LUKEVISION- Celebrating 21 years of building Community Vision, we now have links to Visions or Strategic Plans for over 50 communities or regions on our web site, including the 14 communities below.  Visit at http://www.lukevision.com/communities.htm   Since August 31, 2002 there have been requests for 100,972 pages from the entire web site.

POLK COUNTY, FL-Polk County has 500,000 population within 2,000 square miles in central Florida.  The county is known for its many lakes, Florida's first tourist attraction-Cypress Gardens, the Historic Bok Sanctuary, the citrus and phosphate industry.  It has 17 cities with Lakeland and Winter Haven having the largest population.  We began the facilitation of Polk Vision in November 2003 and are using an approach used in Metro Atlanta in 1985-1986 and Richmond, VA in 1991 to accommodate the large geographic area.   In March 2004 five Community Meetings for input.  In April and May 2004, there will be five Vision Task Forces to create one draft Vision.  For information, click her at http://www.polkvision.com/.

PAULDING COUNTY, GA-Planning for Paulding has developed an excellent draft Strategic Plan.  On February 24, the draft plan was mailed to 39,000 households so they could provide input on the document.  Many presentations have been made to community organizations for their input.  The final Strategic Plan will be completed in March 2004 and then implementation will begin.

RUTHERFORD COUNTY, NC-On November 20, 2003, Realize Rutherford held their first annual implementation meeting with over 300 in attendance.  The Daily Courier newspaper ran a series of articles describing the first year's progress.  Major advances included:

Ø      Creation of an Arts, Parks and Recreation Commission.
Ø      Diversifying the economic development thought process as the county has faced the loss of several thousand textile and furniture manufacturing jobs
Ø      Speeding up the expansion of US 221 to 4-lanes
Ø      Increasing government coordination and cooperation
Ø      Creation of Grantsmanship Assistance Program

SAGINAW, MI-the Michigan Governor, Jennifer Granholm, announced on February 3, 2004 that she had chosen Saginaw as the first of twelve pilot communities for her statewide "Cool Cities" initiative.  Lt. Governor, John Cherry, said, "We've been impressed with the work Saginaw County Vision 2020 has done".  The Vision's third annual implementation meeting will be in March 2004.

                                                                                    The Saginaw News

LAKELAND, FL-The Lakeland Economic Development Council has created an initiative that seeks to lure young high-skilled professionals.  The initiative has its roots in Lakeland Vision.  It is heavily influenced by the research and writing of Carnegie Mellon University  professor  Richard  Florida.  http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?SearchID=73163752383936&Avis=LL&Dato=20040208&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr=402080473&Ref=AR

WILKES COUNTY, NC-On October 23, 3003, Wilkes Vision20/20  marked the five-year anniversary of their long-range planning effort.  About 125 Wilkes citizens met to review the progress and establish the highest priority strategies to work on for the next year.

SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PA-Schuylkill County government included $1 million and a .5 tax increase in their 2004 budget to help fund a community college branch campus in the county.

Schuylkill Vision's sixth year annual implementation report was presented in December 2003.

GILLETTE, WY-In 2003, Campbell County Economic Development Corporation raised over $1.6 million to help diversify their economy.  The result will help break the cycle of a boom/bust economy.  Campbell County's population in 2002 was 36,110.

CABARRUS COUNTY, NC-In December 2003, Chip Ganassi Racing and Felix Sabates broke ground for a 166,000 square foot NASCAR race shop and a 40,000 square foot hanger at the airport.  There will be about 150 jobs and an estimated $20.5 million injected into the local tax base.  Ganassi and Sabates currently have three NASCAR cars.

                                                                                    Independent  Tribune

MEMPHIS, TN-A December 11, 2003 New York newspaper article described the Memphis program to attract young professionals to Memphis.

YAKIMA, WA-November 2003 "For a Better Tomorrow" issued a status report after 18 months of the implementation process.  A major emphasis has been on strategies for development of a Positive Image and Sense of Community and Creating Cultural Connections. 

The City of Yakima, WA and Yakima County recently unveiled commercial and residential permitting service standards backed by a customer-service commitment that includes an application fee refund for failing to meet time constraints.  According to the service standards adopted by both city and county, commercial building permits should be issued within seven to eight weeks of receiving a complete application.

                                                                        Business Facilities

RICHMOND, VA-The Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc. has provided a new web site that focuses on the region's advanced materials and specialty chemical sector have a new technology brochure that positions Greater Richmond in the I-64 Technology Corridor.  http://www.richmondcatalyst.com/about.asp

JACKSONVILLE, FL- On November 30, 2003, Jacksonville celebrated the ten-year anniversary of the decision by the NFL to award Jacksonville a National Football League expansion team.  The team has had a major impact on Jacksonville and in February 2005, Jacksonville will host  "Superbowl XXXIX".  http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/113003/met_14175102.shtml

ATLANTA, GA-Georgia Tech plans to build an $80 million nanotechnology research center to help bring about the next big thing in physics, medicine and engineering.

                                                                                    Atlanta Journal-Constitution

PAST COMMUNITY VISIONING REPORTS, the Community Strategic Planning Process, and client web sites can be reviewed from the menu below.  Luke Planning, Inc. provides facilitation for Community Vision and Community Strategic Planning. Please forward this newsletter to anyone who may have an interest in these topics.

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Henry Luke