If we are going to have a strategy to increase prosperity in Brandon, we need to think about how we are going to measure whether we are successful. Because we will shape policy to drive outcomes, so we need to agree on what those outcomes should be.
First, we need to define “prosperity”. I think that prosperity is much more than wealth. a strong economy brings much more to the city than money.
The second reason we need to spend time thinking about how we will measure something is that it is human nature to value what you count.
An absurd example to illustrate the point. Let's say that we define prosperity as meaning we have lots of yellow houses (the end goal would be to have 87% of the houses yellow, and currently 30% of the houses are yellow). The more yellow houses we have, the more we feel that we live in a prosperous community. So we offer tax incentives for people who live in yellow houses, we discount the price of yellow paint, we start contests to celebrate the “Yellowest house in Brandon”. We teach house painters how to mix only yellow paint. By doing all of these things, we will wind up with a lot of yellow houses. So the the strategy, and the tactics all support the objective.
Please let me know what you think “prosperity” means, and the kinds of things you think we should measure to know how prosperous a community we are.
A community is prosperous when it is internally balanced and projects itself to the greater community in responsible, appreciative ways. Symptoms of internal balance include thriving gathering places (churches, community clubs, etcetera). Positive externalities include celebrating the successes of other communities.
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