FIBER OPTICS - When an entrepreneur has an idea and starts a company, she is often overwhelmed by tasks that have little to do with her great new product or idea. Accounting, Taxes (local, State, and Federal), Benefits, and other Human Resource issues to name just a few will eat up so much time that there is little left for marketing and innovation. What Morton could provide to new businesses is fiber optics and cloud computing. Cloud computing would provide online accounting, marketing, and other needed software and support. All the new owner would need would be a terminal to access the internet.

SCIENCE ACADEMY - If I could do anything I wanted to do, I would start a Science Academy in Morton. I’ve hired nearly 200 engineers from overseas. Almost all share the desire to provide not just a good education for their children but an extraordinary education for their children. Even those already in the States would migrate to Morton from Chicago or St. Louis for the right program for their kids.

VETERAN FRIENDLY MORTON - Our young men and women go in harms way to protect our country but when they come home they go from standing in the front to standing in the back - that has to stop. Morton can lead the way as the premier veterans-friendly city. Why not give preference to veterans for village jobs, why not special offers to veterans from all our stores, how about a land-bank of property on which returning veterans can build, or apartments with subsidized rates for the first few years back until they get on their feet. What are your ideas?

BIKE TRAILS - If I could do anything I wanted to do, I would have a system of bike trails connecting all the shopping and park destinations in the Village like Disneyworld with a pictorial map showing visitors where to eat and refresh themselves. Families from all over the area would come to Morton to cycle, shop, eat, and relax - “Visit Downtown Land or Field Shopping Land or Morton Mall Land, or Detroit Land or even Courtland…” each with a different theme.

COTTAGE INDUSTRIES - I hope to recognize the many cottage industries in Morton and link them together to not only help them thrive but to identify Morton as the place to be if you want your small business to blossom. In Paducah, Kentucky “The Quilting Capital of the World,” you can’t get a room for 25 miles around when they hold their events.

HOBBY CENTRAL - In relation to a healthy Cottage Industry, a center for pursuing hobbies could be established (Field Shopping Land?). Sewing, cooking, china painting, fabric painting, quilting, collecting, and even model trains and planes. Who knows, Hobby Lobby might like it here. 

ETHNIC CULTURE - Consider capitalizing on our community’s ethnic culture. Holland, Michigan did and now they are a tourist destination even in the winter. A large part of our community is Swiss/German. When you learn that Libby is owned by Nestlé which was founded in Switzerland in 1866, a Swiss theme for the community seems more than appropriate.  

CULTURES - An alternative to focusing on one culture is to be international and multicultural; celebrate all holidays. I had a lot of engineers from India in my organization. Other companies celebrated New Years, we celebrated Dewali; the festival of lights. A few years ago a group decided to hold a charity ball especially aimed at involving people from India in fund raising for Easter Seals. It hosted 1100 people last year at $125 a head for Easter Seals - it is the must-attend event for the Tri-County area Who’s Who. Five years ago it was just an idea.