Our Niagara County communities have a once in a lifetime opportunity at the grassroots level to self-define what we are, based on facts on the ground, even if they are sometimes brutal facts, and chart our way to a shared preferred future that will be better for this generation of Niagara County communities and the many to follow. But, are we ready? Or, is the poison in our Niagara County communities too strong, too much, and too pervasive to permit us to participate to plan, based on years of distrust, despair, partisanship, nihilism, money/power/control driven mindsets, downward spiraling, negativism, and shark in the water media frenzies? One has to look to oneself and one's core values to answer such questions. I and my family are ready to plan to participate to plan - we always have in all we have done and all we do. My community friends also are ready. (Caveat: keeping company with positive fellow travelers is an asset when facing such challenges.) The Niagara County community members I have met building their businesses, farms, families and lives are ready. We can plan to participate to plan, yes, we can! But, for those who can't, step aside and let the "can do" Niagara County communities and their "can do" community members take on the challenging tasks to define our present and take us to a better future. If you can, plan to participate to plan by looking into the Niagara Communities Comprehensive Plan website at http://niagaracounty.com/ProjectOverview.asp , e-mail what grassroots facts you have to share about the state of the particular Niagara County community in which you live to comprehensiveplan@niagaracounty.com, and plan to constructively and positively participate to plan in the following public meetings - mark your calendars well: - April 23, 2008 - 7:00 pm in the NiagaraCountyCommunity College
Faculty Dining Room - G Building - 2nd Floor Room G 212
- June 25, 2008 - 7:00 pm in the NiagaraCountyCommunity College
Faculty Dining Room - G Building - 2nd Floor Room G 212
- August 27, 2008 - 7:00 pm in the NiagaraCountyCommunity College
Faculty Dining Room - G Building - 2nd Floor Room G 212
- October 1, 2008 - 7:00 pm in the NiagaraCountyCommunity College
Fine Arts Theater - F Building - 1st Floor Room F155
***All meetings will be held at NiagaraCountyCommunity College - 3111 Saunders Settlement Road, Sanborn, NY unless otherwise noted.