When it comes to building community, one of the interesting strategies is to find a way to get people within the community to commit physically to the improvement of the community -- voluntarily. The United Way provides this opportunity.
Today, the Hartsville Chamber of Commerce held an "All Member Breakfast" event at Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center to hear from the T. C. Sawyer, executive director of the Hartsville United Way. The update on the role of the United Way in this community was timely. Mr. Sawyer told the group the national United Way is hoping that local United Ways will help focus communities on the major problems identified within the community. He told the group that in Hartsville the three major areas his Board has identified include Education, Health and jobs.
In the past we have known the United Way as a community chest of resources but the strategies of the United Way are evolving around the country as these groups identify themselves more as those organizations that can bring disparate groups from the community together to focus on solutions. The funds they provide come from contributions of people in the community who like the idea of having one organization looking at the community and determining where donor dollars can most effectively be spent.
Expect to be hearing more from the Hartsville United Way!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tools for Community Building and Thinking
In these comments the Harwood Institute often gets mentioned because of the work they have accomplished in structuring tools for community building and community growth. The last Public Innovators' Lab they held had 60 participants. One participant from a United Way Metro group did a recap of his experience at the lab that the Harwood Institute had shared with their lists. If you are interested in community building, you will be interested in this person's observations from the Innovators Lab.
In Hartsville and the Hartsville area we have our work cut out for us as we try to find the "sweet spots" that can bring people together to build community. We have many people with strong interests and commitments and they work hard. The next step in the growth of our community is increased collaboration, cooperation and cohesion.
In Hartsville and the Hartsville area we have our work cut out for us as we try to find the "sweet spots" that can bring people together to build community. We have many people with strong interests and commitments and they work hard. The next step in the growth of our community is increased collaboration, cooperation and cohesion.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
New book by Jim Collins discusses how the mighty fall
HOW THE MIGHTY FALL AND WHY SOME COMPANIES NEVER GIVE IN, Jim Collins, 2009
First, this book is not directly about the crash of so many mighty companies over the past few months. The author, who is recognized for such books as GOOD TO GREAT and BUILT TO LAST has been doing research with his team for the past three years studying what causes some of the great companies to fall. Second, why discuss this book in a community thinking or community building blog? It is my belief that communities are organization not unlike some of those that are studied by the Collins team and that we can learn a great deal from the thinking there academics and researches develop. My thinking about the success of communities or the decline of communities has taken some forward steps with the Collins book.
As an aside, I knew I was going to enjoy this book when the author began with a quote from one of his mentors, Bill Lazier. Early in his career, Collins was told by Lazier one of the keys to effective teaching. Lazier said, "don't try to come up with the right answers; focus on coming up with good questions." One of my continuing goals in teaching is to figure out the 'good questions.'
This book is probably worth several blogs and for this first one, I am going to take the easy way out and give a synopsis of the overview of the material that is covered on the book jacket. It would be Collins' contention that decline can be avoided, that decline can be detected and that decline can be reversed.
According to this book, the Collins researchers came up with the following "five step-wise stages of decline."
1 -- Hubris Born of Success 2 -- Undisciplined pursuit of More
3 -- Denial of Risk and Peril 4 -- Grasping for Salvation
5 -- Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death (page 24)
A reason I am a fan of this book is a statement that Collins makes on page 25, which is very much a philosophy of leadership or management or the combination of both. It is a statement that we have more control of the destiny of our organizations than we often want to admit. It is a statement that says people within an organization can make a difference. "Great companies can stumble, badly, and recover. While you can't come back from Stage 5, you can tumble into the grim depths of Stage 4 and climb out. Most companies eventually fail and we cannot deny this fact. Yet our research indicates that organization decline is largely self-inflicted and recovery largely within our own control." Page 25
This is a relatively short book of 123 regular pages with seven extensive appendices and extensive notes.
First, this book is not directly about the crash of so many mighty companies over the past few months. The author, who is recognized for such books as GOOD TO GREAT and BUILT TO LAST has been doing research with his team for the past three years studying what causes some of the great companies to fall. Second, why discuss this book in a community thinking or community building blog? It is my belief that communities are organization not unlike some of those that are studied by the Collins team and that we can learn a great deal from the thinking there academics and researches develop. My thinking about the success of communities or the decline of communities has taken some forward steps with the Collins book.
