Growth as Betterment

Opening the door to growth, the Menominee City Council voted to join the Menominee County Brownfield Authority (Eagle Herald, September 22, 2020)

Mention the word "growth," and you will receive a variety of reactions. Some folks will express fear, others' excitement, and others a disclaimer. These are natural reactions during regular times and expected during the past few months' uncertainties.

But what is growth? More specifically, what is the mindset of growth?

The internet defines mindset as a habitual mental attitude determining how one will interpret and respond to situations. Other words for growth include prospect, mental capacity, outlook. But the same-meaning name I like best is "betterment."

How do we, both individually and as a community, improve our hopes, dreams, and outlook to be better regarding the future of the #MyMarinetteMenominee community? How do we continue to build a vibrant community where our youth will want to stay? How do we build a community where their talents will be nurtured and thrive? How do we shape our minds to better open the doors for those seeking opportunities in the best interest of our local community?

Mindset is an integral part of community growth. How do we better shape our minds and grow them to seek opportunities in our best interests? It is easy to find fault, to focus on what we cannot change. But this mindset, this steering away from growth, is forgetting that we have the power to overcome most obstacles.

Our minds are powerful tools as we travel towards betterment. Ask any coach, ask any teacher. They inspire their players; they emphasize their positive traits and teach them how to correct their weaker areas. With hard work, positive coaching, and an open mindset, the goal is reached--growth as betterment.

Because the path to better is uphill, we are either moving forward or rolling back. Cultivate an open mindset to help overcome the fear which might accompany growth. Focus on choices reflecting quality. Do we work together to build this community and all it offers to make it a place where people choose to live, one where they decide to relocate here? Do we choose to love living here and create the type of culture people want to identify with and belong to?

Please watch for and support ideas for betterment that come from this Brownfield Economic Development tool.  As plans emerge, if you have questions, please discuss them with someone driving the effort. While we all see things differently, there is common ground to be cultivated.

 

A Chance for Something Better

 

Kmart - M&M Plaza - 2010

M&M Plaza Enterprises now controls the 10.68 acres of land that we formerly leased to Kmart. With this change, we are relieved to be able to fix up and maintain the property to avoid the potential of a blighted scene. Like you, we are sad at the loss of what was for years an important part of our local landscape. 

We now feel the tension created by costs involved in reclaiming this land to serve our community’s future. We ask for your patience as change progresses, a change akin to restarting a garden that has been dormant for years. Now we are assessing, preparing to wait out winter’s pause, choosing what will grow, and preparing to sow in an unpredictable environment, all before we will see the results. We are anxious because the journey seems long but at the same time, we are motivated by the possibilities of what can be created if we respect the natural process. 

I have talked to people here about the history of the M&M Plaza. The Gustman family created the plaza from swampy, tall grass and weeds 50 years ago. Since then, a wide variety of businesses have come and gone, each reflecting our changing times. 

You and I are currently undergoing a time of accelerated changes. I do not have to name them as all of us have been affected during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It is only natural to not want to face more change when so much, on both a national and world level, have been forced upon us. But we are encouraged by the one thing that has remained constant and that is our residents’ ability to adapt. 

Once again Menominee residents are being called upon to use that same vigor, enthusiasm, and ingenuity to imagine an even better future for our area. 

The M&M Plaza’s oversight of the former Kmart acreage is a positive move for the community. M&M Plaza Enterprises have taken the first step by requesting a Special Use Permit to open options for provisional use. The Menominee City Planning Commission will consider that request in alignment with the help of the Smith Group, a Michigan-based planning group hired to update the city’s master plan. The Master Plan’s purpose is to help the town envision its future role and it establishes the parameters of how we can develop this site. This support is vital to our ability to cultivate the potential of the former Kmart site.

You can help, without anyone else’s permission and at little or no extra cost, by being informed in your support, and patient with the time it takes to grow what is possible for our community.

Eagle Herald Letter to the Editor

 @MyMarinetteMenominee

Letter to the Editor

Rusty Wolfe, Tree II, 2018.  Lacquer on MDF, 24 x 24"

Dear Editor, I am a small business owner, and I am scared.  My revenue has fallen off a cliff.  While I am worried about my own ability to keep my business open, honestly, I am as worried about what this means for the hundreds of small businesses that make up the fabric of our community.

One thing that the quarantine has crystalized for me is how much we all need social interaction – how much we need community.  Our small businesses are the vehicle that provides much of that opportunity.   We are incredibly lucky to have the diversity of businesses that we enjoy, but it is in jeopardy.

