Infrastructure Image Crisis — DFS Seeks funds for it’s operational base from the American Rescue Plan Funds, and an important encounter at Kaiser ER Entrance with Warren Salmons a former Dixon City Manager
Image Crisis! DFS Seeks Infrastructure funds for it’s operational base from the American Rescue Plan Funds, and an important encounter at Kaiser Emergency Entrance with Warren Salmons a former Dixon City Manager
By Ben Edokpayi © (Enterprise Journalism)
https://www.whitehouse.gov/american-rescue-plan/
WordCount 2108
Cookie Powell, the longest tenured Director of Dixon Family Services, a Non-Profit Organization that provides quality of life services for all families and individuals in Dixon, On Tuesday November 15 made a clarion call for infrastructure aid for their headquarters which they have inhabited since 1984.
“There are some areas that need attention in our building and I will like to start by looking at what is possible and start a conversation with Council about the lease from 1998,” said Cookie Powell In her Non-Agenda comments at the last Dixon City Council Session in November.
Cookie Powell urged Council to look at funds for a DFS retrofit project from the American Rescue Funds legislation which excluded Non-Profit Organizations from Small Business Grants. “Council should do something to change that and I look forward to start a conversation soon,” said Cookie Powell who assumed the position from Ben Romero.
Known for her passionate concern about quality of life matters in Solano, Powell’s concern about equity for all in the concern is depicted in a letter she sent to this reporter in 2004 “ Dear Ben, I read your editorial about F.A.I.R (A Political Group In Dixon) … get its act together….” this morning and I want to thank you so much for your opinion and expression of it in regards to the group’s biases against people who live on a lower income than they do. You said many of the things I feel. Because I am so passionate and concerned for the very persons they are so UN FAIR ly discriminating against, I could never put it so well as you did. When I hear them talk about “those people” when referring to what they consider undesirables in their neighborhood I always want to ask if they always lived in a $300,000.00 plus home, or did they start out in an apartment or two? I know I did,” said Cookie in a letter sent to me during my first stint at the Dixon Tribune between 2002 and 2006, when Warren SALMONS was city Manager who this reporter met at a routine Medical appointment at Kaiser Vacaville in 2016, a few months after my ex was admitted from an emergency (injury to her midsection) that required EMTs and stitches and five years before the onset of Coronavirus and an initial response that was lukewarm and shambolic and disorganized.
Walensky, Citing Botched Pandemic Response, Calls for C.D.C. Reorganization https://nyti.ms/3Qy849o
Trade Adviser Warned White House in January of Risks of a Pandemic https://nyti.ms/3aPtSZ5 https://twitter.com/BenjaminEdokpa1/status/1558075381860601861?s=20&t=ANkvOopTBWHFSmGYuJLwzQ
https://www.hhs.gov/regulations/index.html
Former Dixon City Manager Warren Salmons who looked concerned at our brief encounter at the entrance to Kaiser Vacaville, Emergency was with the wife.
“Dixon Family Services is a community-based organization serving Dixon and the surrounding rural areas since 1984. Our one-stop-shop of social services helps hundreds of people each year achieve goals such as employment, financial stability, improved nutrition, escape from domestic violence, sobriety, emotional wellness, positive parenting skills, safe and healthy homes and family cohesiveness. Many are now active and giving members of this community. Founded in 1984, Dixon Family Services programs have grown and changed to fit the needs of this community. All Services Are Offered In English and Spanish.”
Dixon Senior Citizen Of The Year Award Winner Is Kathy Jones (This article in support of DFS was first published on April 26 in the Dixon Tribune.)
By Ben Edokpayi ©
After a two-year hiatus prompted by the Coronavirus outbreak, the worst virus since the 1918 influenza pandemic Kathy Jones will be announced on Saturday as Dixon’s Outstanding Senior Citizen of the Year.
This year’s event, which will feature 18 vendors, is scheduled for April 30 between 10 AM and 1 PM at the Dixon Senior Center near the Dixon City Hall.
Fair attendees will have the opportunity to explore Housing, Elder Fraud Abuse and Medical Resources informed Mary Lou Batchelor, an organizer for the event.
The award winner, who trained as a nurse, relocated to Dixon in 1981 and she and her late husband Bill Jones, whom she met in Spain, immediately became an integral part of the community.
She has been a pillar of help to others ever since. Her generosity is well-known. Here are a few efforts: ·Vista Volunteer in Service to America · Helped Dixon Community Nursery School ·Special Friend Counselor — Just for Kids Program at Dixon Family Services· Dixon Dolphins Swim Team Mom ·Served on the Site Councils — C A Jacobs and Dixon High School ·Worked in the grammar school classrooms ·Sober Grad Night Volunteer ·St. Vincent de Paul Food Locker ·St. James School — early school program ·Active Member of St. Peters Church and YLI, also a Eucharistic Minister and First Holy Communion Teacher · “Team Dixon” volunteer ·Advocates for Dixon Seniors
Bill and Kathy Jones have two lovely daughters: Erin Tyler who lives in Oklahoma with her husband Rocke and their daughter Eiley (7), and Emily who is here in Dixon and is married to Bill Slater. Two children, Jemma Dubach (11) and Charlie Slater (2).
She likes to be involved, enjoys reading, making memories with her grandchildren, spending time with family and friends, laughing, and wine tasting (on occasion)!
