I thought long and hard about what habit/trait that I could try and improve for a week. I decided that I would not criticize others. I do that a lot when I am driving. I was picking up my son from school last week and there was this big truck on the side of the road with its turn signal on indicating that it was about to pull on to the road, so I stopped and waited. The guy went ahead a little, then saw me and stopped, so I started driving. Then he decided he would go before me, but then stopped again. So I waved for him to just GO already ....some idiot lady in the car behind me started honking like it was my fault. Finally, I just drove off and noticed that she was going the same way that I was. Instead of calling her a "moron" as I normally would do, I just drove really slow. I did 35 in a 70 zone. I looked at my girlfriend and said "I feel bad, she must REALLY be in a hurry" ... yet I continued to drive really slow. I looked back and smiled at the car behind me. I think being vocal about my frustrations keeps me from doing stupid things, so I will not abandon it.
Cheers,
Craig
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Learning Journal Entry 03/16/10
Today's learning journal entry is to discuss economic development, funding, and innovation in our particular hometown. My hometown (I will refer to it as Central City) has a small population so it has to adapt to survive.
Central City has a local community government which employs an economic development officer. I held that postion briefly and felt it was well supported by the mayor and the town manager. Central City is one of many small communities in our area and it leads the way in terms of municipal development (great staff of heavy equipment workers who are trained in water treatment and repairing roads, etc.) and actually has a strategic plan.
There are limited services in Central City due to the smaller population, but there are opportunities for growth. Tourism has been identified as a potential revenue generator that is, to date, under-developed. Local people who may want to open a business can access the information that the EDO has to help them decide (a) what they may want to start up, and (b) the funding agencies that may assist. The EDO is required to have a good working relationship with the various funding agencies (ie. ACOA, INAC, etc.) and is often informed by these agencies when there are seminars or workshops that potential entrepreneurs may want to attend.
In terms of innovation, basically all of the businesses that exist in Central City have had to innovate or die. A grocery store can work in any town or city, but Central City has unique obstacles and challenges due to its remote location. Business owners have had to figure out what people want, how to get it into our remote community and still turn a profit. All of the stores have large storage properties so they can stockpile non-perishables to avoid running low in the event that the weather is bad for an extended period of time or whatever else that could go wrong. The size of Central City determines how many employees a business can afford to pay, and in the case of one of the convience stores, the owner also works at the freight, maintenance and sometimes even stocking shelves in his store.
Central City has a local community government which employs an economic development officer. I held that postion briefly and felt it was well supported by the mayor and the town manager. Central City is one of many small communities in our area and it leads the way in terms of municipal development (great staff of heavy equipment workers who are trained in water treatment and repairing roads, etc.) and actually has a strategic plan.
There are limited services in Central City due to the smaller population, but there are opportunities for growth. Tourism has been identified as a potential revenue generator that is, to date, under-developed. Local people who may want to open a business can access the information that the EDO has to help them decide (a) what they may want to start up, and (b) the funding agencies that may assist. The EDO is required to have a good working relationship with the various funding agencies (ie. ACOA, INAC, etc.) and is often informed by these agencies when there are seminars or workshops that potential entrepreneurs may want to attend.
In terms of innovation, basically all of the businesses that exist in Central City have had to innovate or die. A grocery store can work in any town or city, but Central City has unique obstacles and challenges due to its remote location. Business owners have had to figure out what people want, how to get it into our remote community and still turn a profit. All of the stores have large storage properties so they can stockpile non-perishables to avoid running low in the event that the weather is bad for an extended period of time or whatever else that could go wrong. The size of Central City determines how many employees a business can afford to pay, and in the case of one of the convience stores, the owner also works at the freight, maintenance and sometimes even stocking shelves in his store.
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