Rally behind a good cause
Marion desperately needs a cause — a positive rallying point around which it can work for civic improvement absent all the negativity associated with plans that seem to draw out more opponents than supporters.
One possibility is something we have suggested before: a public initiative to provide superior Internet bandwidth to businesses and government offices in the town's central business district.
A public Internet information infrastructure initiative would step in where private enterprise has recently faltered. It would allow local businesses and offices to pool their considerable connectivity expenses and share better bandwidth than any could afford alone.
As a municipal utility, this infrastructure would make current businesses more competitive and would serve as an important tool for recruiting new, highly desirable businesses — businesses whose major products are professional services, whose workers would locate here because of the quality of life that telecommuting could offer and whose businesses would neither consume natural resources nor produce environmental waste.
What we envision is a city-owned fiber-optic network stretching from Butler of Marion's Bown-Corby campus to Marion High School, offering connections to all Main Street businesses downtown and branching off to include city and county offices and the new library.
Wireless access, similar to what a private firm attempted to provide before it encountered business setbacks, could provide similar, though not quite as fast, service to residences and to businesses in other areas. Money now spent on less-capable wireless, ISDN and similar services would more than offset operating costs.
Installation costs would represent a positive community investment in creating a stable infrastructure to replace all the vagaries associated with private companies that seem to merge, contract and suspend operations at a moment's notice.
It would be a forward-looking investment in the community's future, a powerful lure to accountants, engineers and others who are more than willing to chuck urban life for an opportunity to relocate to a stone city between two lakes.
Does the idea have problems? Absolutely. It would take a lot of positive work by a dedicated group of individuals to become reality. To shoot it down, at least at this stage, you wouldn't even have to break a rhetorical sweat. But it's an idea. And it's positive. If you have others, let us know. What Marion needs most right now are positive ideas on how we can advance our community. Let's stop arguing about what we shouldn't do and start working together on what we should.
— ERIC MEYER
