Save the Town (District Representative Anne Gonzales)

Sitting at the desk in my apartment, I could hear the roar of a diesel truck firing up and pulling through the historic square of Canal Winchester, the guttural grumble of a motorcycle engine rolling by, and the occasional blast of music coming from someone's sound system as they just made it through the yellow light turning red. After shuffling some papers and getting myself ready, I picked up my phone and dialed the number for our District Representative, Anne Gonzales, who I had spoken with before in order to set up the interview.

After a few rings, the friendly and go-get'em voice of Anne broke in, "This is Anne Gonzales."
"Hey Anne," I said leaning back in my chair. I reminded her of my name and who I was with. "Do you have time for our scheduled interview?"
"Yes," she said, and with that I silently fist pumped.

I explained to her the Save the Town series I'm doing, briefly telling her of my interviews with Pastor Stuntz, Pastor Long-Higgins, and Mayor Ebert. She seemed very pleased with the whole agenda, requiring no entreating to answer the prepared questions, which interested her. We dove in immediately.

"Well," I began, "I'd like to start with this question...What can a town do to fix its economy or make it better if it's already doing well?". I asked this because she was speaking very highly of Canal Winchester and its residents.

"Canal Winchester is doing well. Mayor Ebert and the town council are doing a wonderful job. It's because they have vision and direction for where they want to lead the town. They also focus very much on economic development, bringing business into Canal and creating jobs for the people. They are forward-thinking leaders."

I nodded in ponderous thought. It seems that no matter how old people are, they are on the lookout for someone to lead them. When a person stands up to take responsibility and call the townspeople toward a vision, it does the town good.

"Cool...What are the qualities, the trends, you see in successful towns? What do they have in common?" I asked.
"Strong leadership, passion, and care for the town. The town needs citizens who take pride in it and take responsibility. Service organizations do great things, and they need people to volunteer for them. Service above self."
"Pretty much, the mayor can't do it all on his own?"
"Correct," she said.
"Hmm."

"How can a town best market itself?" I asked.
"Outreach via social-media, conferences, events, and the Chamber of Commerce." This was concordant with what Mayor Ebert told me when he listed the thousands of people that events such as Art in the Park, Art Stroll, and Blues and Ribs Fest bring to our town.

"Last question: What character quality do you wish to instill in the people to a greater degree? If there was one character quality you would capitalize on, what would it be?"
"Be passionate," she began. "Be passionate and care about your town. When you care about something, when you love something, you'll take responsibility." So true.

~The Harvest Crier~