SHIFTING TO NEXT GROWTH-PHASE FOR THIS CITY-JOURNAL

Posted:  1 May 13

1.  PURPOSES

To inform my readers of a few developments that will affect production and maintenance of this Pittsburg City-Journal (PCJ) over the short-term, as PCJ Version 2.0 is developed and brought on-line.

• Please be patient, for the result should be a far superior product which incorporates the lessons learned during the closing, months-long current start-up phase -- and the ideas and information developed and accumulated over a far, far longer period.
• In essence, I must temporarily shift priorities from (1) rapidly and regularly publishing daily updates (2) to concentrating on development of Version 2.0 of this Pittsburg City-Journal -- and I still may be able to do catch-up, in batches of bulletins, as I continue system-building -- and as opportunities can be created to do the daily chores.
• Further, I am now able to begin automating many of my routine tasks (since I now know what they are), which should get me back on track with maintenance duties, pretty quickly.

It's tricky to extensively modify an active blog and keep it fresh for readers at the same time as the larger work proceeds.  I have delayed doing the public aspects of this drastic re-work until absolutely ready to proceed.  That time has now arrived.

2.  THE FAST-EVOLVING SITUATION

I am bearing down hard on developing Version 2.0 to this City-Journal to maximize its service to our community (and beyond).  Here are some of the changes coming down the pike.  

Upon completion of this redesign phase, 

I expect to have achieved the following in-roads:

2.1  The PCJ will become a purely Pittsburg-specific communications vehicle -- separating "not-exclusively-Pittsburg" information into more logical web objects (blogs and traditional websites), under development.  The PCJ will become a subset of 2.2, below.

2.2  Our County will be served with a web-site/blog system called "A Civic Mentor for Contra Costa County."  Links to every useful bit of County information I can find will be consolidated in the Civic Mentor, together with daily bulletins of focused application:

• for the County, as a whole, 
• AND for each individual City and Unincorporated Community comprising the County. 
• Separate "City-Journals" and "Civic Mentor Systems" will begin to emerge to explicitly serve the unique needs of each individual jurisdiction -- as subsets of the County Civic Mentor.
• Please note -- this is not to compete with other individual and group Internet presences - rather this is to help increase awareness and promote and celebrate ALL of them where they belong -- within our consciousnesses -- more fully -- and with better timing -- than is presently the case.

2.3  Our Economic Region, the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA) will have its own Civic Mentor, which will address it, as a whole, along with the nine counties (and communities) comprising it -- with the Civic Mentor for Contra Costa County becoming a subset of this.

2.4  The same will be done to methodically address all the other jurisdictional levels that surround and affect us, concentrically (for we are interdependent with the whole, vast thing): 

1. the State and its other economic regions and counties; 
2. the Nation and its other states; and 
3. the World and its other nation-states

--- "RE-INVENTING" OF THE WHEEL WILL BE MINIMIZED -- for fine minds and hard work of our fellow citizens of this world have already done (and are doing) much of what needs doing.  It makes little sense to duplicate the efforts and achievements of others, rather than to use and build upon these valuables -- giving full credit where it is due.

• It's just that their contributions are still largely scattered around the landscape and are not always readily accessible.  
• I mean to bring their work together in one efficient place, so we can access the fruits of their labors at exactly the right moment when most needed.  
• I don't know all there is to know, but I do think I see how these things can be brought together to maximize their value and timely access.

2.5  THE RESULT WILL BE AN INTEGRATED, COMPREHENSIVE, COHERENT "civic information management system-model" which will eventually consolidate, all in one convenient place, ALL the information a citizen (or resident) might ever need to fully access and monitor the TOTAL changing environment and to thrive within it.

2.6  SIMULTANEOUSLY -- "General Management System Models" will be offered to guide and assist anyone who wants this help, in using this vast information-array to better manage all the significant aspects of day-to-day existence.  

--- 2.6.1  Specifically offered with be a complete and integrated set of management system-models for the people to use, as they see fit, at the "grass roots," where we ALL reside -- AT OUR VERY FINGER-TIPS -- all models blended as one cohesive and coherent system-of-systems -- with sub-systems (below) that can be readily customized to meet specific user requirements -- and which will make it easier to do all the things that we feel, know, or don't know need doing, in this life, in proper turn, as self-fulfilling, civically-responsive human beings.

--- 2.6.2  Accordingly, there will be personalizable management sub-systems for the following aspects of our existences, to be made freely available to all who desire such advantages:

• Individual affairs
• Family affairs
• Household affairs
• Work and Leisure
• Neighborhood affairs
• City Affairs
• County Affairs
• Regional Affairs
• State Affairs
• National Affairs
• Global Affairs

3.  OVERARCHING RATIONALE

To make the most of this "puzzle called life," it makes sense (at least to me) to systematically identify, examine, reconcile, and logically arrange ALL THE PUZZLE PIECES, EVERYWHERE (for they all have at least some bearing on us) to insure that nothing important is left out -- or out of balance -- and that all pieces are assembled for ease of use and maximum practicality -- and that we can coordinate these usages, together, as efficiently and effectively as possible.  In other words, satisfactory systems tend to be sufficiently thorough -- and all systems tend to be subsystems of successively larger ones.

I am resolved to do exactly as I have stated, in the time remaining.  This is just a beginning, to the extent of wisdom available to me.  The real power will come when there exists something suitable on which all of us can (and are willing to) collaborate and concentrate our collective genius, wisdom, energy, and good will to help refine and perfect what is yet to be perfected.

4.  THANK YOU

Thanks for your understanding.  I will do everything I can to minimize any inconvenience and to make any delays well worth your/our while.  And, I will keep you as closely informed as is possible and reasonable.


Respectfully yours,

David Nelson

P.S.  As are we all, I am still learning and growing.  Plans change in light of new developments.  All plans are subject to fate's final arbitration.  The above is an expression of my will -- always with the humble concession that fate sets the ultimate agenda.  The best that we mortals can ever do is to offer our best efforts.  And, that I shall.


All Original Content © 2013 , The MENTOR Enterprises / ELMS, All Rights Reserved -- BUT, I hereby suspend those rights, to this extent: You may freely copy and pass this along, if you think it will do some good -- as long as it's free of charge, unchanged, and you include this statement.