How Topekans are trying to improve their community
9:09 p.m. Friday, June 20, 2008
Monday, Heartland Visioning kicked off its community meetings to make a plan for the future of Topeka. Tuesday, city leaders hammered out details for new riverfront construction. Wednesday it was a study for Highway 24 and yesterday, Heartland Visioning released it results for the top 10 priorities in Topeka.
But with all that going on, will it be hard for Topekans to focus on one thing long enough to actually get things done?
"I think in Topeka, our time has come," said Jeff Gregg, general manager of ItsTopeka.com, a new Web site trying to build community togetherness.
It was a full week of meetings in Topeka, all aimed at improving the capital city.
"The way people came out Monday Night, Tuesday night and especially on Thursday night after the storms was phenomenal and very impressive of the community," said William Beteta, executive director of Heartland Visioning.
Making Topeka Better
Monday -- Community Members Form Plan for Topeka
Tuesday -- Riverfront Planning Meeting Moves Stadium Project to Forefront
Wednesday -- Ideas Wanted for Highway 24
Thursday -- Topekans Set Vision For Heartland
The meetings focused on everything from improving Highway 24 to building on the riverfront to how to make life in Topeka better.
Beteta said they are all about the community developing a vision of the future.
"When we determine the direction we want our community to go in, all these other projects will fall in behind it and be working toward that bigger idea," he said.
But it'll take time to improve all these things about Topeka. Ten, fifteen maybe even twenty years by some estimates, and if there's one thing Americans aren't really good at is keeping their interest on one thing for a long period of time. It's a challenge Beteta says he is working on.
"We're really working hard to build that positive attitude," he said. "We've seen it already, people are interested in having that positive enthusiasm in their community. We just build on it."
Gregg says as long as the community continues to support these efforts, they won't lose interest.
"I think a lot of great things are happening," Gregg said. "I think it's just a logical progression of the town starting to grow up and come into its own."
The draft plan from Heartland Visioning comes out in July. That will be the next time the community will be able to have an input.
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