Alternatives: Proposals For Local Governments Struggling With Limited Resources
Alternatives: Proposals For Local Governments Struggling With Limited Resources
In the fall of 1994, the Harry Singer Foundation invited a limited number, of mostly small-town schools, to take part in a pilot program. Students were required to find ways to stretch the resources of local government and make services more responsive to the desires of citizens. The Foundation hopes to gradually add larger communities, and offer categories for innovative state and national projects.
Volunteers at the Foundation narrowed the entries to 22. They were then edited and sent to the National Center for Financial Education in San Francisco, California, where they were reduced to five. These five were then forwarded to a consultant and former-public official in Minnesota who has been in the forefront of the reinventing government movement; the innovative mayors of Indianapolis and Houston, 12 governors, two former-governors and two members of the United States Congress. Many had the help of staff, but all read the proposals and expressed an interest in what these young people had to say.
The final entries are reproduced on the following pages, just as they were seen by the reviewers at the National Center for Financial Education in San Francisco. Across from each paper we reveal the school and participants, information that was kept from judges.
This project was a logical extension of our continuing Responsibility and White Hat programs. Over the years, through student submissions and other sources, we have collected stories of good-things going on around the country, in both the public and private sectors. These inspirational examples have been accessible to anyone with a computer and a modem since the fall of 1993.
Teacher
Janet Adams
Students
Chalon Thomas
John Philp
Shannon McDonald
Owen Cotter
Angela Tesky
Margaret Reynolds
Matt Davis
Maria Hegbloom
Marisa Hegbloom
Courtney Drake
Kelley Lorenzen
Shelly Sparks
Dustin Wilson
Jason Weil
Michael Cox
Donnie Hulsizer
Kristi Olson
Chris Carignan
Kirsten Krulitz
Camille Mongelli
Michelle Gotcher
Janelle Hofmann
Angela Bailey
Jared Watson
Christina Houchin
Randy Tester
Katy Elliston
Randy Johnson
Brad Juelfs
Billboards
Wallace is a nice, clean, historic town. Here everyone knows everyone and the local service is great. Our class decided that we should share our quaint little town with the rest of the world and that the best way to achieve this would be by placing billboards on highways.
The Activity
Our project began by splitting the class into two groups of pollsters. The first group was chosen to call people in the community. The second group went to talk to the city council, mayor and influential citizens in the community. They were to ask them which projects should be implemented and which could be cut.
Two hundred people were polled by telephone. The results were: 56 percent of the people thought that advertising our town would be a good idea; 21.5 percent thought adding recreation to the community would be appreciated; 15 percent wanted us to clean and fix up the pool and 7.5 percent of the people made other suggestions. For example, increase or decrease the size of the police department, and improve snow removal in winter. The second poll found similar responses. Although some officials had different ideas, such as better parking in our downtown, the majority thought it would be a great idea to bring more advertising to our community. With this information our class set out to decide which project we should adopt.
When we first began this project for the Harry Singer Foundation, we had no idea what we were going to do. Once we started thinking of ideas we couldn't stop! We finally chose to take on the project that came out with an overwhelming majority in our polls Ñadvertising. We reasoned advertising would draw people to our town, hopefully, to spend money and everyone would benefit. So we set out to begin our project.
The Project
First things first. We had to find out if we were going to use billboards or smaller "home made" signs and also how far away we were going to start the advertising. We all liked the idea of having a huge billboard along the highway showing off our great town. When we found out that one billboard sold for $20,000 we were forced to reconsider. Instead we chose to make smaller signs on our own and put them up ourselves. Since we were going to put up the signs on our own we did not want to start the advertising too far away. We chose a location about 150 miles east and west of Wallace.
Next, according to the rules of the essay contest, we had to see if any workers would be displaced as a consequence of our proposal. We sent a group of students to talk to the City Council and Chamber of Commerce. Fortunately we found out that no jobs would have to be cut and rather than displace workers, we would probably be providing an opportunity to create jobs.
Next we were supposed to find out if there were any laws or restrictions against putting up our signs. Some students talked to a local lawyer and arranged for him to come to our class and answer questions for us. His answers were enlightening. We discovered that legally we could not put signs up on government property without consulting the Highway Department, and even then the signs would have to be made by the Department and it would cost us to get them put up. He also told us that if we were to use government land in the two states which border our state within 150 miles of our town, we would have to contact those highway departments also. But if we talked to individual landholders we could most likely put our sign up for free. Naturally, we decided privately owned land would be best.
Finally, we had to find out how much and what materials we would need to make the signs. We figured that we could paint them ourselves, so labor would not be a problem. We had to decide what material we could use that would not weather very quickly. After talking to a few hardware stores and building companies, we decided on making them out of wood with aluminum sheeting on the front. We were told that oil paints would probably last the longest outside. Unfortunately we discovered the posts to hold up the signs needed to be grounded with cement which would cost $55 a yard.
Incentives and Disincentives
Money was the big obstacle, but we thought it could be overcome with fund-raisers. We were going to have a contest where contestants would create a series of pictures of our town for the billboard. The winner would get his/her name on the advertisement. The entry fee for this contest was to be five dollars. We were also going to raise money by offering coffee and snacks at the highway rest stop.
The other problem was the need to contact private landowners for permission to erect a billboard on their land. Four students went to the County Courthouse where they were shown a map of private land bordering the highway that might be suitable for a billboard. We decided contacting these landowners would be too difficult a job for our class to undertake in the small amount of time we had left for our project.
Perhaps the main obstacle was the sheer size of the job. In the final analysis, our class considered funding and erecting a billboard, though it would be beneficial, was a job for a professional organization that specializes in placing signs.
Conclusion
We are still pursuing this project. The transition from mining to resort may be hard, but with a little bit of advertisement, some help from the residents of the area and local businesses, our town could be on its way to a better economy. We hope that we will be able to make some effort so that our community will once again be alive with good hopes and good spirit.
Our class definitely inspired other people to get up and make Wallacelook better. Even though we didn't get to put our project into action doesn't mean that it could not be done. Advertising Wallace with a series of billboards is still a good way to bring people into town. We were sincere in our efforts and still feel Wallace deserves the publicity.
Everyone in my class worked hard and enjoyed this project. We discovered that it is sometimes difficult and expensive to make an idea a reality. We learned that just because we are young, it does not mean we cannot get out there and make things happen. We all realized that each one of us can do anything we want to in our lives if we just try. After all, we are the future. Back