Colleen McCain Nelson's doing her part to keep South Dallas clean, going so far as to take Mayor Mike out to an illegal trash dump and getting him to call it in after 10 days' worth of morning-paper tsk-tsks couldn't get the jobs done. To which Dallas City Hall says: Enough with the 10 Drops in the Bucket already. Let's focus on all the good stuff the city does, such as ... such as ... Well, look, it's coming soon. But just you wait.
Till then, here's what I found over on the city's website about "Beyond the DROPS: 10 SEEDS of CHANGE," the title of which sent Schutze into a chicken-or-the-egg tailspin Saturday morning when I told him about what I'd just seen. From the description:
We know that much of the positive work that leads to improvements in our city will never make the morning newspaper or evening newscasts. City employees, community leaders, business owners and caring residents are the reason that progress takes place but often that progress goes unrecognized. Some might say all of those people are just doing their jobs. Indeed they are. But sometimes the work it takes to reap those rewards is hard fought, complicated, and takes more time than most people realize to accomplish -- making that work and the individuals that accomplish it -- extraordinary.Like I said: coming soon.
It is these types of accomplishments that go beyond a drop in a bucket. We're talking about different aspects of progress that collectively builds momentum leading to change. We call them: The SEEDS of Change. What are the SEEDS we are talking about? Certainly code issues brought into compliance; dilapidated structures torn down, and overall blight eradicated. But the SEEDS are also often other activities like a cultural event in a neighborhood; a program at the local library that influences a child to get a college education; a litter clean up at a park that shows community pride; or even a capital investment to give future generations a reason to stay connected to their community. All of those SEEDS help attract something bigger. Something we all hope for: a better place to live.
