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As a former aspiring planner myself I dig this! I might aspire to do something like this myself once my kids are older. I'll be following along and wish you the

by thex10 6y ago

As a former aspiring planner myself I dig this! I might aspire to do something like this myself once my kids are older. I'll be following along and wish you the best. Do you see your work as relating to or orthogonal to the existing concept of CDCs[0]? Your niche sort of vaguely reminds me of that of a CDC, except spread across a larger and less dense geography. [0] Community Development Corporations, e.g. https://community-wealth.org/strategies/panel/cdcs/index.html https://community-wealth.org/strategies/panel/cdcs/index.htm...

DoreenMichele 6y ago
I'm not familiar enough with CDCs to compare my ideas to that concept. I'm still working on trying to articulate what's rattling around in my head as a result of the past three years of trying to get involved locally after getting myself off the street. I'm in the largest town in my county and it's the largest city along the Pacific Coast of Washington and a shopping hub for the region. Any towns in the region I outlined as my core target market that are larger than Aberdeen are along what I think of as "the backside" of the region -- the coasts of the Salish Sea and the I-5 corridor. So most development in the region is smaller than this town and a lot are unincorporated communities. That means in many cases the target audience is likely to be some local business person or resident activist/concerned citizen. I hope to help people think about what they would like to see going forward and empower them to take concrete steps, regardless of their budget because some info and technical resources will be available for free. I left a comment elsewhere on HN today where I said in part that a lot of small businesses see getting a big business as a client gets viewed by a lot of small businesses as if it is the small business equivalent of "winning the lottery" when, in reality, big businesses routinely take advantage of small businesses and can outright kill them. Small and poor communities routinely seem to similarly think that attracting monied individuals from elsewhere is highly desirable, a means to salvation and has no down side. The reality is monied people from elsewhere moving into a poor town has a big downside and should be handled with care. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24764566 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24764566 So I think small communities need to be trying to enhance income capacity for existing locals first and foremost rather than hoping to attract an influx of monied individuals. "Remember the Golden Rule: He who has the good makes the rules." The need to actually view the coming deluge of incoming wealthy "climate change refugees" as a potential disaster for current existing locals and seek to protect their own interests.

by thex10 6y ago

DoreenMichele 6y ago

I'm not familiar enough with CDCs to compare my ideas to that concept. I'm still working on trying to articulate what's rattling around in my head as a result of the past three years of trying to get involved locally after getting myself off the street. I'm in the largest town in my county and it's the largest city along the Pacific Coast of Washington and a shopping hub for the region. Any towns in the region I outlined as my core target market that are larger than Aberdeen are along what I think of as "the backside" of the region -- the coasts of the Salish Sea and the I-5 corridor. So most development in the region is smaller than this town and a lot are unincorporated communities. That means in many cases the target audience is likely to be some local business person or resident activist/concerned citizen. I hope to help people think about what they would like to see going forward and empower them to take concrete steps, regardless of their budget because some info and technical resources will be available for free. I left a comment elsewhere on HN today where I said in part that a lot of small businesses see getting a big business as a client gets viewed by a lot of small businesses as if it is the small business equivalent of "winning the lottery" when, in reality, big businesses routinely take advantage of small businesses and can outright kill them. Small and poor communities routinely seem to similarly think that attracting monied individuals from elsewhere is highly desirable, a means to salvation and has no down side. The reality is monied people from elsewhere moving into a poor town has a big downside and should be handled with care. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24764566 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24764566 So I think small communities need to be trying to enhance income capacity for existing locals first and foremost rather than hoping to attract an influx of monied individuals. "Remember the Golden Rule: He who has the good makes the rules." The need to actually view the coming deluge of incoming wealthy "climate change refugees" as a potential disaster for current existing locals and seek to protect their own interests.