Outside Erie

4 Responses to “Erie’s PR Machine”

1. Mike
   April 2nd, 2008 at 11:48 am

   I agree with staying positive, but this is where the elected leaders of Erie need to set the tone. When taxpaying residents see elected officials and other people with important positions in Erie do things like misuse their elected power, embezzle money, forge signatures, etc, people start complaining about it and that just spreads the negativity. It’s like having a manager at work who wants his staff to bust their behinds but then shows up late or calls off continuously. They start complaining among themselves about it, then some of them start doing the same thing, because hey, the boss does it.

   So I plead to our public figures in Erie to please remember that you represent our community, and what you do can impact positively or negatively how other people in Erie will feel about their hometown.

2. Danny Lucas
   April 2nd, 2008 at 4:10 pm

   I met George Veitze for the first time and had breakfast with him today in Erie. I have stated before that George is Gung Ho on Erie,PA and after having breakfast, and discussing the merits of this town, we found it was now time for lunch.
   We changed venues to another Erie restaurant and continued the dynamo show.

   Here is a key sign you are talking to a deaf guy…..
   Your plate of food gets empty first EVERY time since deaf guys talk more than hearing folks. If I talk, I can not be hearing at the same moment. George joined the clean plate club before me each time.

   A woman I never met wrote me last year on not hearing.
   She wrote:
   “I remember in a college social science class, we had to chose whether we would rather lose our sight or our hearing. I chose hearing, thinking that living in the dark would be the worst. Those that chose to lose their sight put paper bags over their heads, and those of us who chose hearing were not allowed to speak. Then we were given 10 or 15 minutes to communicate with each other standing in a room together. You can get the picture of how it went. Those of us who could see but not speak or hear, just stood dumbly, unable to communicate much of anything except basic things, where the “blind” people were chatting away, quite connected to each other. It completely opened my eyes to the reality of the importance of hearing. It also translates into the area of language, as I travel to and live in other countries where they speak a different language, I am dreadfully hampered in my ability to know and connect those people if I can’t “hear” them and they can’t “hear” me. So learning their language is one of the most important parts of considering someone valuable, and listening is equally important.”

   Now, when someone writes that out of the blue,(she lives in Washington State, but her heart is international) preceded by “you don’t know me and I don’t know you”, all this knowledge about “hearing” and “connecting” and knowing people by learning their language, you have met with a miracle.

   I particularly liked this line:
   “So learning their language is one of the most important parts of considering someone valuable, and listening is equally important.”

   Our visitors to Erie need listened to, treated with the language of courtesy and respect, and they will leave our town knowing one thing; WE know how to consider someone valuable!

   Now if you think George Veitze is Gung Ho online writing, you should join him in breakfast (and lunch too).
   George excels at listening to deaf guys, and his picking up the check elevated my opinion immensely as you can imagine.

   Our waitress and waiter at both locations were extraordinary, smiling, happy folks, and had the ability to put up with two of the biggest yakkers about Erie they ever met. I considered the young gal who poured immense amounts of coffee as truly Valuable too. She joined in the conversation often and represented all of Erie well.
   (Tho I wish I had asked the name of her dentist; her smile was immaculate).

   Travelers to our town are likely to find we are a people who speak a different language than they normally encounter.
   They will not be hampered in their ability to know and
   connect, for Erie folks generally talk and listen….
   with their hearts.

   Nice meeting you George.

   Thanks for your kind words this day Peter Panepento.

   Welcome to Erie all you media people and GE shareholder meeters.

   Go Seawolves!

3. Katie Rennie
   April 2nd, 2008 at 9:07 pm

   We do need to put our best face forward. I do not want to see Erie become a city the size of Pittsburgh even, but I would like to see good paying jobs come back and stay in Erie. I’ll be looking for one myself in a couple of months.

4. George Vietze
   April 3rd, 2008 at 8:21 am

   Danny just reinforced my opinion that people in this area are “neighbrs” in the true sense of the word. It was a special meeting and I looked forward to a face to face meeting with Danny in order to fully feel his spirit, it helps put his writing in context. Not only did we have a very personal meeting but Danny shared his experience at trade shows as I set up my booth at the Home Show and gave me some valuable information about the history of the area.

   Danny was also surprised to see the new development on Peach Street. We had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel and he noticed the new major hotel under-constrction. There are not many cites, in this slow economy, building new hotels and adding millions of dollars to Splash Lagoon and the amazing facility at Family Sports Park where the home show is located, it has world size capacity for soccer and is a credit to the amazing attractions available for a town the size of Erie. It helped Danny put in context comments about demand and supply of hotel rooms in Erie, it clearly pointed out the owners of Splash Lagoon and the new hotel were investing their money in this slow national economy because Erie is on the MOVE! A lot of the people, like the previous commentor do not want to see “uncontrolled growth”. Peach Street will continue to grow, it will slowly develop and merge with Waterford. Now is the time to develop a detailed land-use masterplan and architectural controlls and street and traffic plans.
   Development is inevitable, like it or not, at least have a controlled plan and consistant architectural elevations and lean toward the Scottsdale look not Pittsburg. I am not elevating Scottsdale nor putting down Pittsburg, we certainly want a more country Pennsylvania looked than a southwest look and the reference to Pittsburg and other communities that do not have strict architectural controls could be improved upon as we continue our growth.

   GE has contributed a great deal to this area including a recent $15 million dollars educational grant to help educate local workers and although they have employed a lot more than the 5000 local workers in the past, it is a great contribution to the economy of the area. They chose Erie for their annual stockholders meeting and it is an opportunity to welcome these visitors and take advantage of the opportunity to show the world that Erie is the Comeback City from the days when a significant amount of manufacturing jobs left this area and are now being replaced with new growth opportunities. Erie still shows signs of the OLD Erie as you drive around the area but we also show signs of the NEW ERIE, the Convention Center, new hotels, the new Casino/racetrack, new retail shopping, millions will be spend re-vitalizing Millcreek Mall.,etc.

   These visitors, coming from other areas, like myself, with a background in real estate and development can see the exceptional opportunities in Erie, for example the new master-plan to develop the Bayfront next to the NEW CONVENTION CENTER and NEW hotel where many of the GE visitors will stay. These people will have vision and will look at Erie with new eyes and Erie will attract laarger developers with MONEY, not two guys who have no money but want the City and State to give them money to build a project. This took time to get to this point and the past is the past, but we are here now and the future is BRIGHTER. I am an optimist but also a realist, there are many problems that need addressing but if we concentrate on the problems we lose our vision. Problems are just what the words indicate, something to be solved as we move on The Erie people just need to be themselves as they always are, friendly, neighborly and courteous and proud of the area they live in. Those of us that need attitude adjustment or have been hurt and injured by the past, feel the pain as long as you need to but watch the pain slowly leave and fade into the past and adopt the phrase on the napkins on my living room table- “I never look back, I’m not going that way.”

   Danny, it was nice meeting you also and thanks again for you help at the Home Show.