What Makes a Community Great (part 2)

So, here's something fun to do. You can try this with almost anything, but I tried it with "mont belvieu." What you do is go to Google Image search online and punch in anything. Google search is a pretty complicated computer function which is based on several factors like relevance to the search parameters (how closely does what is returned match what you wrote) and access (how many people clicked on what website). This is what the Google image search returned for me.


The first few images returned maps and schematic drawings of various petrochemical elements in the region. The first picture returned was this:

Pretty dramatic, huh? What is this telling people about our community? Assuredly, Mont Belvieu is heavily tied in with the petrochemical industry and has been since the early 1900's. When I was researching the area before moving down here, this was one of the things that I found out about the City. On one level, having this kind of thing in our City, it keeps taxes low, provides numerous job opportunities, and helps the country overall by allowing the storage of gas and oil essential for our economy. This probably is not going away any time soon. The question remains, however. What does this say about our community? This is so integrated into our culture here that there is a fake oil rig in front of the school.

The next picture that the Google Image search returns is this:

Now this is something that a community can get behind. This speaks to a community that is interested in the health and well-being of its citizens, that is concerned with providing families opportunities to gather and enjoy each other doing wholesome activities, and creating an attraction for the entire region. The recreation center, food court, wave pool, golf course, and pavilion are all well built and demonstrate good design principles. While nothing is perfect, these facilities speak to the needs of the community to gather and grow.

The City has just recently (yesterday) passed an 11 million dollar bond for the reconstruction of Eagle Drive. We have another chance to create the kind of positive image that we have all come to appreciate about Mont Belvieu. This will be another of the signature elements of a community that is looking to the future - one where Mont Belvieu is held up as an example of great community throughout the region.