Attacking Negativity

Mayor puts positive spin on Pocatello

   POCATELLO — Mayor Brian Blad was at Thursday’s meeting of the Pocatello Rotary Club to give his annual state of the city address when he decided to change it up a little, opting to also speak about the need to talk the city up.
   “It was more about looking to the future of Pocatello,” Blad said on Sunday. “It was about a positive Pocatello, about who we can be and why we should be positive. We have a great place to live and I am excited about where we are and what we are doing.”
   A Pocatello native, Blad said the city has a history of comparing itself to other similar communities around the state with an eye for what it lacks. This attitude, he said, can still be pervasive at times despite organizations such as Valley Pride that have worked for years to change it, and the addition of numerous entities and businesses to the Gate City that few others have.
   “We have a Dick’s Sporting Goods. It’s one of only two in the state,” he pointed out. “We have an Allstate call center, which is the only one in the northwestern U.S. We are one of four cities in the state to have a major university.”
   The things Pocatello does have, those things that those other cities don’t have, is where he’d like to see our focus, Blad said.
   Greg Gunter, president of Rave Communications and a Pocatello Rotary Club member, was at Thursday’s meeting and he said the topic is something he’s heard in the past, that we shouldn’t speak poorly of the city. But he suggests that we do need to occasionally take a hard look at our shortcomings as well, that it’s often the best road toward evolving and making progress.
   He says he also understands where Blad was coming from.
   “There is a tendency to knock ourselves down, and hold ourselves as something less than other cities,” he said. “That’s just not true. We have to realize that we have some things that other cities around the country would die to have.”
   Quality of life, quality people and Idaho State University were just some of those things Gunter listed.
   “But there has to be a balance there,” he said. “I think a lot of people don’t realize just what we have to offer. But at the same time, we have to understand our shortcomings to move ahead.”
   Gunter also said he was not bothered by Blad’s speech.
   I wasn’t taken aback by it at all,” he said. “I understand completely where the mayor was coming from in that negative thinking tends to reinforce itself and positive thinking tends to reinforce itself.”
   Blad also said the city’s shortcomings are not something he thinks should be swept under a rug and simply replaced by a good word or two. In fact, thanks to a recent survey of Pocatello residents, he’s quite aware of where the city is falling short in the eyes of Pocatellans and looks toward addressing those concerns.
   “The survey brought out a lot of really good things, but it also brought out some things we need to work on as a city,” Blad said. “Hopefully, we will be able to put some resources in other areas to help change some of the attitudes people have.”
   Overall, most of the people he talks to have a good attitude about what Pocatello has to offer, Blad said. The hope is in getting everyone else on board to help promote the city.
   “We are moving forward and we are going to need a lot of the community’s help as we do,” he said.

BY JIMMY HANCOCK
jhancock@journalnet.com
1/30/2012