80% Of Success Is Showing Up

“80% of success is showing up.” – Woody Allen

Is Woody Allen’s advice still valid in 2013?

Yes. For politics, it’s more valid than ever. But in a world of pervasive and ubiquitous email, social media, mobile devices and ‘online’ communication of all kinds the need to, and the huge impact of, just ‘showing up‘ is becoming increasingly hard to perceive and appreciate for many people.

In a recent very goofy movie, four guys travel back in time to the 1980s. No one has a smart phone or email. One of our 2010 heroes meets a woman from 1986:

Jacob: Can I text you later?
Girl: What?
Jacob: Are you online at all?
Girl: I have no idea what you’re saying.
Jacob: How do I get a hold of you?
Girl: Come find me.
Jacob: That just sounds…exhausting.

Dating and politics have a lot in common. In both, ultimately, you have to show up.

Which brings me to a crazy, pie-in-the-sky scheme to build a bicycle highway connecting the downtowns of Delaware’s largest and third-largest cities. Please believe me when I say that the only way that this gets done is if there’s a big public demand for it. Public officials are not going to go out on a limb for this project by themselves without a lot of reassuring company from us. We have a singular chance next Tuesday to show them that they will have that support by showing up, in person, at this official DelDOT Public Workshop scheduled for October 1.

Do you live west of Wilmington? Do you want to be able to commute to your job in Wilmington by bike, or bicycle down to the Wilmington Riverfront and see a Blue Rocks game with your kids? Or to hop on an Amtrak train without having to pay for parking? Do you live east of Newark and work or go to school in Newark? Would you like to be able to bicycle easily in and out of Newark (i.e. not on Kirkwood Highway!)? Or do you just live in Wilmington and Newark and want your cities to be vibrant, thriving bike-accessible destinations?

If you want this project, put Tuesday, October 1 on your calendar. And show up!

Public Workshop
Newark-to-Wilmington Trail Study
Wilmington Area Planning Council
850 Library Avenue, Suite 100
Newark
Tuesday
October 1, 2013
4:00 PM to 7:00 PM (arrive anytime during those 3 hours)