I thought the program was good. A lot of useful information was covered and I liked the references to RGP since it is now privately funded. The concept of coordinating economic development so an entire region becomes more attractive to businesses is a no-brainer although a lot of work remains to be done.
I know there was a lot to say in a short amount of time. I was disappointed in Tim Smith's (I hope that is the right name) questions about "regional government". I wish you had had an opportunity to correct the perception that Lake Erie West would require government. That sounds like more taxes, politicians, etc. I know that is not the idea but it stuck with me after the interview was over.
Publicize the folks you already have on board and continue to ask local candidates of every part of the region what they can/will do to promote this idea.
posted by thinkingwoman at 02:43 P.M. EST on Sun Jul 24, 2005 #
Maybe we need to change the title on ToledoTalk.com from "Northwest Ohio & Southeast Michigan" to "Lake Erie West" and lead by example. This might take a while, kind of like the MCO to MUO name change
posted by lloyd at 06:16 P.M. EST on Mon Jul 25, 2005 #
Good point, lloyd. When I started this website, I really wanted to have a generic name. By having "Toledo" in the domain name, I thought that people outside of Toledo wouldn't be interested in the site because they would think the site is only about Toledo. This site is not meant to be concerned with only Toledo, which is why from the beginning I had the little subtitle of "northwest ohio and southeast michigan" in the yellow bar. And I say in the middle of the blue bar "in and around Toledo." I was hoping those words would convince a casual visitor outside of Toledo to be interested in the site.
The reason why I went with "Toledo" in the site name is because of search engines. Most of the people finding this site do so via the major search engines: Yahoo!, Google, MSN, AOL. If a generic site name like Black Swamp something showed up in the search results, it might not be as noticable to the search users as a site name with Toledo. Even if the person is outside of Toledo but within the region, he or she may be more curious about clicking on a search result with Toledo in the site name than if I had used a generic name that better represented the region.
That was my thinking in the fall of 2001 when I first reserved the domain name. I don't think, however, it's working out that way today. This site has a definite Toledo focus, more than I like, and I blame the domain name.
For example, I assume other communities in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan have mayoral elections this fall, but the only one we hear about here is Toledo's. Since I live in Toledo, I'm going to naturally post topics related to Toledo. If people living outside of Toledo are visiting this website, it would be nice if they posted topics about their community. I'm interested in the happenings in other communities.
Lake Erie West is a good site name, because it's specific, regional, and people know immediately from the site name what location in the world the site is concerned with.
If someone can come up with a new domain name along the lines of Lake Erie West, I'll consider moving the site, if others think it's a good idea to switch.
posted by jr at 10:30 P.M. EST on Mon Jul 25, 2005 #
Thanks for the reply but I was referring to the subtitle below Toledo Talk. I do like the title and I do agree it seems to focus on Toledo only. I am okay with that.
posted by lloyd at 10:53 P.M. EST on Mon Jul 25, 2005 #
Does anyone else think that Jeff Smith is doing a nice job hosting Political Reality? I think he is doing good job starting out. It seems that Lee Conklin is going to be taking over, at least according to Dish Network
posted by lloyd at 11:32 P.M. EST on Tue Jul 26, 2005 #
I guess I'm surprised that we didn't get more comments. Particularly, since I suggested to some of the Lake Erie West Board members to dial up toledotalk.com and voice their opinions on lloyd, jr's and thinkingwoman's comments.
I like lloyd's suggestion to lead by example, and jr's original intent for the web site. I'd like to suggest that maybe the thing to do would be to change the"northwest ohio and southeast michigan" in the yellow bar to " the Lake Erie West Region", and see what kind of response we get.
We know that the toledotalk web site is monitored by most of the media. If they see that Lake Erie West is catching on, they may start jumping on the bandwagon. And, it can't hurt anything.
posted by lew at 07:51 P.M. EST on Sun Jul 31, 2005 #
egads!! MAKEUP!!
posted by BrianInFlorida at 08:03 P.M. EST on Sun Jul 31, 2005 #
Your board does need to get more visible. The more voices the public/media hears the better.
posted by thinkingwoman at 10:09 A.M. EST on Mon Aug 01, 2005 #
Lew said:
”I like lloyd's suggestion to lead by example, and jr's original intent for the web site. I'd like to suggest that maybe the thing to do would be to change the"northwest ohio and southeast michigan" in the yellow bar to " the Lake Erie West Region", and see what kind of response we get.”
Lew has the right idea!
My regular email sig (for about 10 days now) has me listed as being from Lake Erie West, USA instead of the former "Toledo, Ohio" closer that I used to have. I admit it’s a little thing, but it’s a start ;-)
It has a certain "ring" to it!
(Okay, it has more of a "clang" than a "ring," to it, but it gets the point across.)
My profile here still sports an earlier version:
Toledo, Lake Erie West
posted by Hooda_Thunkit at 12:22 P.M. EST on Mon Aug 01, 2005 #
Opinion in latest TFP about Lake Erie West:
"There’s no question the Lake Erie West theory has merit; the challenge is getting public political leaders, private-sector leaders and residents to think in new ways and change ingrained provincial thinking. If most of Europe can be educated to combine several different cultures into a unified currency, shouldn’t folks in Toledo and Detroit be able to find common ground?"
"I’m not optimistic."
"Toledo, which one business associate of mine describes as a “hot-bed of mediocrity,” never embraces change with anything resembling speed. Toledo, which can fairly lay claim to the title of Northwest Ohio’s “capital,” has earned a reputation for not always playing nice with its own suburbs; can its leaders and people be expected to embrace Esral Beach when Springfield can’t be placated?"
"My guess is the only thing uniting the region is its doubt that it could ever identify itself as a region. Which is, in itself, a start. If Jakes can take that one unifying element and perform alchemy to make people think alike about a positive issue, he might be on his way to making the Lake Erie West proposal a reality."
posted by jr at 08:33 A.M. EST on Wed Aug 03, 2005 #
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