MAYOR'S MESSAGE Take Another Look at Your Hometown When you have lived somewhere for a long time, it can be easy to stop noticing the things around you. We drive the same streets, pass the same buildings, visit the same businesses, and go about our daily routines without always stopping to see our community the way someone visiting for the first time might. So, before summer gets away from us, I would like to offer a simple challenge: take another look at your hometown. Spend an afternoon walking through downtown. Head out to Empire and stop somewhere you have not visited in a while, or make your way over to Eastside and spend some time at the boat ramp watching the activity on the bay. Take a walk along the waterfront, visit one of our parks, try a locally owned restaurant or shop, or attend a community event. Even taking a different route home can give you a chance to notice something you may have been passing by every day. You might see a building with a fresh coat of paint, a new business that has opened, flowers planted along a sidewalk, families enjoying one of our parks, or volunteers giving their time to improve our community. You may also notice places where there is still work to be done. That is part of knowing your community, too. Taking pride in where we live does not mean overlooking our challenges; it means recognizing what we have while continuing to work toward what we want Coos Bay to become. Our community has a long history and a character all its own. Like every community, we face challenges, but we also have people who continue to invest their time, energy, ideas, and resources here because they believe Coos Bay is worth investing in. Sometimes community pride begins with simply taking another look at the place we call home. This August, I hope you will take a little time to explore Coos Bay as though you were seeing it for the first time. Support a local business. Enjoy one of our public spaces. Say hello to someone you know—or perhaps someone you do not. Look around, take in what is changing, appreciate what has been here all along, and remember some of the reasons we are fortunate to call Coos Bay home. -Joe Benetti, Mayor of Coos BayPhotos from Coos Bay - City Government's post