Imagine Austin: How does your Austin grow?
The City of Austin is planting the seeds of the future. It is asking for help from the community on how this garden should grow.
Imagine Austin, a comprehensive two-year plan set forth by the City of Austin, wants to know how residents envision the city’s future. The City will use this public input to guide the growth, spending, and conservation of resources that Austin faces in the next few years.
“The comprehensive plan is one of the biggest tools we have to shape Austin’s future, and it’s one that we haven’t had before. Once it’s in place, our spending and regulations have to conform to it, by City Charter. And now that we’re into the process a little bit, we’re definitely seeing that people want Austin to keep getting better-but that there are some serious challenges that face us,” said Gregory Claxton, Associate Planner for the City of Austin. “This is a process for us to figure out, citywide, what our priorities are.”
Community members have the opportunity to participate in city planning by holding their own small meetings. Imagine Austin makes it easy for any concerned citizen to host a meeting by offering their Meeting-in-a Box package, which includes invitations, scripts, questions, and directions for returning the results.
The City wants is looking for input from a wide-range of groups. Participants are asked to invite friends, coworkers, neighbors, or other associates to walk through the Image Austin Exercise.
Meeting-in-a-Box packages must be picked up by March 24 at One Texas Center, located at 505 Barton Springs Rd., 5th floor. Contact Kathleen Fox at (512) 974-7877 or [email protected] to arrange for a kit. Meeting-in-a-Box materials can also be downloaded online from the City’s Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan Web site at www.cityofaustin.org/compplan/getmeeting.htm.
The deadline to return completed materials has been extended to March 31 to allow more time for the public to participate in the Meeting-in-a-Box exercise.
By Victoria Garza
