Elmwood in Touch three

It has been awhile since I moved this project along.  I was busy at work, then the Strawberry Festival, then the vacation, then the storm, then the tree controversy. Life can have a lot of “thens” in it, but it is time to concentrate on the now.  I am about to get underwriting agreements for support of the web site.  I have been forced to think through the structure of the web site. Experience has taught me good planning and preparation is never wasted time.  I have learned I will live with my decisions much longer than I expected.  I get much needed, but too freely given advice from my sons about the web site, everything in my life, actually.  They asked if I was planning on putting photos and writing about our trip to Gettysburg on the elmwoodil.org web site.  I said I was.  The boys told me this was inappropriate. Erik and Alex felt a community web site is not a blog. I have learned valuable lessons from my two sons, and they did have a point. So being me; I had to think about this advice with my own deliberative sloth like mental abilities.  A week later the forces of nature disrupted my life in Elmwood. Elmwood’s storm and power outage made just posting a couple of pictures and a short update a struggle. 

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Then the “then” that impacted me the most was the destruction of trees in Central Park.  I was unable to work on this site for nearly two weeks.  I felt my beloved community had betrayed the whole effort to promote Elmwood.  I also had to decide how to handle this type of situation. Elmwoodil.org is not a forum for me to push some slanted philosophy or partisan agenda.  It is to be a portal to learn about Elmwood our businesses, schools, and our people.  I didn’t post anything on the site for two weeks.  I have resolved these issues in my own mind. This may not give you much assurance that I have a good resolution. I believe the site will soon be a top link of any search for Elmwood Illinois, so I feel a strong responsibility to do the right thing. I think a model for the web site is a Sunday newspaper.  It comes in many sections and serves many different needs.  I am going to work on those sections; one section will be like a blog.  I will have personal opinions, personal experiences, and be my irreverent self.  The main section will be a straight-forward communication tool for the community and a promotional vehicle to the outside world.  Elmwoodil.org will become the best way to find all Elmwood related content on the web. 

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We do need better communication for the community. A good example was the 4th of July it had rained most of the day. The fireworks might go on or they could be postponed. I saw someone posted an update on the Better Elmwood group.  I appreciate that effort, had I seen it earlier I would have posted it on elmwoodil.org.  There are many times the web site could be the information focal point, so I am back to getting that done.  It will take many hours, so time is wasting.

Steve Davis

So if I arouse your ire or just your thoughts, you can interact with me just --- email me.