Next: Athens, OH
On May 30 at the Athens Community Center (701 E. State Street) at 6:00 PM, The City of Athens, Ohio will start its own Designing Local process called “The Essence of Athens.” Paul Logue, the Athens City Planner, sat down with me to talk about his expectations and desired outcomes.
Paul Logue, Athens City Planner
Why do you think this process will be good for Athens?
In short, because Athens needs it. Athenians love living in Athens and we all think this is a very unique and special place. We also want to grow and develop in ways that incorporate that uniqueness into our everyday lives. Not only do we love it here, but people who visit love it here as well. We need to make sure that those who visit here have good reason to come back again.
Who is on board?
The list of people and organizations involved is growing by the day. Mayor Paul Wiehl has given his full support to this project as have members of Athens City Council. The membership of the city arts commission is eager to contribute to this and is helping to spread the word. I’ve also enlisted the Athens County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau as key component of this. As we get closer to our kickoff on May 30 I expect to have a large group of civic decision makers and community members on board.
What do you think Athens will discover?
I think this project fits perfectly with a lot of things we have been doing already, but have failed to find a way to tie it all together. We have seen lots of movement in the last 20 years in Athens around the arts, local food, bicycling, and recreation. What we’ll get from this project will be a set of organic recommendations we can implement that reinforces the unique aspects of Athens. From my perspective, this process will help to address ways to make our public spaces not just nice places, not just better places, but truly Athens places. Our city should be a place that is like no other and I think this project will be a huge step towards reaffirming that.
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PRESS RELEASE
City of Athens announces “The Essence of Athens” Plan Kickoff Event
on May 30, 2013.
Date: May 15, 2013
Athens City planner Paul Logue has announced that a new planning project, called “The Essence of Athens” will launch with a kickoff meeting on May 30, 2013 at 6PM at the Athens Community Center, 701 East State Street in Athens.
The Essence of Athens project is being coordinated by Designing Local. At the May 30 kickoff event Athens area residents will be challenged to go out in the community and document through photographs, drawings, lists, or essays what they think makes Athens a unique place. Twitter users will be encouraged to submit their images by using #EssenceofAthens. The data provided by participants will later be used to put together a plan of implementation to reinforce those unique aspects into the built environment of Athens.
The plan is expected to be completed in early autumn 2013. Details on the planning concept can be found at the following links:
https://dl.dream.press/ and https://dl.dream.press/athens/.
Media inquiries should be directed to:
Paul Logue, AICP
City of Athens
28 Curran Drive
Athens, Ohio 45701
740-592-3306
plogue@ci.athens.oh.us
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