Montpelier
What does Vermont mean to you?:
Historic downtowns & village centers as centers of business; locally grown products; quality public schools; clean mountains, fields, lakes,& rivers; open & green space free of billboards; limited strip mall development & sprawl; snow
What common values do Vermonters share?:
A commitment to much of the above & independence.
What challenges and opportunities do we see for our communities and state?:
Challenges - sprawl; keeping downtowns/village centers vibrant & diverse; retaining small & quality schools; childcare for infants/toddlers/pre-schoolers; elder care; informing tourists about places of interest without billboards. Opportunities - the many places of interest in VT, farmers markets, downtown businesses, 3rd stories of buildings to put back in use; small schools.
What should our priorities be as we work together to prepare Vermont for the future?:
Think of ways to diversify the state's reliance on tourism for its revenue while trying to boost tourism (from residents within the state & out of state); focus not on new housing construction but rehabilitating older homes & helping elders find ways to live & age in home (either their current home or a smaller home/apartment); retaining ag land & find ways to put land back into work.
How do your thoughts about Vermont's values, future challenges and priority issues apply to YOUR community?:
<Montpelier does a great job keeping its downtown vibrant. Luckily it's geography prevents a lot of sprawl, but it could do a better job encouraging the use of 3rd floors as housing. Hopefully the voters will continue to approve school budgets to keep and improve the quality of its schools. A preshool would be great too!
