Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Being Prepared for Development

Earlier today I enjoyed the opportunity to speak at the Rock-Green Realtors Association membership meeting. The meeting included presentations from community leaders from Janesville, Beloit, Edgerton and Milton. We all spoke with a similar theme... Economic development progress is cyclical - like an ocean's tide, it rises and falls. In Milton, like our neighboring cities, we have focused planning efforts related specifically to all sectors of our community, including downtown commercial, industrial and residential.

I shared a story that being prepared for economic development opportunities is much like a scene from the movie Finding Nemo. It's the scene where Dory swims down into a dark abyss, and sings to herself, "Keep on swimming, swimming, swimming..." Want a reminder of this scene? Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmyUkm2qlhA. The analogy is that to prepared for economic development opportunities, cities need to "keep on planning, planning, planning..." So, when opportunity comes, we are ready to provide the infrastructure, property, and tools to move development from concept to reality.

Channel 3 out of Madison provided some coverage of the event. Here's the web article which includes a video clip: http://www.channel3000.com/news/21299833/detail.html. Special thanks to the Rock-Green Realtors Association for hosting the event.