concerned citizens.

As you all know, the City of Windom has sent River City Eatery a City Code Violation regarding our beloved pallet patio (please refer to past post containing the violation letter).  On Thursday, June 19th, I must meet in front of the Windom Nuisance Board, and they will determine the fate of my patio.  I have created an event on Facebook asking for the community's support in order to save the pallet patio.  I have received so much support it makes me believe good will prevail!  Of course, as you all know, I will remain professional and poised in order to do all I can do as an active member of this community and to protect its reputation.  For the last almost 4 years since the inception of Finding Windom and my blog, I have tried to remain positive and use positivity to promote progression in our community in order for Windom to have a legitimate rural existence in today's world.  Since I have not heard much from city leaders, I thought it would be appropriate to express my concerns about the action taken against River City Eatery's patio:

 

Dear City Council and City Administrator,

It’s me again, your biggest cheerleader, Mari Harries. As someone who genuinely cares for her hometown and its reputation, I want to express my concerns with what is going on in the Building and Zoning Department. As elected officials of the great City of Windom, I hope you have been informed of my recent letter sent by Mr. Kartes, the Building and Zoning official for the City of Windom. I have attached it for your information. I’m hoping you will take the time to read it and take the time to fully understand what this City Code Violation letter means. I appreciate the updated nuisance abatement procedure; however, I ask you to research this violation letter sent to me by the Building and Zoning official by not just asking Mr. Kartes what the ordinances may be, but by also talking to your fellow community members and myself. I’d love for you to research it by physically stepping into my business, heck, stay all day because I’d love for you to meet the wonderful people I get to meet every day who come to River City Eatery and are craving not only my menu items, but craving a Windom experience that gives each of them endless reasons to come back. And, I’d love for you to personally enjoy my pallet patio. I ask you, after reading for yourselves the City’s Codes and Ordinances to see if this pallet patio is truly a public nuisance because if it is against City Code, you have made a very big mistake, I’m afraid. I’m asking you to start holding yourselves accountable to truly knowing the community you live in and the people hired to keep it up to the standards we all deserve. I’m asking you to take a stance on the can of worms this man, who works for our great city, has opened. I’m simply trying to prepare you for what may happen by targeting River City Eatery's Pallet Patio instead of focusing on legitimate, ongoing Nuisance Abatement issues within our community. The nuisance issues that truly affect public health and safety.

You see, as a small business owner who uses social media as a vital, necessary marketing tool, I’ve made this City Code Violation public by using social media because I have never been so disappointed in my home and feel the public, and you, deserve better than the archaic principles of this hypothetical code violation. I’ve also shared this Code Violation Letter because my customers and guests deserve to know the potential fate of the beloved Pallet Patio, a positive community gathering place. I’ve made this letter available for the world to see on the world-wide-web, so please, pretty please, act wisely because the last thing you and I want is for Windom to have a negative reputation, especially a negative reputation of City government. We also don’t want the kind of reputation that negatively influences the infinite possibilities of future small businesses in our community.

I’m not trying to sway you one way or the other, I just want you to know the weight of the action taken by sending this City Code Violation regarding River City Eatery’s Pallet Patio may prove to be heavy as many people are just as disappointed as myself regarding this violation. Many people will be showing support at this Nuisance Board meeting on Thursday, June 19^th at 7pm at the City Council Chambers. So please take the time to get to know this case as I’m sure there will be many people there with questions. I value your reputation as a City Council-I hope you are aware of the power you all have to do wonderful things! And also have the power to do not so wonderful things, but those not so wonderful things don’t give people what they are craving, which is a delightful reason to return, stay, live, work and play in beautiful downtown Windom.

As the founder of Finding Windom, a small business owner, an advocate for community pride, a steward for a legitimate rural existence, and now after seeing the countless comments and concerns regarding the fate of River City Eatery’s Pallet Patio on social media, I urge you to challenge yourself to find the right answer or at least do something to move our community forward in a positive way so we can all have a legitimate rural existence in today’s progressive and ever-changing world. This has always been and will continue to be my mission for our community, and I hope you agree.

