GCR Hosts Moderated Forum on Livable Communities Around the University
On Sunday, September 29, GCR and the Campus Community Relations Committee invited representatives of the neighborhoods around the University and city officials to participate in a moderated forum on livable communities. The intent of this forum was to identify creative and practical ways to enhance the livability of our university area community.
Over two and a half hours, the moderators facilitated discussion among 55 participants. Each group of about 8 people was asked to identify a list of tangible and sustainable projects, processes, or policies to be implemented in the next year, which will enhance the livability of our University area and neighborhoods over the next 2-5 years.
After much discussion and dialogue, each group then prioritized their list of ideas and picked their top two to present to the entire forum. All participants voted on their top two ideas.
Some of the ideas which surfaced to the top included:
- Finding creative ways to address traffic and transportation issues in the area;
- Working with stakeholders of student housing projects to develop infrastructure enhancements;
- Collaborating to collect and disseminate neighborhood information;
- Incentivizing home ownership in the University area neighborhoods;
- Working to preserve neighborhood “sense of place”;
- Providing mentorship between neighbors and new residents.
GCR looks forward to working with our partners in the neighborhoods around the University to address some of these, and other, issues in the coming months.