As an aside, I knew I was going to enjoy this book when the author began with a quote from one of his mentors, Bill Lazier. Early in his career, Collins was told by Lazier one of the keys to effective teaching. Lazier said, "don't try to come up with the right answers; focus on coming up with good questions." One of my continuing goals in teaching is to figure out the 'good questions.'
This book is probably worth several blogs and for this first one, I am going to take the easy way out and give a synopsis of the overview of the material that is covered on the book jacket. It would be Collins' contention that decline can be avoided, that decline can be detected and that decline can be reversed.
According to this book, the Collins researchers came up with the following "five step-wise stages of decline."
1 -- Hubris Born of Success 2 -- Undisciplined pursuit of More
3 -- Denial of Risk and Peril 4 -- Grasping for Salvation
5 -- Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death (page 24)
A reason I am a fan of this book is a statement that Collins makes on page 25, which is very much a philosophy of leadership or management or the combination of both. It is a statement that we have more control of the destiny of our organizations than we often want to admit. It is a statement that says people within an organization can make a difference. "Great companies can stumble, badly, and recover. While you can't come back from Stage 5, you can tumble into the grim depths of Stage 4 and climb out. Most companies eventually fail and we cannot deny this fact. Yet our research indicates that organization decline is largely self-inflicted and recovery largely within our own control." Page 25
This is a relatively short book of 123 regular pages with seven extensive appendices and extensive notes.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Saturday Mornings in Hartsville
Last Saturday morning, June 5, there was the Good Living Marketplace in downtown Hartsville and the feature on that beautiful morning was a tribute to veterans at the site where the new Hartsville veterans memorial will be installed in a few months. This was the anniversary of D-Day and there were a good number of veterans at the ceremony along with others. In this video you will see Mayor Michael Holt and his children as Warner DeHart, Darlington County Veterans Affairs Officers, talks a little bit about the dangers of D Day.
And, then this morning, June 12, just seconds after 8 a.m. there was the start of the YMCA Lickety Split 5K. This quick video shows the start as the runner approach the first turn onto Fourth Street. Great of the YMCA to host these runs and amazing to see the numbers of people who put fitness high on their living list.
And, then this morning, June 12, just seconds after 8 a.m. there was the start of the YMCA Lickety Split 5K. This quick video shows the start as the runner approach the first turn onto Fourth Street. Great of the YMCA to host these runs and amazing to see the numbers of people who put fitness high on their living list.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Gas prices -- symptom or sin
(This is a stretch for a community thinking blog - but)
Walking this morning and happened to glance a sign at a station/store that said gas was now $2.47 a gallon for my type. Yesterday, same station, it was $2.39. Wonder how the supply/demand curve changed overnight for that increase to take place?
Anyway the current run up in gasoline prices, Again, is aggravating and I also believe it is dangerous. There are lots of trial balloons being launched to convince the American people we are beginning to see the end of the recession. I hope we are. But, the businesses that see an opportunity to cash in in the chaos of economic troubles may find ways to make the predictions of an end of the recession more fiction than fact. My problem here is that there is less money available to average American house holds. In fact, the headlines in this morning's paper indicate the American families have lost $1.3 trillion in wealth during this economic downturn. That is money that has disappeared -- it is not money that has been stored waiting for a change in circumstances -- it is money we no longer have. And, when certain staple items begin to not just creep up in price but soar in price (as gasoline has been doing the past three weeks)we are again faced with depleted resources. Faced with less available money how can we expect consumers to help spend the way out of this recession?
Big banks have been recognized for their greed, though they do seem to be getting off without much downside. Major car companies have been embarrassed for their lousy management, though that management has been rewarded with taxpayer funds. So, what is the profit picture of the major oil companies, most of which have no national allegiance whatsoever? They are making more money than ever with plans to continue making more than ever without a care as to ultimate effects. I know there are many who will say -- that is the capitalistic way and that is the way we want it -- free markets are self regulating. That may be -- but we know full well that the markets are not free. Every couple of days when the prices of gas go up by nearly the exact hundredth of a cent at stations around the country (supposedly supplied by competing companies)we have to understand we are not operating in a free market environment.
