September 7, 2006

EDITORIAL

Community Forum aims at dialogue

At a recent Village Council meeting, Helen Eier made an eloquent plea on behalf of villagers who felt that Council wasn’t listening to them. Later at the same meeting, in a different context, Council member Jocelyn Hardman expressed her frustration that no one seemed to hear what she was saying. It seems that many people in town feel they are trying to express their concerns for the village but that no one hears what they’re saying.

It’s clear that Yellow Springers need more opportunities to both speak with, and listen to each other about local issues. They will have a unique chance to do so on Saturday, Sept. 30, at the Third Annual Yellow Springs Community Forum on Economic Development. The daylong forum is a nonpolitical event with facilitators who are trained to help participants take part in a dialogue rather than a debate. (See more details on page 7.)

The forum couldn’t come at a better time. Yellow Springers face a range of complex and challenging issues, including how best to raise revenues to address the Village budget deficit and to keep Village services, how to attract new business and residential growth, how to determine what sort of growth is right for Yellow Springs, and, on top of these things, how to keep the village affordable.

The issue of growth will be at the heart of this year’s forum, which is titled “Qualities of Growth.” While organizers say they would be delighted if the forum leads to strategies for action, they are most interested in allowing villagers the opportunity to understand each other, and especially to understand what growth means to themselves and to their neighbors and friends. This approach seems both wise and productive. Before taking actions we would do well to find as much common ground as we can, since actions with broad support have a greater chance of success.

Yellow Springs Men’s Group members, who organized the first community forum in 2004, deserve our appreciation for their considerable efforts in bringing together village leaders to discuss complex issues. Last year’s organizers, the Chamber of Commerce, Community Resources and the Men’s Group, took a welcome step toward inclusiveness by opening the event up to all interested villagers. Those two events established a new and valuable tradition of taking an annual day to reflect on village issues.

The Community RoundTable, which grew out of the first forum, organized this year’s event. CRT members have listened well to past participants, and have responded to what they heard. Last year’s forum participants talked about the need to more clearly involve Antioch College in the discussion, and this year’s event will take place at the college. As well as offering breakout groups on housing, economic development, public services and revenues and education, this year’s forum includes a group on the college and the community.

Perhaps even more importantly, the 2006 organizers listened to past concerns that forum participants needed more opportunities to really talk with each other. While past forum gatherings divided into breakout groups of about 20 each, these groups still seemed too large to promote understanding. So this year’s event will feature a new format in which participants will gather for more than an hour in groups of four and five. In these groups, participants will consider what growth means to them, what they see as the village’s assets relevant to growth, what they see as impediments, and what can be done to maximize village assets.

The deadline to register for the community forum is Sept. 15. Those who do so will pay $10, and will give up one day of their time. This seems a very small price to pay for the opportunity to help deepen understanding among villagers, and to help Yellow Springs move forward in a critical time.

—Diane Chiddister