Voices Carry: Digital exchange and the gift of community

- Lisa Nisenson is the blogger behind The Planning Edge. She has worked as citizen activist, policy wonk, author and cheerleader for sustainable places.

This is a tough week to be a writer. It seems like the hot-button topics of last week such as noise, traffic and even a fiscal cliff are all trivial pursuits. But they are not if they stir passions about a better place---and by place we mean physical and people.

With that, This Week In Sarasota is devoted to building a better community and finding new ways to expand the number of voices and look for solutions. We are trying to focus on a couple of "game-changers" that will both fill gaps and add to our great downtown. The streetcar (or perhaps another type of circulator) will certainly make things interesting, so we have two ways to get excited:

1)  eat here on Main Street - On Tuesday, Dec. 18, TWIS is teaming with Green Drinks to talk transit and downtown. We'll have maps and Post-It notes and an energized bartender. Please consider us on your holiday circuit between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. to give your thoughts and priorities.

2) Popularise - We know you may never EVER have the chance to personally make it to a workshop or public meeting. Kids, work, second shift, shopping, sleeping ... no wonder the debate seems to be driven by "those with time."  So TWIS is working with a new website called Popularise (www.popularise.com - click on Sarasota) to get the word out, gather ideas and ideally, get pictures of what you want to see or have seen in other places.This is an experiment, but we are already hopeful. Within 24 hours over 100 people have viewed the site and have started to post. Of course, you can also leave comments here or on the TWIS Facebook page. Your voice matters---whether its 140 characters, a post, an e-mail or two minutes at a podium.