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 »
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.
I received a wonderful surprise in my mailbox on Friday when I got home from work. I received a letter from Fred and Sherry Thompson, whom I had the opportunity to meet and visit with at last weekends TransformTopeka potluck dinner/gathering. They said that over the years they have found many wonderful things in Topeka. Along with a letter, Sherry sent me a list of their favorite things in Topeka and I want to take a moment to share those with everyone (these are in no particular order). Read the rest of this entry »
Okay, so last night (September 30, 2008) Travis, Denise, Aaron and I attended the Carrie Underwood with Little Big Town show at the Kansas Expocentre. I must say the show was awesome. Both Little Big Town and Carrie Underwood were very entertaining and engaged the almost capacity house for nearly 3 hours. For a review of both shows check out the reviews written by Bill Blankenship: Review: Little Big Town opens strongly and Review: Underwood proves she’s a country diva, both on CJ Online.
I haven’t been to a concert at Landon Arena in over 10 years. The following is a list of my observations from last night, the good and bad: Read the rest of this entry »
Today I am going to outline how the Heartland Visioning Draft Plan addresses the problems facing Topeka/Shawnee County concerning education. This is located on pages 16-17 of the Heartland Visioning Draft Plan. “Shawnee County will promote development of broad based skills to prepare students for lifelong learning that is globally competitive: intellectually, socially, economically and personally.I, as already stated by others, do not feel that this section is an all or nothing list of solutions.I do believe that there are some solutions presented in this section that provide reasonable means to achieve the goal stated above.
Five highest priority strategies emerged from balloting by the Vision Task Force and are as follows:
Provide skills training required to increase employee and management productivity and meet the needs of our employers and employees that must compete in a global business market for high paying jobs. For employers considering relocation, retention or expansion of high paying jobs in Shawnee County, this would include competitive skills training for their new employees. Expand and improve Kaw Tech and collaboration with other schools to ensure a qualified, well educated workforce that meets specific trade skills needed by employers and eliminates the skilled workforce gap.
Expect every student to graduate from high school with the skills required to immediately go to work, go to technical school or a university.Increase proficiency expectations for all students.Read the rest of this entry »
Over the next few weeks we will be slowly going through the Heartland Visioning draft. Page 3 of the draft has a Comments and Input Form, this is a great way to send in your thoughts on some of the points and ideas in the plan.
Let me say up front that this plan does not appear to me to be a “take all or leave it” situation. There are good ideas laid out just as there are (in my opinion) bad ideas. One of the wonderful things about America, that I sometimes think we forget, is that we can disagree while still appreciating each others differences of opinion. Respect is the name of the game. If you disagree with someone, that’s ok, just explain your reasoning and don’t belittle. The way you treat others is a great reflection of how you feel about yourself.
I’m going to start with the Call to Action (page 4), going kind of point by point of some of the items I see that stand out.
1. “…1,500 citizens…” - A personal thanks to all who got involved. Everyone has a sphere of influence, it is great to see people trying to expand their spheres.
2. “We are in a downward spiral. Our population is growing older. Not enough skilled young workers are available to replace those who will be retiring. The tax base is shrinking. Those left are paying more, yer services are decreasing. Our quality of life is diminishing. We are slowly dying on the vine.” - Reading this gave me a positive first impression of the draft. We can’t fix the problem if we aren’t dealing in reality. Many of us see this with our own eyes (and pocketbooks) and understand the situation. I think this pretty much nails the situation on the head.
3. “…increase the size of its available workforce…retain existing workforce…making our community attractive to young workers…grow business and our economy…expand our tax base” - This is the crux of it all, summed up. Businesses create jobs, jobs need workers, attractive community will bring the workers in, tax base expands (Topeka expands possibly), economy increases, cost per citizen goes down, quality of life increases. It is all interconnected.
Travis GoodencloseAuthor: Travis GoodenName: Travis Gooden Email: tgooden@greenwaveelectric.com Site:http://www.greenwaveelectric.com About: I was born in Topeka, KS in 1976, went to Randolph Elementary, Robinson Middle School, and graduated from Topeka High School in 1994. I spent 2 years at Washburn taking general studies, but I did not graduate. I spent 12 years working for a local electrical contractor and in September of 2007 started Greenwave Electric with Aaron and Ryan. I married Denise Sharp on October 18, 1997 and we have 2 dogs, Sebastian and Beaker. We currently have no children. We moved to Holton for 4 years, but then decided we missed Topeka and moved back July 2007. We live at 215 SW Courtland Ave in Topeka, KS in the Kenwood Neighborhood, we love our neighborhood.See Authors Posts (5)
The Topeka Chamber of Commerce recently released this new video promoting the quality of life in Topeka:
What do you think about it?
Overall, I really like it. I showcases some great Topeka locations and events, and even a couple of things that I didn’t realize Topeka had!
The thing I like best about this video, compared to another Topeka video that was also released recently, is that it’s produced by hometown talent. The guys at Gizmo Pictures are the best video production company in the Midwest! I can’t understand why any Topeka agency would pay for a video produced by an out-of-state production crew when they have access to the best right in their back yard.
