So I'm over at my dad's helping him move a greasy drill press from his garage to his basement when Mayor Finkbeiner calls me. He says "Russ, where you at?" "Oregon sir" I reply. "Be in my office in seven minutes" he barks and hangs up.
That's how it always starts...every time. I'm half wishing I was not on the radar but the other half of me knows I'm in for some kind of trippy, cool journey. Carty's good like that. How he knows that it takes exactly seven minutes to get from my dad's to his office (if I park illegally and RUN) I will never know but, say what you will, the dude is smart....or he had a chip implanted in my head?
So I walk into his office and there he sits with some of the usual suspects and a few people I don't know. He comes straight at me and a couple of things occur to me. First, this is something serious and, two, I gotta get into better shape cuz I'm outta breath from the little RUN and I gotta start talkin and sounding smart like now.
The deal is that Toledo has been one of very few cities invited to compete in the 60th anniversary of the All-America City competition. It's a big year for this thing Teddy Roosevelt put together so many moons ago. Only cities that have won in the past are allowed to enter and only 30 will be invited down for the competition. Pretty cool that Toledo got this deal with all the crazy bad stuff going on I think.
So the mayor looks at me and tells me he wants a piece of this thing. He tells me he wants me to "Spielberg it" because I used to work for that guy. I give it a couple of days of thinking and bam! I get it. I write the creative part of it up with the help of some people at the city who are way smarter than me with facts and figures and such. Now I can't go into details here and now cuz it's a secret, but this thing is waaaaay out there. No other city has a chance. I almost feel sorry for them cuz Toledo is gonna crack some skulls in Tampa.
I want to win this thing so bad because things are so bad for so many good people here in this city of my birth. I know it won't drastically change a thing, but even if just one company looking for a place to set up shop sees that we won this and they give Toledo a look, then it is worth every minute I am putting into it. If one kid who is feeling kind of hopeless about her/his future here thinks, well, maybe this can work then I would be happy to bleed myself into a coma to win it. So we are gonna win it people.
Oh....I made a side bet with the mayor that if we don't win, I have to walk home from Tampa. So if my pedal boats never make it out this summer, then it's probably because I am lost somewhere in Mississippi.
I will write again when we get back from Tampa June 20th to let ya all know just how bad we whooped the rest of the pack. Wish us luck please. Oh, here is a link to a Toledo Free Press article on the deal.
http://www.toledofreepress.com/2009/05/29/empire-drift-song-approved-by-city-council-other-contest-entries-used-in-all-america-city-competition/Laborare Est Orare (Toledo's motto which means "To work is to pray" case you was wondering.) Peace good people.