Tonight's SAMBA meeting.

[sheclown]

I must confess that I have been feeling very discouraged about Main Street lately. Realizing that I wasn't going to be able to make the Thrift Store work is tough -- even if I am excited about the new venture taking over.  It is still the end of something I have worked hard on for a year and a half and discouragement is inevitable.

That being said, it was good to be at the meeting and hear the preaching of Clinton Bush.  

He didn't hold back.  He got really honest with us...He spoke about the future of Springfield and the importance of working together. " We don't have to be the same," he said.  He compared the different organizations in the neighborhood to separate vegetables in a salad "you can still be a tomato, I can be a cucumber, someone else can be the lettuce, but we'll all be in the salad"

He spoke on unity and forgiveness.  According to Bush, we are not dimished by including others.  We are only lessened by each other's failures and by our own unwillingness to forgive.

For this community, it is a speech long overdue.

And I left feeling better about the future of this lonely street and about all of Springfield's commercial corridor. I look forward to all of us working together.  And I think SAMBA will be an integral part of Springfield's certain success.

[iloveionia]

If SAMBA takes on Main Street, we will be in good hands.

[sheclown]

If SAMBA takes on Main Street, we will be in good hands.

SAMBA board members are meeting with all manner of folks around town.  The group that is leading SAMBA has, at its core, many of the same players who saved Springfield from the ash attack.

[strider]

One thing that impressed me is that they are actually going out and walking down main street and talking to the business owners - all of them.  This is something I have been saying was very much lacking from SPAR Council's attempts at commercial revitalization.  How can you work to improve something you have no real first hand knowledge of?  I took SPAR Council's approach as one of trying to remake Main Street into their vision rather than reality.  SAMBA seems willing to do the right thing and so I believe they have a clue and can indeed help rather than hinder.  

SAMBA is also embracing the area from Union to MLK and from 95 east to Ionia St. (basically the RR tracks).  This makes much more sense than just concentrating on the Historic District as it comes closer to the real customer base or "roof top" concentration many businesses will look at. 

[ChriswUfGator]

SAMBA is also embracing the area from Union to MLK and from 95 east to Ionia St. (basically the RR tracks).  This makes much more sense than just concentrating on the Historic District as it comes closer to the real customer base or "roof top" concentration many businesses will look at.  

I can't tell you how many arguments I had with SPARbarians over that. Springfield is in reality everything from 1st through MLK, and I thought it was incredibly asinine to narrow the focus down to 4 blocks and then pretend the rest didn't exist.

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

^the smaller an area, the easiër it is to dominate.

[avs]

Yes, I feel a lot of competence from the new SAMBA Board and I am excited that they are becoming a non-profit - it will allow them to go after grant money, etc. and give them the ability to be an effective leader in the commercial corridor.  I am happy to join as a Realtor and I am going to suggest Sustainable Springfield join at our next Board meeting.  Good stuff!