Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity’s Post

𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝐂𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 "𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟓𝟎" Get ready for an exciting opportunity to be a part of shaping the future of our beautiful community! The City of Palm Coast is excited to announce the launch of "Imagine 2050," a comprehensive plan update that invites you to have a direct hand in the destiny of Palm Coast. This is your chance to make your mark and create a city that reflects your dreams and aspirations.   In simple terms, a comprehensive plan is like a roadmap for the future of our city. It's a big-picture plan that helps guide how Palm Coast grows and develops over the years. Imagine 2050 will serve as our community's blueprint, outlining what we want our city to look like in the year 2050 and how we'll get there. 𝐊𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞: 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐥 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 ·        Date: Tuesday, October 10 ·        Time: Immediately following the 9 a.m. City Council workshop meeting ·        Location: Community Wing of City Hall, 160 Lake Ave., Palm Coast, FL 32164 ·        Details: The City Council and the Planning and Land Development Regulation Board will discuss the vision and goals for Imagine 2050 during this workshop. It's an essential step in the process, and all residents are invited to tune in and follow along! 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 ·        Date: Wednesday, October 11 ·        Time: 4-7 p.m. ·        Location: Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Pkwy NE, Palm Coast, FL 32137 ·        Details: This event is your time to shine! The city wants to hear their thoughts, ideas, and dreams for Palm Coast's future. Community members are encouraged to join and let their voices be heard. This is a drop-in-style event that will include a project overview, presentation, and interactive activities. Together, Palm Coast can be a place everyone is proud to call home.   Imagine having a say in the parks you visit, the roads you drive on, the schools your children attend, and so much more. These events are your opportunity to be a part of the decision-making process that will shape our city's destiny.   But the excitement doesn't stop there! We've got a whole calendar of engaging events and activities planned in the coming months to ensure your voice is heard.   City leaders, planners, and staff members will be present to listen, learn, and take notes. The input received will help shape the policies and projects that will guide Palm Coast's growth for decades to come.   Residents are encouraged to stay tuned for more information on the Imagine 2050 comprehensive plan update, including upcoming events, surveys, and ways to get involved. Let's Imagine 2050 together and make Palm Coast an even better place to live, work, and play!   For more information, visit PalmCoast.gov/imagine2050 or contact the Communications & Marketing Department at [email protected].

For NAPC Board Member, Sarah Cody, the question of "Why?" is "an on-going, necessary question that always ties back to community building." Read more about Sarah's story, which she shared with us last year, below. Though I grew up in New England, surrounded by history, I really never considered the mechanisms of historic preservation or how it helped shape my apple-orchard filled suburb until I was an adult. I didn’t truly discover my “why” until recently, even though I’ve worked professionally in historic preservation for over 15 years. When I enrolled in a Landscape Architecture program in college, and I sat listening to lectures on plant selection, garden design, and stormwater management, I was unsure what I was doing there. Then we had a guest lecturer - the Historic Sites Restoration Coordinator with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation. She talked about the restoration of a statue in downtown Syracuse and suddenly everything clicked into place for me. That tangible connection to the past intrigued me. This newfound interest along with the values my mentor George W. Curry instilled in me - the importance of using your work to be of service to your community - led me to public service. Having just completed a decade as a public servant, I can honestly say I truly discovered my “why” just within the last few years. I recognize that am incredibly privileged, and I strongly believe that it is my duty as a public servant to use my education and professional position to utilize the power of our historic and cultural places to help create more resilient and equitable communities for the residents of Miami-Dade County. Continuing to ask myself “why” is something I find incredibly important to do throughout my work – why are we doing the work we are doing, who is it for, and who does it benefit? For me, historic preservation is less about history and more about community building. So for me, “why” is an on-going, necessary question that always ties back to community building. Join Sarah at FORUM 2024 during the Preservation Equity Roundtable on Friday, August 2nd. Register HERE: https://lnkd.in/dqhr6WuB #PreservationMonth #NAPCWhatsYourWhy #FORUMfridays #PreservationUnderthePalms #FORUM2024

What is service-focused community planning? In the article below, Scott Harmstead, MPA, AICP, explains how an innovative approach to planning produces a more favorable impact than a typical conventional approach by engaging all populations in the community and viewing every person’s needs through an equitable lens.   Also, if you’re attending the North Dakota League of Cities Annual Conference at Bismarck Event Center tomorrow, be sure to catch Scott’s 3:15 p.m. presentation, “Trends in Planning & Zoning and Code Maintenance." https://lnkd.in/gxDG99-z 

This article captures Susan's excellent analysis that a city relying on citizens of an equity-seeking group (my paraphrase) to fundraise in order to make the most recognizable landmark accessible to them has to stop. This is part of a Canadian city's basic responsibility to its citizens - as another article pointed out, citizens with disabilities ARE taxpayers. This is what Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility looks like in 2024.

What can we do to make our parks safer spaces? Some grim findings from a project I am leading for Sustrans and Haringey Council in Finsbury Park, North London: ❌ 90% of 500 women we surveyed don't feel safe in the park after dark ❌One in three women feel unsafe walking there during the day (this is significantly more than those who identified as male) ❌Stories of teenage girls dropping out of athletics in the wintertime because the walk to the track is too dangerous We may not be able to design our way out of violence against women and girls, but there are interventions that can make our parks and green spaces feel more welcoming and inclusive. Last week, I ran a very special co-design session with women from charity KMEWO which looked specifically at women's safety: ✔ They wanted to see designs to activate areas in the south side of the park, like new play spaces, seating, colourful designs, sports areas and information stands ✔ These positive and active changes were a vital counterpart to other measures like more visible security, lighting and CCTV It has been very special to see how this group have taken such an active role in this process. There is so much value in meaningful co-production with women and girls in parks. This approach can - and should - be applied to so many green spaces, not just Finsbury Park. Watch this space.

Join Us! | NC Main Street Conference Registration Opens the 2nd week of January! 2025 CONFERENCE THEME: Main Street: Creating Livable, Lovable Communities What makes a community livable? When critical needs are met, such as food security, availability of affordable housing, opportunities for education and healthcare, good jobs and economic growth in a community, and the infrastructure and connectivity to easily access services and resources? What makes a community lovable? When innovative and inclusive quality-of-life amenities are available, such as arts and cultural experiences, community engagement opportunities, and access to recreation to live a healthy lifestyle? Main Street: Creating Livable, Lovable Communities, the theme of this year’s conference, explores the downtown elements that are essential in creating great towns and cities, and how North Carolina communities are implementing economic development strategies that are bringing these livable, lovable elements to fruition. Read More: https://lnkd.in/erTywedD