Local currencies are gaining support nationwide as a way to keep wealth local and provide community cohesiveness. Troy needs its own.
They are perfectly legal, would really work well at things like "Troy Night Out", and can even provide a form of "micro-loan" system for local businesses and startups.
They don't cost enormous amounts to produce or manage, and trade for normal money, so no one need feel trapped with them
We could call them "Troy Bucks", "Troy Hours", Illia, whatever.
Ithaca has a huge system in place, accepted by something like 900 businesses in the city. They are called Ithaca Hours, and they theoretically are exchanged for 1 hour's worth of services, although they have a cash value as well ($5 per hour, I believe). There's a group in the Berkshires issuing a local currency as well, and dozens more across the country.
If anyone's interested, I recommend the following list of links in order for a start to your research:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_currency
http://www.ithacahours.org/index.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BerkShares
http://www.schumachersociety.org/index.html (this one has lots or downloadable books)
I think a local currency could turn into a serious civic identity movement for the city....
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They are perfectly legal, would really work well at things like "Troy Night Out", and can even provide a form of "micro-loan" system for local businesses and startups.
They don't cost enormous amounts to produce or manage, and trade for normal money, so no one need feel trapped with them
We could call them "Troy Bucks", "Troy Hours", Illia, whatever.
Ithaca has a huge system in place, accepted by something like 900 businesses in the city. They are called Ithaca Hours, and they theoretically are exchanged for 1 hour's worth of services, although they have a cash value as well ($5 per hour, I believe). There's a group in the Berkshires issuing a local currency as well, and dozens more across the country.
If anyone's interested, I recommend the following list of links in order for a start to your research:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_currency
http://www.ithacahours.org/index.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BerkShares
http://www.schumachersociety.org/index.html (this one has lots or downloadable books)
I think a local currency could turn into a serious civic identity movement for the city....
1 Comment
Tell a friend
Start a project!
Comments