July 23, 2009

editorial

What’s your vision?

The visioning effort, with public gatherings slated to begin in September, looks like an exciting process for Yellow Springs. It’s an opportunity for villagers and township residents, with professional guidance, to come together to speak meaningfully about critical local issues, including economic development, green space preservation, values and land use. And the process will move beyond talk to include doable, realistic actions.

The News wants to help set the stage by inviting our readers to share their ideas. What path should the village and township follow to ensure a vital future? Perhaps you want to see Yellow Springs strengthen itself as an arts town, or a green town, or an education village, or all of the above. Perhaps your vision is entirely different. We’d like to hear them all.

While we can’t promise to publish all submissions, we’ll do our best. (Please keep submissions under 750 words.) We’re open to all ideas, although we encourage you to include specifics and concrete examples about how you see your vision taking shape. Please e-mail, if possible, to ysnews.com, or drop off a handwritten submission to the office.

Visionaries have always flocked to Yellow Springs, including the educational mavericks Horace Mann and Arthur Morgan, the ex-slave Wheeling Gaunt, the feminist Gene Trolander and, most recently, the heroes of Nonstop and Antioch College alumni. They had the courage to dream big and, just as important, the tenacity to turn those dreams into reality. Their visions have shaped this town into the singular community that we love.

Now it’s our turn. Let’s be bold. What’s your vision?

— Diane Chiddister