When people bring up poor perfoming high schools, sub-standard housing, high taxes, marginal retail and low paying employment, there are no words, slogans, or mottos that will work to convince them otherwise.
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The above is a comment on yesterday's post.
There is some truth to this. I have two points i want to make, and offer for discussion.
One, that it is easy to see things that are bad. And some people seem to just like being in the negative all the time. Way back when our music festival was just a vague idea, i ran into one person who gave me several reasons why it wouldn't work and why i shouldn't try it, and how ark city would never support such a thing. Good that I didnt listen because the people of Arkansas City gave me over $10,000 over two years to grow the festival.
So while it is easy to point to bad things, there are good things too.
So I offer this challenge, tell me one good thing about Arkansas City. A specific thing, such as what i mentioned above. Lets see how many things we can come up with.
It is ok to say good things. It does not change the bad things, and you can still complain about those. It doesnt take away your right to complain, so you dont have to worry about that.
Second, that attitude does matter. You have to have the right attitude for your actions to matter though.
The person who posted that comment probably wont ever like Ark City, and it will never be good to them. They probably wont do anything about it either.
When I was in college. I had quiet a few dates with really pretty girls. I had friends who never had dates.
They were sure they would get turned down, and didnt want that to happen, so they decided girls didnt like them, so they never had a date. They also decided that most of the pretty girls were stuck up B***s.
I decided early on that I didnt mind getting turned down, and I got turned down a lot.
I heard "No" a lot. But I heard Yes now and then too :). I discovered that there were some really pretty girls who never got asked out. They were so lonely they were willing to even go out with me lol...
Thats were attitude matters.
I had a better attitude than some of my friends had, but .. i still hadto do something. I still had to get turned down a lot in order to get what i wanted.
As it is written in the scriptures. Faith without works is dead. Yet, no one will be declared righteous by works. Rather we are righteous because of faith. Faith works.
Hey its sunday, im entitled ok :)
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28 comments:
There are a lot of great things about Ark City. We have a good rec program that has a lot of very good people donating time to teach kids sports, sportsmanship, teamwork, and so on.
We have a fun downtown area with more history still there then most towns can even remember about themselves.
Honestly we have great people many of whom come to my store every week in a lot of cases just to see how I'm doing, to pet my dog, to kid around with my child, and on occasion to debate a bit about local and world issues.
We are a town of strong individuals and strong minds that once we figure out how to work together will be unstoppable.
I have faith in this town! That is why I am still here.
When my father passed away the town really came together to help my family. We are a town of good people. Most people really care about the town. Just opening our minds and putting a little work behind it. WE CAN DO IT. It will take time, work and money to make money it can happen.
Fresh ideas, I like the music idea. I have shared the dream for a while. Whan I want to know is when the Anonymous keys of the blog will become faces working together?
in a lot of cases just to see how I'm doing, to pet my dog, to kid around with my child, and on occasion to debate a bit about local and world issues.
I think there is the answer to one of this city's problems. People talk about promoting AC along the lines of the old west and Cherokee Strip run.
Sorry, what I see is a 4 lane black top main street and a downtown that is far from "old west".
What I do see is a bright neon light at USB, the latest TVs playing in the window of Spark's for people to see, and a drug store with an actual soda fountain. Add to that classic cars rolling along at Last Run and AC takes on the look of the 1950's.
Why not promote AC with a nostalgia 1950's theme? The town already has the look, and as Zach showed in his post most of the town's people have the friendly small town 1950's attitude.
I'm the guy saying that mottos don't work. I don't say I dislike Ark City.
"Faith without works is dead."
I think that JJ and I are saying the same thing, just in a different way.
When new people consider moving to town, the first things they look at is school performance, housing, taxes and employment. (generally employment first)
But nobody will fix anything if AC just ignores the problems and pretends everything is fine.
Now is a great time to start. The paper could be a fine instigator of the process, but it will never happen as long as they are in denial.