It seems to me that many companies have been using these times of economic uncertainty as an opportunity to raise prices, cut costs, decrease service and blame every entity but themselves for the economic mess. It seems to me that if we are going to build communities it is going to take all of our organizations, all of our sectors of community and all of us individually to identify a common good that is at least as important as our individual bottom lines. It appears to me that if some new kind of paradigm is not accepted, and implemented pretty quickly, the recovery for which we are hoping might be years instead of months in arriving.
Now, I wonder how I could get all that from gas prices up eight cents over night?
Walking this morning and happened to glance a sign at a station/store that said gas was now $2.47 a gallon for my type. Yesterday, same station, it was $2.39. Wonder how the supply/demand curve changed overnight for that increase to take place?
Anyway the current run up in gasoline prices, Again, is aggravating and I also believe it is dangerous. There are lots of trial balloons being launched to convince the American people we are beginning to see the end of the recession. I hope we are. But, the businesses that see an opportunity to cash in in the chaos of economic troubles may find ways to make the predictions of an end of the recession more fiction than fact. My problem here is that there is less money available to average American house holds. In fact, the headlines in this morning's paper indicate the American families have lost $1.3 trillion in wealth during this economic downturn. That is money that has disappeared -- it is not money that has been stored waiting for a change in circumstances -- it is money we no longer have. And, when certain staple items begin to not just creep up in price but soar in price (as gasoline has been doing the past three weeks)we are again faced with depleted resources. Faced with less available money how can we expect consumers to help spend the way out of this recession?
Big banks have been recognized for their greed, though they do seem to be getting off without much downside. Major car companies have been embarrassed for their lousy management, though that management has been rewarded with taxpayer funds. So, what is the profit picture of the major oil companies, most of which have no national allegiance whatsoever? They are making more money than ever with plans to continue making more than ever without a care as to ultimate effects. I know there are many who will say -- that is the capitalistic way and that is the way we want it -- free markets are self regulating. That may be -- but we know full well that the markets are not free. Every couple of days when the prices of gas go up by nearly the exact hundredth of a cent at stations around the country (supposedly supplied by competing companies)we have to understand we are not operating in a free market environment.
It seems to me that many companies have been using these times of economic uncertainty as an opportunity to raise prices, cut costs, decrease service and blame every entity but themselves for the economic mess. It seems to me that if we are going to build communities it is going to take all of our organizations, all of our sectors of community and all of us individually to identify a common good that is at least as important as our individual bottom lines. It appears to me that if some new kind of paradigm is not accepted, and implemented pretty quickly, the recovery for which we are hoping might be years instead of months in arriving.
Now, I wonder how I could get all that from gas prices up eight cents over night?
Friday, June 05, 2009
A day or two ago this blog mentioned the idea of social capital. Darlington County does have a lot of people working in various areas to help improve the quality of life at all levels. One of the often unknown resources that has been developed is called the Darlington County Coordinating Council, whose chair this year is Todd Shifflet. The council has a meeting coming up next week in Darlington and one of its major functions is to provide a continuing platform for organized communication among human service agencies and groups so that maximum use can be made of the resources available. The council's web site does a good job of pointing out the scope of services available in our community. It would be worth a visit!
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Public capital is a key building block to community
Public Capital
Public capital are those organizations within a community that can come together to help expand the riches of a community, help build community where it can do some good and help rebuild when opportunities have become challenges. One reason we are focused on the Selling Hartsville strategy for Hartsville is the need to continue expanding the public capital or what also might be called the social capital that will enable Hartsville to be an even better community tomorrow than it is today.
OPPORTUNITIES TO CHALLENGES
We have some opportunities that have become challenges. Hartsville has been home to one of the most successful publicly traded companies based in the southeastern United States for more than 109 years. That company is S-o-n-o-c-o. At one point in history this company brought in executives to help manage, run and lead the various operations. At that point in history, most of those people chose Hartsville for their home. That is no longer the case and the opportunity of being headquarters for a multi-billion dollar company has become the current challenge to find ways of again making Hartsville the community of choice. In Hartsville, we have been fortunate to have many people working on this challenge but we need many more to take up the cause or Hartsville could become a shell of the small city many of us enjoy calling home.
