Even if you have good vision, what's commonly considered 20/20 vision, it does you no good as hindsight.
The New River Valley Planning District Commission (NRV PDC) represents one economic development entity representing 18 community, civic and goverment leaders. This group met on January 9, 2009 (and includes representation from Christiansburg) and developed a process for updating Vision 2020. But Christiansburg residents didn't hear about it from town administrators or see anything posted about it on the town's website.
This is also the group that pools federal Community Development Block Grant funds and uses them for special projects in the participating jurisdictions under the HOMES Consortium initiative. Christiansburg has never submitted any projects, and isn't in the queue for any, either.
One citizen, Shirley Hallock, had noticed other meeting dates being advertised and asked why Christiansburg was not listed. Good question, Shirley.
Vision 2020 is intended to gather citizen and community input about future economic challenges in our region. Very timely. This includes taking a traditional SWOT approach -- identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Feedback will be used to develop programs, projects and even policy.
The NRV PDC states the Vision 2020 plan is "The Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for the whole New River Valley."
Why so little information then? No coordinated or comprehensive press release strategies, public service announcements, inclusion on public list servs sending out emails, participating locality websites, etc., etc., etc? The last time such a study was done was in 1998 -- things have changed quite a bit since then. Seems to support a theory of selective and limited input being sought.
Three "community conversation" dates have already passed by. Three more remain, including one in Christiansburg this Thursday. The remaining dates are:
March 19, 2009 (Thursday) 7-9PM in Christiansburg, New River Community College, NRV Mall (former Regal Cinema area).
March 31, 2009 (Tuesday) 7-9PM in Pearisburg at the Pearisburg Community Center.
April 14, 2009 (Tuesday) 7-9PM in Shawsville at the Meadowbrook Library.
Comments gathered at the first date in Dublin are already available online.
We suggest locals -- county residents, or those folks living in Blacksburg and Christiansburg -- skip the normal Thursday activities and head over to the NRV Mall this week. Another opportunity to help shape the entire region may not come around for another two decades. Even in good times, balanced and thorough economic development is crucial to the quality of life afforded citizens. With the present weak financial environment, it may be critical.