Photo Courtesy of New York Times
New York Times columnist Dan Barry and photographer Fred Conrad spent several days in Flint last week. They were drawn to the city for the same reason many others are focusing on Flint these days; they're trying to capture our resilient spirit and gage how we are surviving in the face of population decline, high unemployment, and major manufacturing job losses. I've been told by more than 1 national reporter that Flint is on the threshold of developing a model of survival that other cities will follow. One thing for sure-Mayor Walling's model is about sustaining, not shrinking. "Amid Ruin of Flint, Seeing Hope in a Garden," click here to read the article.
Expending leadership-energy in an effort to resist the Change-like power of the "shrinking" concept, merely because the word can be misunderstood to mean that the city is becoming diminished in importance and value, seems unproductive.
ReplyDeleteA good city's strength is in its people and what they know how to do. It's never been about how many square miles are encompassed by its boundaries, or how many residential blocks it provides services to.
"Sustaining" is what we do when our situation is bad and might get worse, and we can't figure out what to do. It's a fundamentally conservative word. It's not about Change.
"Right-sizing" has good nuances...it aligns with "shrinking" if that word is already part of the discussion, but it subtly communicates *why* shrinking isn't a goal in itself, and why this Change is a good idea.
Heh. Perhaps the comment software is glitchy...the above comment was entered under the Nightline thread.
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