Election for Mayor of Laconia

[map]

Originally Posted by iw8surf

Not trying to be rude so sorry if the tone comes off wrong, but your comment provides nothing but further evidence to write off Laconia. You stated Newburgh was like Laconia, once bustling and a vibrant place to be back in the day. Newburgh fell apart with poverty, drug attics, illegal immigrants, crime etc. A ton of money was sunk into its revitalization (where that money came from is irrelevant), new restaurant's, new businesses, new hospital etc and it is still a dump that you don't even want to drive through.... But we think Laconia has a shot and shouldn't be written off yet?

So doing all of that is going to do what for the city of Laconia if we don't solve the actual root cause problem? Nothing.

I guess my post did not come off the way I wanted it to. I too agree the root of the problem has to be dealt with as opposed to trying to work around it. I did not mean to imply that what was done in Newburgh should be done in Laconia, but as an example to learn from.

The thought process for Newburgh (and other cities like it) is always build it and they will come. That is only true to a certain extent. Nothing wrong with these improvements but the underlying problems still need to be dealt with.

[Mr. V]

Originally Posted by map

... the underlying problems still need to be dealt with.

Indeed.

How to get people to care, to be engaged in what goes on around them, to give a good damn about their surroundings and themselves?

People do drugs for different reasons, but one big reason is a lack of belief in themselves.

People are social creatures, generally we want to belong.

Many of the poor, the chronically unemployed, and those from chaotic broken homes soon conclude that they haven't any value to give to the world around them, that there's nothing here for them to do that is worth anything, and that they are worthless..

It's the same dynamic that causes generations of blacks in the ghetto to fail, to attack their own and those around them: if you're told over and over that you're no good you soon come to believe it and conclude "Why bother?"