"Things can work in AC". Maybe that is the temporary slogan to kick it off. Replace it with another slogan after the job is done. Make it real, not baseless hype.
But make a list and fix the problems, one by one.
Things CAN work in AC. You just gotta start them. Look at the concert. I agree. Good job. There are a few more things to fix. It's time to start.
Or maybe another slogan: "'just as good as some of the other small towns in Kansas' is not good enough".
Or Seneca's quote: "per aspera ad astra".
Ark City can get there. It will take work and be difficult. The hardest part is convincing people that it needs doing (JJ) and that it is worth doing.
I'm happy I can walk out my door and know that it is unlikely that I will be shot or stabbed.
We spend alot of time focusing on the city commissioners, but what about the city attourney?, our we getting our moneies worth when it comes to the legal advice given to the elected officials?. Or is the specialty of the city attourney to research rabbie shot for dogs or how to regulate the number of chickens in a yard or how to park cars in your yard?
I hope from what I heard that the city atourney is not trying to polish up a resume from work done here.
I hope from what I heard that the city atourney is not trying to polish up a resume from work done here.
Look who the city attorney is married to...... It is the good ol'boy system at work. A select group of people who, for the most part, get their way thru money and power.
Whenever something major happens in this town there will always be certain names that come up. Lowes is a great example of this "group" using their influence to make a profit with no regard to others....
Proof that people don't read the blogs before they post on them. This blog asked for people to say one possitive thing about the town. Please show JJ a little respect and at least give it a try. Might feel kind of good to not be so negative all the time.
"I'm happy I can walk out my door and know that it is unlikely that I will be shot or stabbed."
The statistics have gone up in the last few years. We have seen a rise in violent crime over the last 6 or 7 years. Now it's not uncommon to read about houses being burglarized, or people being threatened with knives or guns, or banks or stores being robbed at gunpoint.
Never assume it won't happen to you. Be aware of your surroundings and be safe.
Seriously? you can turn a positive into a negative with a bunch of statistics? Maybe I should clarify my post from earlier. I realize that it could be possible when I walk out my door I could be killed. I and my family, have found out a long time ago to never have that attitude "that it can't happen to me." My thought train is more like "I hope it won't happen to me." Small town living, is the moral of the story. YOu're less likely to get shot or stabbed then if you lived in the city. My daughter is soon to be 21 and would like to go to the club in Wichita. I asked her to rethink because just about every weekend one hears about a shooting or stabbing at the clubs. Anyways, thanks for your concern.(and I am not trying to be sarcastic)
I'll tell you one thing I love about this town is familiarity. I love that I can go into any store or establishment and see a friendly and familiar face. While I don't know everybody, I always seem to know someone. Its comforting. I am guilty as the next guy of bitching and being negative, but at the end of the day I am always glad that I am from Kansas, where the air is clean, people wave on the dirt roads, and everybody knows what everybody else is doing. Yea, sometimes that can be a negative, but it is also a positive in that our kids are relatively safe (it didn't take anytime to realize and identify that Jodie was missing and while that sadly couldn't bring her home) there is an awareness here and a close contact among the kids- just ask the highschool how well the kids are connected.
I needed an item today, and went to Ace Hardware. When the wife and I approached the door a young gentleman opened the door for us and asked immediately if he could help direct us to our needs.
I've read on this blog about the crass treatment of patrains of stores in this town. I would just like to say That we thoght this was excellant care of a customer present and future. Thanks Ace employee.
AC's Ace is truelly the helpful hardware place.
That is true. That manager is always willing to help or point you in the right direction!! Good Call!!!
Jill,
Your dad was a well liked and respected man. His business was one of the best in town. It was sad to see the changes that were made after his death leading to the close of David's Appliance. I know people who worked for him and they really respected him. I also know past customers who said that they could not have afforded the appliances they desperately needed but he let them pay payments (this was before the other rent to owns were in town)his customers were very loyal.
Just thought I'd throw that in-definately a positive.
