Me too, Ed

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From Ed Cone, N&R today: "News that a group of civic leaders is considering a new branding campaign for Greensboro did not cause my heart to race in anticipation of a resulting boom in our economic prospects of self-esteem. In fact, it made me cringe."

Me too, Ed.

Some of the thoughts of Ed Cone in his column today should be refined and posted on billboards and featured on the pages of every news and media source available.

Ed states that, "This place is clean and green, in terms of landscape, if not development policy."

Some of his thoughts that should be translated into ads for Greensboro are:

• Promote the Virtues of Greensboro and build on what we've got.
• Talk about what's great about Greensboro. What makes us a good place to live, work, start a business or relocate a large corporate headquarters?
• Greensboro missed out on the explosive growth that has transformed Raleigh and Charlote into traffic-chocked icons of suburban blandness.
• Emphasize our livability and take affirmative steps to preserve and enhance it.
• Our geography makes us a natural transportation hub.

And from me:
Emphasize our unique blend of small town charm with big city amenities in promoting our city. Talk about what we have and what potential we have, rather than focusing on more silly slogans.
Greensboro is a great place for children to grow up and a place they will want their own children to enjoy. Some of our promotions should include our public parks and recreation facilities and should feature families enjoying them.

Ed mentioned that our public school system could use improvements. This is one of the areas that really needs to be improved in order to restore Greensboro back to being a better place for families.

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/Section?Category=NEWSREC02020404