Nice story in the Project for Public Spaces newsletter on Flint, Michigan, and their efforts to renew their community after years of decline in the post-auto manufacturing era. A great quote from the story is instructive to our efforts here in West Virginia:

“Flint originally built itself around the car and, after General Motors left town, tried to build itself around a series of large economic development projects,” said PPS vice president Ethan Kent. “They have tried building the city around everything but the people and places that are already there.”

It’s not difficult to understand why the first response of many regions is to try and replace what was lost with something very similar (usually another big manufacturing entity owned by someone outside the region). But Flint is just the latest of many examples where the real progress of a place comes from within the creativity of the community, not another outside corporate entity. While we would certainly never advocate turning down an opportunity to attract another Toyota, we as a state must realize the need to augment going after that shrinking pie with “growing our own” in a much more progressive, proactive way. 

The change of mindset this will require begins with appreciating our own “sense of place” in West Virginia and finding creative ways to “mine” our history, culture and brains for future growth.