Lesley Jones' Suggestions for a Better Portland
My friend Lesly just sent me a laundry list of suggestions. I thought I would publish them in their complete form then talk about ones that I will work towards integrating as a school committee member. Please continue to send suggestions readers as local government is representing you and your ideas. If you feel something is important I will work hard to make sure your ideas are explored and heard as best as I can. Young non voters and people who are interested in helping Portland's schools become better please send ideas as well. I will represent you nomatter what your voting status. A good idea is a good idea nomatter where it came from.
1) Bottles Save/ Trash Decreased -put bottle redemption cans attached to the trash cans. Folks can environmentally dispose of the bottles as trash, and those who collect for money can gather and return for change. We could have the units (which I would be happy to sketch out) attached to side and sponsored by local business with signage. WIN/WIN/ Win. Less trash/ money for those to take back and structure supported by area business. Les waste, more revenue.
2) PLOWING and COST SAVING - City government – put big rubber tips on the bottoms of plows. This will eliminate some of the wear and tear on our road, and it will make the plows last longer too. City should pay for this and it would save money in long run. Not really Reciprocity but city idea. We could think about how this could be reciprocal…..
3) SAVE ENERGY INDOORS - Get an environmental engineer to consult with city to eliminate waste in our gov’t buildings. Some groups do this for free, but maybe those GREENs could earn Time Dollars. Also, maybe something could be done on larger scale with video produced by CTN to show consumers how to do this no matter what size home or business.. Also negotiate bulk savings on bulbs and other energy devices for all citizens. Share and share alike – esp. the knowledge! By the way, every school should be GREEN!
4) Time Bank in Each Neighborhood Association - Implement a time bank in each Neighborhood association. Reward citizens for contributing to our civic duties, instead of just volunteering. Get one going in each neighborhood as infrastructure and the core values will come out of that to pervade the city!
5) BIKE/CAR SHARE - Implement a bike or car-share service like in DENVER. Get folks to donate used bikes, or use the bikes that are confiscated in crimes. Get citizens to paint and repair, and have the city set up more BIKE centers so that anyone who needs a bike could use the bike. Recruit Mechanics or PATHS to fix up the cars to do for PRO BONO Work. Share and share alike! Many bikes are thrown away each year, but could be refurbished.
6) Create job opportunities- get people to mentor and help each other like SCORE or other programs, but do things like look at resumes, and utilize volunteer opportunities/ Time Bank Opportunities (like some of the ones listed here) as job experience to help young people get started on career track or move others along the career track.
7) Adopt a Block Programs – pick a new area each season to focus on: gardens, trash, maintenance as a community, city-wide event.
8) TRASH Helpers - Pay people to pick up trash like the bottle redemption system. Paid for by the pound, and this would save some work by city officials. We can all help to keep the city clean!
9) Promote Outdoor concerts and local performances on the street. Close down Market or Exchange to Car Traffic and just have foot traffic. Allow artists and musicians, and encourage them to be outdoors. Think of CHINA TOWN in San Francisco or GALWAY in Ireland! Promote the arts for the betterment of society!
10) Create GRAFFITI COURTS – where artists can paint to hearts content. Think of WIKIPEDIA for URBAN ARTISTS. Then employ stiffer fines for painting/tagging outside these areas. Think of them as the visual SKATE PARKS! J
11) Fund MENSK. – Ask ELI CAYER what he would like to see in this CITY!
12) USEFUL LABOR – work with schools and universities to integrate programs to meet community needs. For example, SMCC has a COMPUTER PROGRAM where students learn to use computer but don’t have practical applications. Let students earn credit for learning about computers with real world applications. So when they learn POWERPOINT or another lesson, let them partner with a nonprofit that needs a project created! Channels 2, 3 and 4 need dozens of slides made a week for Public Service Announcements, mean while students are creating templates or examples everyday that will never be used in the real world. Everyone could win in this situation by employing student labor for credit in real world applications! WIN/WIN/ WIN – students/ society/ nonprofits.
13) PLANT SWAP for a MORE BEAUTIFUL WORLD - Create a plant swap with the city garden system with pubic parks and citizens to create more diversity in the gardens and to help with dividing plants (like BI-Annuals, bulbs and other plants.) This could help city greening plan, and also help the gardens to be more healthy by dividing the plants. For example, I could donate DAY LILIES from my garden, and the City could donate bulbs that need to be divided from the USM gardens. Get all groups involved in all the city gardens. Pretty for everyone!
