We wish that the county's economic vitality plan was the equivalent of a pair of defibrillator paddles, where someone would shout "Clear," and suddenly its heart would start beating again.
But it's not. It's a plan, and a long-range plan at that.
That doesn't mean that it's a bad thing to take a look at where the county is now and where we as a community would like to go.
Certainly, the county has gathered enough input from residents over the past 10 years to figure out what people want for the county.
We believe that Douglas County's scenery and its history are its two most marketable assets. We've been successful in the past at leveraging those assets into prosperity without the benefit of a plan, so imagine what a concerted effort could do?
It's impossible to argue with the county's goal, to be the best place to live, work and play by 2022.
By putting 12 people in charge of making the plan work, hopefully it will not suffer the fate of some of the county's other plans, relegated to a back burner while more immediate concerns are dealt with.
Many of the goals in the plan are things the county has no direct control over. That may be a good thing. The likelihood of getting something done seems to be inversely proportional to the number of officials involved in the process.
By working together, perhaps we can reach something resembling the county's goal. Doing nothing certainly isn't going to accomplish much.
