Warning: I am only writing about one portion of the evening…the meeting on a whole was fantastic and if anyone wants more details…please shoot me an e-mail and we can get together to discuss!

After 10 pages of notes and three hours of discussion, Mayor Lisa Swarthout wrapped up the Economic Development Town Hall Meeting on a cold and rainy Tuesday evening. Approximately forty community and staff members gathered in Fire Station 2 to talk about and identify the following:

• The City’s vision for economic development;
• The City’s role in field of economic development; and
• The City’s strategies or actions steps to facilitate economic development.

The full Staff Report is awesome and can be found here.

Some great insights were shared concerning individuals’ ideas of what is economic development and what the City’s role is in the process. The Mayor asked each City Councilmember to share their thoughts. I began the process by describing the City of Winters and a recent experience I enjoyed with Vice Mayor Jan Arbuckle during a California League of Cities-Sacramento Valley Division event. I shared how alive and “pumping” the community felt. Needless to say, the word “pumping” caught on throughout the remainder of the meeting. I was surprised by the reaction of some the participants of the description of my experience, because my intent was not put down Grass Valley, but to show an example of what I really enjoyed in a sister community. On a Friday night, in a city with a population of 7,000, Winters had an energy running through it that I have only experienced during special events in Grass Valley (thankfully we have many).

As a thirty something, I want to be able to go and have dinner at 6:00, then maybe walk around and shop, perhaps do some wine tasting or have a drink at local bar, and check out a band that is not from an era before I was born.

Am I the only one?

“You make me sick.I don’t know anybody who feels sorry for you,in fact,quite the opposite.It’s business vs the rest of us and you are on the wrong side.Some other greedy business pricks took your home and you deserve everything that happens to you because of your pro developer/anti affordable housing stance.You are an enemy of the working class and at least partially responsible for local homelessness.We know who you are and we will not support you or any of your capitalist shenanigans in this county.Maybe you should move to Placer county,I hear it is the new republican asshole enclave.You should be warmly welcomed there.Good luck ignorant bitch”

A week or so ago, I opened my e-mail to find my first MEAN comment from a blog entry. I was taken aback by the anger the author conveyed and was confused by the motivation behind the message. Imagine, if this individual used the equivalent amount of passion for an interest they were in favor of versus against. What if this individual ran for office? How lucky would our community be to have another person who had passion and enthusiasm in serving?

It always surprises me the amount of energy people give to negative endeavors. I often chat with individuals who I believe would be excellent candidates for local elected positions. My encouragement is usually met with comments that are similar to “I already have too much to do” and “I don’t want to deal with the harassment”. I wonder how many qualified, empathetic, and passionate people do not serve because they do not want to deal with similar comments.

For me…at least I know someone is reading my blog.