Think about the last time you decided to take a road trip. How
did you know where you wanted to go? How did you figure out how to get
there? How would that road trip have turned out if you didn’t know how
to get to your destination, or worse yet, if you did not even know what
your destination was! My guess is you would have had a very unsuccessful
road trip.
Just like planning a road trip, urban planners
sit in the navigation seat of our cities and help its residents
determine what their destination is and on what roads to turn to get the
community there.
During my time here I have heard a variety
of destinations for Elizabethton. From a tourist destination, to the
best place in the Tri-Cities to live, to the most business friendly city
in the state. All of these are great destinations, but just like your
road trip, everyone in the car has to agree to go in the same direction
and to the same destination.
One of my favorite quotes as a
planner is from Mahatma Gandhi. He says, “the future depends on what we
do in the present.” This is wonderfully applicable to cities! The
policies, ordinances, the agreements we make today in our community will
shape and create what the future of Elizabethton will be. Without a
collective destination, we don’t know on which road to turn or what
policies or ordinances we should be making today. We have to know where
we want to go.
No matter what decisions we make today
Elizabethton will continue to move forward, but are we going to plan our
own destination, our own future? Or will the community be planned for
us by the decisions and unknown outcomes we choose today?
“Some communities allow the future to happen to them. Successful
communities decide the future is something they can create.” one
National Civic League saying states. It takes work, it takes time, and
it takes energy. We have the power today to make our community what we
want it to be in twenty years, so what’s our destination… let’s talk
about it!
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