HARWOOD IN DETROIT
In this posting today is a video by Rich Harwood, whose Public Innovators' Laboratory is in Detroit the first three days of this week. I am including a short video he did today because while we are not yet where Detroit is, we have to act now so we don't get there before we understand that is where we are. I don't expect anyone to enjoy Rich's observations but I hope they will ignite some of your own thinking about how we might continue amassing public capital in Hartsville so we begin to look at more opportunities than challenges.
Public capital are those organizations within a community that can come together to help expand the riches of a community, help build community where it can do some good and help rebuild when opportunities have become challenges. One reason we are focused on the Selling Hartsville strategy for Hartsville is the need to continue expanding the public capital or what also might be called the social capital that will enable Hartsville to be an even better community tomorrow than it is today.
OPPORTUNITIES TO CHALLENGES
We have some opportunities that have become challenges. Hartsville has been home to one of the most successful publicly traded companies based in the southeastern United States for more than 109 years. That company is S-o-n-o-c-o. At one point in history this company brought in executives to help manage, run and lead the various operations. At that point in history, most of those people chose Hartsville for their home. That is no longer the case and the opportunity of being headquarters for a multi-billion dollar company has become the current challenge to find ways of again making Hartsville the community of choice. In Hartsville, we have been fortunate to have many people working on this challenge but we need many more to take up the cause or Hartsville could become a shell of the small city many of us enjoy calling home.
HARWOOD IN DETROIT
In this posting today is a video by Rich Harwood, whose Public Innovators' Laboratory is in Detroit the first three days of this week. I am including a short video he did today because while we are not yet where Detroit is, we have to act now so we don't get there before we understand that is where we are. I don't expect anyone to enjoy Rich's observations but I hope they will ignite some of your own thinking about how we might continue amassing public capital in Hartsville so we begin to look at more opportunities than challenges.
Authentic Hope is one of the foundations of building community
Rich Harwood talks a good deal about hope as a building block for communities. In fact,he has The Harwood Institute's Public Innovators' Laboratory in Detroit this week focusing on ways to build communities. Detroit, where the city's number one corporate citizen, declared bankruptcy on Monday. For The Harwood Institute, taking the Innovator Laboratory to a city on the brink is certainly taking lab work to the real world.
Rich Harwood was in Hartsville, and he evens mentions Hartsville in his newest essay, Redeeming Hope. But the reason for posting these thoughts on Harwood and Hope is Hartsville. You see in this blog continued talk about the Selling Hartsville initiative. I hope if you go to some of the links from this posting, you will quickly notice that the Selling Hartsville initiative is not an exercise taking place in a vaccuum. It is an effort to help those of us who live in this community sell hope to each other that our great place to live will become an even better place to live tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.
Harwood talks about authentic HOPE and it is good to open conversation on what it means to have authentic HOPE for Hartsville and what proof we might have that our hope has turned into actions that have created results fulfilling our hopes, dreams and visions.
Rich Harwood was in Hartsville, and he evens mentions Hartsville in his newest essay, Redeeming Hope. But the reason for posting these thoughts on Harwood and Hope is Hartsville. You see in this blog continued talk about the Selling Hartsville initiative. I hope if you go to some of the links from this posting, you will quickly notice that the Selling Hartsville initiative is not an exercise taking place in a vaccuum. It is an effort to help those of us who live in this community sell hope to each other that our great place to live will become an even better place to live tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.
Harwood talks about authentic HOPE and it is good to open conversation on what it means to have authentic HOPE for Hartsville and what proof we might have that our hope has turned into actions that have created results fulfilling our hopes, dreams and visions.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Task Force hears about things in Hartsville
Last Wednesday the Marketing Task Force of the Selling Hartsville initiative had about 14 people present for a meeting to discuss the things that are happening in Hartsville. While the tone of the meeting was somewhat dampened by the gloom of very tight city budgets, there was some pretty encouraging news coming out; some of which had been announced and some that happens when dots are connected.
The big news from the city manager was the approval of a new Hotel facility for downtown Hartsville. This new facility will anchor the downtown area with a four-story hotel on the corner of Carolina, Fourth and whatever name Railroad Avenue takes in its new environment.
Part of the other good news is that the street paving on that small new part of the road is complete and by the next day the road was open to through traffic. That is finally good news for the new owners of Gardners, who had been losing business because access from Fourth Street was cut off while the paving was completed.
