What are your ideas for Dorchester's immediate future? What about the long term?
We want to know.
In our travels around Nebraska, we have found that when it comes to smaller communities, there are winners and there are losers -- towns that are thriving and towns that are withering away. Very few small towns stay the same for too long a time.
So what would you do to make sure that Dorchester is one of the winners five, ten, and twenty years from now?
Give us your ideas in the comment box below.
I would turn the co-op gas station into a 24 hour convenience store. It would be nice to be able to buy a loaf of bread or even a cup of coffee without having to travel to crummy Crete.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't even have to be 24 hour, even if it was open til midnight would be great.
DeleteI recently saw the census data on Dorchester. We start losing our residents once they hit their late 50s and early 60s, and I don't think it's because they are dying early. They are leaving for towns with easy homes to maintain and maybe to be closer to doctors. We have good access to docs in crete, friend and lincoln. So maybe we need a retirement community, a nice place, not some shabby low income housing. If I were a housing investor, I think dorchester is prime for the picking. They place would be filled with tenants waiting in line.
ReplyDeleteDidn't really lose the folks in their 50's and 60's. They're actually in the check-out line at Walmart. Be patient. They'll be back.
DeleteA convenience store would be awesome!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThree ideas for you, Dorchester...
ReplyDelete1.) A welcoming committee to welcome newcomers who move to town. Make them feel part of the community right away.
2.) A neighborhood leadership panel, where representatives from every two or three block region in town gathers feedback from neighbors and attends the town board meetings.
3.) A new softball and baseball complex separate from the football field. It is time.
I am one of the 60 somethings who actually moved back to Dorchester from Crete. I must say I felt more welcome here now than I did 30 years ago. Times have changed for the better. However, I love the guys at Co-op. I agree, we desperately need a amall conveniance/grocery store. If I were ever to win the lottery I would be the first to build one right on main street and give a chunk to our awsome fire dept
ReplyDeleteI second this person's comment. The unfortunate thing is none of us is gonna win the lottery ... dorchester already had it's $1M winner. Ha! Why doesn't the village board hire some fundraiser who can utilize internet technology to raise start-up funds for a town convenience store. I'll bet $10K and free land would lure at least one convenience store chain here.
DeleteI suppose I'd be beating a dead horse if I said paving, but can I beat Trigger like a drum anyway?
ReplyDeleteI'm at the age I want to build a home and would build in Dorchester in a heartbeat if the town had more paved streets. Look, I'm not trying to pick a fight or raise property taxes on current residents. But give me and others who want to build in Dorchester an option. If I were a town leader, I would work to create a one- or two-block area at the north or northwest end of town (connected to another paved street or highway), put in the sewer line and water, put up lots for building and see what happens. I'll bet the town would be shocked by how fast homes are built there.
2000 DHS Grad
I like your idea, 2000 DHS Grad. If there was a new development in town with pavement it would segregate those who want nice, clean housing from those who prefer muddy potholes, dust flying through the windows, and sloppy roads after rain and snow. Best of all, if the nay-sayers couldn't complain if paving was limited to just the parts where residents of that neighborhood paid for it.
DeletePaving would break a lot of peoples banks, its to expensive now, I love this town know matter if there is paving or not. Its like living in the country, the farms like it. People just want to start, things up again, leave good old Dorchester alone.
ReplyDeleteThe farms like it? Really???
DeleteThe pigs like the poop...
Deletethere seems to be a "street" or alley in progress just behind 11th & Colfax Street at the north edge of town. Plenty of room for new homes there. And there is a vacant apartment on Stephens Street in the building that has 4 apartments, ground level. Homes for sale. We have a good school. Several homes have been remodeled and are for rent. Really no lack of housing. Just need to keep the pot holes filled with rock and gravel. Street I live on is paved, we had to pay for every inch of it, too. Been there many years. as we have. Like over 40.
DeleteWhen reading the Lincoln paper today I was disappointed in the football article. No mention of Dorchester or any of our athletes. Just another blunder by the administration and board at our school. We need to start looking at the long range affects when deciding issues
DeleteTo the genius above: Exactly how did the school board blunder? I don't have a bone in the fight since my kids have all graduated DHS, but I have to ask ... is it the school board that is responsible for only 4 or 5 boys out of 30 in the high school not going out for football? Explain, genius....
DeleteVillage Dweller or whoever runs the blog:
DeleteWhy do you let out-of-towners stir trouble on this website. The person who commented at 9:26 PM is not from Dorchester (you can probably tell just by their IP address). If they were from Dorchester, they would've know long ago DHS is co-oping with Milford. To the contrary of what that out-of-town trouble maker wrote, I think the school board was proactive in their approach, knowing there wouldn't be enough kids for a team this year and for the next couple of seasons. That complainer should run for public office if he/she is so darn smart. I'd love to see it.
I suggest starting an annual festival in Dorchester, similar to the tradition in Wilber. It doesn't have to be centered on ethnicity (which I think is a little divisive in 2013). Instead, I would make it more inclusive, like Tobias has started doing with their Fun Festival. Maybe the town could bring in artists, bands, antique collectors/junkers, farmers markets, etc.
ReplyDeleteIf its a coop then it should be Milford/Dorchester like other schools. Why didn't we go to six man? The travel expense couldn't have been more tha what it's costing now. Take that Einstein
ReplyDeleteHi. I'm not a mean person, like others on this blog. Just to clarify, I think it will be Milford-Dorchester once DHS kids are eligible for varsity play next year.
ReplyDeleteSomeone said paving is too expensive, is it? All I hear are the negative Ned's who say it would cost a huge amount of money, I want to hear the facts not the fiction. The facts are if you don't pave some of the streets, you're not going to have people build $200,000 homes here & without those homes the rest of us have to pay for everything, so we're paying more for nothing. I say lets start that housing development, get those baby boomers to build here & Dorchester starts looking like the future instead of the past.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, you be the child and parent that has to travel 3 HOURS one way to get to a football just so we can play a 6 man football game. Come on man! Use your common sense!
ReplyDeleteNobody wants to put out the effort to support their kids. Three hours is better than not having a team and letting your school die. I guess it's falling into the ground anyway, so who cares.
ReplyDelete