Vision for Evendale

By Catherine E. (del Campo Hartman) Hartman

The vision: Improve the quality of life and the public perception of Evendale as a desirable place to live.

Evendale does not have a master plan for our future. We should develop a common vision for our community so that we can create a roadmap to get us where we want to be, now and especially for future generations.

Evendale is seen as an old, blue-collar, industrial town. It is not seen as a desirable place to live. What I often hear is that Evendale is a well-kept secret of beautiful homes hidden behind our public face of industrial and blue-collar corridors.

While we do have a significant industrial base, we also have a very upscale residential population. This does not match our image and therefore does not attract businesses that serve a professional, well-educated population. I want to enhance our image and make Evendale as beautiful and desirable in our public image and on our main corridors, as it is in our private residential neighborhoods. This requires some creative, long-range thinking about how we want our main streets to look and what we want to place there. We need to focus on long-term enhancement of our community to make it beautiful.

Evendale has many special qualities. First and foremost, we are a Village. In legal terms, that means we have less than 5000 residents. But in real terms, it means we are small enough to know each other and to look out for each other. My sons as well as most Evendale kids know the Police Officers from the Dare Program in our schools. Most of the kids and parents participate in the swim team and other athletic and community events. This is a great thing, to walk down the street or go to the pool and meet neighbors who you know, rather than strangers. I want to retain our character as a Village. I value the fact that we know each other and I want to stay that way, and provide ways for us to enhance our interaction with each other. I also want to retain some of our rural heritage. While some cannot wait to pave and develop every available piece of land, I want to keep some of it rural. That is a valuable piece of our history that we should preserve.

My vision is to make Evendale a beautiful and desirable a community and upgrade our image from an old industrial town to a progressive, upscale Village with great neighborhoods and good neighbors. Once that vision is established, it is easy to make decisions on land use. A land use is either consistent with that vision or it is not. We have to think long-term, and focus on where we want be in future years.