Park and Run?

I had a good idea the other day.  A parking garage 5k. The race would start at the entrance to the garage and end on the top floor.  Spectators could witness the whole race without moving a step, and there would be no threat of rain cancelations.  The route sure would be easy to mark, etc.  The difficulty factor would draw weekend warriors from far and wide.

I looked online, and ... no one has done this yet.  Surprise!  Are they crazy, or am I?

Still Green?

The Tennessean has a clever article about "green gifts." Ok ok this is good ... but what if you don't need it, is it still green?

READ: Green Gifts. The Tennessean.com

The Nonprofit Paradox

Businesses in America divide into two categories, non-profit and profit.  The difference is the mission of the organization.  Profit businesses benefit their owners and shareholders, and non-profit businesses benefit the "greater good".  Because of this difference they have; (1) different regulations, and (2) different tax burdens.

Beyond these two differences, they are essentially the same.  They each require talented management to survive, and they must have financially viable forecasts and clear missions. Without these fundaments, they fail.  Just think of the struggling "Mom-and-Pop" being overtaken by the new Wal-Mart Super Center, or the local nature advocacy group being replaced by a new chapter of the Sierra Club, etc.  Their members relocate, and the mission goes on. 

So why not surrender to Wal-Mart or in this case, the Sierra Club?  If you have the same mission, go ahead.  It might serve you well to join someone else instead of compete with them. But most non-profits are created to fill a need that isn't being met.  If a community needs money for their fire department, they start a fire defense fund to buy equipment and pay dispatchers.  If a school wants to create scholarships, they set up an endowment.

But once the idea is hatched, the organization must be managed.  Why do 95% of small businesses fail in their first five years?  Because only 5% of the people who start them can manage them.  Non-profits are no different.  

The number one goal should be profitability.  Non-profits must create positive revenue streams and set sustainable financial goals.   Money can accomplish if it is properly managed.  Too many organizations rely on small groups of big donors to fulfill their long term fundraising goals. These gifts are great supplements, but a businesses cannot succeed if there are only a handful of customers.  

Non-profit leaders should create ways to engage their constituencies. Make the people come to you.  Find a way to sell your cause and make people want to buy it.  Even if people are only buying satisfaction, everyone wants to help a good cause profit.

READ: Case, Steve. "Purpose and Profit Go Together." The Wall Street Journal.  10 May, 2005.

The "Driving" Factor

Cars are great.  You just hop in, turn the key, turn up the music, adjust the climate, get on the phone.  It's like an office on wheels.  Super!  Instantly you are taken away from the drab asphalt that wastes so many hours of your life.  The commuters comfort.  When gas is cheap, life is good.

But what happens when the outside world interferes; when that bird suddenly dive bombs your beamer reminding you that nature still exists?  Or what if the city adds a speed bump to your neighborhood short cut; another driver cuts you off; a pedestrian J-walks in front of you; a cyclist makes you miss a light; or if you get behind a bus that stops every block??

The solution for motorists is further separation.  More lanes, traffic signals, and signage are added.  The result leaves drivers feeling more entitled to every portion of the road.  But the car culture doesn't end on the road.  It manifests itself in our commercial districts, our neighborhoods, and our schools.  

Successful developments depend on good transportation.  If a business does not have adequate access and parking, their customers will abandon them for more convenient competitors.  New interstate exits can transform farmland into multi-million dollar real estate.  Businesses and residents have been abandoning urban areas in exchange for the conveniences of suburban development for the past two decades.  People are spending more time in their cars than ever before in exchange for the luxuries of strip malls, casual dining, and quant one-acre homesteads.  The number one question retailers ask is "how many parking spaces will we have?"  

The problem is compounded by drive-thru windows, curbside service, and valet parking.  It is ironic that these conveniences hinder the only mode of transportation that we do naturally, walking.  Have you ever had to walk through a drive-thru line to get to the entrance of a McDonald's?  What about walking across six lanes of traffic to get ice-cream after having dinner?  If you've done it once, you may never do it again. 

We need a solution.  The car culture is not sustainable.  With gas prices increasing and the economy in turmoil, now is the time to create a new transportation philosophy.  Our communities can benefit fiscally and socially by modifying street design, increasing density, and rethinking public transportation.  

City officials and developers need to create opportunities for citizens to get out of their cars and throw away the keys before it is too late.

