The names and the faces are the same.
Now we have the Hampton Roads Community Business Roundtable, another group to "improve Hampton Roads' competitive position in the global economy," said Digby Solomon, who is publisher and CEO of the Daily Press newspaper in Newport News.
For a minute there, I thought the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance was supposed to improve the region's global competitive position.
Soloman said the time has come for a more "invigorated approach."
Approach to what, I ask. We have financed numerous studies, created organizations that flounder and then decide to jump on the next bandwagon.
Still, a very broken and fractured transportation system.
Cities that are still petty fiefdoms of patronage.
Politicians who still aren't listening.
Hampton Roads isn’t a cohesive region.
We are land of independent cities (read the charters), each with their own rules and regulations, taxes and zoning laws, educational systems, cultural and social problems.
It will be a cold day in hell when Norfolk and Virginia Beach merge their school systems.
It will be a hot day in heaven when Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach merge their community services boards.
Why not have one major housing authority instead of six?
And pigs will fly, you say.
What is the Hampton Roads Business Roundtable?
A bunch of retired and almost retired business bigwigs about to set the world on fire.
I think not.
For one thing, they are the same faces with the same ideas that aren't really new but are nothing more than a rehash of old ideas. In fact, their ideas are passe, mired in another generation.
Now we have the Hampton Roads Community Business Roundtable, another group to "improve Hampton Roads' competitive position in the global economy," said Digby Solomon, who is publisher and CEO of the Daily Press newspaper in Newport News.
For a minute there, I thought the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance was supposed to improve the region's global competitive position.
Soloman said the time has come for a more "invigorated approach."
Approach to what, I ask. We have financed numerous studies, created organizations that flounder and then decide to jump on the next bandwagon.
And the results?
Still, a very broken and fractured transportation system.
Cities that are still petty fiefdoms of patronage.
Politicians who still aren't listening.
Hampton Roads isn’t a cohesive region.
We are land of independent cities (read the charters), each with their own rules and regulations, taxes and zoning laws, educational systems, cultural and social problems.
It will be a cold day in hell when Norfolk and Virginia Beach merge their school systems.
It will be a hot day in heaven when Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach merge their community services boards.
Why not have one major housing authority instead of six?
And pigs will fly, you say.
What is the Hampton Roads Business Roundtable?
A bunch of retired and almost retired business bigwigs about to set the world on fire.
I think not.
For one thing, they are the same faces with the same ideas that aren't really new but are nothing more than a rehash of old ideas. In fact, their ideas are passe, mired in another generation.
Don't get me wrong. They worked hard, brought success to their companies, as well as themselves, and influenced public policy over the past few decades.
But it's time for something new and creative.
But it's time for something new and creative.
We don't need a cadre of staid, conservative and cautious business leaders, retired or otherwise.
We need a bone-crushing juggernaut of people and ideas.
The old days are gone. Finito.
The Virginian-Pilot article written by Carolyn Shapiro called these alpha males a cadre of business heavyweights. (By the way, where are the alpha women?)
At one time. Maybe. Not now.
So it's time to step aside.
We need a bone-crushing juggernaut of people and ideas.
The old days are gone. Finito.
The Virginian-Pilot article written by Carolyn Shapiro called these alpha males a cadre of business heavyweights. (By the way, where are the alpha women?)
At one time. Maybe. Not now.
So it's time to step aside.
If you want to find something useful in your life to do now that you are retired, set up programs for the homeless and for ex-felons; set up a network of day care centers for single-parents, for example.
Get the money to set up crisis intervention centers for the mentally ill and challenged who are slapped in jail because the cops have no place else to put them.
Or if you don't feel so inclined to help the children or the homeless, then get on a plane and see the world. Get in front of the movers and shakers of this global economy.
Walk the talk. Don't stand behind your podiums and pontificate or squat in your corner offices.
Get another generation involved. Excite. Incite. Do something.
Talk is cheap.
Action is priceless.
Get the money to set up crisis intervention centers for the mentally ill and challenged who are slapped in jail because the cops have no place else to put them.
Or if you don't feel so inclined to help the children or the homeless, then get on a plane and see the world. Get in front of the movers and shakers of this global economy.
Walk the talk. Don't stand behind your podiums and pontificate or squat in your corner offices.
Get another generation involved. Excite. Incite. Do something.
Talk is cheap.
Action is priceless.
Pictured above: Left, Dubby Wynne, former media executive; right, Harry Lester, former president of Eastern Virginia Medical School
Time for an independent group? I think so.
Published by Indie News Network LLC
Time for an independent group? I think so.
Published by Indie News Network LLC