Published in the Sun March 12, 2014
Where do we want Georgetown
to be heading over the next 10 years?
When planning a journey, it is possible to go to the airport and buy the
cheapest ticket you can find to whatever destination is on sale. It’s possible, but it is not the best way to
end up in a fabulous location, and it is certainly not the best way to conduct
a business trip. A better scheme (and
the one most of us use in our personal lives) is to decide exactly what we
would like to do and then figure out how to get to the place we want to be.
So with the subject of goals
for Georgetown in mind, I asked a few friends to think “out of the box” about
what would make Georgetown an even better place to live. Here are some of their very interesting ideas.
Tamara Hudgins wrote, “Why
the Recreation Center is closed on Sundays baffles me. People who work have two days to
recreate. Why prevent us from recreating
on Sundays?” The people should rise up
and demand Sunday recreation.
Celeste Adams wants Georgetown
to be a “Green City,” promoting energy and water efficiency in new commercial
buildings. She suggests that we apply
for an Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corps Fellow to help create financial
strategies for energy and water management.
Climate Corps Fellows have worked with mega corporations such as
AT&T, Facebook, Apple, and various cities including Dallas, Atlanta, and
Cleveland. Celeste would also like to
see native, drought tolerant landscaping and LEED certified buildings. If she had her way, city tax exemptions would
only be considered for businesses that meet strict efficiency standards.
On a roll, Celeste also
suggested a solar powered city bus system.
Since a solar powered bus would have to be electric, and I had never
heard of an electric bus, I almost dismissed her suggestion. But then I read that just this week
California’s King Canyon Unified School District began picking up students with
an electric bus. Celeste was way ahead
of me.
A lot of people want buses,
especially buses that go from Sun City to Wolf Ranch and the Square. If not electricity, city buses and official
vehicles could run on natural gas or propane.
We have a company right here in town, CleanFuel USA, that specializes in
propane vehicles. Bill Snead at Texas
Crushed Stone is planning to modify some of his heavy equipment to run on
natural gas.
Jonathan Dade, an Army
veteran who in two weeks will be cycling in the Ride 2 Recovery from Houston to
Fort Worth to benefit injured veterans, wants Georgetown to become more veteran
friendly, especially for young veterans and their families. Maybe we could let veterans use the Rec
Center for free on Sundays! Of course
what really makes a city veteran friendly is to have jobs for them, and awesome
places where they can afford to live.
Speaking of jobs, I read
recently that Tesla Motors, the luxury electric car company, is looking at
Texas as a possible location for a lithium-ion battery factory which would
employ 6500 people. Wouldn’t it be cool to
lure those tech jobs to Georgetown? They
could hire veterans.
What about expanding our
system of bike trails into the neighborhoods off Leander Road? The bridges across IH 35 are definitely
hostile to cyclists. Only the most
intrepid cyclist would attempt to ride a bike from Leander Road to Wolf Ranch,
and I certainly wouldn’t let a child try it.
Sam Pfiester and Jack Garey are already working on a scheme to extend
the bike trail along the South San Gabriel all the way to Garey Ranch.
Davin Hoyt noticed that the
students at Southwestern don’t have a grocery store within easy walking
distance and suggests a healthy co-op style market in that area. A number of people would like to see a Trader
Joe’s in Georgetown. My daughter
Kimberly wants a healthy eating place with an indoor playground for kids. And when, oh when, are we going to get a combination
bookstore/coffee shop/brewery on the Square?
Milton Jordan steps way out
on a limb and wants to see a city-wide minimum wage in the range of $10 an
hour. He suspects there may be a state
law against that kind of innovation but aren’t we in favor of local control?
Georgetown is lucky to be
growing and prosperous. We have a great
opportunity to decide which direction we are headed, so don’t keep your
out-of-the-box ideas to yourself.
