April 7, 2009

Always one to test the technology waters, Lakeland Vision has opened another way of communicating with the community. On April 2, 2009 Lakeland Vision quietly launched a Twitter feed. With firm virtual footing the not-for-profit community development organization is ready to spread the word and collect “friends” and “followers.”

“We are certainly not the first organization in Lakeland to use Twitter to communicate with the public,” says Shannon Lanier, executive director. “The Lakeland Police Department (@LakelandPD) has garnered national recognition for using Twitter to communicate urgent issues to the public. The Lakeland Chamber of Commerce (@LakelandChamber) has been incorporating Twitter to communicate with its members for quite some time now. We simply want to be a part of the open dialogue so we can help spread the word about community-related matters.” Such matters include sharing stories about what other organizations are doing to improve the community, upcoming events, volunteer and job opportunities, news items, and updates about Lakeland Vision’s progress towards addressing the needs of the community.

Twitter functions almost like a modern telegram with a dash of the Telephone Game. In as few letters as possible (no more than 140, to be exact) a participant tells a story. Any topic is fair game. For Lakeland Vision’s purposes, they will focus on Lakeland-related stories. Often Lakeland Vision will forward other people’s stories through “re-tweeting” but will also generate original material that can be appreciated by people with an interest in Lakeland. “The success of Twitter has been proven. It only becomes more successful as more people join the online conversation,” states Lanier. To “follow” Lakeland Vision through Twitter, “@LakelandVision” is the account name. Facebook users can “friend” Lakeland Vision. Those preferring a traditional route, email info@lakelandvision.org or call 863.682.9660 for more information.

February 26, 2009

Lakeland Vision has instated new board leadership for the next two years. Immediate Past Chair, David Touchton, will remain on the board while focusing on his role as Chair of the Central Florida Economic Development Council’s Board of Directors. Long-standing board member, Howard Wiggs, will take the helm as Lakeland Vision’s Chair. “This has been an incredible term for both Lakeland Vision and me. I’m excited about what we have accomplished in just two years and what we have set before us,” says Touchton. He adds, “Howard’s innate leadership and history with the organization is a good fit for the next phase of Lakeland Vision.”

Lakeland Vision is about to wrap its community-wide outreach program, Make Your Mark, which asked the community to create a plan for Lakeland’s future. The results of the community’s feedback will be presented in March. At that time Lakeland Vision will shift gears and focus on taking action on the ideas generated by the community. “I was on the board ten years ago when the first vision for Lakeland was created. We had some great success come out of that. To see the community come together to update that vision has been inspiring and I’m looking forward to ensuring we stay focused on making that vision a reality,” says new board chair, Howard Wiggs who is also a Lakeland City Commissioner and co-owner of Bagley Idea Pros.

Other board members include: Vice Chair - Phillip Dunne, community activist; Treasurer - Randy Hollen, Bank of Central Florida; Secretary - Gow Fields, Fields & Company Allstate Insurance and Lakeland City Commissioner; Immediate Past Chair, David Touchton, NCT Group, CPA’s; Director - Philip Allen, Peterson & Meyers, P.A.; Director - Bruce Lyon, Swan Development Advisors; Director - Pat Steed, Central Florida Regional Planning Council; Director - John Schliesser, Lakeland Regional Medical Center; Director - Ann Wilson, Platform Florida.

February 12, 2009

We just want to touch base with the community about what’s happening with Lakeland Vision at the moment. We have been a bit quite lately because we are focused on finalizing the community’s plan for the future.

At the end of January Lakeland Vision was invited to present the preliminary results of the Make Your Mark program to the city commission at their annual retreat. If you would like to watch the 20 minute presentation it is posted on the City’s website. (The report can be found halfway through “Day 1”) The report includes the results of the Vision Open House where the public was invited to vote on the five strategies they believe to be most important to Lakeland’s future. What we discovered is that the community is very interested in seeing more development downtown (mixed use and more density) and they want to continue supporting local arts programs. Other items that received considerable attention were the support of USF Polytechnic's new campus for the purpose of economic development and supporting legislative action to divert freight rail traffic from downtown and promote passenger rail service. A total of 136 strategies are laid out in the vision document so the above items only scratch the surface of the community’s interests.

Speaking of the vision document…we are currently working on finalizing all of the details so we can begin implementation. The skeleton of the vision is in place and we’ve been working with our steering committee and with various comments made by the public to “add meat to the bones.” Instead of simply delivering a list of goals and strategies, Lakeland Vision will be delivering a plan that incorporates possible action steps and partnerships that will help put the plan into action. We will be doing some final editing (checking for spelling/punctuation errors, and the like) at the end of February. Our goal is to have this ready for public consumption at the beginning of March.

So that’s it…for now. If you happen to be a skilled proof reader with some time to volunteer we might call on you to help us review the final draft before it goes to print. Send an email to info@lakelandvision.org if you are interested. Otherwise, stay tuned. An updated plan for Lakeland’s future is on the way!

October 20, 2008

Lakeland Vision has collected over 1,000 ideas from the community that answers the question, “What can we do to make Lakeland the best it can be in the coming years?” Ideas have ranged from “More sidewalks” to building “boardwalks over lakes.” In fact, there is a tremendous amount of diversity in ideas and all of them can be found on the Lakeland Vision website: www.LakelandVision.org.

