On Wednesday, November 4th we had the VIP Opening of the 24-1 Cinema where we were the first in the country to see the new James Bond movie Spectre. It was a great night! Leaders from the community along with funders, partners and friends were absolutely thrilled with the beautiful space and the fact that “we” had a theatre in “our” community. During my brief remarks that thanked the many, many partners and people who made this extraordinary event happen I recited the famous Robert Kennedy quote “some people see things the way they are and ask why, others dream of things yet to come and ask why not?”
I told the crowd of over 150 excited partners and friends, as they gazed at the beautiful space and smelled the popcorn cooking, welcome to why not!Our community should dream of grocery stores, banks, senior housing, movie theaters and so much more and ask why not. Parents should absolutely dream of a first class, high performing, successful school system for every child and ask why not. Every resident should dream about the most welcoming, attractive and thriving neighborhood and ask why not.
In today’s challenging times the problems in our community can feel overwhelming. We rarely get good news and if we do it’s episodic and not about long term system change. Our work is filled with great episodes like the opening of the 24:1 Cinema, however it is really about long term system change. We have already proven much and realize that there is much more work to be done. we believe that home matters and that we can create a better community for all who live there, we continue to dream and ask why not.
