Does every town have an establishment that plays by the rules and outsiders that would like to share some of the establishment's goodies? Ashland does, and this comes into focus every year at budget time, Two nonprofits -- the Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Shakespeare Festival -- get most of the public dollars targeted for economic development and culture (which are close to one and the same in Ashland), and outsiders wonder how to break in. Those getting the dollars aren't usually impressed and insist, with some good evidence, that they're successfully doing the job of creating economic activity, and (especially in these tight budget times) changing direction doesn't make any sense. What has fired me up for change is meeting bright younger folks who want to launch various enterprises, most food- and farm-related, but need some technical and financial help to get going. And they're just not Chamber types.
So I've waded into the fray in Ashland. Here's how it looks to me.
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