So here's the deal. I'm looking for ideas. Lots of ideas. Good ideas, bad ideas, whimsical ideas, doesn't matter.
I live in a town in south-eastern Indiana that is slowly but surely dying. We have an aging population, an exodus of working age folks thanks to factory closures, an education system that has been beaten about the head and shoulders by decreases in tax revenue, and in many places a crumbling infrastructure (potholes, aging power supply lines, etc.)
Nothing about this is wholly unusual in the midwest these days, but this town is, in many ways, sort of in the heart of the shit storm.
With that being said, I want to pick your brains for forward thinking ideas... Ways to attract new business, ways to make the town greener and more efficient, more attractive to people looking for a place to call home.
Big ideas, small ideas, unworkable ideas that might lead to something else along the way.
I'll throw out a few of my ideas below the pretty orange croissant. Tear em apart, help me build them back up into something workable. Hell, ignore them completely, and give me your ideas.
I'm hoping, if there's enough interest, to make this a series of several diaries... Start with ideas, then we worry about how to pay for them, then we worry about how to sell them, then we worry about how to defend them, etc.
Let's see if we can show folks the power of some Kossak groupthink!
And no, I'm not in government, but I am a concerned citizen...and in a small enough town that I can get myself heard if I need to.
So... Ideas. I'll put mine in blockquotes, with some commentary after them from my own thinking.
1) The obvious, get some investment in wind energy.
This should be an easy sell, if there's enough wind to make it worthwhile. Any of y'all know where I could find some wind charts and the data on what requirements there are?
2) Biodiesel - What I would like to see is a community level biodiesel production facility, along with some financial encouragement for farmers (in particular) and others to convert to the fuel. In addition, we have a lot of houses in and around the community still using kerosene or fuel oil, and from some quick reading, it seems these are a perfect fit for biodiesel activity.
Here again, viability is the key. If the price point is right, we've put some people to work in the biodiesel processing, we've reduced dependency on petroleum, and saved some money in the process perhaps.
3) Greenspace - We have a crapload of condemned, or nearly condemned homes in the community. Would be a perfect opportunity to get rid of some eyesores, and give us a place for not only parks, but perhaps some community agriculture.
I would love to see a situation where we could wander over to the park to walk the dog, and grab some fresh veggies to take home for dinner. Would it make more sense to have this as a city project, or to "lease" the space to local gardeners? Opinions? Normally, I would suggest remodeling the homes for sale, but with the population shrink we have right now, they would sit empty since we have way more homes than the population can support right now.
4) Geothermal - Good sized investment up front, but it would seem to make sense in the long run, which we would be looking at in a community revitalization like this.
This being the midwest, heating in the winter and cooling in the summer are two of the bigger expenses. Geothermal would decrease cost of ownership considerably, if it's possible to do it on a large scale (something I'm not sure of)
5) Technology investment - We have older phone lines, poles, etc. Comcast (for all the shit I give them on occasion) has actually done a pretty decent job of modernization. I would like to see that supported by the city/county more. Wifi downtown? Investment in good high-speed access to encourage tech companies to start here?
In this one, small town is both blessing and curse. Blessing because it's less expensive to bring online, curse because it seems like so much overkill. 75Mb access would be enough to interest folks I think.
6) Education Investment - We have a pretty good vocational school here, encourage and support them offering classes in renewable energy, in green building, in energy efficient remodeling, etc.
In order for all the rest of this to work, at least in my opinion, it has to start here. Knowledge is key.
Ok, there are my basic ideas. Devour them, chew them up, I beg of you. My eventual goal, once we've had our groupthink, is to hopefully put forth the ideas to the city/county council...show them it's possible, show them the rewards, and then encourage them to go for it!
Thank you, Kossaks one and all!
Doug