Visioning

Columbia Visioning Commission chairman Jeffrey Williams has resigned. Williams' will attend a final meeting on Tuesday, when a new chairman is scheduled to be elected.

The Vision Commission will meet Jan. 6 and begin identifying methods for  monitoring the goals of the Imagine Columbia's Future report.

The Columbia City Council is considering reducing the number of voting members on the commission.

Facilitating discussions about the vision for Columbia is only one of Sarah Read's many efforts to help people communicate.

The City Council interviewed nine of 23 applicants Monday evening for the Columbia Visioning Commission. The commission will keep track of the Imagine Columbia’s Future vision.

The Columbia Vision Commission, established by the City Council on Oct. 6, will have a key role in seeing that the city's visioning goals come to fruition.

The showcase consisted of three main components: live music, community and city organization information tables and a brainstorming session. The event was held in conjunction with the Twilight Festival.

Chattanooga, Tenn., and Springfield are among a host of cities that have adopted the visioning process and are two that have made major changes in their communities.

Representatives of the development community question whether visioning will make much difference, saying many objectives are vague and subject to interpretation. They and others also note that previous efforts at community-based planning have either failed or been only marginally successful.

Some participants in the city’s lengthy visioning process say the final product falls short of expectations.

The first draft of the vision plan, a document created by residents of Columbia, was released Wednesday. It features strategies developed by 13 citizen topic groups and steps for implementing them.

A report with the Visioning Committee goals for the future of Columbia has been released for the public.

The Community Choices Open House show that economic development is an area where citizens think the city can most improve.

The results are from the Community Choices Open House are in. Community members voted on their top priorities for the future of the city.