By Hannah King
Last week the spring/summer edition of the activity guide was released and registration is now underway.
On the first day of registration we saw more than 4,300 people sign up for parks, recreation and culture programs.
With this in mind, it would appear that for a lot of Nanaimo’s residents, an active lifestyle is a priority. For families, identifying priorities and setting goals is an essential step to keeping the family unit moving along.
Imagine setting the priorities and setting the goals for a large corporation that offers a multitude of services. Well this is the challenge in front us now as a community.
The city is setting out to establish a corporate strategic plan that will help guide us as an organization, and is looking to involve the community in the planning process.
The community (that’s you) is being invited to provide insight and ideas as to what we see as being priorities for corporation to tackle over the next five to 10 years.
The city is responsible for many services you are probably familiar with, such as fire protection or parks and recreation management. There are others though that you may not be so familiar with including: city-managed road maintenance and development, water supply, cemetery maintenance, urban forestry, transportation planning and others.
All of these services are paid for with your tax dollars.
Perhaps you feel that the establishment of more parks or improved recreation facilities is a priority. Or, maybe the issue of an improved water system is important to you.
These are the types of topics the planning process will consider, and there are a series of community workshops planned.
The first is on Tuesday (March 13) at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre from 7-9 p.m.
For more information about the input sessions and the overall strategic planning process, please visit www.nanaimo.ca.
Hannah King is a marketing and communication specialist with Nanaimo parks, recreation and culture.
