The Master Plan: How It got this way.

The year was 2007. It could just as well been 1979. A long time ago. Ancient History which nobody can recall . City Commission meetings sometimes  move at the ponderous pace of dogs years where one minute is in fact seven minutes.Thus it is  possible that  the city in the last four years, has aged 28 years.That may explain why nobody can remeber anything as far back as '07.

On  the night of February 21st  2007,  the consulting firm of Hubbel Roth and Clark  made a presentation  entitled  Safety Path Master Plan to the City Commission.  Safety Path Master Plan which was not adopted and which only addressed sidewalks  was a remarkable  forerunner  to to the eventual  Master Plan. By way of introduction  it  explained that  residents had inquired about pedestrian facilities, family friendly recreational opportunities, quality of life improvements, and attracting new residents to the city, As a result City commission had authorized the study and creation of a Safety Path Master Plan.

 In the fall of  2007 the city would launch a much more extensive study and survey called the Master Plan. It asked residents to describe their feelings on 38 questions on five topics which included  land use and commercial development, natural features of the city, transportation, the library, and historical aspects of the city. Safety paths were again discussed under the topic of transportation.

 The  Master Plan "Kick Off" (that is what it was called in the plan) was in October 2007 . Like Safety Path  Master Plan which pitched sidewalks in February, the Master Plan was a victim incredibly bad luck and bad timing. During the next four years while the Master Plan was being formulated and parts of it implemented, the  Master Plan served as a political football, talked about only in terms of how the speaker would benefit, and bouncing between projects and issues of more interest. (To Be Continued...)

To enlarge click on picture