As I read Jim Martin’s Sunday paper account of the decision by General Electric to come to Erie 100 years ago, I realized that sometimes a little optimism can go a long way.
According to Martin, it was a man named Francis Pratt who was entrusted with finding a new location for the company’s outmoded locomotive plant in Schenectady, New York.
He was looking at places like Buffalo and Cleveland, but stopped here to play some golf with his old college buddy, Erie industrialist Matthew Griswold, Jr.
History has lost the exact words Griswold said when he heard of his friend’s mission, but the gist of it went something like this:
Why not Erie?
After reviewing Erie's rail and port offerings, it's land and work force, Pratt thought:
Why not Erie?
Funny, those were the exact words I heard coming out of the mouth of Hamot Medical Center CEO John Malone when asked why the facility would invest 30 million dollars in a free standing hospital for women and children, a new operation similar to facilities that already exist in places like Cleveland and Buffalo and Pittsburgh.
“Why not Hamot?” he said to me. “Why not Erie?”
It doesn’t help to sugarcoat our reality.
The Erie area is bleeding industrial jobs, the price paid for an over-reliance on that sector of the economy for too long.
And there have been stumbles in trying to convert our eggs into more baskets, leading to an obviously risky gamble of betting on a 100 million dollar convention center at a time of dwindling events and growing facilities.
But I'm tiring of the loud guy on the barstool with the $1.25 beer complaining how Erie has nothing to offer.
No place is Nirvana, and towns that have what Erie doesn’t is lacking in other things Erie has in abundance.
If you’re unhappy here chances are a change of scenery won’t lighten the mood.
Laugh if you want at the cheesy billboards businessman Rick Griffith puts out along his West 12th Street properties, the ones talking up Erie’s strong points while challenging us to overcome our shortcomings.
In essense, they're only saying what one golfing buddy said to another 100 years ago this month, an idea that led to billions of dollars and thousands of jobs here over the past century:
Why not Erie?
Why not?
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Okay, have at it! Do you think optimism is an essential element for Erie's success? Or is Bremner just blowing hot air!!
Comments (1)
The effort to "sell" Erie to Erieites has been going on for more than a decade. It's time we realize that some people aren't buying it and never will. The heck with them. From the We Love Erie slogan in the 80's to the Love Erie campaign today, we have been doing the same thing for a very long time and getting the same results. No surprise.
Is it time to ask what could we accomplish if we put as much money and effort into "selling" Erie outside of Erie? Maybe it's time to change our strategy and invite others to come see why we love Erie. That would be a demonstration of optimism, and success could be contagious.
Posted by Tom | August 14, 2007 2:40 AM
Posted on August 14, 2007 02:40