A better Chillicothe is goal of 'Five to Thrive' effort
Many of our readers know that I not only work in downtown Chillicothe but that my family and I live just a few blocks south of downtown.
One of the things I love (well, maybe not as much recently) is walking to work through the streets of downtown. For years, as I walked, I would pass the Carlisle building, which sat unused after a 2003 fire. It was, at times, depressing, and, at others, inspiring because of the potential of the site and building.
Finally, last year, Adena Health System teamed with the Chesler Group to renovate the Carlisle and restore it as a cornerstone and catalyst for our downtown.
Today, we're hoping to continue that momentum with a look beyond downtown to the entire city and its people. We're unveiling Five to Thrive, our effort to help Chillicothe and Ross County navigate the top five challenges our community must overcome to be successful in the coming years.
It's a labor of love we started a few months ago as our reporters and editors sat down with longtime community residents and contributors, business leaders, and others in Chillicothe and asked them a few questions. What is holding Chillicothe back? What does your business struggle to do? How can the community better address the problems we face?
From there, we honed the list down and presented it to the Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce's Major Employers Roundtable, with a few notable additions.
It also is the first step in a yearlong process to take a deep look at the list we've developed and how our community is addressing them — and maybe, in a few cases, get examples from other areas on how to address them differently. Today, we're showing you the list we've come up and asking for your help. Tell us what we're missing. Help us find the underlying issues that hold us back.
In the coming weeks and months, we will be reaching out with community events, surveys and other ideas to help get more perspective on what we need to change. But you don't need to wait; contact us now with your initial thoughts. Let's talk about what we need to do to have a strong future.
But please don't think of Five to Thrive as just a list of problems. While our area has some obstacles to overcome, we're also blessed with a great sense of pride and community, an understanding of our place in history, a good work ethic and unique economic balance. We're a hot spot for regional historic tourism, shopping and fun, and our downtown is reinventing itself for the future. We're also going to spend time in the coming year talking about those things.
All in all, Chillicothe is a wonderful place to live and work. But we can be better. We must be better. Help us make things better — for everyone.
Michael Throne is in his 17th year as the managing editor of the Chillicothe Gazette. He can be reached at mthrone@chillicothegazette.com.
Read, react
Is the Five to Thrive list an accurate read on the issues facing Chillicothe? Respond via Facebook by going to the Gazette's Facebook page and making a comment or using the tools we've provided inside the story on our Web site. You also can send an email to mthrone@chillicothegazette.com.