Carolyn Jack
Editor and CEO, Geniocity.comA project of The Genius Group LLC
Creative Nerve
Not taking no
Would you speak up? My head is ringing and I’m not sure if it’s from the profound silence out there or from being struck a heavy blow by irony.
On Friday, I urged the citizens of Greater Cleveland to join me in putting together a summit for everyone who wants to end the poor leadership, personal greed, dithering, apathy and cowardice that’s killing our city and find specific ways to change our collective fate right now. The only way to make that change is to get all the individuals here with creativity, entrepreneurial spirit and backbone to come up with cut-to-the-chase solutions to our many problems.
And the response was … nothing. Nothing at all. Are you all holding still as rabbits in your decimated, foreclosed neighborhoods, hoping your house isn’t next? Are you too busy wringing your hands over your disappearing jobs to write in? Maybe you’re all caught up in car repairs from driving down one of our many cratered roads or petrified over the start of another academic year in our impoverished, pathetic, dangerous inner-city schools. Or perhaps you’re just wide-screened, SUV-ed, overfed and oblivious in the outer-ring suburbs, where the only action Cleveland’s ugly demise inspires from you is a yawn and another bite of cheesecake.
After a week of seeing firsthand how entrepreneurs, businesses, government, educators and artists have transformed the major cities of the American Northeast into handsome, thriving metropolitan areas over the last couple of decades, I’ve come back home wondering what happened to the creative and political will that Northeast Ohio must have had a century – even half a century – ago.
I know some of it still exists among the arts community and the science and technology industries and in certain pockets of certain other sectors.
I know some members of our community have rigorously investigated what can be done for our city and have spent years making sure that needed changes took place. But they can’t save this place alone. They can’t do it with only a couple of brave, competent elected officials, with only the usual overtapped circle of philanthropists, with only a very few imaginative and dynamic big-business and civic leaders.
The truth is, most of the people “leading” Greater Cleveland have squandered the public’s energy, concern and resources by talking too much, by lacking the nerve to try bold, inventive strategies and by failing to act quickly and decisively. Consequently, we’re all deflated. We’re all frustrated and depressed.
But we can’t just throw up our hands and most of us can’t just move away. Our community is our business, literally and figuratively. We’re the ones who have to do something about it and the first thing to do is to get together and choose our priorities.
Think this sounds like that whole Northeast Ohio Voices & Choices, interview-all-the-citizens thing conducted by the Fund for Our Economic Future that evidently resulted in nothing? Wrong. We already know what problems need to be tackled. What I’m talking about is holding an open public meeting where the people who live here map out a plan – actual, realistic steps – for getting needed changes made.
What steps?
Creating action groups of citizens and area professionals - not the same old authorities -experienced in fields such as education, urban planning, arts and design, environment and finance to figure out better, faster ways to get us a rehabilitated lakefront and public school system, a pro-creative business environment, and an exciting, attractive city infrastructure.
Identifying which leaders are doing nothing, naming others who could do a better job and then publicly supporting those people as hires or appointees or election candidates.
Devising a strategy for closely scrutinizing the work of elected officials and reminding them vocally and constantly that we demand certain results.
Insisting that laws be enforced requiring derelict property owners to fix up their property or be thrown in jail.
Starting a mass volunteer program of people willing to go out and clean up, paint, fix, decorate and landscape – or tear down and plant – whatever crumbling structures or lots aren’t privately owned.
Those are just a few ideas. The point is, ordinary citizens can accomplish a lot of they band together in big numbers, demand to be heard and take positive action. Voters are especially influential with the elected crowd.
And it won’t be enough simply to demonstrate and shout for change. We have to be willing to come up with our own creative solutions to our problems. If anyone were going to do it for us, our city wouldn’t be going down the drain.
So let’s get busy. Please share your thoughts. Readers in other places are welcome to join the local discussion here on Geniocity.com – let us know what’s working in your hometown. Soon.
August 25th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I’M HERE AND READY TO HELP!
Given the power of your comments, you best engage the vision of Mike Gesing, Executive Director of the newly established Northeast Ohio Citizens League. The plan? All of the above and THEN SOME. In this new vision of citizen engagement, the region has a chance to give essence to the economic revitalization picture.
As far as The Fund, I cannot criticize those who are involved in the baby steps of a turnaround process that will take some 20 years.
My research into other cities across the nation embracing regionalism as a strategy suggests that “we are all still learning”.
This work, which we call “regionalism” is more than just about success and failure in the immediate – it poses a complete paradigm shift in how we work, why we work, and who we work with. Believing this will result in cost savings and improved quality of life – this great paradigm shift is moving systems towards a new culture around “participatory” behavior (i.e. behaving, planning and acting together across systems).
However, like most change efforts (personal and/or systemic), awareness and behavior change-making is a challenge, especially if it is imposed or driven by crisis.
This level of culture shifting requires years of intentional work, the commitment of financial resources and multiple levels of intervention. CHANGE – whether it be personal or systemic – is just DARN HARD.
All of these dynamics are essential to catalyzing the internal and external psychologies and actions that will support regionalism (sharing, cooperating, merging) and the ultimate goal of economic revitalization.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN the Fund should not be held accountable for their work. If there is room for critical analysis – this is probably where their attentiveness has fallen short.
Deeper accountability to the community – and funds dedicated to SERIOUS partnership building -is the one charge I would suggest. Laura Steinbrink has worked tirelessly to create real and open partnership networks comprised of passionate people. A dedicated team of helpers could magnify this good work of the Fund ten fold in a very short period of time. Because – AT THE CORE – people connecting to people is all that is needed to create deep change.
As a righter of wrongs, a doer of good, and helper to the helpless – I’m committed to helping them continue to learn and grow.
In fact, I’m committed to ANYONE willing to set self interest aside for that Greater Good.
Let me know how I can help. Georgia Reash, President, Community Transition Partners (330) 727-7762
August 25th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I appreciate your well-informed and thoughtful comment, as well as your readiness to help. For the record, my intention in citing Voices & Choices was not to blame that initiative or the Fund for Our Economic Future for all the unsolved ills of Northeast Ohio, but to offer one example of all the community discussion that goes on and on here without resulting in timely action. We all need to move the change process along more rapidly. Thanks for raising your hand. Any others out there?
Carolyn Jack