We are going to lose businesses, but we can start today to mitigate that.  Well-meaning citizens can’t do it by themselves.  The industry must play a role. The government needs to play a role.   

If you are in charge of purchasing anything at the company where you work, start sourcing the things that you are currently buying online at local businesses.  If you are a supervisor, empower your employees to purchase everything they can from local businesses.  Whether it is cleaning supplies or copy paper, buy it from a brick-and-mortar store in Marinette or Menominee Counties.   This will take effort.  It will take time.  But, it will make a difference.  If we lose more small businesses, it hurts our giving to non-profits, funding municipal services, and support of local newspapers,.  It will make it even harder to recruit new workers

Take the example of what would happen if we lost our local newspaper. Locally-produced, independent news is crucial for civic engagement.  We cannot take our newspapers and local radio for granted.  In 2018, economists at The University of Illinois at Chicago presented a study that examined how local newspaper closures affect public finance outcomes for local governments.  The conclusion is surprising: the cost to a community that loses its local paper is enormous, $650,000 per municipal issue.  (For example, think about financing a project the size of the REC Center).  Municipal borrowing costs increase with a lack of civic engagement because a project that is not planned and executed in the golden light of day is a risky project for a lender to finance.

If you don’t have a subscription to the Eagle Herald, Peshtigo Times, or The Menominee County Journal, get one today.  If you have a lobby at your office, purchase a second subscription for your customers in place of national magazine’s subscriptions

This isn’t about my bottom line or that of any particular locally-owned business.  It is about preserving the opportunities we have in our great community.  It requires each of us to do what we can.

Sincerely,
Kim Brooks

The Eye of the Storm

Sculpture Eye of the Storm shown here
was created by Rusty Wolfe and  is located at
The Stephenson National Bank & Trust, Marinette

The Eye of the Storm is where you and I, with 7 billion other people, find ourselves in this earth-shaking and challenging hurricane. It is a storm that pits healthy lives against livelihoods. A catastrophic whirlwind that has us huddled in two camps.

In camp one, we find those of us that have time to disinfect our homes daily.  Our brass doorknobs now silver from the rubbing.  We’re tasked with in-home childcare and have a growing appreciation for teachers. We’re striving to prove that working from home is not an oxymoron. We are sheltered, idle, and worried in anticipation of what comes next.  

In the other camp, we find ourselves feeling emotional and exhausted from being deemed “Essential.” We don’t have time to bake bread. Our only choice is to keep trudging.  Ever mindful that our duty poses an essential risk to ourselves and the lives of our families.

If this storm’s eye was the size of a football field, we are on the 50-yard line.  We’re at the halfway point. Now is the time to decide what to do. What are our options?

·      We could close our eyes and see what happens. But chance can be a cruel mistress. Just ask the captain of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

·      Or we can seize this rare opportunity. History proves that when we have the odds stacked against us, people pull together.  Faced with a challenge, we will find the courage, the resources, creativity, and the put-a-man-on-the-moon innovation necessary for a breakthrough.

We have this precious moment to assess our choices. With the gift of bright blue clarity, we can choose to focus on what is valuable to others and priceless to us.  Now that I have to slow down, I’m weighing how to create a more manageable life vs. going back into the rat race.

We can Lighten our load for the journey.  Does it still make sense to have all three kids enrolled in different age groups of extra circular activities between hockey, soccer, baseball, swimming, volleyball, and jujitsu?

Choose what matters most.  I now realize what I was missing without regular household meals around the table. We can tune our compass to travel a better path. 

What are your possibilities for creating something better?

Let’s act to meet the rest of this storm with the courage that comes with faith and hope.  

Mark the sign of these times, by listening to our local artist Rusty Wolfe’s Song, 

Shelter for Vaccine, on Facebook @MyMarinetteMenominee 

or hear it on local radio WHYB

Shelter for Vaccine

@MyMarinetteMenominee

The lyrics to our local artist Rusty Wolfe’s new song Shelter for Vaccine smoothly echoes the viral battle that has ripped the fabric of our human spirit. Any time in history before March 13, 2020, the song would have implied a different meaning than it does today. If it had played in the past decade, you would have thought it was the first song from the soundtrack of a Pixar movie. With phrases like:

“Stay together, while you’re apart.”

“It’s not safe in your dreams.”

“Look on the light side; you can’t share your straw.” 

Today these phrases reflect a blunt new reality. The only similarity it has to a children’s story would be a Grimm’s fable.

