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Village Mission Statement

(79 posts)
  1. KimJ
    Member

    It was suggested that the village come up with a mission statement on Saturday. It would be nice to have a few sentences that encompass our goals, no matter how lofty. Without some basic goals, we are all over the board.

    DLK has started this and would like people to chime in.
    What is our mission statement?
    This is what has been come up with so far.
    (It is my opinion that a village's mission statement should have nothing to do with Economic Development or fiscal conservatism, our mission should be more lofty than that)

    Our Vision is Frederick Law Olmsted's vision for Riverside that is illustrated in the Olmsted & Vaux, Plan of Riverside:
    Riverside is a semi-rural suburb, not far from the City of Chicago, designed to foster and express the harmonious association and cooperation of citizens in the community, and the civic relationship and interdependence between families, and to suggest and imply leisure, contemplativeness, and happy tranquility, with miles of pleasant access to the scenery of the streets and open spaces, to sunshine and fresh air, and to convenient commercial activity to support our daily lives. The character of this community is expressed in a unified landscape experience through a consistent, continuous planting approach, and a sense of enclosure and of safety with curvilinear streets.

    We will, as stewards of Olmsted's vision, preserve, protect and maintain Riverside's character and historic landmark status, while addressing the realities and requirements of contemporary life: by guiding the physical design of our community, by conserving our natural resources, by sustaining economic growth to fund the services needed to maintain Riverside's facilities and infrastructure, and by governing with fiscal responsibility and adherence to the Vision.

    Posted Tuesday Feb 13, 2007 16:59 #
  2. Tim
    Member

    Came up with this yesterday:

    Our Vision is Frederick Law Olmsted's vision for Riverside that is illustrated in the Olmsted & Vaux Plan of Riverside :

    "Riverside is a semi-rural suburb, not far from the City of Chicago, designed to foster and express the harmonious association and cooperation of citizens in the community, and the civic relationship and interdependence between families, and to suggest and imply leisure, contemplativeness, and happy tranquility, with miles of pleasant access to the scenery of the streets and open spaces, to sunshine and fresh air, and to convenient commercial activity to support our daily lives. The character of this community is expressed in a unified landscape experience through a consistent, continuous planting approach, and a sense of enclosure and of safety with curvilinear streets."

    The people of Riverside are dedicated to perpetuating the vision of Olmsted and Vaux as a model community for timeless suburban living. As stewards of Olmsted's vision, we will preserve, protect and maintain Riverside's character and historic landmark status by guiding the physical design of our community, by conserving our natural resources, by maintaining Riverside's facilities and infrastructure, and by governing with fiscal responsibility and adherence to the Vision.

    Posted Tuesday Feb 13, 2007 19:05 #
  3. TODD
    Member

    We, the people of Riverside, believe in the need to correct our fiscal inequities with the use of Tax Increment Financing, as we have been failed by the lack of vision and forsight of Riverside's early visionaries Olmsted and Vaux. Based on the following qualifications eloquently detailed by Kane, McKenna and Associates, Inc. from Riverside TIF document, dated 11/22/06 :

    2) Lack of Community Planning
    Lack of Community Planning refers to "the proposed redevelopment project area
    was developed prior to or without the benefit or guidance of a community plan. This
    means that the development occurred prior to the adoption by the municipality of a
    comprehensive or other community plan or that the plan was not followed at the time of
    the area's development. This factor must be documented by evidence of adverse or
    incompatible land-use relationships, inadequate street layout, improper subdivision,
    parcels of inadequate shape and size to meet contemporary development standards, or
    other evidence demonstrating an absence of effective community planning".

    Olmsted and Vaux lacked the vision to anticipate the necessity of high density land-use relationships, grid street layout, and small scale subdivisions to provide the citizens of Riverside with their modern day needs, ergo their overall ineffective planning has left the citizens of Riverside with no choice but to establish this Tax Increment Financing District. With encouraged economic growth, increased equalized assessment valuation and the securing of the tax increment we will be able to extort our historic landmark status, redevelop our natural resources, support the increased facilities and infrastructure created by sustainable new development, and continue to govern with fiscal responsibility and adherence to the Vision.

    TOD;D

    Posted Wednesday Feb 14, 2007 05:55 #
  4. MikeT
    Member

    One thing that I noticed in Tim's formulation is a lack of a specification on property market value (EAV) in Riverside. TODD has tried to insert that into the mission statement. TODD's statement might still be lacking in that it should state that ALL properties in Riverside should have 'roughly' commisserate market value, at least on a per capita basis.

    Add that, and we might have the *start* of a renewed and revitalized Riverside, ready for the 21st century, and the aging baby boomers.

    Note: we should probably remove references to the McKenna report, since that is too much of a particular that is not fitting in a high level mission statement going forward.

    McKenna and Sons did their work, now WE, as Riversiders, imbued with a refreshed community spirit, need to 'take the baton' and carry on.

    Stay GOLD, Riverside!

    Posted Wednesday Feb 14, 2007 09:09 #
  5. KimJ
    Member

    I am not sure what EAV has to do with a mission statement.

    Posted Wednesday Feb 14, 2007 10:40 #
  6. Catherine
    Member

    "Olmsted and Vaux lacked the vision to anticipate the necessity of high density land-use relationships, grid street layout, and small scale subdivisions to provide the citizens of Riverside with their modern day needs, ergo their overall ineffective planning has left the citizens of Riverside with no choice but to establish this Tax Increment Financing District."

    Hahahaha! This is the funniest bit of philistinism I have heard yet (albeit in jest.) A modest proposal, eh TODD?

    Posted Wednesday Feb 14, 2007 11:10 #
  7. KimJ
    Member

    Posted Wednesday Feb 14, 2007 16:33 #
  8. TODD
    Member

    I did have another paragraph detailing the Blight of our parklands. This along with recommendations to replace the obsolete gas-lamps with flourescent bulbs, selling off some of the many useless "triangles" for additional mixed-use development, harvesting some of our old growth trees to help save on development costs, and channelling the spirit of Ray Kroc to better our chances for a real Mickey-Dee's in the CBD.

    I decided to keep these out of my vision and save them for the Riverside TIF Plan.

    TOD ;D

    Posted Wednesday Feb 14, 2007 18:16 #
  9. MikeT
    Member

    Hello Todd, Hello TIF

    Posted Wednesday Feb 14, 2007 18:21 #
  10. TODD
    Member

    Be excellent to each other.

    http://www.theotherpages.org/quote-16.html

    Posted Wednesday Feb 14, 2007 18:28 #

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