Loving my City of Port Hueneme
I Love My City...
and your expectation would be that the majority of people in each city would say the same. Chances are they won't be the majority, but minority.
Why?
Well for one thing, you either have to be mad or angry to boldly come to the conclusion that some things should change and you can make a difference. This information was provided recently by Peter Kagayawa, author of "For the Love of Cities" in a general session address and breakout at the 2012 League of CA Cities conference held in San Diego. Peter said that 24% of the city's residents are "attached" and 36% are neutral about a city. The 24% that "love" a city will opt to show it, whether it occurs after a traumatic experience like Hurricane Katrina that devastated New Orleans or just because.
Take Muskegon, Michigan. Some people created a Youtube video to attract a brewery to their city by jumping in the freezing waters of Lake Michigan. Over the course of time, they developed a week-long "Love Muskegon" event that has t-shirts, events to bring the community together and more.
A small business owner and restaurant worker in Detroit created a quarterly event called "Soup-Detroit" in Mexican Town. They collect up a pot of money from all who attend the community dinner and the funds go to help a business person create or develop something new. The catch: each business person vying for the pot of money has to attend that event in order to stand up and pitch their idea.
So if you believe you represent the 24%, Peter said that you are the people who make things happen but in reality only 1% of the population really make a difference. For Port Hueneme, that means roughly 230 individuals do make a difference.
I challenge you to think "out of the box" and help us help make Port Hueneme a better place to live, visit and work. Be that 24% or better yet, the 1% that really does make a difference.
Send your comments to sylvia@sylviaforcouncil.com
Thanks.
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