In addition to fighting for more housing for seniors, Mary Lou Batchelor said the construction of a Hospital in Dixon, a town with a population north of 21,000 is extremely important to sustain the good quality of life here.
Resources for Seniors on how to detect and Report Elder Abuse Fraud
https://ovc.ojp.gov/program/stop-elder-fraud/providing-help-restoring-hope
https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice
https://www.solanocounty.com/depts/sheriff/
https://dtsc.ca.gov/your-envirostor/
From My Archives as Dixon Tribune Editor! A city/nation in search of an image and a credible voice, With No Room for Impostors
https://www.instagram.com/p/CN2JxyZH4Pl/
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/04/14/business/after-nuance-deal-whats-next-voice-recognition-tech/
Now for the Real Spill! Covering events, and city council meetings while I was editor of the Dixon Tribune was quite interesting. From mundane issues such as first baby of the year, to local elections, interesting sound bytes at city council meetings, to military deployments, high school sports and false alarms and home screen, there was always something interesting to write about in the small town of Dixon. In this continuation of my editorial journal as the only black man who has worked or wriTen for all newspapers in Solano County, the focus is on Dixon’s search for a good image and brand, which I am sure every other city in the US including Fairfield, which I called home after I and my ex-wife moved here in 1992, and Nigeria have serious lessons to learn about the need for cities to seek a pristine image. In Solano and in Nigeria I know I have never sullied municipal images.
This article was first published in the Dixon Tribune.
A city/nation in search of an image and a credible voice
By Ben Edokpayi ©
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MqyE909iCM&feature=share
Paris is known for the Eiffel Tower. Cairo is associated with pyramids and sphinxes. Closer home, there is Elk Grove in the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area and Antioch, Gateway to the Delta. The mention of San Francisco also evokes images of the Golden Gate Bridge, the COIT tower or Fisherman’s Wharf.
At the county headquarters in Solano they have an arched structure that welcomes you to Fairfield.
There is a pattern here. Cities are beginning to combine historical landmarks with catchy slogans and distinctive logos to create an attractive brand or image for themselves.
In an era where a city’s identity can help pull in more investment and visitors, many city governments and local chambers of commerce are allocating more time and funds to spruce up the image of their communities.
In Birmingham, Alabama for instance, the local chamber of commerce recently spent over $1 million on TV and Radio spots to let residents know that their city is better than what they think.
In Dixon, creating a distinct image with citywide logo signage is among the city council’s goals for fiscal year 2003–2004, and was among topics discussed in February when key city government officials converged for a goals setting session. Also members of Downtown Dixon Business Association, DDBA, have begun a branding campaign with the launching of a logo earlier this month. The logo illustrates a Union Pacific freight train on the rail tracks that traverses through Downtown Dixon.
So in essence the city has kicked off the machinery for its own branding campaign. With a recent quickening of pace in the city’s economic and investment activity all of this could not have come at a better time. But there are a lot of hurdles to be cleared.
“ At this point what I can say definitively is the city council is interested in having some sort of entry statements or physical structure of some sort and signage that says to people ‘ You are in Dixon Now’. It’s a welcome sign or some sort of thing like that,” says Warren Salmons, the City’s Manager.
Salmons adds that there has to be a process before a specific image can be created. “ You know it could really be elaborate or simple, but I think nevertheless there are a lot of folks who’d probably want to share ideas about the vision of what those entry statements ought to be. Some people would like to see signages that display all of the service club emblems, some a structure, or something signifying our agricultural heritage- a windmill or something,” he says.
All of this indicates that the process is still in its definitive stage where city officials are still trying to figure out a novel way of marketing the city. It also shows how complex and subjective the issue of branding can be.
Take for instance a campaign several years ago that sought to brand Baltimore with a bunch of forgettable slogans including one describing it as “ Crab City.” That effort proved to be a failure and now city officials have begun a new campaign branding Baltimore as “ The Greatest City in America.” But even that has not won the widespread support from the city’s residents.
It is obvious that there will be divergent opinions on this matter. “ Well, they have certainly set an uphill task for themselves,” says Ardeth Riedel, a prominent historian in the city. “ We need improvements and I understand some of the historic buildings and landmarks have to be up to code, but they should be able to incorporate some of the city’s old elements with anything new they are going to do,” says Riedel.
The process is still in its infancy stage, but Salmons can already envisage the tortuous progress it will make.
“ I would hope this would not be a hot button issue, but any time you are trying to design something by committee, there could be a lot of discussion,” says Salmons. He gives the downtown enhancement project that will go to bid next week as an example. But the City Manager is confident that a middle ground can be reached when the branding process kicks off.
“ I think some elements of the community will try to have something that is emblematic of the town’s historic character. Others will want to say ‘no it’s got to be contemporary.’ My guess is it would probably be something in-between.”
This article first appeared in the Dixon Tribune
It’s all about branding as these images and brand names depict. Before its search for a new image the city of Dixon, California was renowned for the May Fair festival; Paris has always been identified with the Eiffel Tower and New York just plainly “The Big Apple”. In Africa, brand tags range from “Eko for Show” for Lagos, city of blood (from the British invasion) for Benin, running splash of rust and gold for Ibadan,Kano is often identified with the arched gateway into the city, and Cairo from prehistoric times has always been identified with pyramids, pharaohs and sphinxes.
Ben Edokpayi is a Fairfield Based African-American Journalist.