14) KEEP OUR STREETS CLEAN - Start a CLEAN THE STREET for SPRING CLEANING in the OLD PORT. In Europe shop keepers are responsible for cleaning their front walks. We could ask the same of show keepers here, with citizens, businesses, and city officials providing the brooms and water with the Fire Department to clean the streets on a regular basis. This might be like the APRIL Stools Day EVENT on the East End with FETCH.
15) Round Table Forums and Salons –VISIOINING EXERCISES for the WHOLE CITY – What do we want our cities to look like? What are our collective values? Put teams together not just on the practical, political stuff – but what about dreams for our city? What do we want it to look like?
16) Have WIRELESS NETWORKS around the City - like AUSTIN does and ATLANTA considered. Make TIME-WARNER do this as Part of FRANCHISE NEGOTIOATION and promote citizen knowledge. Time WARNER uses our airwaves, its time for RECIPROCITY ON THEIR PART!!!!!
17) CREATE SATALITE STATIONS with computers, at more places than just libraries. Use donated computers if needed.
18) REUSE/REDUCE – STARTS at HOME - Start a RECYCLING/ REDEMPTION CENTER(S) at our city dump like the one in Falmouth and Hampden, Maine. Citizens can buy items for $1 or whatever at a facility, instead of just throwing those items away. Funds could be used to create a small shed to house the items and part-time staff. (This could actually save money on BIG ITEM PICK Up/TRASH Day that is held 1-2x per year.) Ask Falmouth to show Portland how to do it. Some one’s trash is another person’s treasure!
19) Sustainable community – look at what Burlington, Vermont is doing. They all compost, and then the farm turns it into soil, which the citizen’s can buy. They also have kids learn farming to create healthy food which is served in the schools and sold in the farmers’ market. It goes around and around and around for the health of the community!
20) Promote ALTERNATIVE MEDIA- keep our city informed. Let Portland and Maine push the boundaries of the Federal Government. WE know best! Have Maine and Portland sign the KYOTO TREATY! We are one world!
21) Partner with Energy Groups and Business Group – like BALLE and others to create more environmentally sound communities! We need to work together with our skills and talents for the betterment of our entire society.
22) REVIEW BEST PRACTICES by other cities and use what we need here.
1) Bottles Save/ Trash Decreased -put bottle redemption cans attached to the trash cans. Folks can environmentally dispose of the bottles as trash, and those who collect for money can gather and return for change. We could have the units (which I would be happy to sketch out) attached to side and sponsored by local business with signage. WIN/WIN/ Win. Less trash/ money for those to take back and structure supported by area business. Les waste, more revenue.
2) PLOWING and COST SAVING - City government – put big rubber tips on the bottoms of plows. This will eliminate some of the wear and tear on our road, and it will make the plows last longer too. City should pay for this and it would save money in long run. Not really Reciprocity but city idea. We could think about how this could be reciprocal…..
3) SAVE ENERGY INDOORS - Get an environmental engineer to consult with city to eliminate waste in our gov’t buildings. Some groups do this for free, but maybe those GREENs could earn Time Dollars. Also, maybe something could be done on larger scale with video produced by CTN to show consumers how to do this no matter what size home or business.. Also negotiate bulk savings on bulbs and other energy devices for all citizens. Share and share alike – esp. the knowledge! By the way, every school should be GREEN!
4) Time Bank in Each Neighborhood Association - Implement a time bank in each Neighborhood association. Reward citizens for contributing to our civic duties, instead of just volunteering. Get one going in each neighborhood as infrastructure and the core values will come out of that to pervade the city!
5) BIKE/CAR SHARE - Implement a bike or car-share service like in DENVER. Get folks to donate used bikes, or use the bikes that are confiscated in crimes. Get citizens to paint and repair, and have the city set up more BIKE centers so that anyone who needs a bike could use the bike. Recruit Mechanics or PATHS to fix up the cars to do for PRO BONO Work. Share and share alike! Many bikes are thrown away each year, but could be refurbished.
6) Create job opportunities- get people to mentor and help each other like SCORE or other programs, but do things like look at resumes, and utilize volunteer opportunities/ Time Bank Opportunities (like some of the ones listed here) as job experience to help young people get started on career track or move others along the career track.
