OLD RULES versus NEW RULES
"We have met the enemy and they is us" - Pogo
In the last 17 years I have given over a thousand presentation to individuals and groups, business and government leaders all with varying results. Two such people worked for a beltway company call Concurrent Technology. They were the heads of a project to implement information technology to expedite communications between commercial vendors and the federal government (a lot like what I was attempting to do on the local community lever with several variations. They also understood the value on a national level and saw the potential. As a result of the presentation they made an offer for me to take to the leadership of Bainbridge Island in the form of the following letter... offer to go to bat for federal funding, model for a nation, expand to Kitsap, it was a slam-dunk right?
This is a transcript of the original letter so it can be digitized. I have added the highlights. It is 99.9% an exact copy without headers. I think it dates from about 2000 (9 years ago).
The importance of this letter in conjunction with the story of attempting to establish a Community Web Site in a small community tells a greater story of why the United States is declining in the world. The very things that made this nation great are destroyed by our current leadership on every level. The story of Bainbridge Island is the story of the Nation. This letter represents an opportunity created. The story is in how the opportunity died. -
To: Dave Henry
Bainbridge Island Community Network
The Bremerton Electronic Commerce Resource Center serves small businesses in an eight-state region with training and technical support in the adoption of
electronic commerce technologies. The Internet affects smaller communities
in profound ways because of the way it collapses time and distance.
Outsiders who can only physically visit a community once or twice a year can
drop in electronically several times a month, even in the middle of the
night. Residents can monitor what is going on, and even participate, even
though they are working outside the community. Residents can reach out to
other communities for information, supplies, and resources, without adding
vehicles to the roads or taking time away from the community.
The Bainbridge electronic community (Bainbridge Island Community Network) appears to be all about serving the community's interests by creating a specific grass-roots presence. In the physical world, sign codes, speed limits, covenants and restrictions are all used to align individual actions into a coherent downtown presence. What makes sense for the community takes precedence over what makes sense for the individual developer. Bainbridge, and other communities in our region, should take an active position regarding how their community is presented on the Internet, for the same reasons - to have a coherent presence, to serve the needs of the community, to preserve its unique flavor.
Bainbridge can affect its own future by creating and managing an electronic
community that fosters communications, that puts advanced planning and
coordination tools in the hands of its citizens and volunteers, and that
supports low-impact business growth. Big developers who want to "score" in
the race to capture market share will be attracted to Bainbridge's
demographics and location - and a passive position by community leaders will result in an electronic strip mall. An active position, in contrast, will
result in an electronic Bainbridge that is supported by the hardware and
software the developers bring, while conforming to community standards and
interests.
The US government may support this kind of community development on the Internet, and we are interested in participating in this type of project.
Abigail Cooke - Program Manager
Manager EC Systems, Concurrent Technologies Corporation
Their warning was even prophetic and fulfilled by the ISP Channel, a Palo Alto telecom who arrived to mine our local economy to the detriment of our local businesses. They wanted to buy me out and use the asset I had been developing all these years to accomplish their function. I was in their way. When I refused we fought a battle for the future of this community (and all small communities targeted by them), I won. They had full support in their effort by the City of Bainbridge Island (and tax money), Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Organization and our Arts and Humanities to round up all the other small nonprofits to create an event called the Discover Bainbridge Project. They left in discrace (along with our community leadership) and their experience with me forced them to change their national marketing plan.
I personally delivered the above letter from ECRC to the Mayor, City Manager and their secretary, Chamber of Commerce, Team Winslow (Down Town Organization) and I believe Arts and Humanities since we shared the same office area. Not a word of response. I had to go back to Concurrent Technologies and decline their offer with great sorrow. This process has been repeated over and over again in the years since. This represents an incredible loss to a community. To have a K Street Company in Washington DC, to offer to go for funding on the national level based on the uniqueness and entrepreneurial efforts of a local business and with the idea of making it a national model and not have one leadership structure in the community respond. This was the first of several "windows of opportunity" I opened and watched close (next example "The Boatyard Project")for lack of ethical leadership. The silent killer in all communities.
The most important thing to understand at this point is how we have created structures in our communities that disable innovation, creativity and entrepreneurialism. If it represents money and power and certain existing structures and people in our communities don't own or control it... it is then a thing to be killed and it's carcass scavenged for it's assets.
PS - Some years later I was invited to talk at a telephone conference by Jan Angel, a county commissioner who saw one of my presentations with the other commissioners (Endresen, Bodkin). On the line were 25 others, many State government agencies (CTED, who was running the conference and others). Hosted at Concurrent Technologies boardroom. The topic was the beginning of the Cluster Project. I briefly related my experiences and ability to organize and create on the Internet during the talk. There was a short pause, and I was asked to build their web site, I agreed. At that moment an employee representing Concurrent Technologies (Dale King) stepped in and volunteered Concurrent Technologies help. I accepted.
There is more to this story another day but in the end the website project became the property of a newly formed consulting group headed up by Dale King called the Silver City Group funded by a contract with the County orchestrated by Jan Angle. This was all witnessed by commissioner Chris Endresen (now working for Maria Cantwell), Jay Inslee's westside staff person Fran Moyer (who was personally supportive of my efforts) , manager and attorney for the City of Forks, Rod Fleck (who asked me to hang in there) and of course, Jan Angel.
I was given the ultimatum by Dale King to turn my information over to the Silver City Group if I wanted to be part of the project. As usual, I moved on. This then becomes just another example of why ethical people in leadership are the weakest link in creation and allowing the innovative in our communities to exist. Because these people are not creator but those who steal other peoples knowledge the project became a lot less than what it might have been.
You will see the same process repeated with Kitap EDC's history. Another outreach project. Where ED Stern turns to me in the back of a presentation room (as two consultant who were promoting my work as their own) said: "Well Dave, it looks like your dream is coming true". My answer to his statement was: "It hasn't begun yet" and their projects fizzled for lack of knowledge and vision. My statement is still true today (April 2009). Just lots more models, knowledge and stories, but hopefully getting close.
ED did throw me a bone later in a presentation to Bainbridge EDC. Presenting a power point from a consultant he wanted to promote. When he got to a spot that related to my work he said to the gang, "This is what Dave Henry has been trying to tell you for 10 years". There was stone silence. Thanks Ed
The Story of Bainbridge Island and the 17 year attempt to establish a local economic, social and government engine for the new millenium, Bainbridge Island Community Network