Connecting or reconnecting with People

Rich Harwood just published his regular weekly blog and he is talking about four ideas for President Obama's State of of the Union speech that will be Wednesday night. Rich talks about the importance of real people in real communities who are right now are wanting to feel authentic Hope. He is talking about how the President might be able to ignite some of that hope.

Right here in Hartsville, SC, we are looking for that same Hope that Rich refers to when he references places like Detroit and Lansing, places he has held recent Public Innovator workshops. There are many community builders in Hartsville who know how important hope is to our community. One thing we have been able to preserve in our community is some authentic hope.
1) We have had a recent city election and a new, young Mayor has been elected and he has a goal of pulling Hartsville together. When you talk to Mayor Pennington he will tell you that his campaign changed him. When he announced his candidacy it was because he wanted to be mayor of this small city. While running for office he learned on a daily basis how much people in this small community both need help and need focus for their community concerns. He is working to connect the people to the way things are done so that things will get accomplished.
2) Early last week the Chamber of Commerce held a meeting with a great many real estate agents in Hartsville as part of their effort for carrying forward the Selling Hartsville campaign. To have that many people taking time to learn even more about the community than they already know shows the resources we have available for change.
3) Last Thursday the Chamber held their annual dinner and again it was evident the support in this small city for moving forward. The banquet was well attended. Gordon McBride, a person who has been working for decades to help make Hartsville an ever better city, was named Rotary Citizen of the Year. Gordon has worked with all areas to continue improving the community and he is an outstanding example of why we can and do have hope for continuing to make Hartsville an even greater place to live.

People are working with people in Hartsville. Is there more that we can do? Is there more that we must do to bring this community together? The answer there is a resounding YES. Can we bring about the changes needed? We have people who know about the importance of planning and putting forth stretch goals. We have people who have worked the plans they have developed who have experience in making good things happen. We can make positive change come alive. We also understand that this will only happen with people connecting with people.

New Mayor takes oath of office

Mayor Mel Pennington took the oath of office on Tuesday, November 10 following a glowing tribute to outgoing Mayor David McFarland, who took over as Mayor of Hartsville when Mayor Holt became Family Court Judge Michael Holt. There were a great many people at the early part of the City Council meeting this evening as a large group of family and friends also attended the meeting as Wanda James was sworn in as a new city council member.

Strong communities need leaders who can build strong coalitions that are required to navigate solutions to problems in our complex municipal/government environs.

The video in this blog is of City Attorney Marty Driggers giving the oath of office to Mel Pennington, new Mayor of Hartsville.

Trick or Treat at Byerly Park

Just reading the "ezine newsletter" from the City of Hartsville and they have a Trick or Treat event scheduled for this evening at Byerly Park from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Also in that newsletter is a very short news piece that reminds us that nearly $80 million has recently been invested in and around downtown Hartsville. There continues to be news about things going on downtown, like the pending opening of a new restaurant Bow Thai, which should happen early next week.

And, we have the election for Mayor and three city council members coming up on November 3 in Hartsville. Had a coffee last night on Mayoral candidate Mel Pennington, who has been holding a series of meetings at the Midnight Rooster to take about city issues. And, this past Tuesday there was a Forum at Second Baptist Church for the City Council candidates to talk about their ideas for the city. Only one of the three races for City Council is contested this year.

While on updates, the citizen journalism website that is owned by THE MESSENGER crashed a few weeks ago but it is back UP AND RUNNING thanks to a great deal of hard work from a Media General web guru and the founder of the site, Doug Fisher. The HVTD.com site is where you get your Hartsville news quicker and well worth a visit.

Mayor's Candidate Forum Interesting Event

A good sized crowd was on had for the Mayor's Candidate Forum on the campus of Coker College in Hartsville on Tuesday evening. Candidates Pam Sansbury and Mel Pennington presented some of their views about moving Hartsville forward in these down economic times. The Forum showed two good candidates for Mayor and also highlighted some of the issues that face the city as it hopes to continue moving forward. There is a link here to the Jim Faile news coverage of the Forum that appears this morning in both THE MESSENGER and MORNING NEWS. The video clip that is included here is just to give readers a flavor of the scene. Dr. Jim Lemke of Coker College moderated the Forum.