|
The City of Monmouth is moving on to the next phase of “Re-imagining the Heart of Our Community,” the City’s downtown revitalization strategic plan. This phase centers around public engagement.
To that end, the City will host two public engagement meetings; the first will be held on the Monmouth College campus on Wednesday, August 3rd, from 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. The event will take place in the Scots Dining Hall (the main dining hall) in the Stockdale Center. A light dinner will be provided. Although the event is free, an RSVP would be greatly appreciated to help determine the amount of food that will be needed. Please send your information to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or call 734-7590.
The event will begin with a short presentation that will outline the vision of downtown revitalization, explore the context of the plan and introduce the economic and social factors that will drive the decision-making process. The presentation will wrap up with an overview of the ten action areas that comprise the core of the plan.
Attendees will then be asked for their input, from prioritizing already identified tasks to helping to brainstorm new ideas within the identified action areas. Working in small groups, community members will have an opportunity to explore possibilities within all action areas and will then report out to the larger group.
“A strategic plan for downtown revitalization is not a static document,” explains Director of Community Development Paul Schuytema. “Rather, it’s a living set of guidelines and action items - sort of a dynamic battle plan that will always be evolving as new opportunities and new challenges arise.”
“For our revitalization to succeed, we all need to participate,” says Schuytema. “Our community members, our City, our service groups, our financial institutions, our educational institutions and our cultural organizations. It’s our community and it’s up to us all to make it happen.”
Ongoing information on the progress of downtown revitalization will be featured on the “Downtown” page on the City’s website (http://www.cityofmonmouth.com/downtown.html).
The second community engagement meeting will be held later in August, exact date and location to be determined.
“We’re very excited to share our vision of a revitalized downtown with our community,” says Schuytema. “But it’s even more exciting to have an opportunity to hear what great ideas our residents will have to share with us.”
|
