SACO — Do you have a vision for the city’s future? You are invited to share your ideas at a community-wide conversation on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at city hall.
For the past month, Saco residents have been gathering in small groups from business to nonprofit, seniors to youth, and all points in between to discuss the city’s future as part of its Bridge:2025 visioning process.
Those discussions, rooted in the city’s strengths, weaknesses and opportunities, are now set to culminate at a three hour meeting on Saturday. Everyone’s invited to attend.
“Here’s your chance to join with your neighbors and make a real difference in the city’s future,” said Saco Personnel Officer and Project Manager Stephanie Weaver.
Saturday’s meeting will provide residents a summary of all the opinions and ideas collected thus far, and then drill down specifically on the concerns and ambitions of attendees.
According to Weaver, the Bridge:2025 project marks an ambitious departure for the city, incorporating a variety of listening tools to “meet our residents where they are.” These include a project-specific website, with consistently updated news about the process; opportunities to comment online; a community survey exploring key issues; and, of course, the 12 small, topic-specific focus groups recently completed.
“You’ve got the city’s ear,” continued Weaver. “What can you offer to make our community a better place?”
Input collected during the process, including the upcoming meeting, is expected to be presented to the city council in February and will be used to create a vision of “what success looks like.” With this vision in mind, the council will set long term goals and three to five major priorities that support implementation. Staff, in turn, will then develop work plans to get everything done.
“We’d like everyone to be a part of the process,” said Saco Mayor Don Pilon, “so it’s very important that you engage yourself, come forward and participate. I want to hear from you. I want to hear not just what’s best about Saco but what can be better in the future.”
More details can be found online at www.sacobridge2025.org.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less