Posts with the tag "economy"

This page shows posts in my weblog that are tagged with the keyword(s) above. This is one of the ways you can browse all of the different topics I write about.


Too many community builders in one town?


One of the recurring themes in my writing in speaking about how to make our communities more self-reliant is that we can't necessarily depend on entities and organizations that aren't locally rooted to address the issues that are of local concern. The natural corollary to this is that, in addition to individual citizens taking [...]

Presenting to the EDC Board on Peak Oil


Earlier tonight I had the honor of being a guest speaker at the monthly meeting for the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County's board of directors, presenting a version of my talk on how we can build a more self-reliant Richmond, Indiana in the face of peaking availability of natural energy resources, global climate change, [...]

Local coffee shop Charlie's closes its doors


As they are seemingly wont to do, another locally owned coffee shop, Charlie's Coffee Bar and Gallery, has closed its doors. Sigh.
This is not an isolated incident. This is not a bump in the road on the way to a better Richmond. These things must not go unconsidered in the context of [...]

Former EDC chief announces self-published book on economic development


This is interesting: former Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County President Don Holbrook, who was fired from the organization a few years ago in an unfortunate controversy, has released a self-published book about economic development tips and strategies. Titled "The Little Black Book of Economic Development," Holbrook says the book has information about the [...]

Local coffee shop Sacred Grounds closing next week


If you follow the news over at The Richmond Coffee Shop Times, you have probably heard by now that Sacred Grounds is closing at the end of next week. The Summersault staff had a last (or perhaps-second-to-last) hurrah lunch there today, and as the cashier was ringing up the bill I asked what they'd [...]

Vacation and Vocation


I'm on a paid vacation right now. For those of you who don't already know, this means my employer, Summersault, is actually paying me to not show up to the office for a while. Ha - suckers! Apparently it's pretty normal for employers around the world to offer some sort of paid [...]

EDC conversation, Holbrook controversy continues


Another Sunday, another industrial-park-sized batch of column inches devoted to the unfolding controversy around EDC president Don Holbrook, the EDC board, and apparent mismanagement, miscommunication and missed opportunities at all levels. I won't bother distinguishing between the "news" and "opinion" articles, as they all have similar themes from all sides of the issue: "EDC [...]

IU Panel's Business Outlook: Charming and Wretched


Last Monday I had the opportunity to attend the Indiana University Kelley School of Business's "Business Outlook Panel" during their luncheon stop in Richmond to provide a forecast of the national, state-wide and local economies for 2006. Sponsored by Bank One (er, Chase Bank) and Richmond Baking and well attended, it was an interesting [...]

Search for more jobs requires driving vision


In an editorial today, the Palladium-Item called for Richmond and Wayne County to embrace job growth in the retail and service sectors, as opposed to the manufacturing sector. I generally support their call for an intentional focus on facilitating the kinds of economic growth that Richmond needs, and I was pleasantly surprised to find [...]

City of Richmond U-Plan Sessions


Last night I helped to facilitate the "U-Plan" community input sessions that the City of Richmond, Indiana is conducting as a part of its work on updating the City's comprehensive plan. I was struck and impressed, perhaps more than I should have been, by the simple process of people in a community coming together [...]

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