One of the group's members who deals with real estate told another member that closings had picked up and that real estate was selling in the city. While that was an informal conversation, it was also among the good news.
Johnna Shirley is the chair of this task force and her continuing leadership is also good news. The task force met a couple of months ago at Hartsville High School to discuss potential plans for enhancing the looks of the school. Dr. Burry, the principal, told the group he was hoping that the architects who are working on the new gym will also be presenting some informal ideas about ways to enhance the looks of the exterior of the campus. Last summer there was a concerted effort to launch the Selling Hartsville initiative. That was the time the overall economy also decided to collapse. Some people questioned the timing but I continue to note the timing might not have been better. Why?
Well, in addition to tight budgets the city manager also said that both hospitality tax and accommodations tax revenue is off inside the city. We have had a great deal going on throughout Hartsville since last summer. Imagine what those revenue streams might have been like without the Selling Hartsville initiative!
Remember, Selling Hartsville is multi-audience initiative with one major audience those of us who live, work and enjoy or small city. We have to make a concerted effort to check Hartsville first when we are making purchases and deciding on a night on the town. We also need to encourage our neighbors to do the same.
As the task force continues to meet it is focusing attention on those areas of the city that need improving. The city manager mentioned the street scape of several years ago with bricks now coming out of the street. I had thought that about 18 months ago there were crews working nights in Hartsville repairing many of those areas. But, as the city manager noted, some improvements that were made 10 to 15 to 20 years ago might need attention as they get older. Heck, if you ride on some of our city streets you will notice needs. The point of the task force in its present configuration is to look out for what it is calling the "holes" in the product we call Hartsville and then making suggestions or calling for action plans to address those holes so that we have product people want to buy.
What happens when we stop getting better and stop growing?
-- We have fewer people paying the taxes need to run a great city
-- There are fewer people attending our churches
-- There are fewer people to attract other people
-- There are fewer people taking part in Habitat, in the Taste in buying Red Fox Club tickets, etc.
-- You can add your own ideas of what happens
If you are reading this, you are probably already one of the people who see Hartsville as a great place to live and play, raise a family, and/or retire. So, when the call goes out to stay involved or become involved you may feel it is preaching to the proverbial choir. Okay, maybe, but we ask that you continue to sing the praises of this small city and send on the call to others to stay involved.
FOR FUN -- June 6 will be the Good Living Marketplace on Cargill Way in downtown Hartsville with a special veterans recognition in line with the 60th anniversary of D-day -- the start of taking back the continent of Europe in World War II.
Hartsville, the art of good living where you can always "expect pleasant surprises."
The big news from the city manager was the approval of a new Hotel facility for downtown Hartsville. This new facility will anchor the downtown area with a four-story hotel on the corner of Carolina, Fourth and whatever name Railroad Avenue takes in its new environment.
Part of the other good news is that the street paving on that small new part of the road is complete and by the next day the road was open to through traffic. That is finally good news for the new owners of Gardners, who had been losing business because access from Fourth Street was cut off while the paving was completed.
One of the group's members who deals with real estate told another member that closings had picked up and that real estate was selling in the city. While that was an informal conversation, it was also among the good news.
Johnna Shirley is the chair of this task force and her continuing leadership is also good news. The task force met a couple of months ago at Hartsville High School to discuss potential plans for enhancing the looks of the school. Dr. Burry, the principal, told the group he was hoping that the architects who are working on the new gym will also be presenting some informal ideas about ways to enhance the looks of the exterior of the campus. Last summer there was a concerted effort to launch the Selling Hartsville initiative. That was the time the overall economy also decided to collapse. Some people questioned the timing but I continue to note the timing might not have been better. Why?
Well, in addition to tight budgets the city manager also said that both hospitality tax and accommodations tax revenue is off inside the city. We have had a great deal going on throughout Hartsville since last summer. Imagine what those revenue streams might have been like without the Selling Hartsville initiative!
Remember, Selling Hartsville is multi-audience initiative with one major audience those of us who live, work and enjoy or small city. We have to make a concerted effort to check Hartsville first when we are making purchases and deciding on a night on the town. We also need to encourage our neighbors to do the same.
