180 Degrees
Want an inside look at a yearlong project by journalists at the newspaper and the Web site to help Rockford solve serious problems and turn around? We’re focusing on five areas that are key to our way of life in the Rock River Valley: Crime, education, the local economy, state and local government and our culture/sense of place. Would you like to help us in this campaign to bring about change? Give us your ideas and insights and help guide us to better solutions for Rockford. You can join the conversation here.

Come on, Rockford. Be positive

April 28th, 2008 at 01:45pm Anna Voelker

I’ve never understood why so many people are so down on this community. I moved here eight years ago. Figured I would stay two and move on to another news organization. Ended up falling in love with the people and the town. Mostly, it’s the people who are from here who dis it the most. Why is that? I don’t have bad things to say about Peoria (my hometown) or Cedarburg, Wis. (a town just north of Milwaukee where I lived through middle and high school).

(Just look at what people had to say about Rockford after Rolling Stone blasted the town.)

You hear about “that school system,” the crime rate, the lack of jobs and so on. These are all things we can do something about.

There was a big push last year to be positive about Rockford and the surrounding area when consultant Rebecca Ryan visited. She presented a report that highlighted ways our region could be more vital. She encouraged Rockfordians to sign a pledge. By signing, you agreed to be positive about Rockford. I signed it way back when. (Unfortunately, the pledge appears to be offline now.)

Rebecca Ryan

ALAN LEON | RRSTAR.COM FILE PHOTO
Rebecca Ryan (right) of Next Generation Consulting answers a question posed by Linda Grist Cunningham, Register Star executive editor, during an Editorial Board meeting held Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2007, at the News Tower. Ryan answered questions regarding the results of her study: “Attracting and Retaining Young Talent to the Rockford Area.”

I feel I am being positive about Rockford with this project: 180 Degrees: Solutions for a Better Rockford. Want to find ways to make Rockford a better place. Reduce crime. Improve education. Promote our community. Not simple things to achieve. But if we truly make this a campaign and we all get on board, we could make a difference.

Will you join the movement?

Entry Filed under: Rebecca Ryan, Positive about Rockford, 180 Degrees

6 Comments Add your own

  • 1. thedudeabides  |  April 28th, 2008 at 6:38 pm

    $50,000 sure was a lot of money to pay someone for a very basic online pledge, especially when after signing it, you’re just kicked out to a Next Generation press release. Where’s all the people who signed?

    I’m very positive about my hometown when I talk to people from out-of-state. That being said, I don’t feel that a positive attitude is going to bring to Rockford the infrastructure, jobs, or businesses needed to attract young workers.

    The whole thing reminds me of the Simpsons episode about the Monorail, except in the Rockford version, everyone’s chanting, “Positive… positive… positive….”

  • 2. Will Pfeifer  |  April 29th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

    Dude — I wonder if they signed that pledge in Ogdenville, Brockway and North Haverbrook, too?

  • 3. Linda Grist Cunningham  |  April 30th, 2008 at 8:15 am

    My approach to my work and family world has always been “glass half full.” Tell me no, and it’s just a delightful challenge for me to figure out how to do it anyway. But, I gotta say that all the positive attitude in the world isn’t going to “fix” anything. Getting the work done, sleeves up, nose to the proverbial grindstone: That’s what will keep us on the best path. We can’t get the doing done if we hate ourselves, our town and our neighbors, and we sure can’t do the doing if we are so depressed we are paralyzed. Gotta do the work; gotta have the heart.

  • 4. thedudeabides  |  April 30th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

    Another prescient quote from the Monorail episode:

    Marge: I still thing we should have used the money to fix Main Street.
    Homer: Well, you should have written a song like that guy.

  • 5. Cathy Johnson  |  May 7th, 2008 at 8:43 am

    Okay, now that we’re channeling Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons), I’m reminded of a little three panel cartoon he did in his early years when he was using two rabbits - a boy and a girl - to deliver his pearls of wisom and humor. In the first panel there is a glass on a table with a water line about half-way up. In the second, the boy rabbit says “i’m a pessimist - I see the glass as half empty”.. In the next panel the girl rabbit says “I’m an optimist — I see the glass as half-full.” The third panel shows a close-up of the glass and the girl rabbit says “Too bad there’s a little worm in it”, as a little squirmy thing becomes apparent in the bottom of the glass. I loved that cartoon, and to me it says so much: yes, it’ may be better to be optimnistic and see the glass as half-full, but sometimes there is, in fact, a little worm in it. Got to deal with those little worms before you can enjoy the water.

  • 6. Anna Voelker  |  May 7th, 2008 at 8:49 am

    Cathy,

    Fair analogy. We do have to deal with the worms. Hope you’ll help.

    Anna

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