Cagora - Community "Is"

When is the last time you stopped to look around the area you live in? To many of us, the area we live in is just a location where our houses happen to be. Every so often though we hear of someone stopping to smell the roses. Today, Cagora - It's All About Community visits the very heart of community - the place you live.

In years gone by, people lived in close-knit groups, knew their neighbours names, fed their friends pets and collected their mail. Next time you see a classic 70s or 80s show on TV, stop and have a look at how the families interact. Chances are, you'll see numerous families all "knowing" each other.

Unfortunately, society has forgotten these days. Do you know your neighbours name? Have you ever gone over there, knocked on the door just to say hello? For many people, the answer will be no to both these questions. Urban Sprawl, Crime, even legislation have turned what used to be small community areas into seemingly forgotten streets and roads where people go about their lives oblivious to their surroundings.

But all is not lost. People are taking control, standing up and proclaiming that they want their communities back! Laurie Christopherson of St. Paul recently wrote a letter to the editor of the Star Tribune stating:

"Why not just turn all our inner-city neighborhoods into large parking lots and build centrally located entertainment venues for all the suburbanites? Cities apparently aren't for living after all, just destinations to drive to.

Why can't people understand that what makes a community is the people who live, work, play and shop locally!

Try to imagine living near your workplace and not commuting and polluting. Why create another freeway to simply encourage sprawl rather than work to preserve our city neighborhoods as great places to live. Bring on the density, but preserve the gems such as the Kasota wetlands and inner-city green space. Linear thinking and expansion/exploitation is what got us into this global environmental mess. Try to imagine something better."

Source: Star Tribune

I challenge you, take a page from Paul's book and look at the area you live. What's going on in your neighbourhood? Go and say hello to your neighbours, invite them over for dinner or a drink.

Community starts & ends with people, and Cagora - It's All About Community want nothing more than people the world over to be able to claim they are proud to be part of their local community.