7) Adopt a Block Programs – pick a new area each season to focus on: gardens, trash, maintenance as a community, city-wide event.
8) TRASH Helpers - Pay people to pick up trash like the bottle redemption system. Paid for by the pound, and this would save some work by city officials. We can all help to keep the city clean!
9) Promote Outdoor concerts and local performances on the street. Close down Market or Exchange to Car Traffic and just have foot traffic. Allow artists and musicians, and encourage them to be outdoors. Think of CHINA TOWN in San Francisco or GALWAY in Ireland! Promote the arts for the betterment of society!
10) Create GRAFFITI COURTS – where artists can paint to hearts content. Think of WIKIPEDIA for URBAN ARTISTS. Then employ stiffer fines for painting/tagging outside these areas. Think of them as the visual SKATE PARKS! J
11) Fund MENSK. – Ask ELI CAYER what he would like to see in this CITY!
12) USEFUL LABOR – work with schools and universities to integrate programs to meet community needs. For example, SMCC has a COMPUTER PROGRAM where students learn to use computer but don’t have practical applications. Let students earn credit for learning about computers with real world applications. So when they learn POWERPOINT or another lesson, let them partner with a nonprofit that needs a project created! Channels 2, 3 and 4 need dozens of slides made a week for Public Service Announcements, mean while students are creating templates or examples everyday that will never be used in the real world. Everyone could win in this situation by employing student labor for credit in real world applications! WIN/WIN/ WIN – students/ society/ nonprofits.
13) PLANT SWAP for a MORE BEAUTIFUL WORLD - Create a plant swap with the city garden system with pubic parks and citizens to create more diversity in the gardens and to help with dividing plants (like BI-Annuals, bulbs and other plants.) This could help city greening plan, and also help the gardens to be more healthy by dividing the plants. For example, I could donate DAY LILIES from my garden, and the City could donate bulbs that need to be divided from the USM gardens. Get all groups involved in all the city gardens. Pretty for everyone!
14) KEEP OUR STREETS CLEAN - Start a CLEAN THE STREET for SPRING CLEANING in the OLD PORT. In Europe shop keepers are responsible for cleaning their front walks. We could ask the same of show keepers here, with citizens, businesses, and city officials providing the brooms and water with the Fire Department to clean the streets on a regular basis. This might be like the APRIL Stools Day EVENT on the East End with FETCH.
15) Round Table Forums and Salons –VISIOINING EXERCISES for the WHOLE CITY – What do we want our cities to look like? What are our collective values? Put teams together not just on the practical, political stuff – but what about dreams for our city? What do we want it to look like?
16) Have WIRELESS NETWORKS around the City - like AUSTIN does and ATLANTA considered. Make TIME-WARNER do this as Part of FRANCHISE NEGOTIOATION and promote citizen knowledge. Time WARNER uses our airwaves, its time for RECIPROCITY ON THEIR PART!!!!!
17) CREATE SATALITE STATIONS with computers, at more places than just libraries. Use donated computers if needed.
18) REUSE/REDUCE – STARTS at HOME - Start a RECYCLING/ REDEMPTION CENTER(S) at our city dump like the one in Falmouth and Hampden, Maine. Citizens can buy items for $1 or whatever at a facility, instead of just throwing those items away. Funds could be used to create a small shed to house the items and part-time staff. (This could actually save money on BIG ITEM PICK Up/TRASH Day that is held 1-2x per year.) Ask Falmouth to show Portland how to do it. Some one’s trash is another person’s treasure!
19) Sustainable community – look at what Burlington, Vermont is doing. They all compost, and then the farm turns it into soil, which the citizen’s can buy. They also have kids learn farming to create healthy food which is served in the schools and sold in the farmers’ market. It goes around and around and around for the health of the community!
20) Promote ALTERNATIVE MEDIA- keep our city informed. Let Portland and Maine push the boundaries of the Federal Government. WE know best! Have Maine and Portland sign the KYOTO TREATY! We are one world!
21) Partner with Energy Groups and Business Group – like BALLE and others to create more environmentally sound communities! We need to work together with our skills and talents for the betterment of our entire society.
22) REVIEW BEST PRACTICES by other cities and use what we need here.
posted by Kevin Gardella for School Committee at 3:55 PM
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