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Pen Point: Intense meetings, invested people seek elusive solutions
I feel better.Two weekends ago, as I went from one planning meeting to another, I kept hearing an old Barbra Streisand song in my head. Bob Merrill's lyrics kept rolling over and over, “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.”
There were people at the Fauquier County School Board retreat, people at the Community and Countryside workshop sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and others, people at the Piedmont Environment Council annual meeting, and,, I'm sure more people elsewhere doing more of the same —planning for all of us.
I attended only two of these three meetings but they had threads in common. Discussions centered around the growth of our community. People were talking about what was working and what wasn't.
School board members individually gave their opinions. We have quality teachers, administration and staff and our students have school pride. What we need more of is community collaboration and better transportation policies and procedures.
Funny thing. The people attending the Community and Countryside session found the same thing, just on a different level: regional land-use planning and design. We have quality communities and pride in our rural environment. What we need is more community collaboration and better transportation policies and procedures.
Both groups set their agendas as a framework for problem-solving. Both discussed top priorities and took a hard look at the economy.
What stood out was, regardless of the diversity of individuals and their viewpoints, there was a cohesiveness among the groups to find ways to address our community's problems. As one speaker said, “Why would anyone invest in a community that won't invest in itself?”
There wasn't necessarily a consensus on the next steps for smart growth, whether it was in academics or land development. No immediate solutions. But, no matter what the organization, no matter what the plan, it was evident we need each other to make it all work.
Did I say that I feel better? Well, I feel lucky, too. Bob Merrill knew what he was talking about.
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