Imagine Austin and Speak Week: Share your vision
Imagine Austin Community Forum Series 2 begins April 27Austinites are once again invited to help craft Austin’s growth and development over the next 25 years by participating in the creation of the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan.
The Imagine Austin development process relies heavily on public input. Since beginning the public involvement process last October, the Imagine Austin initiative has received more than 5,600 inputs from residents through public meetings, kick-off surveys and Meetings-in-a-Box.
Based on that public input, the City has created the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan draft vision statement, “Components of a Vision,” for public review and comment. Refining the draft vision statement will be one of the primary goals of the Imagine Austin Community Forum Series #2 that begins Tuesday, April 27.
Speak Week takes community forum to the people
Austinites out and about from now until April 29 might just come face to face with their future.As part of the first-ever City of Austin Speak Week, volunteers will be staffing kiosks throughout Austin to get as much input from as many people as possible for the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan that will help chart the development of Austin over the next 25 years and beyond.
Speak Week is designed to reach residents and capture their input where they live, work and play.
“Speak Week is a complement to the traditional community forum,” said Austin City Council Member Sheryl Cole. “We know that most people in the City are not able to attend traditional community forums. There are time constraints, family constraints, and a variety of other reasons why they don’t come. But widespread and diverse input is critical to this process, so we decided to take the forum out to the people.”
The Speak Week kiosks will be set up in locations like Austin Community College campuses; Simon Malls properties; Capital Metro Metrorail and bus stations; City recreation centers and libraries; and even Alamo Drafthouse theaters. Volunteers will guide participants through a brief series of questions that follow up on previous input gathered during the Imagine Austin process. A complete list of Speak Week venues can be found at www.ImagineAustin.net/events.htm#speakweek.
“In the first phase of this project, we heard a lot from the public about what they want to see in Austin’s future,” said Garner Stoll, Assistant Director of the City of Austin Planning and Development Review Department. “Now, we need them to show us more about how they want Austin to grow – where new neighborhoods, employment, commercial and open spaces should be located, for instance. We need to anticipate that more people will choose to live in Austin in the next 30 years and start planning for their arrival.”
The Speak Week exercises are designed to be as short as a couple of minutes for those on the run, complemented by a longer version for those who want additional information and have more time. Participation isn’t expected to take more than 10 minutes for anyone sharing their ideas.
As part of Speak Week, members of the public will identify what types of homes they would like the City to have to accommodate population growth and where those types of housing should go (in Downtown Austin, in outlying areas, near transit stops, etc.). Participants will also get to tinker with the Austin streets they know best and design their “street of the future” using interactive game pieces.
Speak Week leads up to four community forums to be conducted April 27, April 28 and May 1. At the forums, participants will complete activities that enable them to plot Austin’s growth for the next 25 years. Locations for the community forums include:
Tuesday, April 27
Austin Community College Eastview Campus
3401 Webberville Road
Two sessions
4-6 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.
Doors open at 3:30 p.m. Pizza will be served.
Wednesday, April 28
St. David’s Episcopal Church
304 E. Seventh St.
Two sessions
8:30-10:30 a.m. (Doors open at 7:45 a.m. Breakfast will be served)
11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (Lunch will be served.)
Wednesday, April 28
Anderson High School
8403 Mesa Drive
6:30-8:30 p.m. (Doors open at 6 p.m. Pizza will be served.)
Saturday, May 1
Fulmore Middle School
201 E. Mary St.
9:30-11:30 a.m. (Doors open at 9 a.m. Breakfast will be served.)
For more information on Speak Week and the community forums, visit www.ImagineAustin.net.
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