing the minority of residents (28%) who believe the nation is on the right track as "smart". What opinion does that imply for the majority (57%) who believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction? I think it best that you simply state the statistics without adding your subjective judgements.
My sincerest apologies....that was in excusable typographical error on my part. I meant to state that 28% was "small" not "smart". I understand your concern and I have fixed it. Thank you for letting me know.