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Community visioning process

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    Posted: Jul 24 2015 at 6:19pm
MJ:
Community visioning process kicks off

By Ed Richter
Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN —
Over the next few months at various community events, Middletonians will have a chance to share their ideas about how to make the city better and improve the quality of life.

Middletown Moving Forward, the city’s community improvement corporation, is teaming up with the Community-Building Institute and other community groups to gather residents’ input so that a vision and action plan can be developed to improve the city.

Nearly 50 city, business and community leaders met Thursday for a kick-off meeting at Atrium Medical Center to launch this community visioning process.

Calista Smith, MMF’s interim director, said the community visioning process is a continuation of a trip by city leaders to Greenville, S.C. in the spring of 2014. While they learned a lot about Greenville’s economic development successes, the trip opened up the group’s eyes as they saw other community things that were needed in Middletown.

Among those topics were arts and culture; diversity and inclusion; economy and jobs; education; environment, beautification and recreation; health, wellness and safety; housing and neighborhoods; and infrastructure and transportation. Smith said that all topics are equally important to the city’s future success.

“We’re focusing on a long-term vision with continuous improvement indicators and milestone updates,” she said.

Smith said the year-long process is designed to engage with the community to get meaningful feedback so a vision can be developed along with action steps.

Karin Maney, the Community-Building Institute’s executive director, said the process is also designed to leverage the community’s various assets to help improve quality of life.

Among the goals of the visioning process is to bring people together from all sectors of the community; identify community assets and how to maximize to address existing needs; evaluate changing conditions and new opportunities; and build a collective positive vision for the future.

Maney said there is an air of negativity in Middletown, and overcoming this negativity can also be a path to reaching a positive vision for the community. She said the process wants to hear everyone’s voice as they are valued.

A comprehensive report of community findings, a compelling vision statement for Middletown and an action plan with measurable and attainable solutions and strategies that can be sustained with many and varied existing organizations, are the hopeful results of this visioning process, Maney said.

Rick Pearce, president and CEO of The Chamber of Commerce Serving Middletown, Monroe, and Trenton, said the role of the community leaders were to “champion Middletown and the need for a vision and hope in the future.”

Other things he asked the community leaders to do is to communicate and facilitate connection as well as holding the process accountable by providing information and data as appropriate and making sure all voices are heard.

Pearce also said the group learned that “Greenville was a 30-year overnight success.”

“A lot has changed for the good and bad over the past 30 years,” he said. “We have to look forward to the next 30 years and come up with a plan of what we want our city to look like. There are no limitations and everyone should dream big. We owe it to those who follow. That’s our challenge.”

Lauren Matus, director of community engagement and service at Miami University Middletown, said she recently spoke with local residents about some of their thoughts, which included: more jobs with above average pay; a positive attitude toward new and established downtown businesses; walk-able development; more police on foot in the neighborhoods; no more potholes; a dog park; share-a-bike; and canoeing on the (Great Miami) river.

Among the next steps in the visioning process are: continuing to gather information at various community functions and events throughout the summer months, such as all-citizen community forums, First Friday, Broad Street Bash, Movies in the Park, National Night Out, Arts Festival and Back to School Fair; neighborhood canvassing; and online surveys.

The first of several community workshops will be held between September and November. Task force groups will be created to look deeper at various issues and search for best practices in other communities, according to the plan outline. They will also look at past city plans to see what did and did not work. The steering committee will keep the task forces on track and ensure that they are meeting regularly.

A second community workshop will be held in January 2016 and a draft vision statement will be prepared in February. The vision statement and action plan will be unveiled in March.

After the meeting, Smith was feeling pretty good about the kick-off.

“We had good representation from the community tonight,” she said. “The key is to make sure the process is as inclusive as possible so that the process leads to practical and actionable plans.”



Recently some committee members reached out and asked residents in the community about their favorite things and what is needed in Middletown. Among the favorite things:

Proximity to Cincinnati and Dayton.

Great and friendly people.

The city’s history.

It’s potential.

Its people and how they love their history and community.

Some suggestions of what is needed:

Risk takers.

Innovators.

A dog park.

A more positive attitude and that Middletown knows it’s a great place to live.

More downtown development.

Open minds.

Afterschool programs.

A vibrant start-up community.

Children that are engaged.

Manufacturing/entreprenueral incubators.

More coordination.

Hope.

Urban living, recreation, and entertainment.

Riverfront development.

Source: Middletown Moving Forward and the Community-Building Institute

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

What’s your idea for Middletown’s brighter future? Submit ideas online at www.whatifmiddletown.com.
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acclaro View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote acclaro Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul 25 2015 at 1:49am
A year and three months after Greenville, MMF is advocating a plan is needed. The land of Oz holds a pep rally to have a plan for all to be positive for all failures within Middletown. Unbelievable.

Manufacturing and innovation incubators? Someone down at the abbey has been pulling pages from urban development 101. Dog Park- got to have that for the professionals that don't have kids yet, but have two labs piled into the BMW X3 with the Thule bike rack and sail boat docked on the river, and spend $200. weekly on Iams dog food and dual Fitbit collars, for canine and the yuppie owners.

Assess higher income professional needs, build it, and they will come, with new found prosperity. Hopelessly wandering in the wilderness blinded by transforming a steel town into Greenwich Village or Georgetown outside northern Va. It begins and ends with quality of schools, infrastructure, clean air, low crime, and resell valuation of property. Trying to do Z without having in place, a, b,c, ...y. Just no traction, spinning, spinning, spinning. Sigh.
'An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.' - Winston Churchill
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote VietVet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul 26 2015 at 7:04pm
This is irritating as hell. This has been tried before. Probably several times.

They ask for ALL citizen input but really want to hear only from their chosen, selected name-recognition circle of supporters in reality. They want no negativity, yet they are the ones who have created it simply by insisting that the town be designed in their colors. They insist that this BLUE COLLAR TOWN be some cultural, artzy, yuppie, upper crust city that invokes only the fine things in life.....no room for beer, flea markets, country music, and dirty factory workers. No room for Chevys, Fords or the average run of the mill wants and needs of the average person.

Yep. They invite all to participate, yet will only recognize those with their same ideas as legitimate suggestions. The program mentioned in this article has already been decided. It is another ploy to act like they welcome all but in reality, welcome those with the same interests. It is a done deal and the outcome is going to go their way.

You want access to how some feel about this city? You want access to the direction that some think the city should take and the changes that should be made to allow the town to be what it should be......BLUE COLLAR-WORKER-"AVERAGE PERSON". READ THIS FORUM. The idea of making this city into something it has never been in 100 years is laughable to the person in tune with the dynamics and demographics here. It is unbelievable that city leadership and the so-called "influential people" haven't gotten it yet. Will you people ever learn about the city you have been commissioned to run?
I'm so proud of my hometown and what it has become. Recall 'em all. Let's start over.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Stanky Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul 27 2015 at 7:02am
The girl is failing in high school, on the verge of not being able to graduate. She doesn't have many of her class materials/books and doesn't know where to find them. She also has other problems like serious dental troubles, lice, a nagging cough. She is pretty well ostracized from most social groups at school. So what is her concern as she gets up this morning? "I'm going to ask my sisters what I should wear to school! This is very important. Maybe I'll feel better about things then!"
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