~ Austin

READ: 

Vanderbilt, Tom. "The Traffic Guru." The Wilson Quarterly, 8 Aug, 2008

Debate: Nashville 2008

Our apartment is less than one block away from this "debate", and the neighborhood is brimming with anticipation and unmarked cars. I think the secret service has already cased our apartment complex, and I think I saw a guy on the roof this morning.

Several of the surrounding roads around going to be blocked off tomorrow, and I imagine it's going to cause most people to skip work. If you didn't know that it was October, you'd think it was the 4th of July. People have put out their American flags. Everyone is planning cookouts. Campaign signs. Homemade t-shirts. The display of political paraphernalia is religious.

Reporters are standing on the side of every major street broadcasting media-mumbo-jumbo far and wide; no doubt playing up our quaint little city. The president of Belmont was has been beaming for the past week. He commented in the Tennessean that an elated underclassman had asked him for a photo earlier in the week - a career first.

I've started to think of Nashville as a little Beijing of sorts; hosting our very own high stakes Olympics. The air is definitely cleaner, but the fans are much less civil. They are calling it the "Battle at Belmont," and people are taking bets on who is going to land the knock out punch. They accuse each camp of cheating and foul play. Typical.

The big dilemma is where to watch. I started getting invitations to the opposing parties debate events last week, but that seems to risky. People assume that friendship equals political kinship. Yikes. Put up your dukes Nashville. You're about to really meet your neighbors.

~ Austin

Any Green Thumbs?

I have a planting question. Krammy has gifted me an orchid that is out of bloom. He says that it needs to be watered every other day, but it doesn't seem to absorb any water (just drains through the pot) and the leaves seem weak ... do these things need to be replanted as they age, or is this poor plant just stressed out because Krammy has pawned him off on me? I'm thinking about calling those guys on South Carolina Public Television (here). Any ideas?

In other plant news, we had a thunderstorm today, and a tree fell on a Volvo in the apartment parking lot. I keep thinking, wow, that could have been me.

~ Austin

Tarzan in the Narrows

Woke up Sunday sweating. It's been 95 - 101 for about a week with no rain. I went to the computer and googled "best swimming holes, Nashville", and tada ... we ended up finding the finest swimming hole around. Jacque was weary of the water so she stood in a tree ...

Then following Jacque's lead, Paul went swinging from said tree:

True Tarzan style ...

Katy and I tried our hand at swinging into the water, although we didn't have Paul's skilz. We really ended up just falling out of the tree ...

It was a good way to cool off. We had have several onlookers giving us advice most of the afternoon. One of them was a child who was teaching all of us how to skip rocks. He was doing pretty good ... until he hit his brother in the head with a rock. Thanks for the advice kid.

~ Austin

Good Gang World Premier

Paul and I have been working on writing children's music with Charlie Anderson. Last week we played for the William's Syndrome camp at Vanderbilt. The campers were between the ages of 17 - 49. They have a rare syndrome that hinders their intellectual development, and they have an affinity for music. Someone explained their impairment to me as the opposite of Autism. Rather than being removed and introverted, they are very gregarious and love interacting with people. This made for an easy audience.

We performed 6 songs for the last week. This week we're going to try to get into a studio and make some recordings. The idea is to create high quality children's music with a positive message. We think that we could find a niche in this market. There seems to be a lack of artists in this genre, and the music has suffered. If that's true, then we assume the parents and kids are suffering too.

At the very least, it has been a good exercise. I needed to play the piano again. My chops are rusty, and Paul and Charlie are good at inspiring creativity. I have written two songs so far. Paul is doing the heavy hitting. We are working on plans to create a recording label that will become a launching pad for this project as well as others to come. The label is called 'The Good Gang Music Factory,' and our first album is 'Charlie and his Animal Friends.'

Breakfast Club

We decided several months ago that the best part of having breakfast for dinner was that you could have beer for breakfast. So today I had Graham, Dawson, Mark, Jennifer, Claire and Krammy over to partake in some pancakery. Jennifer brought her waffle maker, and Krammy manned the spachelas. By the end, there were islands of batter from the side fo the frig to the far wall.

Krammy, the proud father-to-be, practiced his paternal entertaining skills by crafting a micky the moustastic pancake!



... and Mark chewed on his beard.



Paul went home for the weekend. Tomorrow he'll return, and we'll tell him about the wonderful breakfast that he missed.

~ Austin