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Medford vision needs sharpening By JIM DAVIS Getting the vision of Medford in focus is taking a little longer than expected. The Medford vision steering committee met Wednesday night to start finalizing the vision, a document that is expected to be a blueprint for civic government for years. The committee members decided they needed at least two more meetings before they could present a final document to the Medford City Council. Medford Councilman Curt Bennett, who also sits on the steering committee, said the council wanted the vision completed by the time the city begins working on its budget in May. But he also said that the vision process was too important to rush through it. Mayor Lindsay Berryman, another steering committee member, said the group will meet at least twice more -- once in April and once in May. The steering committee was scheduled to turn the vision plan over to the City Council on May 12. Berryman and Bennett also invited the committee to come back in the fall and grade the City Council on its progress in fulfilling the vision. Bennett said that the vision statement is supposed to guide government for the next 10 to 15 years. "I hope it's a living, ongoing process," Bennett said. The city kicked off the vision plan with a February meeting. More than 330 residents participated in the meeting and broke into eight groups, generating ideas and goals for the city. The project is budgeted for $75,000. The issue areas are public safety; housing and growth management; parks and recreation; arts, culture and education; cultural diversity; human services; transportation; and economic development and telecommunications. The steering committee's job is to boil the ideas down to a final document. The committee also is charged with sorting through the Youth Vision, a similar project to define the highest aspirations of Medford's youngsters. Berryman said the steering committee will come up with a single vision statement for each of the issues, as well as four or five priorities for each issue. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA