Friday, May 25, 2012

Save the Town (Mayor Michael Ebert)

"Excuse me," I said sheepishly to the lady sitting at the desk in front of me. "I'm here for a meeting with the mayor at eleven. Do I just walk on in?"
"No, you do not," she said in a sort of matter of fact way, probably humored by my ignorance. I felt silly as she pointed me toward the front conference room. "You can wait in there and I'll let him know you've arrived." I walked into the front meeting room which had, like my last meeting, a long table situated in its center. Two of the four walls had windows displaying  the quite day to day living of Canal Winchesterians in the downtown area. The sun shone into the air conditioned climate as I twiddled my thumbs.

As I was preparing myself to be patted down by the mayor's secret service, in walked Mr. Michael Ebert with a casual business manner about him. I took off my hat and shook his hand. He held an experienced composure with hints of a country boy tucked into it, and was much less intimidating to be around than I initially expected. I mean, I never met with a mayor before, so this was kind of a first for me.

After giving him a brief explanation of what I do, why I do it, and how I do it, I dove right into my notepad and asked him the first question.

(Me) "What is Canal Winchester's greatest need? What is needed to make this town better?" 
(Mayor) "For everyone to keep their businesses and locations looking nice. If the town is clean and nicely kept, it will draw people to Canal Winchester. That means taking personal responsibility to pick up paper or other garbage you may see on the sidewalk when you're walking."

He also mentioned the locals promoting Canal Winchester, which interested me because that's what Pastor Wayne chimed on as well.

(Me) "Do you feel that there is a transition or needs to be a transition when it comes to helping and promoting the town? Is there a transition that needs to take place between an older model and a newer one?" 
(Mayor) "Well, I feel that that transition has already started. Having more events brings more people out to Canal Winchester."

He proceeded to name events in the past (Art in the Park, Art Stroll, Blues and Ribs Fest), and talked about the googols of people it brought in who before didn't know that such an enchanting town existed.

(Mayor) "You have an event that brings people who love art out to the town and then they find out that Canal Winchester has a jewelry store in its downtown area. 'I didn't know they had a jewelry store here!' they say."

At one point in the discussion, he mentioned his experience in Canal Winchester and how the downtown has changed. Back in the day, shop owners would shut everything up at about 7pm because no one was out. In recent years, it has come to be more lively in the evening. He attributed it to having more events, because some of them have been estimated to bring around 30,000 people. But there was an important note about events he mentioned that I asked him to expound on. He told me that no one event will draw everyone to Canal Winchester. That's why it's important to have multiple kinds of events taking place in town so that each in turn will draw its distinct kind of people in and lead them to discovering places like the jeweler, the antique shop, the gym, the art studio, etc. Apparently a 5k is being organized to take place in Canal on the 29th of September, an event called Courage and Conquer, which will draw runners into what they've been missing out on: Us!

(Me) "What can the businesses do to help the town?" 
(Mayor) "You mean help the government of the town or help the town itself in general?" 
(Me) "Both."

He gave a thought-filled look at the ceiling.

(Mayor) "That's a good question... Cooperation. They need to know to cooperate with us if we do something like shut down a street. The reason why we're doing that is because we want to improve things in town so that they get more business. I would say learning to cooperate when we do such things." 
(Me) "What about the people? What can the people do to help the town?" 
(Mayor) "Tell others about the town. For the commuters especially, those driving to Columbus every day, promote Canal Winchester to the people in the city." 
(Me) "Last question. Pastor David Long-Higgins once said to me in a meeting, 'When it comes to doing ministry, don't think of it as sprinting. Think of it as running a marathon.' What is the marathon run, the day to day action you would like people to do? What characteristic do you wish was instilled in every man, woman, and child of this town?" 
(Mayor) "Being courteous. Being nice to one another. Picking up the trash around town. The marathon is a good analogy because we're in this together for the long haul."

The interesting thing was that while I was all get-down-to-business-and-get-out in my approach to the meeting, he ended our discussion by taking time to ask about my experience, my schooling, and my travels. We ended up talking about government and the town for some time with small care for the clock. But I did have to end it and get back to work, so I thanked him, shook his hand again and wished him a good day. As I walked out the door, I the words that came to mind were, "He seems pretty cool."

~The Harvest Crier~

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