By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
The Grayson Gallery and Art Center will host their second edition of the Grayson PLACE Community Assessment Workshop series on Thursday, August 14, from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Gallery director, and former Main Street director, Dan Click said that though this is the second in the series, those who missed the first shouldn’t let that stop them from getting involved in what he described as, “a collaborative workshop aimed at building a stronger, more vibrant, and more resilient Grayson.”
Click explained that the workshop will “build off community input” and recommendations for implementing the strategies that were discussed in the first workshop, while “diving deeper” into what he described as “actionable short, mid, and long-term strategies” that the group uncovered in the previous session. Click described the ideas that grew out of the first meeting as “a road map for community improvement.”
Click said while the event is completely free to attend – with lunch provided – they would like folks to pre-register for the event via Eventbrite.
Topics from the first round that will be more developed in this second round include; local food, resilience, and tourism; trails and active transportation; and housing. In this second round they will further develop short-term action items identified during this first meeting. For instance, short-term action items considered under the tourism topic included organizing further river and roadside cleanups, and promoting local destinations with signage or small grants. On the housing front the group considered housing co-ops tied to rural industries, like farming or forestry, hosting forums on housing needs and costs, and mapping areas where housing needs are a greater priority. Trails and transportation topics included everything from public art projects and other programs designed to encourage walking downtown, as well as an inventory of ADA compliant ramps, the mapping of trails and sidewalks, and exploring safe walking and biking routes for children traveling to and from school.
While some of these ideas – like safer routes for school children and plans to improve housing – are designed exclusively to benefit locals, initiatives like trash clean-ups and the mapping of transportation resources could prove beneficial to both locals and visitors alike. In this way, Click said, they can contribute to the economic development of the community by driving more traffic to downtown businesses.
For more information, follow the link to the Eventbrite registration, or contact Dan Click at the Grayson Gallery & Art Center, or through the Gallery’s social media page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GraysonGalleryArtCenter.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
