Got a question for you
As you may’ve read in the paper, here, recently there was a hearing about rezoning some residential property to retail which could, potentially, be bought by a chain store that might create destructive competition with local businesses.
So my question for you, Dear Reader, is: what do you want for Olney? What choices do you believe will help Olney thrive?
While not necessarily organized (it’s not a conspiracy), there are economic pressures that create situations like the spreading of dollar stores that wreak havoc with small town economies. For further reading, feel free to check out Report: The Dollar Store Invasion, https:// ilsr. org/ report- dollar-store-invasion/
Seems like our economy is continuing to experience repercussions from the pandemic; I continue to hear conversations about supply issues as well as labor issues. The housing market continues to be overly expensive and wages are not keeping up with the cost of living. Don’t get me wrong, as much as I’d like to know how to fix this, I don’t have a clear solution short of the 1% wealthiest people in our nation need to step up and shoulder more of the cost of the solution. Ain’t holdin my breath though.
What can we do? Certainly supporting local businesses that re-invest in the community is key.
Growing up here, I learned about the Good Ol’ Boy culture. Not all bad, there are definitely good points to it. Like any culture, there are connections that benefit the whole, ways folks keep informed about who can be trusted and how best to take care of each other. But just like people, groups or cultures can have blind spots, or a lack of awareness of important, good things.
For instance, in the recent hearing, the people on the zoning committee were all men. It was said that the turnout for the meeting was unusually large. The people expressing concern about the rezoning were all women. While it’s easy to jump to stereotypical conclusions, it’s important to also recognize a basic difference in how men and women make decisions and how their values can be different. Men, generally, tend to think linearly, one thing at a time and prefer to get decisions made to move on to the next thing. Women, generally, tend toward including more of the context and are relational, taking their time with decisions to consider as many possible outcomes as possible, rather than taking the approach of “that’s not my concern.”
No matter what your decision style, it’s also important to consider the Dunning-Kruger effect, or the bias that results from not knowing what we don’t know. Everyone has this challenge. We all need to reach outside our comfort zones to look into solutions we may not normally consider.
Ultimately we need both styles of decision making. The Good Ol’ Boy culture, as implied by the name, tends toward the masculine style of decision making. In my opinion, Olney would best thrive with both styles of decision- making working together. For this to happen, not only do women need to step up, men need to listen.
The choice is yours.
All feedback welcome! Please feel free to emailYourBestHereOlney@gmail.com. All feedback will remain confidential (unless limited by law). Mona Bernhardt, LCSW-S, who grew up in Olney, is running for City Council and would like to team up with you to support Olney thriving!