"Culture
of collaboration" needed in Cranbrook
By
Michael J Morris
Buddy
Dyer, the visionary mayor of Orlando, Florida, is "literally changing the face "
of the city best known as a major tourist destination.
Mayor
Dyer, first elected in 2003, in an interview with Orlando magazine said “It’s
about being able to create a vision and bring a lot of people into it, then move
forward."
The
mayor has been real big on creating a "culture of collaboration" bringing
together all levels of government, business people, educational institutions,
the medical profession, and philanthropists, and of course the citizens of
Orlando who have re-elected him.
The
Dr Phillips Centre for the Performing Arts was opened on November 6, as one
example, but he has also championed a sports and entertainment complex, the
Medical City and Creative Village -- and other major projects.
The
Creative Village possibilities have intrigued me for some time, and at this
point, in the interests of full disclosure, I visit Orlando regularly, and write
for three blogs, owned by an Orlando based business.
The
article notes that "Thinking outside the box with proposals like ... Creative
Village, the high-tech business-residential mecca that would be a metropolis in
itself, goes along with Dyer’s vision of having the kind of city that will draw
a creative class—'talented young entrepreneurs who are going to come up with the
next innovation in emerging media or medical science or things of that
nature.''
As
Cranbrook voters go to the polls to elect a mayor and council, it seems to me
they are faced with candidates who would turn back the block to the old ways of
running Cranbrook. That's not an option folks given the overall decline in
relatively rural communities across Canada.
Another
option is to simply muddle along basically with same old, same old attitudes
that are similar in nature to turning back the clock.
There
is a third option. Continue to define and implement a new vision for Cranbrook
which has been started by the present mayor, Wayne Stetski, and council over the
past few years.
Yes,
there will be roadblocks but if Mayor Dyer can do it with all the challenges an
American city faces, surely Cranbrook is up to the task before it.
Just
imagine, if we were able to attract those "talented young entrepreneurs" who
will take Cranbrook to the next level as a better place to live, work and play.
Mayor Dyer is moving Orlando from the city which has made it famous, and adding
to the mix for the 21st Century.
Here
in Cranbrook, my vote goes to those candidates who believe in a "culture of
collaboration" who will move us forward in all aspects of community life, not
divide us, with rhetoric and an approach to municipal government from a bygone
age that some still like.
Let's
heed Mayor Dyer's advice that we continue with the vision, bring the entire
community into it and move forward. My email is mj.morris@live.ca
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