The next step in the Make Your Mark process involves using all of the ideas to draft goals and strategies that will become reference points of progress as Lakeland moves into the future. Everyone who has an interest in Lakeland’s future is invited to participate in the workshops taking place at Lakeland High School on Oct. 27th and Oct. 28th from 6:00-8:00pm both evenings.

The community’s ideas have been broken into a total of eleven topics. On Monday Oct. 27th participants will discuss ideas related to Arts, Activities, & Entertainment; Education; Environment; Diversity & Community; and Transportation. On Tuesday Oct. 28th participants will discuss ideas related to Downtown & Neighborhoods; Economy; Governance; Parks & Recreation; and Social Initiatives. Ideas related to Growth & Infrastructure are also plentiful and will be incorporated into the “Mapping the Future” workshop on December 9th. Participants can attend both nights and will be asked to join a small group to work on a topic of their choice. Participants will review all of the ideas related to their chosen topic, help refine a goal statement, and suggest potential strategies that will support their goal. Community members who are already engaged in any of the ten topics, whether it be through work, charity, or personal interest, are encouraged to attend a workshop that reflects their interests.

September 18, 2008

In a move designed to enhance citizen access to an important community event, local bus schedules have been extended to allow Rt. 42, West Memorial, to service Kathleen High School on the evening of September 22. The changes are designed to allow more members of the public to participate in a Lakeland Vision “Idea Gathering” meeting taking place from 6 to 8 p.m. at Kathleen High School.

The schedule changes affect three Citrus Connection bus routes, according to Danny Ours, executive director of Lakeland Area Mass Transit District. The affected routes serve patrons traveling to the Downtown terminal, making connection with Rt. 42, W. Memorial to Kathleen High School. Rt. 42, West Memorial will have extended hours along with Rt. 41, Central and Rt. 50, Kathleen/Providence. Extended hours for Rt. 42 will be until 8:45 PM. West Memorial and Central (Routes 41 & 50 respectively) will be extended to 9:45 PM to allow riders of Rt. 42 to make connection at the Downtown terminal and continue home on one of the extended routes. No other routes are extended. ADA eligible Handy Bus riders may make a reservation on any of those three routes to attend the Lakeland Vision event. Reservations must be made no later than Saturday, September 20th. 

The extension was immediately hailed by event organizers. According to Shannon Lanier, executive director of Lakeland Vision, "From the beginning, we have hoped for the broadest possible involvement in these idea gathering meetings. Thanks to the flexibility of our friends at Citrus Connection, more people will have a chance to 'make their mark' in our planning process."

Lakeland Vision, now preparing for its second decade, is in the midst of a comprehensive update to the vision document that guides the organization's activities and serves as Lakeland's "to do list" for the coming years. The process includes a series of six "Make Your Mark" public input sessions, including the Kathleen High School event. The meetings are free and open to the public, according to Lanier.

For more information about Citrus Connection mass transit, call at 688-RIDE (7433).

August 18, 2008

On Sept. 16, 2008, Lakeland Vision will launch "Make Your Mark" -- a comprehensive visioning process designed to gather and organize input from Lakeland citizens about Lakeland's future. Make Your Mark begins with the "Idea Gathering" meetings. People who live or work in Lakeland are invited to attend one of these six public input meetings that will take place between Sept. 16 and Sept. 25. The ideas gathered at those meetings will lay the foundation for the community's plan for the future. Following the Idea Gathering meetings will be a series of differently-focused programs, all of which the public is encouraged to attend. At the end of February 2009, Lakeland Vision will provide a refreshed guiding document to the community that reflects Lakeland today.

Part of this vast refreshment has involved a variety of internal adjustments. In the past year, Lakeland Vision has built up its board from four to 10 active members, has added new members and fresh perspectives to its Steering Committee [link to "Committees"] and has brushed up its identity with a new logo and a new website.

We didn't take this lightly because we knew, in order to continue our work successfully, we needed to be thorough," says David Touchton, board chairman and long-standing member of the organization. "We got stuck in tradition but have made a concerted effort to reinvigorate ourselves and the organization. The last and most critical piece involves updating the community's strategic plan for its future."

Lakeland Vision was established in 1998. Through community input a plan was created to take Lakeland into the year 2020. That vision has helped focus community-wide efforts through public-private partnerships, volunteer efforts, and organizational initiatives. Within 10 years, those efforts helped to address a majority of the current vision plan. Now, with concerns on the horizon that were not even a topic of conversation in 1998, Lakeland Vision is reaching out to the community again to determine what our community's priorities should be and to generate a consensus about what steps we need to take to ensure Lakeland is a strong, effective and appealing community in the future.

The 35-member Steering Committee has been hard at work preparing for the launch of Make Your Mark. "This is an exciting process and, with the challenges of determining where to allocate our funding, it is necessary to reach out to the people of Lakeland to understand what support is needed and how to distribute that support in a truly effective manner," says Ileana Kniss of the Community Foundation of Greater Lakeland and a Steering Committee member.

The committee has assisted in establishing event locations, connecting with community networks, and organizing this dynamic visioning process. As progress is made, information will be posted on the Lakeland Vision website.