How to Save Dayton

Here are the first two, of three, initiatives that must be in place to turn Dayton around – not save it but turn it around.

The Leader

Elected officials, think tank consultants, economic development groups, and concerned citizen groups cannot save cities – they are not trained to do it, and in fact none of these groups are credited with globally or significantly saving a stagnant or decaying city in five decades. We need a leader, and we are way past the time in history where that leader can be a lone individual – it must be a group. The leadership group cannot come from the ranks of elected officials. To save decaying cities, you must do big things. Elected officials rarely do big things. The world is complicated and split. If elected officials do big things they could lose elections, so they rarely do big things. Therefore leadership must come from the private sector.