In 1994 Carthage had a Comprehensive Plan for growth and development done by Planning Works LLC, a firm out of Kansas City. It is recommended that a new plan be done every ten years and we’ve been pretty much on target time wise.

In November 2007 representatives of Planning Works LLC came to Carthage for a town meeting but only 12 citizens attended. With 86 targeted areas to address, it became impossible to go further. A steering committee had worked on this project and had come up with the 86 concerns but again, with not enough people to offer solutions to the problems, another meeting has been scheduled.

This coming Thursday, April 24, is your second chance to help plan the city’s growth, solve current problems and give back your time to your city. I live in the country so I asked if I could attend and participate. The meeting is open to all the residents of the county as it affects the county also. It really is easier to sit home and complain about the direction the city is taking than it is to go change it but had not a committee worked on saving the Carnegie Library and putting an addition on it that was not intrusive we could easily have lost that wonderful building.

The Thursday, April 24 meeting will be held at Memorial Hall at 7 p.m. and again, it is open to the public. I have a copy of the Strategies Prioritization Exercise before me, and it lists the 86 areas to focus on, with room at the bottom to add more should that come up in discussion.

I don’t know the format of this meeting, but in past ones I have been to like this, the attendees break off into smaller groups and try to come up with solutions to the items that have been prioritized.

The list is too long to enumerate but 15 or so of the proposals deal with economic development, seven with rentals and the conditions of them, nine with historic preservation, several with housing and appearances, one specifically with odor control, 9 with existing parks and new parks, 9 or more with infrastructure. To quote what a friend wrote at the bottom of her copy "Retain what we value in Carthage". I agree. Many of the strategies exist in the 1994 code but some are not being enforced and nothing seems to make their usage mandatory in new development.

Several of them are priorities to me such as historical preservation, exploring alternative to control and minimize odors, becoming more "green" in our usage of air and water quality and to my surprise explore options for replacing the city airport. It deals with filling economic development gaps, enhancing the entrances to Carthage, and sidewalks. It even talks about revitalizing the downtown to include more shopping and entertainment. One suggestion is to work with the Chamber and CVB to develop a "Main Street"-style organization to strengthen the downtown square retail area. Hmmm. Been there, done that and watched it fall apart due to lack of support from state and city and will have to think about that proposal awhile. It might work under the umbrella of the Chamber but alone, I think it would fail again.

Should you come to the meeting? Yes, especially anyone new to our town who sees the city with new, fresh eyes and has thoughts on improvements. Thursday, April 24, at 7 p.m. at Memorial Hall – please come.