Why I Joined Building Worthington's Future
Most citizens lead busy lives and are focused on raising kids/keeping up at work, etc., and don’t have the time to understand these challenging issues and believe me, I get it. They shouldn’t have to. But the truth is when these good neighbors start to see that their property taxes are some of the highest in the city and they don’t feel like their local amenities justify it, they move. They don’t stop to try to figure it out over the next few years, they just move. When the resident who has lived in the neighborhood for 40 years has ridiculous property taxes and no “empty nester” opportunities, they will move. When a business feels like a city can’t support its office or employee housing needs moving forward, it moves. It's a downward spiral. It's the best citizens you lose, the ones with the resources.
What's Not Talked About at the Block Party
There is a lack of appreciation the average citizen has for our reliance on our businesses to sustain our community. They assume because the roads have always been plowed they will next week too. With projected rising costs and slowing growth, we are concerned.
We knew from our experience when businesses aren't encouraged and citizens feel like another community can offer better lifestyle/amenities, they simply leave and you don’t get them back. The longer it goes, the more tax burden is put on citizens, the harder it is to recover. We know that our city would be in a dramatically different financial position if one of our largest employers decides to move tomorrow…which is possible.
Our Unique Perspective
One of the criticisms we have heard in recent years relates to the number of BWF members in the real estate, building, and architecture community, and this is true (I qualify). I believe this can easily be explained by the fact that members/citizens in these local professions work daily with many different cities, directly with neighboring suburban communities, see the progress all around them, and are uniquely positioned to literally see businesses and home buyers choose other suburbs over Worthington. Everyday.
We Can’t Help but Wonder “Why Not Worthington?"
Many of our members understand how private industries/businesses benefit communities with tax dollars. Industry can pay for our ball fields, pools, city services, etc. We see how other successful and forward-thinking communities have strategically planned their way to success resulting in financial resources to give their citizens all the amenities they desire. We feel we
have so much potential to be great and many of our members have unique insights that can benefit Worthington through education/influence.
Now is the Time
We sense Worthington is at an inflection point. We believe we can be a catalyst for our community out of this stalemate. We believe Worthington is uniquely geographically positioned to take our unfair share of opportunity over the next decade if we utilize strategic planning that encourages economic development which in turn, supports our cultural and local lifestyle amenities.
We believe the synergy and drive from our government/council/chamber/local organizations hasn’t been this electric in a long time and it is exciting.
I look forward to playing a small role in helping Worthington thrive and be great over the next decade!
