Lots of people love Mansfield, especially downtown Mansfield. In the past two weeks I've had people message me on LinkedIn and stop me on the street to tell me they've been following the discussion here. Someone even reached out to me about ideas for the Mansfield chocolate factory that recently closed (what a great history there, and how great it would be to re-purpose that great building). That's great. Keep it coming.
My wife Katie is a skilled community organizer, and I think she's just what this revitalization project needs. We need people who are willing to bring their ideas and work together toward a concrete plan -- a plan that won't be DOA once the ink is dry.
How do we do that? We listen to the skeptics and cynics. They'll tell us exactly what the roadblocks are -- and then it's our job to come up with creative solutions to overcome them. We're confident we can find a way forward.
To all of those who posted and emailed to express your willingness to help, thank you. We're finalizing a day and time for an "army of the willing" to start dreaming of an even brighter future for downtown Mansfield. It won't be long now.
We have kids and pay taxes, and we know that downtown Mansfield can have a bright future. It starts with us. If you haven't raised a hand to say you want to be part of downtown Mansfield's future, please post a comment. We'll put you to work soon enough.
-Matt
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