A Message from Chamber CEO Douglass Wilhoit:

Spring, construction is in the air

APRIL 2009 - Spring is in the air, but we do need more rain, the marina construction is exciting to watch, our area athletes have excelled and are wonderful representatives of this great community and the people of this community, Stockton, are showing a stronger “CAN DO” attitude that is good to see.

To all of you who attended the 2009 State of the City, my apologies for not attending but that virus knocked me for a loop. I know you came away with a strong feeling that the City of Stockton will overcome the temporary problems we and many other communities across this nation are having by working as a community as “us and not we and they!”  Mayor Johnston has set the course we must all take to make this community better and be prepared for the upturn when it does and will come.

Your Chamber is working with the mayor to move her agenda forward along with our many partners who, like us, believe in total community participation like all the State of the City sponsors, exhibitors, Port of Stockton, Outback Steakhouse, Asparagus Festival and most of all the wonderful staff and volunteers who worked so hard (at times under some very trying circumstances) to make the day a success. Let’s use this example of working together on the larger scale of the entire City of Stockton!

As I have stated many times before, I do not put any stock in these irresponsible polls that come out from time to time using subjective rather than objective statistics in ranking cities and the Forbes list on “miserable cities” is no exception. Those who put together these polls from afar using only numbers that can be twisted and manipulated any way one wants are at the least unfair to a community and truly are, at the most, irresponsible to the welfare of the people of any given community. The Forbes folks certainly have not been here and they have not even responded to the new Stockton Tabletop Book and visitors guide we sent them so it proves they are rude, elitist and disrespectful!

Now to my point! There is an old saying that “misery loves company” so we are in great company as you will read below. As an illustration as to how stupid and idiotic these polls that surface from time to time are, let me share with you one I received from a fellow Asparagus Festival Board member and I forwarded it to Mike Fitzgerald who did at least put it on his blog but did not see it in print for others, who do not go to blogs, would see and fully understand that these polls are worthless.

This was a recent poll done by Business Week and it was the “Top 10 Unhappiest and Depressed American cities.” Business Week used somewhat similar stats used by Forbes and guess what, as my fellow board member said to me, “A list Stockton did not make.” Are you ready, here are the Top 10 from one to 10: Portland, Oregon, St. Louis, New Orleans, Detroit, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Florida, Las Vegas, Nashville-Davidson, Tennessee, Cincinnati and Atlanta.

I went to the Business Week website and it showed up to the top 20 Unhappiest and Depressed Cities and Stockton, as I knew it would not be, was not there either! But, guess what city made the list as number 12 out of the top 20 (drum roll please) Sacramento. I rest my case as to the stupidity of these polls that people with nothing better to do or probably more accurately do not feel good about themselves and try to “share their misery.”

When people visit Stockton for either business or pleasure they almost 100% of the time leave with a good impression of Stockonians and this community! To illustrate this point let me tell you about a firsthand experience that has been memorialized in a book just released.

In November of 2008 we were honored to have the founder of the ATHENA Award, Martha Mayhood Mertz, be our keynote at the annual award luncheon where Mary Bava was the 2008 ATHENA Honoree. Ms. Mertz had so many wonderful things to say about Stockton and the people she met during her presentation. She talked about a book she was writing called, “Becoming ATHENA Eight Principles of Enlightened Leadership.”  She told all of us that after her most enjoyable visit to Stockton she was going to hurry home and make sure to have Stockton included in the book that was about to be published.

In part here is what she had to say about Stockton on pages 246 to 254: “---- ATHENA has encouraged public, purposeful celebration of those we identify as leaders. Celebrating ATHENA leaders for all to see, we reasoned, would not only give these individuals their due; it also would inspire and embolden more leaders like them.”

“That’s certainly how it has worked out in Stockton, California. To put that community’s ATHENA history in perspective, the year Stockton named its first ATHENA Award recipient was the same year IBM introduced the first laptop computer — and “The Oprah Winfrey Show” premiered! Its 1986 launch means Stockton has one of the longest-running ATHENA Award programs. So I was deeply honored when Stockton asked me to speak at the November 2008 event honoring its twenty-second ATHENA Award recipient.”

“The Stockton event’s invitation was both elegant and eloquent. It read in part: “There is a new kind of leader lighting the way in the twenty-first century — one who leads with the head and heart, blending a keen intellect with the intuitive wisdom that comes from rich life experience. This new leader is a nurturer, a learner, a teacher and a creator who takes risks and advocates fiercely for change, for justice, and above all, for others.”

“The way ATHENA Award recipients are celebrated has changed a lot in Stockton since university administrator Judith Chambers received the honor in 1986.” “How different things were for 2008 recipient Mary Bava.” “I joined Stockton’s ATHENA community in toasting Mary not just at its traditional luncheon, but also the night before at a grand reception in a previous ATHENA Award recipient’s (Cyril Seligman) beautiful home.”

“After more than two decades, Stockton has a small army of past recipients, and they are on the march. Several of them have begun meeting regularly, calling themselves Team ATHENA (NOTE: Now an official committee of the Chamber chaired by Judith Buethe and Kristen Spracher-Birtwhistle both ATHENA recipients) to see how they can support and expand the movement.”

“Heading home after addressing a crowd of 300 at Stockton’s ATHENA Award luncheon, I found myself thinking back over all the years and the many places I’d been privileged to go, participating in this very same kind of celebration…Each reflects the flavor of its host community; each honors someone who made extraordinary contributions to that community, and who accepts the community’s thanks with disarming grace and humility. Such celebrations aren’t just breathtaking for recipients but affirming for us all.”

I am honored to have a signed copy of Ms. Mertz book and I read and enjoyed it very much. I strongly recommend you order a copy from www.AthenaFoundation.org (then click on “Merchandise).

The whole point being that someone the caliber of Ms. Mertz who has been around the world truly enjoyed Stockton which the Forbes folks have never seen!

Please follow the lead of Mayor Johnston, 1998 ATHENA Award recipient, and join in together to CELEBRATE STOCKTON!