1:15 p.m. Sign Update - Thank you Charlie!

Kudos to the Charlie Ross campaign.  At 1:15 p.m. it was observed that the campaign signs were removed.

Now about that Domino’s sign.

Domino’s and Charlie: Please remove your signs.

I am fortunate to live in a neighborhood where neighbors not only care about each other, but also about the appearance of the area. A local architect who feels the same way even formed a partnership and bought an eyesore of a house on the corner of a busy intersection and turned the lot into green space. Click here to read an article about the project.

So I wasn’t too happy this morning when I noticed that a brightly colored, commercial sign peddling pizza had appeared on the property. It was not the only sign on the property. A local political candidate’s sign appeared on Monday, the day before election day. I concede that the candidate, who is a well-respected person, probably was not aware that overzealous campaign workers were surely the ones who placed the signs there. Anyway, so much for beautiful, neighborhood green space.

Oh, in case you are wondering, I called the owner and verified that the signs were placed there without permission.

A rural county increases college going rate from 26 percent to 84 percent.

How did such a thing happen? Old-fashioned community involvement in the schools and new-fashioned technology where every kid in 6-12 grades gets a laptop.  And investing in a wireless Internet system five years ago did not hurt.

More details at the following Web sites:
http://www.dailyyonder.com/greene-county-nc-wireless-and-way-ahead
http://www.gcsedu.org/home.aspx

Annual Physical - What to measure?

Yesterday I went in and had some of my blood removed so that it can be analyzed in preparation for my annual physical next week.  Not a delightful experience, but a necessary one that result in a healthier me.  When things such as cholesterol, triglycerides and who knows what else are monitored it can help me adjust my lifestyle accordingly.

It occurred to me that every community should have an annual exam.  Many communities do so in the form of a Mayor’s State of City Address or an annual report, but I think if we could get a baseline of information that should be measured by every city it would be useful.  I’m working on my next Mississippi Business Journal column on that very subject.

So here’s a question for you - What should be measured and reported in a city or county every year at annual exam time?  Assessed valuation?  Sales tax collections?  Population change?

And then there is this…

 … from CQ Press, formerly Morgan Quitno Press.

http://os.cqpress.com/StateRank2008_Rankings.pdf

Most Livable States ranking -

Top 10

1.	New Hampshire	1.
2.	Minnesota	2.
3.	Wyoming	6.
4.	Utah	11.
5.	New Jersey	5.
6.	Iowa	3.
7.	Vermont	4.
8.	Massachusetts	7.
9.	South Dakota	13.
10.	Connecticut

Bottom Ten

41.	Georgia	38.
42.	Alabama	39.
42.	North Carolina	40.
44.	Tennessee	45.
45.	West Virginia	44.
46.	South Carolina	46.
47.	Kentucky	47.
48.	Arkansas	48.
49.	Louisiana	50.
50.	Mississippi

Mississippi has third highest per capita income growth in 2007.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has issued the following news release today:

For the fourth consecutive year, the Southwest region enjoyed the fastest growth of the eight BEA regions (7.5 percent, down from 8.5 percent) and the Great Lakes region saw the slowest growth (4.8 percent in both years). 

The full text of the release on BEA’s web site can be found at
http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/spi/sqpi_newsrelease.htm

Richard Florida’s theories are all the rage worldwide. Trouble is, they’re plain wrong.

That’s what Steven Malanga, writing in City Journal, says. Read the article and then you decide:

http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_1_the_curse.html

Smart Growth for Small Towns: The Bypass vs. Main Street

In this Smart Growth Speaker Series speech at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. I discuss the overlapping goals of the Main Street program and smart growth principles, and, in particular, the efforts to grow and maintain viable small-town downtowns in the age of the bypass.

You can listen to it using Realplayer by clicking here or going to this link:

http://www.smartgrowth.org/audio/050105-philhardwick.ram

City of Jackson, MS Web site

Jackson new Web site has a pleasing design, but spelling errors, out-of-date info and broken links detract from its otherwise pleasing appearance. For example:

The first “highlight” on the home page is “2007 Street Resurfacing Program Listing.” Clicking on that link takes one to “Click Here for 2006 STREET RESURFACING PROGRAM LISTING.” But don’t go there; it’s a page of ads.

Then there’s the “Planning & Develpment(sic)” Zoning page - http://www.jacksonms.gov/government/planning/zoning

The biggest disappointment is the “Online Services” section - http://www.jacksonms.gov/services

Where do you get your coffee?

Starbucks is in the news today after its annual meeting yesterday at which some changes were announced. No wonder. Its stock hit a high of $32.45 during the past year, but now resides just under $18. One new wrinkle is a Web site where customers can voice their opinions and share ideas to improve the stores. I’ll just give my thoughts here.

I like Starbucks coffee, and I like my local store, which is located at Maywood Mart in Jackson, MS. Nevertheless, I go to Cups, a locally-owned coffee store, approximately 12 times for every one time I go to the Maywood Starbucks, which is closer to my house.
Here’s why:

Cups has free wi-fi;
Cups has local art;
Cups is locally owned; and
Cups is more involved in the local community.

Did you notice that I did not say that Cups has better coffee?

So when you come to Jackson you might see me sipping on a “regular, medium” at Cups in The Quarter on Lakeland Drive, my head into my laptop.

All of that is to ask you a question: If I came to your town and wanted a good cup of coffee and free wi-fi, where should I go?