Nels Westman, CVRA Board President
The CVRA Board is pleased to learn of community leader Gayle Ortiz’ efforts to organize a grassroots project called VISION CAPITOLA. Over 30 community volunteers have joined her to help organize this project. VISION CAPITOLA will be a community based effort done completely by volunteers in order to get an objective, up to date picture of what Capitolans value most about their community and where they would like to see the City go in the next 5 to 15 years. The intention is to produce a report that is as positive and forward-looking as possible.
Community priorities do change – sometimes over a comparatively short period of time. Hopefully this objective, community-based effort to explore and report on city-wide attitudes will be welcomed as a valuable resource for Capitola’s city leaders.
Having a large number of Capitolans participate will make a powerful statement regarding the direction in which the community wants Capitola to go. Similarly participation from all neighborhoods is very important. Dozens of volunteers will be distributing fliers in early April to households all over the city.
The CVRA is reaching out to encourage all Capitolans to participate so that the final report is as inclusive as possible. There are several ways to participate. All are detailed on their website www.visioncapitola.com.
You can participate in person at two evening workshops at Jade Street Community Center (4400 Jade Street) on April 20 and 27. VISION CAPITOLA realizes this is a very tight time limit for such an important topic, but they want to insure everyone who wants to speak will have the opportunity to do so. At the end of the first workshop you will be asked to indicate your Top Five picks from the night’s comments. The second workshop will review and prioritize the input from the first meeting.
In the event you cannot attend the workshops or prefer not to speak in person, you can also participate online. An email comment form is available at www.visioncapitola.com. Comments need to be received by 8:00 a.m. on April 23 to be included. Or you can write to Vision Capitola the old fashioned way. Mailing instructions and deadline are available on their website.
We strongly urge you to give the subject some thought and to let VISION CAPITOLA know how you feel.