Elgin holds community input meetings in English and Spanish

Residents, business owners and community groups who want to help shape Elgin's new strategic plan can attend community input meetings in English and Spanish.

The strategic plan will launch in 2018 - when the current plan ends - and will take into account feedback from the meetings, the results of a statistically significant community survey mailed to about 3,500 residents earlier this summer, and an online survey available to everyone through Monday.

The city council and staff members will use the strategic plan to identify priorities, said Laura Valdez-Wilson, senior management analyst.

About 15 residents attended an input meeting Monday at First Christian Church of Elgin. They were asked questions such as "What's one great thing about living in Elgin?" and "What concerns you most about Elgin in five years?" along with questions about their funding priorities and vision for the city.

The city must offer adequate housing for retiring baby boomers, provide "good roads and infrastructure," and look into citywide free Wi-Fi, resident Jim Lehman said.

Joan Rasmussen said her priorities are clean water and adequate police and fire services, although she's concerned about rising taxes. "I'd like to see Elgin really hold back their budget," she said.

Several people said Elgin needs to foster social service agencies that take care of the most vulnerable.

The city needs better public transportation, said Gretchen Vapnar, executive director of the Community Crisis Center. Armida Dominguez, a member of the commission, said the city must keep affordable housing scattered throughout the city.

Elgin needs more brand-name retailers, Rick Sherman said. "There is nothing that attracts residents west of Route 31 to downtown, or anywhere in the city for the most part. We need to compete with surrounding cities."

The final community input meetings are in English from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the city's public services facility, 1900 Holmes Road, and in Spanish from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Heritage Ballroom of the Centre of Elgin, 100 Symphony Way.

The survey is at cityofelgin.org/communitysurvey.