Dayton gets its Day.

One of my few friends whose name is XXX has been suffering from the terrible recession. He owns a house in a suburban area, close to downtown Modesto, California. Despite his titanic effort to sell the house since 2009, no one has showed an interest in buying it. 


He bought the house when the housing bubble hit the peak in 2007 with $550,000 on a 30-year-mortgage, and now an estimated value of the house is down to $390,000. He is paying the interest every month that severely drags his life down.


It won't be long for him to see the "For Sale" picket in his front yard in addition to another phrase: Bank Owns. 


Maybe too many medium sized cities in the States go through the same pain, including Dayton, Ohio. Dayton, which used to be one of the best cities to live and raise children, is now a poster child representing cities in Ohio where people leave, shops are closed, factories are shut down, homes are empty with falling value, and streets get violent.


However, Dayton has claimed: enough is enough, announcing a new and practical plan in Sept. 2011 to reinvigorate the old glory. The plan is called: "Welcome Dayton: Immigrant Friendly City."


The core of the plan is that the city not only encourages immigrants to move in Dayton and feel welcome with the city-oriented support programs. Mayor Gary Leitzell epitomizes the main purpose of the plan, saying, "Immigrants bring new ideas, new perspectives and new talent to our workforce. To reverse the decades-long trend of economic decline in this city, we need to think globally."  


The mayor and leaders of the city don't deny that they are well aware of the current national debate over immigration regulations in Alabama, Georgia and Arizona that have passed laws in recent years cracking down on illegal immigrants. Yet the city officials tend to leave the final policy to federal authorities and focus instead on how to assimilate immigrants.


Since Dayton boasts its racial diversity from Latinos, Iraqis, Russians, Turks to Asians who are living peacefully and quietly, residents in Dayton expect to bring "more Asian doctors in hospitals, foreign-born professors and graduate students at the region's universities, and owners of new small businesses such as a Turkish family's New York Pizzeria on the city's east side and Hispanic-run car lots, repair shops and small markets," according to a city planner.  


If the plan turns out successful in revitalizing the entire city, the city can deserve some applause as a brave and innovative poster child, not Quddafi but Steve Jobs.