Publisher’s Note: Recently when visiting a Facebook Group called Revitalize, or Die, I came across this post from the group administrator Jeff Siegler. The post comes from the longer article Something’s Missing published in May of 2019 on the website https://revitalizeordie.com. Thank you to Mr. Siegler for allowing us to share this post he made a few days ago on the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/RevitalizeOrDie.
This is certainly something to think about as the work continues to revitalize the Opelousas historic downtown.
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By Jeff Siegler:
The historical society, convention and visitors’ bureaus, chambers of commerce, Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions Club, Masons, The United Way, local foundations, economic development organizations… you know them well, their emblems populate that weird entrance sign to your city.
It’s a pretty typical list of the organizations that operate in most towns, full of opportunities to get involved. A great deal of meaningful work is accomplished by these organizations and the people that dedicate their time to them, yet I cannot help but notice…something is missing.
There is no shortage of organizations working to make a difference in our cities and towns, but we are missing the one we need the most. The city itself is responsible for administering taxes and allocating those dollars towards the services needed to keep it running. Service organizations, like Kiwanis and Rotary, are benevolent in nature and bring people together around charitable causes. Historical societies work to preserve historic assets and make people aware of their local heritage. Chambers of commerce are charged with furthering the interests of businesses. Economic Development entities are concerned with growing the economy. Tourism organizations seek to bring more people into the community from outside.
In addition, there are multiple other organizations serving various roles in nearly every community. These organizations all have their part to play and certainly do help improve the community, but not even one of them is solely responsible for making a community a better place to live. This is a glaring omission and so many places are paying the price for it.
The organization we need the most is the one charged with making our communities better places to live. Because with all the above functions mentioned, no one is tending to quality-of-life issues. It’s kind of shock when you consider it. The area of most concern for our cities, is going undone, and much to our peril. How can this be? How can we overlook the fact that if a city is not a great place to live, all the other functions mentioned above suffer?
After all, a city is full of people and those people matter. They are of the utmost importance and often don’t seem to get much consideration. The people that make up a city are more important than the people that visit the city and even more important than the businesses located there. The well-being and happiness of residents is tantamount to the success and vibrancy of a city. – https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=790890603038310&set=a.467246315402742 –
