Why is it that the best ideas come to us while grooming?

The other day, while in the barber chair, it came to me, via Dick Adams of Norfolk.

Like those “ah ha!” moments in front of the shaving mirror or that near-electric jolt of inspiration in the shower.

Great ideas just need a little lather, I guess.

Now Dick and I don’t always think alike, but we have a mutual understanding on several points.

Expressing opinions is healthy; occasional spleen venting is therapeutic, and I won’t cut hair if he won’t write newspaper columns.

There’s probably a lot more that we disagree on than we agree on, like Nancy Pelosi for instance. But that’s OK. We don’t let the fear of disagreement stand in the way of expressing opinions.

Anyway, we were well on the road to having one of our patented “agree to disagree” discussions the other day. This one was on the city hall question.

We had started arguing about whether the city should try to share facilities in its new office plans with other public and semi-public service agencies that are also in need of space.

Dick’s position: sharing public facilities would be too costly and impractical. My position: Tell that to the tenants at the Lifelong Learning Center, and to retail mall occupants and the Faith Regional Hospital board of directors.

“Well, you idiot,” (not his real words, but my interpretation of what he may have been thinking), “what’s wrong with the existing city hall and remodeling it?”

Ah ha!
I thought Dick just played the grooming inspiration trump card.

Another brilliant idea arriving under the influence of lather.

“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that idea, Dick,” I told him and catching myself before I said something I might later regret, like calling him brilliant or the smartest guy in town or some other overly enthusiastic epigram.

Just think about it. The existing city building is in a great location. It has an abundance of marginally used space that could be remodeled into offices, even shared ones.

Plus, if we build another city hall, what will become of the existing facility? Bulldozer bait or converted to other marginal public use?

That would only add to the growing abundance of public facilities that are off the tax rolls.

There was a time when the city needed the gym space, public gathering hall, stage facility and reception site that was provided by the city auditorium and city offices.

But those needs have been supplied abundantly by newer facilities.

What is needed now is office space.

If you lather up some smart architect, here’s betting he or she’d come up with some pretty amazing ideas for making that facility an outstanding showplace of good public stewardship. Tie the ideas in with landscaping and blighted area reclamation along the nearby North Fork River and you’d have a real public gem in the making.

Plus, it could all be done for pennies on the dollar compared to acquiring new land or facilities and remodeling those or building new.

Proof yet again that you can learn a lot if you get all lathered up.

Les Mann News Columnist