03-08-1999 CC - Laserfiche WebLink

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uNAppRovED four square miles. And,to add insult to injury, we have a major highway cutting right through the heart of our town. So,what makes this City more than just a place that people drive through on their way home from work. We the people,the citizens and neighbors who built this town and call it our home. We are the reason that the City is special. So then, from what is the state of our City in respect to its greatest asset to its people. For far too long, the City has had very little in the way of goals for our future. Each new election cycle seems to bring new faces that are either for or against some specific project or policy, and that perspective is not necessarily a bad one, but it is a reactive stance, not a proactive one. In order for us to become a proactive community, a community finds out what it wants and then runs after it, we must ask ourselves a few basic questions, who are we?; what do we want?; where are we going? Now, could you honestly answer any of those questions for our community. I have my own opinions, but I freely admit that I fall far short in really fully answering these questions for our town. For far too long, we have been asking the wrong questions. We have not figured out that our vision for the future is out there for us to grab. Thus, we are only left to react to situations. Without a set of goals to work by, how are we ever to build a future that we can be proud of? When someone builds a new house they don't first have the lumber and nails delivered to the jobsite. First they plan on what that house is going to look like and then construction can begin. Our community is not any different. We need to stop and figure out what our goals are and then once that is accomplished,the future becomes far more clear. The difference between the reactive mode and the proactive mode is striking. For example, here are two questions that may highlight this point. We want to buy the Bel Rae Ball Room, and make it our Community Center. Or, the second question, do we as a City as one of our primary goals to create places and programs to meet the changing needs of our family's and you? If so, what do you suggest? Both of those questions may have people coming to the conclusion we need to build a Community Center, however the first question only reacts to a building. The second question seeks to find out the heart beat of our community. What I am talking about is more than a call for us to change our perspective. It is actually more just asking for us to have a change of heart. This is about finally asking the people of this City how they envision the tomorrow for Mounds View. The future is our's to create, and I am here to say that if we are ever truly to aspire to be greater than we are right now, we must resolve in our hearts and in our minds that we are going to work together to create the future that we envision. We must find out what that vision is, take hold of it, and run with it with all our might. There is a proverb that says: where there is no vision, the people will perish. I believe that this community has been suffering the ill effects of not having a vision. Perish does not necessarily mean the death of bodies, it can also mean the death of friendliness, the death of caring, the death of passion, the death of purpose, the death of creativity, the death of cooperation, the death of community. Because we do not have collective goals for our future, I believe that we have a cancer on our community, and it is past time that we do something about it. How do we find out what our goals of the future are to begin to turn this City around. The answer is somewhat easier than one would think. We simply ask the questions and then we compare our answers. I know it is a bit hard to believe,but this City Council here has already expressed a desire to find out what the citizens and residents of this town want our City's future to be like. Imagine politicians caring about what the people want for a change. Although,the preliminary ideas have already been discussed,I would call upon this City Council to press onward towards a comprehensive and ongoing survey of the citizens to find out what our collective vision for the future is. This project will not be easy. This process 2C:\ADMIN\MINUTES\CC\2-22-99.CC