This morning, Alissa, Shay, Ryan and I had the chance to chat about Transform Topeka on the Jim Cates show. It was a great opportunity to share with a different audience what we are about. We would like to thank Jim Cates, Tricia Johnston and cjonline.com for the opportunity. You can listen to the mp3 of the show here.
Today, the Heartland Visioning Steering Committee revised the “Call to Action” section of the Heartland Visioning Draft Plan due to remarks made by some elected officials that the language was too harsh and too negative (see CJOnline Article for further details). I am personally saddened by this move because I feel that it to truly fix a problem; you have to come to terms with the problem itself. It is like an addict admitting they have an addiction, and only then rehabilitation can begin. Yes, the tone in that section was harsh, but that is what is needed in a “Call to Action”. When writing any paper or presentation, you need to make a statement that grabs attention. With a “Call to Action” you must take it a few steps further: you have to convince people that there is a problem, persuade them that you can provide a solution to the problem, and compel them to take action to help solve the problem. If you weaken the language, you loose the ability to persuade and compel.
Tonight, we had the pleasure of speaking at the Valley Park NIA meeting tonight. They were not only having their monthly meeting, but also marking their 2 year anniversary. We talked about what TransformTopeka is, how we got started, and the plans we have for the future. We would like to thank the nieghbors in Valley Park for the warm reception and well wishes. We look forward to working with you in the future.
Thank you again!
At the TransformTopeka potluck dinner we met wonderful people who want to help make Topeka a better place through positive communication of ideas.
What do we mean by “positive”? We desire to discuss the solutions to problems and not just discuss the problems themselves. We want all communication to be thought provoking and create discussion, but we do not want to be argumentative. We want diverse opinions and thought, but we want everyone to respect each others opinions and thought.
What do we mean by “better”? We all want to make Topeka a desirable city for people to live, work, play, and raise a family. We want to raise our families here and want to stay here, but need to be able to grow both personally and professionally in Topeka. Read the rest of this entry »
What is one thing that you love about Topeka?
TransformTopeka would like to know. We are kicking off a contest that will take place between now and December 15th. For every positive post that you make about things you love in Topeka you will be entered in a drawing. On December 16th we will draw three winners and they will receive a prize (yet to be determined but I promise they will be cool). We can’t wait to see what everyone loves about Topeka.
The rules:
For ideas, please view the Topeka Chamber of Commerce Quality of Life video.
First, I’d like to apologize for being remiss about getting this up sooner. Now, for the review:
The vision listed under infrastructure is as follows: Shawnee County will build a community that promotes learning, health, safety and growth for all residents through long-term planning and best practices. I think this is probably a pretty fair assessment of just about all people everywhere :) Who doesn’t want this? But it is among the top 10 issues that were deemed the most important in our county. In fact, this section addresses 3 of the top ten issues. Here’s a copy of it so you to follow along.
The strategies are broken into 10 areas of infrastructure… almost like a wish list. We’ve all mentioned this before, but this is an ala carte type of thing.
Okay, so last night, I went to see a show at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. I have been there only one other time before (1 year ago) to see the same show. I went and saw So You Think You Can Dance Live. You must be asking yourself this questions… What does this have to do with TransformTopeka? TransformTopeka has always been one to point out good things when we see them and share these ideas with others. I have been to two shows recently in Topeka, one at TPAC and one at the Expocentre. There was something different, and more personal that was done by the Sprint Center that I wanted to share with everyone. Read the rest of this entry »
Topeka/Shawnee Kansas Online
