In the interest of getting this out to you, I’ll hold my dissection of this document for now.  (At first glance, there seems to be a lot of interesting stuff to talk about.  Should occupy us for weeks!)

Want to read through the final version of our 2010 Strategic Plan?  DecaturNext just posted it!

Click the image below and go straight to the full PDF.

As the next step in the Decatur Strategic Planning process for the next 10 years, the city of Decatur is hosting four “Community Academys” starting next Tuesday, which will take all of our open-ended, hypothetical ideas from the roundtables and pit them against each other in an all-out fight to the death.

• Walkability?  Meet bikeability and traffic management!
• Aging in place??  Meet density concerns!
• A well-funded school system and grudgingly accepted higher taxes?  Meet the desire for a “diverse” community!

Oh yes, this is where the truly ugly magic happens.  For those of you who turned to your reusable, organic vomit bags after all the sky-pie you were forced to consume during the roundtables, this messy – and yet thoroughly productive – exercise IS FOR YOU!

“Yeah, yeah.  Shut up man and give us the dates!”  OK, OK.  From DecaturNext…

• Going Mobile: Managing Transportation Choices • Tuesday, October 5
• Decatur For Life: Aging in Place, Affordability, Diversity • Monday, October 25
• The New Main Street: Economics of the Complete Community • Thursday, November 4
• Getting the Love We Want: Understanding Development Issues • Wednesday, November 17

All sessions are from 7-9p and you should RSVP at 678.553.6584 if you’d like to participate.  Need I exaggerate more?

Not to be confused with yesterday’s post about the City Schools Strategic Plan Kick-Off on August 31st, the City of Decatur’s 2010 Strategic Planning process – which 700 of us participated in during the first round – will move into “Phase II” on Tuesday, August 24th from 6:30p-8:30p at Decatur High Auditorium.

What’s “Phase II”?

Well, it seems that when you ask 700 people open-ended questions about where they live, they don’t tend to hold back.  So in “Phase II”, the city consultants will present a report on the findings from the round tables, introduce the new planning team and outline how folks can stay involved in the next phase.

Decatur: Where “being involved” means more than just yelling at annoying things out your car window.

Otis White of Civic Strategies has just finished compiling the thoughts of all 741 citizens who participated in the first session of Decatur’s Strategic Planning meetings and has boiled all your hopes and dreams into five “major” themes and three “additional” themes.

5 Major Themes

• The Diverse Community
• The Involved Community
• The Complete Community
• The Alternative Transportation Community
• The Responsive and Cooperative Community

3 Additional Themes

• The Innovative and Distinctive Community
• The Green Community
• The Active and Healthy Community

I’ve provided his short summary for each of these after the jump.  For greater elaboration on the eight themes and to read every single thing that was suggested or mentioned at Session 1, check out White’s full report HERE on DecaturNext.

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Assistant City Manager Lyn Menne writes in that the locations originally slated for some of the smaller Decatur Strategic Plan meetings – which begin next week – HAVE CHANGED.  The list of updated locations can be found on DecaturNext.com, as well as after the jump.

The city will be calling residents and sending emails out to participants in the next couple days to inform them of the location changes and remind them of their meeting times.

Happy planning!

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12 years ago, 500 people turned out for the creation of Decatur’s 2000 Strategic Plan.  As Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd noted at last night’s Strategic Plan Kick-Off meeting, “controversy” was Decatur’s greatest asset in 1998.  There was a lot of unfocused energy that needed directing.

Decatur in 2010 is in a very different place, thanks in large part to that 2000 plan.  While controversies still pop-up requiring serious consideration – and the occasional heated argument – in large part, the fruits of decade-old labor is a present-day citizenry, both content and proud of their community.

And often times, contentment breed’s laziness.  Not here.

Over 80% of the tasks in the 2000 Strategic Plan have either been completed, are planned for completion, or were followed through to their natural conclusion.  And I’m not just parroting the city when I say that.  I sat down with them and went through the 2000 plan line-by-line a couple weeks ago.

With so many tasks completed, what’s left to do?  That’s what the smaller groups will begin discussing in a couple weeks.   You can still sign up.

Video courtesy of DecaturNext

DecaturNext just announced this morning that we are just 70 people away from having more people contributing in this year’s Strategic Planning process than during the 2000 Strategic Plan.  Take that younger versions of people I’m always seeing around town!

If you’re still a swinging, non-committed resident, you can still sign up to participate in the 2010 Strategic Plan discussions HERE.

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