If you are feeling devastated, heartbroken, and sorrowful, you are at the center of a whole world feeling this too. How did we go from a past where “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” to I just need to buy a bottle of green hand sanitizer?

The Great Depression, two World Wars, The Assassination of a President, Y2K, 9/11, and The Great Recession have taught us we can recover. We faced those desperate times, our spirit amplified, and our hearts rewired for hope. We innovated. We got creative. And each time we fine-tuned what matters most to us.

This worldwide calamity is named “The Great Pause” by Julio Vincent Gambuto in his article, Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting. He explains, “the world has stopped.” I wonder, could this Great Pause be the Great Cause for us to write a better story than the one we are living? What purpose does this suffering serve, if we do not use it to pay forward the promise of a brighter future?

Listen to Rusty’s Song, Shelter for Vaccine, on Facebook @MyMarinetteMenominee or hear it on local radio WHYB

Emerge Stronger

While we cannot change our current circumstances, we can work on a plan for what the future could be.  Our business community is not going to look the same as it did before.  We must put aside our sadness and answer this question:  How do we grow a more vibrant small business community in our region?  Let’s take this time to decide how we emerge from this crisis stronger.  Marinette/Menominee is depending on us.

There are resources that you can tap into, and you might be surprised at how creative our local institutions are willing to be.  Contact your banker first.  I was encouraged when I contacted mine.  Not only was she ready for my call (she called me first to be accurate), she had several ideas on how she could help.

Governors Whitmer and Evers have both received approval from the Small Business Administration for Economic Injury Disaster Loans.  This is a loan program you can apply for today.   Senator Baldwin is working right now to include a provision for loan forgiveness for these EIDL loans for the small businesses that are able to keep their employees working during this slowdown.

Our friends at inVenture North are hard at work on a suite of products (app, website, etc) that they are going to offer to businesses at no charge while we are in this crisis.  Their efforts will help us emerge poised to take new steps.

There is strength in numbers.  We need to lobby our city, county, state, and federal governments for relief to help us survive this crisis.  Let’s band together and share our best ideas, distill them into an action plan, and proceed forward.  We may not have financial resources right now, but many of us have extra time on our hands.  Let’s use it to move forward together.

Please reach out if you have questions or ideas.  We look forward to getting together when the circumstances permit.

Sincerely,
Kim Brooks
kkbrooks@bellsouth.net

Keith Killen
k-killen@outlook.com

Roberta Davis
Roberta.davis@inventurenorth.com

SBR a Strength Building Exercise:

This was my Letter to the Editor responding to an anonymous Sound Off, Oct. 31^st. 2019 Eagle Herald edition titled “Let’s build on strengths, talents”

Yes, we should build on strengths, and on our differences, too; If building is our purpose.  For that reason, I am grateful for the anonymous Sound Off submission.

Our community’s participation in the Small Business Revolution, by Deluxe Corp. was a strength-building exercise.  It was not to win for the sake of winning, but to discover what we have. It was an exercise worth its weight in what the community makes out of it.  Here is a sample of what we did. 

Our citizens pulled together to challenge the other towns in the competition. Both Marinette & Menominee High School Bands inspired us when they practiced and performed together. The first time was not the last time that would happen.  Citizens and both cities displayed banners across the interstate bridge connecting both towns, counties, and states in admiration of a newfound unity. A bridge walk was held on New Year’s Day sacrificing warmth to experience solidarity. Marinette & Menominee City Council’s met together in one session for the first time in history, acknowledging citizens' hope for collaboration in government.  We discovered the large ratio of local small businesses for our size community.  There was an awakening of local companies, and what they can accomplish when working together.  We got a taste of the potential community impact of buying from local independent businesses. We generated an overwhelming and positive social media narrative with reach more significant than any other community in the competition.  We can be proud of holding the most real and impactful joint community welcome event deluxe had experienced before. We had a voting network established that would have put our community on the national map. Businesses that previously competed locally realized they are all on the same team when it comes to serving our community.

We were not chosen as the top town, but I was not participating to win for the sake of winning, but for discovering what we have, for proving to ourselves what we can accomplish. Participation was only an objective on the path to a higher purpose. So, what did we gain?  The answer rests in how we act on our strengths and talents going forward and choosing not to waste our energy on bitterness. Taking action to move forward, using our abilities, and gaining a new perspective is what we are doing.  The process of Regional Branding, and living a shared vision helps us focus all our good works along the lines of one mission. That is, to build a more vibrant community.

The mission that we had before The Small Business Revolution still remains.

The Purpose is a Vibrant Community