Why can’t Susanville be like Bandon?

I recently went on a cruise, my first, which left from Seattle. Rather than flying I chose to drive there and back.

I followed the coast on my return to explore the Pacific Northwest and stumbled onto a small town of Bandon on the Oregon coast. After driving through the downtown area, I decided to overnight there.

Bandon, I learned is known for golf resorts, the scenic surrounding shoreline and cranberry farming. Its population is only about 3,340. The downtown is small – about four blocks long and two streets wide, but filled with restaurants, coffee shops, bars and artsy shops catering to seasonal visitors and those passing through.

It got me to thinking … why can’t Susanville be like Bandon?

If you exclude the prison population Susanville is twice Bandon’s size. Like Bandon it sees a constant stream of traffic heading north and south.

However, unlike Bandon there is nothing appealing about Susanville’s downtown that would cause anyone to stop along their journey.

No trees to offer shade in the summer. No welcoming parks or green space for picnics. No EV charging stations. No restaurants. No pubs. No RV parks. Just shuttered storefronts, buildings in disrepair, and burned down structures. And new streetlamps on the southern approach into town.

Few would argue that the town is slowly dying.

Young people are leaving. Over-dependence on a prison economy leaves the city dependent on forces beyond its control for revenue. It is easy to feel like a victim and blame others for the misfortune.

What to do? How do you regain control over your economy and therefore your fate? Ask anyone in the city and country leadership or employed in the bureaucracy and no doubt you will be given many reasons for why things are the way they are. Other will explain why nothing can be done about it. Maybe it really is too late. Fate.

But here is the thing. Governance and business, as with life, is the process of solving problems. Solving any problem begins with a vision and a plan for overcoming problems to achieve that vision.

In a former life I was an executive for a division of a large successful technology company responsible for revenue growth. My job fundamentally was to solve problems. I would develop a 3-5 year plan identifying where we wanted to be, roadblocks, a strategy for getting there, established milestones that were reviewed and revised, gained approved from the leadership and key stakeholders and then tasked my functional team leaders with figuring out how to deliver for their area of responsibility.

“Bring me your problems,” I coached, “But also bring your analysis and recommendations for how you are going to overcome them along with a list of what investment (additional resources) was needed.”

I would measure progress and report to those I answered to – weekly, monthly and quarterly.

The plan provided the framework for assessing what tasks were important, what activity was additive, and what was just a distraction. Yes, the new streetlamps are nice, but do they provide those passing through with an incentive to stop and inject money into the local economy? Do they align with a plan? Do they contribute to reaching a long-term goal? Or are they window dressing?

This process isn’t rocket science and I didn’t invent it. It is basic blocking and tackling. (It is) what all well-managed organizations do.

I realize that the problems faced by this community are complex. But so are those in the technology industry which is fast changing and brutally competitive and requires collaboration across large, diverse groups and personality types who often have big egos and personal agendas. In technology if you fail, you go out of business.

It is true that most government bureaucrats have little incentive to innovate but this where leadership plays a crucial role. They create the vision. They remove opaqueness and throw light on the process. They develop a plan. Publicly present the plan. Report on progress against the plan. Report on which department heads are hitting their milestones and who are not.

Or not. Continue down the current path and see where it takes you.

Susanville is not Bandon. Its geography is unique. Its people are unique. Its problems are unique. Therefore, the solutions will be unique.

What is not unique is that the solution requires problem solving … along with wise leadership and the courage to do what is necessary to revive this community.

Allan Scott, Susanville