I’m sharing my concerns with you because I genuinely want Windom to be all it can be, and you have the power to help, both as a city council member and as a member of this community, like myself. I wish you could see what I see in Windom-it’s a great place, just like River City Eatery.

I would appreciate your time, your concerns, your discussion, and your questions because these are things that move our community forward in a positive way. My door is always open and always welcoming. Communication is always important.

Will always continue to remain your cheerleader and remain an active member in the community who has shaped the person I am today,

KDOM kalidescope.

The following was played on the radio last week, Thursday, May 1st, and I wanted to share for those of you who missed it or cannot get KDOM in your area.  Finding Windom thought it was appropriate to utilize KDOM's Kalidescope to promote the annual city wide junk pick up day (one of my favorite times of the year because I appreciate the opportunity to do my own "spring cleaning" free of charge).

A BIG thank you to KDOM radio for letting a few Finding Windom representatives discuss the 5 reasons why we should take pride in our community by keeping it clean and also to promote the city wide junk pick up, and of course to show our support in any clean up efforts that take place within the community.  We will continue to respectfully and actively support all efforts in making our city a better place because Windom deserves to be a desirable place to live, work and play!

my response.

May 7^th, 2014

Re: City Code Violation- 344 10^th Street, Windom

Dear Mr. Kartes,

I received your letter regarding my pallet “fence” behind River City Eatery; however, this “fence” you speak of is actually pallet seating.

 

I would greatly appreciate exercising my right to request a meeting in front of the Windom Nuisance Board.  Please respond with a time and place for the meeting as I would like to meet in front of the board.

Thank you for your concerns,

Mari Harries

Mari Harries

Owner, River City Eatery

city code violation.

something to ponder, if you have time...

Once again, I sit here in front of one of my happy places (my Finding Windom blog), ashamed it has taken me months to get here again.  Believe me when I tell you I have written a million posts in my mind while chopping onions to make the Soup of the Day or finishing up the last of the day's dishes in the kitchen of River City Eatery after a busy day. It is still a constant in my mind, this place I contently call home, all the possible evolution that is waiting to be surfaced around that beautiful "castle," as my son calls it.  The grandeur of history stands tall in the center of all the hubub of a day.  There is no doubt you can feel the pride of our ancestors work marking Windom as the county seat of Cottonwood County by building such an astonishing courthouse in our downtown.  Even my toddler can appreciate its beauty as he, and his cousins, ride their bikes up and down the sidewalks pretending it really is their castle.  The truth is, it really is everyone's castle. 

 

I recently read this article (below), and I couldn't stop thinking about it.  I finally understand why it stuck with me for so long-I think it can relate to Windom (and other rural communities) and what I've been trying to explain through all these crazy posts since the inception of my Finding Windom blog. 

 

Please read: 

 

"A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went... through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

 

Interesting story, right? 

 

Now apply it to Windom.  How many times have we dismissed talent in Windom?  How many times have we dismissed what a local business can offer to go straight for the big town, big box store who is offering the same product?  How many times have we sent our talented, educated young men and women away to a big cities because "there is nothing here for you?"  How many times have we accepted the garbage blowing across the street, crumbling brick and mortar, chipped paint, meth houses/buildings because it is just "good enough?"  How many times have we sought the help and ideas of companies from big cities to tell us what our city needs to do to "survive?"  How many times have we dismissed the beauty of our courthouse and our unique downtown?"

 

We are perfectly capable, as community members, to respect ourselves and to protect our quality of life.  How do we perceive ourselves as a rural community or what most would think of as "unexpected content" for success, talent, even creativity?  We need to start giving ourselves some credit, by respecting the work of our ancestors, by giving our community a thriving future, by evolving into a place where we celebrate what we have to offer and take pride in what we have to offer.  After all, we are the little city that would, so we should not continue to be the little city that could.  Just think about it for a second, the answer is within ourselves, you know, as a community, how we want to be perceived by others.