Saturday, November 7, 2009

Other Fields

My wife Bonnie and I spent the day in Richmond, Virginia, visiting an old friend and colleague. Tara took us around her adopted home town. I was impressed by the extraordinary strides the city has made in the last 30 years, since last I spent any time there. It is clean, attractive, and historic.

Richmond has done a great deal in using its historic resources...canals, factory buildings, dwellings...to great effect. Historic resources development has turned into an economic engine, promoting the city as a heritage destination and community with the kinds of amenities that attract major corporations.

The model is readily seen in Richmond, and in other communities around the nation and the world. Charles County would do well to pay attention and consider diversifying its economic base in a similar manner. Port Tobacco, someday, may lie at the core of such an effort.

Jim

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