We are blessed with hard working people that care for each other. They know their neighbors, they know the kids teachers and they know that even when we disagree we can usually unite to overcome adversity.
I know that some people enjoy putting other people down for where they work, how much they make and for being successful. We can not change those people but we can ignore their desire to hurt and feel some sympathy for thier negativity. Those people exist in every community and we have proven that we can overcome that attitude. Perhaps, that is the biggest positive we have...not allowing the negativity to control our community.
Orscheln's and ACE were the only two stores that donated dog food for the dogs in Newkirk when I asked. Between the two, I received well over 200 pounds of dog food, 4-5 dog bowls and a lot of dog treats.
Excellent customer service and they give back to our community!!
One good thing...It's close to Winfield, where they have a phenomenal Rec Center. Grab their activity list sometime and do a side-by-side comparison with ACRC. Not...even...close. I'm thankful I live close to Winfield. (And, no, I don't hate AC and no, I'm not going to move).
There are a lot of places around town that have good customer service, good stuff and reasonable prices.
It is easy to trash those that dont, and those are the ones you hear about.
It is cool to see some people mentioning some good ones.
One thing I like is that you can often get a plumber, heating and air, or even an electrician, to come out that day or the next day.
In larger cities that is often unthinkable, and if you do have an emergency you have to pay a lot extra for emergency service.
The feeding program that was featured in the Traveler at thanksgiving is on of the great things happening in AC. When it started last January, there were lot's of people who saiod that it wouldn't work, that it wouldn't last. The program was only supposed to last 6 weeks. The program at 1st Pres. just celebrated its 1 year aniversery. Two other churches have begun their own programs, (St. Paul's and Fellowship of Life,) and two more are looking into it. Many of the people they feed wouldn't eat otherwise, or would have to decide between food, medicine, heat, lights...
An even in the past year, nearly 3,000 meals have been served free of charge.
An even greater benefit has been the fellowship and the sense of community that has developed among the guests. Many of them hungering for relationship far more than they hunger for food.
Wouldn't it be neat if a few more churches steped up, and we could honestly say that no one in AC ever need to go to bed hungry?d
This is a bit off topic but I think the question should be asked.
How does one propose an idea to the commissioners? What is the process?
How about going to the meeting and bringing your idea up that way it will be on the record and if they act on it that's great.
@ onestone
Thanks. I've never attended a meeting so I wasn't sure if that was allowed or not!
How does one propose an idea to the commissioners? What is the process?
I yhink for it to be a part of the regular kept minutes you first have to request to be put on the agenda for a meeting, if not it just goes into the public comment and may not be recorded nor played back in the video for the general public to here. But if you are real serious about it call Nancy Crain the city manager secretary and she she be anle to tell just how to do it, that is part of her job the community pay's her for
Thats about right.
I dont know if just calling up and saying you want on the agenda will work.
BUT, you can go and talk about your idea or whatever, at the meeting.
There is a time set aside a the beginning for that.
The best way to go about it would be to talk to one of the commissioners. Get them to put it on the agenda.
Likely, they will invite you to the worksession, to talk about it.
thats on monday night.
Its pretty easy and really possible.
If they would get rid of Joe Krisik the rec center here would do better. Just check the decline of particitpation and how many teams have moved to Winfield since Joe started. Very, very bad attitude.
@ 1:28 and Traveler Editor
Thanks for the information! Maybe someday I will drop by a meeting and see how it all works.
~~~~~Jill,
Your dad was a well liked and respected man. His business was one of the best in town. It was sad to see the changes that were made after his death leading to the close of David's Appliance. I know people who worked for him and they really respected him. I also know past customers who said that they could not have afforded the appliances they desperately needed but he let them pay payments (this was before the other rent to owns were in town)his customers were very loyal.
Just thought I'd throw that in-definately a positive.~~~~
Thank you so much from whom ever wrote that. I have not been on in awhile but the fact that people still feel that way bring a tear and a smile to my face. Thank you
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