The Sessions
I read the flyer about the upcoming town hall listening sessions. Starting this week our city begins the long anticipated update to our Comprehensive Plan by hosting these sessions to gather our communities concerns, ideas, hopes and dreams! There will be both in-person and on-line ways to be involved and I’m sure everyone with a bee in his or her bonnet will take part! I sure am!
One of the best things about Manzanita is that we are a passionate group of folks with many different experiences, perspectives and ideas. I believe that’s one of our super powers. We may have differing visions and values and lord knows, we don’t always agree but who says you have to agree with everyone to get along and make something good happen? At the end of the day, I bet we all share a love for this place and a desire to be here.
When I read the description of what to expect, I felt optimism and hope rise in me like in that movie, The Red Balloon. The sessions are designed to be, “a first step in moving toward finding solutions to the issues that we are facing as a community so that we as a community can work together to take proactive measures to be who we want to become.”
These sessions are a step in the right direction and the beginning of a journey. I’m packing for a long and productive trip. We can’t expect this to be quick and easy. Creating community never is. We’ve had us some division. We’ve had us some conflicts but that doesn’t have to define our future. None of us is going to get everything we want in this process. That’s just life, right?
I read the questions created to help us frame our thoughts about the different areas of concern. I decided to write them all down in my notebook and do some free writing about each topic using the questions to guide my responses. As I write about each one, I see the workings of my mind and what I value most reflected in my answers. I don’t worry about grammar or spelling, I just write it all down until I have no more to say and read it later. When it’s time to summarize for the survey I will be able to condense my thoughts into a short sentence or two about each topic. I love stuff like this. It helps me know who I am and what I believe in a concrete way.
What do you care most about? What do you value? We all have the opportunity to let our City know who we want to become as a community. Let’s make it happen!
posted for:
loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com