As the task force continues to meet it is focusing attention on those areas of the city that need improving. The city manager mentioned the street scape of several years ago with bricks now coming out of the street. I had thought that about 18 months ago there were crews working nights in Hartsville repairing many of those areas. But, as the city manager noted, some improvements that were made 10 to 15 to 20 years ago might need attention as they get older. Heck, if you ride on some of our city streets you will notice needs. The point of the task force in its present configuration is to look out for what it is calling the "holes" in the product we call Hartsville and then making suggestions or calling for action plans to address those holes so that we have product people want to buy.
What happens when we stop getting better and stop growing?
-- We have fewer people paying the taxes need to run a great city
-- There are fewer people attending our churches
-- There are fewer people to attract other people
-- There are fewer people taking part in Habitat, in the Taste in buying Red Fox Club tickets, etc.
-- You can add your own ideas of what happens
If you are reading this, you are probably already one of the people who see Hartsville as a great place to live and play, raise a family, and/or retire. So, when the call goes out to stay involved or become involved you may feel it is preaching to the proverbial choir. Okay, maybe, but we ask that you continue to sing the praises of this small city and send on the call to others to stay involved.
FOR FUN -- June 6 will be the Good Living Marketplace on Cargill Way in downtown Hartsville with a special veterans recognition in line with the 60th anniversary of D-day -- the start of taking back the continent of Europe in World War II.
Hartsville, the art of good living where you can always "expect pleasant surprises."
Monday, June 01, 2009
It wasn't about white men or even Latina women;Judge Sotomayor was right in 2001
When thinking about building community is seems to me we need to be grasping to see the bigger picture, which seems to be a major goal in our current "got-ya" culture. First, if all the enemies can find is one word in a speech eight years ago for a judge who has been writing judicial opinions for a couple of decades the turmoil is less than a tempest in the proverbial teapot.
But, let's think about the bigger picture as related to the gripe that Judge Sottomayor said a decision that included a Latina woman would be better than a decision that just included white men. Where is the controversy? How is that racist?
In my community thinking and community building activities and in my professional life there have been several instances that stand out to me about the need for the diversity that the Judge really was discussing in her speech.
#1 -- On the school board we were often told the reason for so few minority teachers and so few minority administrators was that there were just none available and non applying for jobs in our district. It was amazing when a minority was hired as the assistant superintendent for human resources how quickly there was a pool of applicants that represented the diversity of the county.
#2 -- Working in corporate America is was often said the reason for no women at the top was there were not capable female executive candidates. What a difference it made when a female became head of human resources and a new perspective was involved
in searching for candidates.
#3 -- Have been wondering since the mid 1970s what difference it would have made if city council had invited some community members to the planning sessions that put a municipal swimming pool within a hundred yards of a cemetery. Council always wondered why the pool never got more use. Many members of the minority community who lived in that neighborhood did not feel it was respectful to have the cemetery and pool right next to each other.
People like to simple answers and people like to put others in instant classifications so they don't have to think. If you are going to build a community at what we call the local level or the national level, you have to get around to thinking instead of knee-jerk reacting, which destroys but never builds.
But, let's think about the bigger picture as related to the gripe that Judge Sottomayor said a decision that included a Latina woman would be better than a decision that just included white men. Where is the controversy? How is that racist?
In my community thinking and community building activities and in my professional life there have been several instances that stand out to me about the need for the diversity that the Judge really was discussing in her speech.
#1 -- On the school board we were often told the reason for so few minority teachers and so few minority administrators was that there were just none available and non applying for jobs in our district. It was amazing when a minority was hired as the assistant superintendent for human resources how quickly there was a pool of applicants that represented the diversity of the county.
#2 -- Working in corporate America is was often said the reason for no women at the top was there were not capable female executive candidates. What a difference it made when a female became head of human resources and a new perspective was involved
in searching for candidates.
#3 -- Have been wondering since the mid 1970s what difference it would have made if city council had invited some community members to the planning sessions that put a municipal swimming pool within a hundred yards of a cemetery. Council always wondered why the pool never got more use. Many members of the minority community who lived in that neighborhood did not feel it was respectful to have the cemetery and pool right next to each other.
People like to simple answers and people like to put others in instant classifications so they don't have to think. If you are going to build a community at what we call the local level or the national level, you have to get around to thinking instead of knee-jerk reacting, which destroys but never builds.
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