Public needs to get involved offline
Published 5:48 pm Saturday, July 12, 2014
Vision 2020 and city leaders are asking for more input on the future of Austin. It’s time area residents showed up to give it.
The Vision 2020 Gateway to Austin committee held a public meeting Thursday to get input on a proposed visitors center. More than 30 people showed up, almost all of whom was a community leader or associated with Vision 2020 in some way.
The city of Austin is planning another public meeting this Monday to get input on Austin’s downtown master plan, which will determine how the city plans for the downtown area for several years to come.
It’s important resident voices are heard. Many times, we see residents complain about city issues without showing up to participate in the process. There are many recent examples where resident participation swayed community leaders on an issue, which is why we urge residents to show up to more public meetings for large, Vision 2020-related issues.
Dozens of residents showed up to an Austin City Council meeting this spring to discourage council members from turning a city street over to Pacelli Catholic Schools. When a Vision 2020 subcommittee introduced an unpopular logo as part of a brand change for Austin, hundreds of people voted on a Herald poll and made their opinions heard, which prompted community leaders to discard the logo.
Now Vision 2020 is making more of an effort to publicize its meetings, many of which are public and free for people to attend. Vision 2020 leaders are clearly showing they learned a lesson from the logo fiasco earlier this year. That means residents need to show they care about what happens to Austin, too.
We encourage everyone who can to attend the downtown master plan meeting at 6 p.m. this Monday inside City Council Chambers at the Austin Utilities building, 500 Fourth Ave. NE.
It’s not enough to complain online or among friends about community leaders and their efforts to change Austin. Now we need to show initiative by giving our input, not only just to Vision 2020, but at city, county and community meetings moving forward.