Ideas to Action: The Chula Vista Conversation Continues
Click to download the event flier.
What can Chula Vistans do to improve their city and its image around the county? That will be the topic of discussion at a civic engagement event co-hosted by the Friends and the Chula Vista Public Library on Monday evening, October 20.
The “community conversation,” a follow-up to a roundtable discussion held at the library this spring, will be held at The Hub, the library’s new community space at Otay Ranch Town Center. Light refreshments will be served at 5:30 p.m., with the public workshop scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m.
Carl Luna, a political science professor and director of the San Diego Center for Civil Civic Engagement, will lead the discussion with help from a team of trained facilitators from the Kettering Institute.
Luna also moderated the May event, at which about 100 local residents identified the best and worst attributes of their city, as well as some possible solutions. That event, titled “Chula Vista: The Good, the Bad and the Just Plain Wrong,” came on the heels of a survey showing that the majority of San Diego residents have a mostly negative view of the county’s second largest city.
Participants were evenly divided on how to fix the city’s image, with about a third endorsing efforts to “rebrand and market” its assets. That was followed closely by calls to “clean up Chula Vista” and to restore community events like the Starlight Parade. And, finally, participants said, the city needs to attract businesses and jobs and to create a sense of “Chula Vista-ness,” with a “united front from hills to shore.”
Library director Betty Waznis said several attendees have since approached her to ask, “What’s next?” so the focus of the October session will be on specific steps residents can take to make a positive change in the city and its image. “We need to continue the conversation,” Waznis said. “This is not a city project, it is not a library project. We need to attach ourselves to existing resources to get the job done. We are at the beginning of a great new era for Chula Vista.”
"It's time to turn those ideas into action," Luna added. Waznis acknowledged that Chula Vista’s negatives frequently overshadow its strongest asset: “We are a community of good citizens doing good things together.”
Underwriting for both sessions has come from the Friends and from a grant from the Chula Vista Charitable Foundation. Click here to read more about the library's civic engagement activities. Click here for a summary of the May roundtable discussion. (8/30/14)
The “community conversation,” a follow-up to a roundtable discussion held at the library this spring, will be held at The Hub, the library’s new community space at Otay Ranch Town Center. Light refreshments will be served at 5:30 p.m., with the public workshop scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m.
Carl Luna, a political science professor and director of the San Diego Center for Civil Civic Engagement, will lead the discussion with help from a team of trained facilitators from the Kettering Institute.
Luna also moderated the May event, at which about 100 local residents identified the best and worst attributes of their city, as well as some possible solutions. That event, titled “Chula Vista: The Good, the Bad and the Just Plain Wrong,” came on the heels of a survey showing that the majority of San Diego residents have a mostly negative view of the county’s second largest city.
Participants were evenly divided on how to fix the city’s image, with about a third endorsing efforts to “rebrand and market” its assets. That was followed closely by calls to “clean up Chula Vista” and to restore community events like the Starlight Parade. And, finally, participants said, the city needs to attract businesses and jobs and to create a sense of “Chula Vista-ness,” with a “united front from hills to shore.”
Library director Betty Waznis said several attendees have since approached her to ask, “What’s next?” so the focus of the October session will be on specific steps residents can take to make a positive change in the city and its image. “We need to continue the conversation,” Waznis said. “This is not a city project, it is not a library project. We need to attach ourselves to existing resources to get the job done. We are at the beginning of a great new era for Chula Vista.”
"It's time to turn those ideas into action," Luna added. Waznis acknowledged that Chula Vista’s negatives frequently overshadow its strongest asset: “We are a community of good citizens doing good things together.”
Underwriting for both sessions has come from the Friends and from a grant from the Chula Vista Charitable Foundation. Click here to read more about the library's civic engagement activities. Click here for a summary of the May roundtable discussion. (8/30/14)
