On Thursday, July 21, 6:30pm, the League of Women Voters Marion (LWVM) is hosting the second of a four meeting series this summer on Comnunity Planning at Harding High School's Community Room. This meeting is a sequel to the Tuesday, July 12 “Create a Stronger 21st Century Marion” meeting that 75 community residents attended.
Through postcard mailings, media releases, flyers, announcements in churches, and by word of mouth, LWVM is making a great effort to involve many community residents in a grassroots development of a plan that will have broad community support once it is completed.
The final two meetings of the series will be held Monday, July 25 and Tuesday, August 2 at the same location and time. The meetings are scheduled for different days of the week to try to accommodate people's schedules. LWVM understands that most likely not everyone will be able to come to every meeting, but it is hoped that community residents will make a best effort to get to as many meetings as possible. The committee structure is open, flexible and accommodating: any interested resident can come to any or all of the meetings.
The meetings will largely feature the brainstorming of ideas and then developing a consensus that will establish the elements that are to be incuded in the plan. It is possible that more time will be needed than the currently planned four meeting series in order to come up with a quality, workable, long-range, continuing Community Plan.
OSU Associate Professor Myra Moss, through the OSU Extension Services, has worked with 10 Ohio communities on community plan development and will be assisting with Marion's plan.
At Thursday’s July 21 meeting, Moss will share a digest or compilation of the roundtable discussion notes recorded at the Tuesday, July 12 meeting. Tablemates discussed 2 preliminary questions to consider before beginning Marion’s community planning process: who are we and who do we want to be?
The second part of the meeting will involve attendees organizing themselves into four groups around the meeting room to begin the planning process – groups that represent the four major areas of community planning: Economic Development, Education, Public Services, and Lifestyle. Attendees will be invited to self-select the group that interests them.
The League, which has been active in the Marion area for more than fifty years, is best known for the information it provides the public on political issues and candidates at election times. The group is politically nonpartisan and encourages informed and active participation in government at all levels—local, state and national.
Membership in the League is open to all women and men who are citizens of voting age. For information on becoming a member or for more information about the community planning effort, contact [email protected] or call Jo Ann Radwin-Zimmerman at 740-389-5795.
