With the New Year only a day away, local businessman Randy Danielson sent a positive commentary about our community.
As our thoughts of turkeys and sugar plums begin to fade, many of us will set our sights on change and renewal for 2016, be it personal, business or even community.
At this time, I would like to focus on our community. Many creative ideas have been offered to bring about positive improvements for the quality of life, work and play and economic outlook for the City of Plymouth, such as those that were presented in September at the Downtown Revitalization Committee meeting, by students in the Lincoln Junior High 8th grade humanities class of Amy Walker & Jake Singleton. From this came the encouragement of creating a canoe/kayak launch which is now being given serious consideration and the encouragement of further embracing the river as an asset. Initial ideas include improving the streetscape with lighting, adding murals and giving new life to the Rees Theater.
It was great to hear a perspective from young minds that have hopes of continuing to call Plymouth their home. Even if their career pursuits and opportunities take them away from Plymouth, my hope is that when they return whether for holidays or re-locating they will be proud of what their hometown has become.
For those who don’t know Plymouth on a personal basis, quite possibly the greatest influence we could make on the thousands of people who daily travel the U.S. 30 corridor is to build on the Gateway Project already started and create a true gateway that encourages and invites travelers to seek what lies beyond the interchange of U.S. 30 & Hwy 17 (North Michigan St.) Proper signage, lighting and well maintained landscaping of this area could accomplish a great first and lasting impression.
Many positive steps have been taken in recent years to re-engineer the face and brand of our city. My hope is that we continue to build on this momentum in the year 2016 and beyond and that the various ‘pockets of interest’ will come forth in a collaborative effort to present ideas and to support our City Administration in order to bring a greater quality of life to our community.
HAVE A SAFE & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!
