Friday Update on May 10 2019
All,
A couple items:
- The Stone’s Throw Housing Development will be holding a ribbon cutting and open house on Saturday, May 11 from 11:00 to 1:00. Take Neimann west, past SRIS, through the roundabout to Wyatt Street and look for the balloons. Tours of the models and food!
- Saturday is the Winters Garage Sale. This year’s theme is “Only Really Good Stuff”. Expect sales throughout the core area of town and I am told there will be excellent prices and nothing but absolute treasures!
- City Staff met with property owners on Grant Ave to discuss zoning and exchange contact information.
- Mark your calendars for May 23 from 4:00 to 5:30 for the next “Ask the City Manager” segment. I ran into some folks at Berryessa Brewing and they told me they would bring tougher questions next time. Bring it!
- June 4 starting at 4:00 will be a joint meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission will be held at City Hall to review the Economic Development Advisory Committee’s Report and Recommendations. HERE is a copy of the report and HERE is a website with the background information from the report and information about the Committee.
- Today, I attended the groundbreaking for the new campus for the Center for Land Based Learning who has called “The Farm” on Putah Creek its home for the past 25 years. With very mixed emotions, I watched as they unveiled a $4.5 million plan for new classrooms, farm fields an event center and partnerships in Woodland as they work to move their headquarters out of Winters and toward a very bright future. Their project will be amazing in advancing farming education for farmers, students and the world through their Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship (SLEWS) Program, FARMS Leadership and Watershed Programs. The Center is a visionary and they will continue as a world leader in farming education and stewardship. Their new location looks amazing! Kudos to the entire Center for Land Based Learning organization, their Board and leadership.
Finally, a word used quite a bit today at the Center for Land Based Learning event was “Vision”. The idea of picturing the future in your mind and steering yourself to making it a reality. Without question, they are doing that with their project in Woodland to lead their organization for the next 25 years!
With our City Staff, we talk about setting goals and I often paint the concept of “giving a diamond ring to the love of your life on the second deck of the Eiffel Tower at sunset of Valentine’s Day”. Some view it as a “Disney Dream”, but I would argue that it is something anyone can do if you just plan to do it.
Vision requires a very soulful introspection of where you want to get to and your overall commitment to seriously making something happen. It’s the idea of setting big goals and then establishing then executing a plan. It takes discipline, commitment and the ability to maintain focus and hope in even the most challenging circumstances. It means collaboration, partnerships and establishing relationships which generate the force multiplier that carry the vision to the heights that no one person could attain. In the end, I have learned that everything is a “team” sport and the greatest satisfaction is celebrating hitting key milestones surrounded by those who all made it happen.
Great vision is the ability to seek extra ordinary results and outcomes. I am convinced that any vision is possible and the difference is the amount of desire and commitment to reach the achievement. To have vision requires courage and the ability to transcend the cynicism and skepticism you will encounter. Its easy to be against something and hard to be a champion for something some may think is unimaginable or may seem inconvenient.
Life is a series of events and ultimately moving yourself forward. Reality will tell you that if you are not moving forward, you are moving backward. A vision forward brings an opportunity for adventure and achievement, while sitting still means you are going nowhere and will ultimately get bed sores. Vision establishes the “future” for more people than just yourself and in many ways is a part of your “stewardship” for the possibilities and opportunities which will exist for others. When I talk to City Council Members about “leadership”, I often stress that the decisions we make or fail to make today will determine what will be or not be tomorrow. Vision is important because it really does determine tomorrow!
In Winters, we have many visionary people like Julie and Craig McNamara, Mary Kimball and the Center for Land Based Learning folks. Of late, people like Moyra Barsotti and Emarie VanGalio and the entire Project Playground Team who gave us all a lifetime opportunity to build the greatest playground of our time!
In a city, vision involves looking forward towards the interests of the entire population, both current and future. Where will people live, work and how will the community sustain a quality of life? What happens when you don’t execute the plan or it is left half done? How will we make great things happen which will positively affect people’s lives?
Vision is a collaboration of unique, diverse and talented people coming together to make something that some people feel is a “dream” a reality! Not easy.
Have a nice weekend!
John