My idea for the community of Ralston would be to have a community garden where all the produce for the community was grown. I think this would benefit the community in many ways. First, having a community garden where people can come visit, volunteer, and buy food would create an active contact zone where anyone from the community can interact. It would also be beneficial for the community to be sustainable and only rely on their own land. A large community garden would supply the whole community with fruits and vegetables in the warm months. Lastly, the community garden would keep the community healthy, and the people busy. If the garden was a community project then citizens would come volunteer in the garden, which would give people a sense of community and well-being, and keep the plants alive. Additionally, fresh fruits and vegetables are part of a balanced diet, which keeps the community healthy and happy.
Author: Mr. E
Restaurants and Businesses for the Ward 1 “Ghost Town”
In Ward 1, it is considered the “Ghost Town” according to the structural look on the index provided. Adding restaurants and other places of attraction such as businesses or a park near the waterfront (like Burlington) or hikes or bowling alleys or other attractions would make an impact on that one uncared-for section of the town. This would also bring attention to the town from people surrounding Burlington as food chains or chain restaurants could also be there. This will make the community better as it utilizes the unused space and bring more tourism into the town. Since Ralston is on an island, it makes the competition for restaurants wanting to settle higher and make the town more modern and updated with potential new buildings. Having different wards of town makes the town more unique and potentially more appealing to people. The town already has a great and bonding community but adding more businesses would make it better.
Sports for Children with Disabilities
I would like to propose the making of a non-profit challenger program featuring different sports to play for each season for Ralston. For this non-profit organization, I think that making a challenger program would be a good fit for Ralston, because by looking at Ralston, you can see that the people living here are always willing to help out their neighbors and be involved with the community. This program will benefit children and adults with disabilities in the area, and allow for more social capital, heart and soul attributes, and contact zones to be formed. In doing this, it will allow the community to become for inclusive and accepting to people with disabilities.
The program will be run by volunteers in the community who are willing to help and work with children or athletes ages 4 to 18 with disabilities. Adults with disabilities can also sign up for the program as coaching assistance and help out that way. Volunteers or buddies that want to help have to be at least 13 or in 7th grade to participate, and coaches have to be adults or experienced buddies. All volunteers have to complete the designated training program for the sport at least once before they become a volunteer for that sport offered that season. It will work by forming some kind of governing structure. Coaches will make and enforce rules and run a program, pairing buddies with athletes, and making and going over practice stations. They will also run fundraisers and be in charge of budgeting. Coaches assistance will assist the coaches in practice. Buddies will work one-on-one with the athletes staying with their paired athlete the whole practice and teaching them how to play the sport.
Parents are also involved in the program and can also be in charge of making fundraisers and budgeting but are not allowed to be involved in the practice. The way the program is designed is to have parents relax and enjoy watching their kids play sports.
The program is non-profit, so fundraising will be a big part of the program with auctions, paint nights, social dinners, and other fundraising events. These fundraising activities will pay for uniforms, merchandise, sports equipment, field fees, and team fees. The goal is that no athlete or parent will be paying to be part of a team, for equipment, merchandise, field use, or uniforms. Children with disabilities tend to have high medical bills in response; it will not cost athletes or their parents anything to play.
Parents are also involved in the program and can also be in charge of making fundraisers and budgeting but are not allowed to be involved in the practice. The way the program is designed is to have parents relax and enjoy watching their kids play sports. The program is non-profit, so fundraising will be a big part of the program with auctions, paint nights, social dinners, and other fundraising events. These fundraising activities will pay for uniforms, merchandise, sports equipment, field fees, and team fees. The goal is that no athlete or parent will be paying to be part of a team, for equipment, merchandise, field use, or uniforms. Children with disabilities tend to have high medical bills in response; it will not cost athletes or their parents anything to play.
Local Grocery Store
One thing I noticed when looking at the map of Ralston was that while there are restaurants and pubs, there is no place to physically buy food. With this in mind my proposal for my contribution would be to create a grocery store that is specifically local to Ralston. I feel like Ralston would have a store that specializes in their seafood seeing as they are by the water and are big on boating, but also has organic, fresh, and local fruits and vegetables. I could design the store layout, but my idea in mind was to create a logo for the store itself. This would be considered built environment because its the creation of a physical building.
Ward 2 Non-profit Community Center
What I would contribute to the city of Ralston is a non-profit organization can the Ralston community center. The city of Ralston is a tight-knit community, so it would only make sense that there would be a community center where the after school center would be held and even an adult learning for new foreign residents. The center would be a contact zone since many members of the community would be attending the center. A heart and soul attribute would be community building and just making deeper connections in the city of Ralston.
