Join the Conversation...See the Vision

What is the City Visioning Process?

In 2007, the City of Beaverton began a citizen based visioning process to determine community needs and to establish goals for the City as well as plan the strategies and actions we may adopt to achieve those goals.  More than 500 citizens participated in a series of 16 public meetings last fall.  The City worked with two consultant groups who organized the facilitation for the meetings and analyzed the material collected.  Five clear overall goals or themes emerged from the citizen’s comments.

“The vision we create won’t just sit on a shelf—you’ll be able to see it. Your ideas will be captured and communicated to form a new city vision for the future.”

–Rob Drake, Mayor

What are the five goals of the City Visioning Process?

• To Maintain and Enhance Livability
• Build Community
• Create a Vibrant Central Core
• Improve Mobility
• To Maintain and Enhance Public Services

What was the feedback on the five goals?

The City shared these goals with the public in two ways at the beginning of this year. In January, the City presented the five goals to the public in a special Your City newsletter that was mailed to every Beaverton household. In February, the City also sponsored two open houses attended by approximately 200 people. Through the newsletter and the open houses citizens were asked to share their feedback and comments about the goals. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and reaffirmed that these five themes represented the goals of citizens in focusing on improving and preparing our City for the future.

What will the Visioning Process mean long-term to the City?

This process is going to shape Beaverton in big and small ways. Big picture it lays out the citizen’s priorities. It will communicate to the Mayor and City Council what is most important to citizens. This will influence decisions about City programs and services. There are many fresh ideas that have sprung from citizen’s that you may see implemented in the City, such as: creative suggestions to help move traffic along, improve bike paths and pedestrian walkways, ad to create a unique brand or identity for Beaverton. Don’t sit back! Join the Conversation…See the Vision and be a part of helping to shape Beaverton’s future!

How can I participate?

The Visioning Process is a citizen-based initiative. It is about sharing your ideas for the City. The City will begin recruiting for a Visioning Advisory Committee in the summer of 2008. If you are interested in learning more or participating in the Visioning Advisory Committee please email Holly Thompson at hthompson@ci.beaverton.or.us or call (503) 526-2658.

If you would like to send your comments via the Web site please complete the following form.

What are the next steps in the Visioning Process?

City staff and the consultants reviewed the five main goals and worked together to identify specific ideas shared by citizens that would help achieve the goals. The steps or actions identified were divided into short-term or long-term actions. Over the spring and summer of 2008 staff will be working on the following:

• Internal review of citizen’s short-term action recommendations: Visioning staff will be meeting with each department head and their management team to review the short-term action recommendations from citizens that impact their department. We will be asking managers to consider which actions we can accomplish. Some of these actions may be new initiatives while others may be things we have already begun but need to expand or enhance our efforts. Some existing initiatives may need improved marketing efforts so citizens are aware of the service. Or we may simply not be providing the service at a level that meets the needs of our citizens. Either way, we will review all of the proposed short-term actions with the departments and get their feedback.
• Compile a report and recommendations for short-term actions: Visioning staff will compile all of the feedback we receive from department heads and managers into a comprehensive report on short-term action recommendations. We will present this report to the Mayor, the City Council, and the public. Some of the actions may have budget components that will need to be approved through the budget process. The goal would be to have a first draft of the comprehensive report on short-term action recommendations by mid-May.
• Expand and Enhance the Visioning Web site: Visible Strategies has produced an initial See-It web site for the Visioning Process. In June 2008, we expect to go live with the web site on the City’s web site. Citizens will then be able to track our progress in meeting objectives outlined in the Visioning Process in an easy and efficient manner. This will further the City’s goal of keeping the process transparent and accountable to the public.
• Establish a Citizen’s Visioning Advisory Committee: Visioning staff is beginning the process to establish the citizen’s advisory committee. Our goal is to have the committee on the City Council agenda for approval by June. This would give us the summer to advertise and recruit. Members would be appointed by the Mayor and then approved by the City Council. We believe it is reasonable to expect the first meeting would occur in the fall. The advisory committee could then review the short-term action recommendations and plan and begin the process of establishing recommendations for longer-term actions. The work of the advisory committee would be turned into an Action Plan that would be forwarded to the City Council for review and adoption.