| Hamilton County, OH | November 6, 2001 Election |
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Envisioning Norwood's FutureBy Steve ThornburyCandidate for Council Member; City of Norwood; Ward 2 |
This information is provided by the candidate | |
To assure a better future for Norwood, a clear, workable vision must be articulated to provide a basis for legislative and social action.For over 120 years the citizens of Norwood have watched their city develop from a sparsely developed rural retreat to a densely populated, urban municipality. In that time it can be safely said that long-range planning has not been the city's strong point. Major events, such as the location of rail lines, the growth of Montgomery Pike and, most importantly, the location of a major automobile assembly plant in the heart of Downtown have dramatically affected the current position in which the city now finds itself. For a period of roughly 45 years, from the late 20's to the early 70's of this past century, Norwood enjoyed a furious pace of growth that, in the late 1950's, culminated in a city crowded with citizens and teeming with shops, restaurants and entertainment venues. In that time, urban planning consisted of little more than figuring out where to fit everything and everyone who wanted to be part of Norwood's success. The subsequent decline, first precipitated by the second great wave of suburban expansion in the fifties and sixties, reached it's lowest point in the years surrounding the closing of the Norwood Assembly Plant. In the years immediately following that traumatic event, city administrators and council members had few other options than to try and stabilize a city that seemed constantly on the brink of collapse. In the last eight years, as the nation's economy enjoyed a lengthy and steady economic upturn, Norwood has tried to move from a defensive economic posture to establish a more confident, forward-looking attitude. The primary goal of my candidacy is to promote the kinds of actions necessary to develop a long-range vision for Norwood's future and institute the steps necessary to achieve these important goals. First among those steps is to define what Norwood is today. To identify our strengths and to acknowledge our weaknesses with a clear, unblinking eye. Chief among those strengths is Norwood's central location and close proximity to many businesses, colleges, entertainment and cultural centers. Chief among our weaknesses, however, has been an ingrained suspicion of "outsiders" and lack of interest in listening to ideas they may have that could help our city move forward. One consequence of this attitude is the patchwork nature of development in our city that fails to tie together the bigger picture. As a member of city council, I will make it my top priority to bring together the factions in our city that currently operate in relative isolation. I will work to educate all of us, myself included, in the tremendous variety of approaches to development that have worked in other communities across the country and throughout the world. There are valuable lessons in city planning that can be learned from sources as familiar as Blue Ash and Mariemont and as distant as Austria and Brazil. It is time for the people of Norwood to open their eyes to the remarkable position in which we now find ourselves. To understand that we are a strong city with strong resources. To understand that a thirty-year population decline is not a bellwether for a declining future but a signal for new opportunity. The people of Norwood need leaders with a clear vision for the future. Only then can Norwood move beyond nostalgia for days gone by and create a new passion for what lies ahead. |
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