The ward that I choose for my contribution is ward 2. Since word two is claimed to be the “hub of the city” and also: highly engaging and invested in others.” Since ward 2 has the highest percentage of affording to house, there will be many kids and teenagers to participate in my community center—another reason why I choose ward two because many of the buildings are zoned for non-profit organizations. So we could find a facility that will work well for the Ralston Community Center.
Organized Religion
From my understanding Ralston doesn’t have much in the way of organized religion. I think Ralston could benefit from some. Churches, temples, and mosques would provide a stronger community to Ralston, something that Ralston seems to focus on. To go with these places of worship, yearly events could further help Ralston’s social capital. I’ve talked about New Canaan’s May Fair at St. Marks, this event brings together the whole community for a few days of the year. So, giving Ralston some sort of public fair for fundraising could help to better define the essence of Ralston and to bring together the entire community.
Flower/plant Shop
A business proposal I would bring to Ralston would be a flower/plant shop. I would start a business that would own property and has a few greenhouses to grow in. Being hired by the city to create and maintain gardens throughout the community would bring beauty for the passerby, more jobs, and revenue/support to a local business. Providing the city with a unique character through gardening while offering plants, mulch, and floral deliveries to the community members. Improving the community through gardening on the streets, around main signs, and city buildings would show the Heart & Soul Attributes while creating a different reputation compared to the neighboring city of Burlington.
Metro System
My contribution to life in Ralston would be a metro system. This would go under built environment. This metro would connect the different wards together more and give a faster way to go to different areas of the city. This would also build a better and tighter community within the city as well.
Ward 2 Bike-sharing Business
My proposal for a contribution to the town of Ralston is a bike-sharing business. Similar to the photo on the left, I think a service that would allow people to rent bikes to ride around town would be extremely beneficial to a town like Ralston. Ralston gives me the impression that the people who live there like to be outside amongst other people. It seems like a social town with residents who genuinely like talking with one another. And looking at the town map, Ralston looks like a nice place to ride around, whether you’re going to work or just trying to get outside. I think adding a service like bike-sharing to Ralson would greatly decrease it’s environmental impact while simultaneously increasing its social capital. Social capital is described as “features of social organization in a community, such as networks, norms, and social trust, that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit.” (Putnam, Bowling Alone) In this sense, bike sharing would not only create another network for people to see and talk to each other through, but would also create another norm around town. Don’t feel like driving to work? Use the bike-sharing service! Want to get out of the house and see the town while doing some light exercise? Use the bike-sharing service! There are so many opportunities for social interaction with a bike sharing service and although Ralston doesn’t necessarily need another outlet for social interaction, it doesn’t hurt to have it.
Q: Why Ward 2 for this Business?
Sticking with my original community contribution, I will be starting a bike-sharing business in Ralston. I want my business to be in Ward 2, specifically in the very East part of Ward 2. The East part of Ward 2 seems to be a very populated part of town in terms of businesses. It seems to be the downtown area, which presumably would have a lot of people walking about. I feel that having the bike racks here would make them very accessible to all of the people downtown. The East part of Ward 2 is also a generally central part of town, so if someone needed to access a bike, hopefully the bike racks would be a relatively equal distance from everyone. I still believe that this business could be an excellent contact zone, “Social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power” (Pratt). for this downtown area. A lot of people, equals a lot of foot traffic, equals a lot of business, equals a lot of people in the community served. People hanging out downtown may see the bikes and just decide they want to go on a ride at a nearby park – which they can do because this location I picked is not only in a Ward with a lot of parks, it is also very close to said parks. People who need to bike to work can get a bike downtown and then bike from this central location to wherever their job is. I think this location will work for any and all needs.
Works CitedPratt, Mary Louise. “Arts of the Contact Zone.” Ways of Reading, edited by David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005.
Ordinance: More Roads
My contribution idea to the community of Ralston is in form of town ordinance I would say. The ordinance is to create a board or committee to facilitate the construction of new, more modern and direct roads on the island. I believe this is important as about half of the island is really disconnected from the main downtown part, not in the way where it is “quiet living”, more so just actually disconnected. The goal of this board would be to facilitate the construction of new main roads that reach the furthest points of the island that create direct routes to important parts of the community so that everyone can enjoy what Ralston has to offer. Though it is imperative to note, aside from the goal is to preserve the natural beauty of the countryside of the community. Roads should not go through any important sites where it is considered scenic, or the road could be placed somewhere less intrusive. The goal of these roads is to increase the amount of social capital as well as let people who don’t live in the immediate town participate in the town more often, thus giving them more representation
Ralston, Vermont's "Green Island" City 