Tonight I’ll be on the final “Blue Ribbon Panel” for the City of Alexandria’s Strategic Planning efforts for Goal 1: There is Quality Development and Redevelopment, Support for Local Businesses, and a Strong, Diverse, and Growing Local Economy.

Throughout this process, my comments have been focused on two main points. One, we need a single core brand for our city. And two, for us to really change the way we’re perceived, we need to change the culture within City Hall.

Some people argue that … read more

Let’s play a game.  I name a place and you tell me the first thing that comes to mind.  Ok? Ready? GO…

1. Washington DC
2. London
3. San Francisco
4. Switzerland
5. Mexico
6. Turkey

If my hypothesis is right, the majority of you had to think for a minute about Turkey.  Now this is not a statistically accurate research study and I cannot say with 95% confidence that my hypothesis is correct, but let’s just say that I have a gut feeling that many of you do not have associations with Turkey.   The reason I can prove … read more