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June 22, 2006
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June 22, 2006 |
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EDITORIAL Problem solving, Yellow Springs way Sometimes it’s hard to imagine a better place to live than Yellow Springs, and for me Friday evening was one of those times. It was a warm summer night and downtown sidewalks seemed to buzz with intergenerational goodwill as young people hung out on street corners while grownups wandered from store to store, looking at paintings, sipping wine, listening to jazz, catching up with each other. The art, the music, the wine, the summer breeze--all were lovely but best of all was the sweet sense of community. The Summer Art Stroll didn’t just happen, of course. It grew from the creative and collaborative efforts of local artists and business people who worked together to provide the rest of us with a perfect June night. Creativity and collaboration also took center stage on Saturday morning at Antioch College, where college officials and invited villagers met to brainstorm how to use Livermore Street college buildings to benefit both Antioch and Yellow Springs. It was, as Antioch Executive Vice President Rick Jurasek emphasized, not a planning session but the opening round in a new conversation..The excitement in the room became palpable when participants were asked to break into groups and just dream--if they could do anything with the buildings, what would they do? People suggested, among other things, affordable housing for artists, a business incubator and a center for media arts. While it’s way too soon to predict if any of these ideas will get off the ground, the event seemed an inspired beginning to what could be a renewed collaboration between the town and the college, a sharing of vision and energies that can only be good for both. People dreaming big dreams and working together--these qualities have marked Yellow Springs from the get-go, since the Owenites came here in the 1820s to live their lives in new ways, and since 1853, when Horace Mann reimagined higher education with the opening of Antioch College. Creative problem solving and cooperation have helped Yellow Springers overcome huge challenges, such as the creation of local script during the Great Depression and the coming together of practically everyone to save Whitehall Farm. Today Yellow Springs faces new challenges, including how to best address a large budget deficit and still maintain quality of life, how to preserve green space in the face of encroaching sprawl and how to best attract new families and businesses to an aging village. In facing these challenges, let’s remember that creative thinking and collaboration have thrived in Yellow Springs since the beginning. And these qualities are not only our heritage, they are with us still, alive and well in the village and still going strong.
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