Choices, Change, and Tourism
Can we really expect change in this year of a ‘change’ election? When I think about the national picture and the election results I note that the boss of Wall Street before the election is still the boss of Wall Street after the election and the boss of the Unions before the election is still the boss of the Unions after the election.
We can hope for change but based on the ‘promises to put the good of the people before the good of the politician’ making those promise is rarely the end result.
I found myself agreeing with Ben Stein on his assessment of the election (OMG! a Liberal with compassionate conservative leanings and a staunch Uber Conservative with no Liberal leanings daring to agree on something).
Well anyway, Ben Stein and I both agree that in all the promises made and declarations of cutting spending and creating jobs, not a single politician mentioned the fighting heroes in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Not a single politician mentioned a plan to help African American youth help themselves and improve their 45 percent unemployment rate (which is a blight on society and left uncorrected nothing will ever be made whole for the people of the U.S.); and he and I agreed that cutting spending and creating jobs is a serious matter and should not be just a campaign slogan.
In fact, creating jobs led me to ponder just how many jobs could have been created if even a portion of the billions of funds corporations poured into getting policy making, favored politicians elected had been somehow recalibrated to create jobs (not shipped out of the country) for the American middle class at say about $40,000 a year.
Seems to me that would help to improve our economy, get people back to work and stave off this massive decline into the new poverty facing a large percentage of the populace. Wouldn’t a rechanneling of that much money go to help cut the need for spending to help stimulate the economy while creating jobs at the same time? I’m just saying…
On the home front, it is my hope that the P&Z Board and the BOC come up with a plan to address the interest in production companies wanting to film in Jasper County. This can be a great source of revenue for the county.
Production companies PAY to shoot their films on selected locations, (i.e. personal properties, homes, farms, buildings, etc.) and if a road or public thoroughfare has to be closed off to accommodate their shots then a fair and equitable fee should be charged for their permits.
Through the former Better Hometown Program and the past Chamber of Commerce leadership great effort was made to get Jasper County on the list of possible movie sites with the film division of the Georgia Economic Development Department who work in concert with the Georgia Film Commission.
Monticello and Jasper County have been scouted as the possible film location for some of the biggest films out of Hollywood and with the number of films having been shot here lately, it seems the effort to get us on the possible film sites list is paying off and what needs to be done is to make sure they contact an official entity before filming in our town and county.
Someone should be notified when a site is chosen and a film company wants to come to town to take advantage of our offerings. Believe me they are working from a list of desirable sites in our county captured through the lens of our favorite photographer, Mr. Benny Hawthorne.
Wanting to address this is the right thing to do and the two boards need to cherry pick what they have to choose from, or create guidelines that are best for us and our area. We are being noticed, and being smart visionaries will pay off in the end. Tours of film locations is Tourism people!…I’m just sayin…