Community Planning Effort Builds Momentum
West Chicago, Illinois: July 29, 2015 - Over the last three months, the City of West Chicago has engaged hundreds of residents and stakeholders from throughout the community in contributing feedback for the West Chicago Strategic Plan. Forums, interviews, and roundtables have been held throughout the spring and summer, with an inclusive range of participants including students, residents, religious leaders, realtors, developers, business owners, homeowners association leaders, Hispanic leaders, homeschool families, elected officials, and appointed officials. Also incuded were representatives of not-for-profits, other taxing bodies, community organizations, and others.
A well-attended Community Forum held at City Hall on July 21, 2015 netted many positive ideas from community members. Residents shared their concerns about a variety of topics, and suggested improvements to strengthening the downtown, capitalizing on the community's diversity, attracting and retaining new businesses, and many more. Outreach will continue into August with more roundtables and events. A Latino Forum, facilitated exclusively in Spanish, will be held to ensure that outreach captures the thoughts of the entire community. The date of that Forum is Monday, August 31, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall.
Residents are encouraged to participate on-line as well. A link to the project website can be found on the City's homepage, www.westchicago.org through a button on the homepage labeled Strategic Plan. Questionnaires for both residents and businesses are available, and an online mapping tool, sMap, allows community members to make their own map of West Chicago.
"I want to thank all those who attended our Community Forum last week. The turnout was very encouraging and indicates a strong commitment among our residents and business customers to the future of our city," said Mayor Ruben Pineda. "I hope those who couldn't make it due to scheduling issues will take advantage of the on-line tool to become part of the process and share their input".
About the Strategic Plan
The West Chicago Strategic Plan is a visioning and strategy planning process for the City of West Chicago. The Plan's collective vision will increase cooperation and communication between public and private partners and develop coordinated approaches to important problems and opportunities. Ultimately, the Plan will answer, "What should the City of West Chicago look like in 20 years, and how do we get there?" Upon completion, the West Chicago Strategic Plan will contain a clear vision statement, a set of guiding principles, community goals and objectives, and an implementation strategy. It is expected to be completed by the winter of 2015/2016.