To the editor:

I just recently visited South Bend’s Ignite Michiana celebration.
Wow!What a pleasure to see all the energy being spent by the people of that city.
They are working diligently revitalizing much of their city.
Using the influence of the river and green ecology they are boosting their tourism.
By promoting their community gardens and many of their restaurants using locally grown meats and vegetables they are fostering a healthier community.
Another part of this development is their water and sewer service which is very high tech and managed with a control system that is top of the line as for these kinds of systems.
They are developing an area called Ignition Park where many businesses share the use of green energy power sources  and are located in the same area making a hub where shipping and sourcing of other services work better.
These programs are not run by the common council.
They are directed by many project managers under the direction of their mayor, who himself is very energetic and is involved as a member of the project teams.
Many of the gardening teams work on the weekends, giving up their time to help others in their communities.
With more than 400 people being involved, the weekend was a great place to be and see people come together for the common good of all.
This would be a great thing for Dowagiac to focus on to revitalize our city.
We would have to accept modern thinking and search out projects that are needed to help our community, but this can be done by empowering people to lead each project.
Junior Oliver
Dowagiac