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A vision for Medford Photo by Bob Pennell The two towers of the Rogue Valley Manor dominate the Medford skyline looking west from the hills off Hillcrest Road. City officials hope residents will share their own visions of Medford's future in a planning process that gets under way Wednesday. City wants citizens' help in plan for decades to come By JIM DAVIS B egin dreaming, Medford. For the first time, the entire community is being asked to come up with a vision for its future, to paint a picture of what it hopes to become. Everyone and anyone in the city is invited to participate, said Medford Councilman Curt Bennett. "If more trees are important to you, now's a good time to speak out for more trees," Bennett said. The "vision" -- a statement of the highest aspirations of the community -- will come from citizen panels, and Mayor Lindsay Berryman say she hopes it will guide city government's decision-making for decades. "This is new in that the council is asking the community to participate," Berryman said. "Beforehand, the council was doing the goal setting based upon what projects were in the hopper for the next year." Councilman Sal Esquivel said the vision will help shape the future of Medford. "We're moving from a small town to a large city," Esquivel said. "What we establish now is going to determine what type of city we will be in the future." A "community kickoff" event is planned for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater at 23 S. Central Ave. The vision planning process will cost about $75,000. Last year, the city set aside up to $55,000 for Cogan Owens Cogan, a Portland consultant, to help guide the vision process. The city also approved $20,000 for expenses, such as costs for the kickoff. The goal of Wednesday's meeting is to get people excited enough about growth; arts and culture; and diversity and human services. The task forces will come up with ideas for Medford's future. Those ideas will be passed to a steering committee, which has already been selected. The steering committee will distill the ideas and pass the boiled-down versions to the City Council. The whole process will run to June. At the kickoff, city staff and the consultants will be on hand to provide a picture of where Medford has been and where it is now. The staff will show a video on the city and present results of community surveys and a profile of Medford compiled by the consultants, said Preston Polasek, an assistant to the city manager. The consultant's profile will provide snapshots of the community, for instance, comparing Medford with other cities by the size of the city's police force, the number of its museums and galleries, or the proportion of minorities and single parents among its residents. "It's to show people who have just come here and people who have lived all of their lives here what Medford is and where it has been," said Elaine Cogan, the consultant. "Then, when you put the vision together, you decide where Medford wants to go." Cogan said she has seen community visions that have worked and some that have failed. "The ones that work are very peculiar and particular to that community," she said. For instance, Anchorage, Alaska, which went through a vision process, was always a frontier city, with few recreational activities other than outdoors events. "Anchorage has never had any cultural activities to speak of," Cogan said. She said the community decided it wanted to add more cultural opportunities, and its vision is aimed at attracting those opportunities. In Hood River, residents placed cultural activities lower on the list because Portland, with its museums and art galleries and concert halls, is just 50 miles away. Medford, Cogan pointed out, is not far from Ashland. "What kind of arts and entertainment should Medford have when it's close to the nationally known Oregon Shakespeare Festival?" Cogan said. "I don't know -- that's for the community to decide." Berryman said she hopes the vision planning process will direct the city for years to come. "What I see us coming out of this process with is a set of values and a set of directions from the community as to where they want to go," Berryman said. The City Council, she said, can tailor the city's budget to match the vision. She said the vision will be a guide for the city on its short-term goals, giving the council an idea of where to prioritize issues. She also said the vision will give the City Council a starting point for the city's long-term strategy that reaches out 30 to 50 years. Esquivel said Ashland and Jacksonville have clear community identities. "I think the citizens of Medford have not bought into an identity at this point," Esquivel said. "Hopefully they will through this process." Bennett said the planning process is an effort by the city to reach out to the community and get people involved. "How many people do you really talk to? Hundreds, maybe. But there are still thousands out there," Bennett said. Berryman said people need to get involved now, however. "I don't see us doing three, four or five visions," Berryman said. "If they're not representing their interest now, they won't be on the game board." If people cannot attend the kickoff, they can still sign on with one of the task forces by calling 774-2004. People must join before Feb. 11. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA