(From the City of Joplin)
Local officials announce the establishment of a planning framework and process to develop a recovery roadmap following the May 22, 2011 tornado. Community input will be a key component as officials work with citizen stakeholders to guide community recovery. The process will integrate a multi-disciplinary team of professionals and volunteers supporting recovery planning, comprehensive planning and economic development strategies.
Disasters create unique challenges and necessitate innovative and creative solutions to large, complex issues. “Working together, we can make the best of this situation. The incredible community spirit that we saw for the response will be our strength in recovery,” said Rob O’Brian, President, Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce.
While final details of the recovery planning process are still being refined, representatives from Joplin, Duquesne, and Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce will visit Greensburg, Kansas to discuss long-term recovery experiences with residents and local officials that have dealt with post-disaster redevelopment, to consider if some of the strategies employed there can be successfully applied in Joplin.
“We see this as an opportunity to bring citizens, community leaders, professionals and volunteers together to utilize opportunities that result from the tragedy of a disaster,” said Troy Bolander, Planning and Community Development Manager for the City of Joplin. “We will make the Joplin area stronger, more resilient to future economic and natural events, and a more attractive place to live,”
Public involvement plays a critical role in shaping the future of a community and this process allows citizen ideas and comments to become the foundation of future decision-making. Citizen participation will help the community articulate the best way to apply federal, state, non-profit and private sector resources, which will have long-term positive impact on recovery. The public engagement process is designed to establish a systematic approach to challenging and complex issues.
“More details will be forthcoming on public meetings to get citizens involved,” said Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr. “It is very important to hear from our residents. In past planning sessions, our citizens have stepped up and voiced their ideas. We want that same effort again, but it the significance of it is magnified as we rebuild Joplin bigger and better for our community.”
Citizens are encouraged to listen to news media outlets for announcements of upcoming meetings that will begin in mid-July.
3 comments:
" Community input will be a key component as officials work with citizen stakeholders to guide community recovery. "
The city continues to get this wrong. The citizens should be doing the rebuilding with input from the professionals. They are going to visit Greenburg, no doubt at taxpayer expense, and want to build an ecological utopia. They'll push thus agenda despite it prolonging the rebuilding process and pricing most of the displaced out of their old neighborhoods. They are going to be disappointed when the next census shows Joplin lost 10,000 people.
Let people rebuild now under the current building codes!
Baloney, the current codes got some people killed. A big box store built to withstand 90 mph winds in an area where EF2 and EF3 tornadoes with 110-150 winds are becoming an annual event is stupid. Hurricane clips wouldn't have helped the people around the high school, but they would have kept some roofs from blowing off on the edges of the damage path. There is nothing wrong with bring information to residents about ways they can build better than before. AND there is nothing wrong with code changes that take into account the lessons learned from this storm and the 2009 deracho, 2008 Picher and Newton County tornado, 2003 tornado outbreak and other storms. That's not pushing an agenda it's learning from the past.
What's baloney is the government closing the barn door after the horse is already out. If these are such great ideas why weren't they in place already? Why didn't the wise planners insist on making these rules after witnessing the destruction of the May 2003 tornados? The government seems intent on making it more burdensome and expensive for the people who have already lost everything. These efforts to make Joplin better may prevent Joplin from being rebuilt.
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