THE LIST: 'Let's be responsible, but dream big'

A message we’ve heard for weeks now is that our voices need to be heard at the ballot box. If you live in Greenfield, I want to propose to you that you’re maybe not done making your voice heard, even if you’ve voted.

Mostly as a result of the tornado, the City of Greenfield is doing a comprehensive plan update that will also impact the city’s zoning map. The city, and the company doing the work, are looking for public feedback on the plan, which really will include more current and possible future aspects of Greenfield in it than you would think.

The local homeowners and business owners I’ve talked to since the tornado have all had some sense of sadness, anger of apprehension because of what they experienced or because of how little they were left with after the tornado.

One piece that has stuck with me, however, is that almost all of these same people — with possibly only a few exceptions — is the hope that these people also had in the face of great adversity. This comes from faith, family and other sources, depending on the person.

I talked to Paul Queck, a local farmer, who said that while having to rebuild the family farm where his grandpa Bob Queck farmed is sad, you now get to rebuild it how you want it. There two sides to that, of course, but having just had that conversation a few weeks ago, he’s one example I’m thinking of.

What I’m saying is that when we as a city have an opportunity for a new fire station, a better hospital than we had before, new homes or new places of business, we should temper our desire to be fiscally responsible with a desire to look to the future and dream big as well. We should at least consider what our needs would be in a decade if we grew by 500, 1,000 or more people and set ourselves up for success down the road. Many of these city services or amenities we’ll be dealing with are deal-makers for those who want to move to a new town.

Go check out a survey the city wants as many people to do as possible. It goes along with the comprehensive plan. Go to Google and type in “Greenfield, IA Comprehensive Plan Community Survey” and click on the first result. It will be from the website “Survey 123.” From what I can see, your feedback will be very valuable to the city as they look to the future.