Local this, local that, why aren’t we getting it?
I know some of you are doing this, so take this as a kudos to you and not a criticism. Myself, I try, but I know there are areas where I could improve. Feel free to drop comments below for other ideas of things others (and myself) can do to improve…
I recently moved from Blacksburg, VA where there was a big push for local shopping and local dining (buy local. eat local. be local.). We took that to heart and while living in Blacksburg we dined at local establishments rather than chains (Blacksburg has actually been pretty successful (in the past) at keeping the chains at a distance). We shopped at the Blacksburg Farmer’s Market on weekends and we tried to keep it local for shopping when we could (we’ve been boycotting Wal-mart for years and my wife can claim not to have been in one for at least 5 years while I had to cheat once).
I had a wonderful experience recently while attempting to get my North Carolina Drivers License. I spent three hours of my day for what should have been a 20-30 minute exercise. While I usually defend government and bureaucracies as I understand the problems associated with managing drivers licenses and identification for the 10th largest state (by population) which is over 9,000,000 people. I have to wonder at some of the rules and regulations that were put in place (for whatever reason) that make getting things done difficult, time consuming, and potentially even impossible.