The Council on the Future of Vermont yesterday released its final report: Imagining Vermont: Values and Vision for the Future. The report was part of a two-year project undertaken by the Vermont Council on Rural Development. The report was presented at the "Summit on the Future of Vermont" held at the University of Vermont. The project was intended to find out what Vermonters wanted for their future. More than 3,900 people offered their input. The results of the survey are not surprising: affordable housing and health care of a high quality, a clean environment, green energy produced locally, community action, good schools and access to higher education, a range of career opportunities, bolstering the creative economy, and better public transportation. The report presents the data and draws conclusions, but does not offer solutions. A series of workshops starting this month will help develop an action plan.
Below are some of the conclusions made by the panel, whose 18 council members and two staff began work in September 2007.
As part of the discussion in the conclusions section of the report, it states:
"Vermonters place great value on their access to nature. Conflicts arise, but at the most basic level there is consensus that Vermont must preserve and enhance its natural resources of clean water and air, its mix of forest and open land, and the availability of abundant areas of public and private land open to public access.
"At the same time, there is a continuing tension between Vermonters desire for a thriving economy with good jobs and modern amenities and their desire for the preservation of Vermont s traditional working landscape and small towns. We are not willing to abandon either."
Among the highlights from the six categories (community; economy; youth and education; landscape and natural resources; health, transportation and public safety; and civic culture) are:
Building A Vermont Economic Strategy
Vermonters want good jobs. To advance innovation and create the jobs of the future, Vermont needs to build, adopt, and invest in economic development strategies that are rooted in the values, skills, natural assets, and brand identity of the state. That will require creative small businesses, compatible large businesses, tourism, artistic enterprises, green technologies, manufacturing, non-profit organizations, education and health sectors, and the natural resource economy working together toward a diverse economy that can be sustained even through unexpected global downturns.
Using and Protecting the Vermont Brand
The Vermont brand identity is attractive to many people, both in and outside the state. The brand brings tourists and new residents; it provides advantages to Vermont businesses. To ensure the viability of the brand, Vermont must preserve and protect the public assets it is built on, from the working landscape to product quality. Vermonters should use the brand benefits for commerce but at the same time ensure that the land and people of Vermont remain authentic and are not distorted by a commercialized definition of this special place.
Planning for Development
Many Vermonters perceive the state as a place where it is hard to advance needed infrastructure and economic development projects. Many worry that we rally against projects more readily than we pull together for them. Vermont needs to build a publicly supported development strategy in line with its values, assets, and brand
identity one that unites business, government, community, and non-profits under a shared set of goals. A strong plan with community consensus behind it can establish development priorities that serve the public good and minimize NIMBYism ( not in my back yard ). It will also serve the private good by ensuring consistency and regularity in planning for development. Leadership should rally to make it so.
Improving Affordability
The costs of housing, health care, energy, transportation, and education are central challenges affecting many Vermont families. This problem defies a simple short-term solution. Vermont s future prosperity depends on its hard-working people, its educational system, economic innovation, and the maintenance of those core assets that attract people and businesses alike: community, authentic downtowns, natural beauty, and working landscape. Vermonters need to develop a comprehensive focus and united leadership to improve affordability in housing, education, health care and other areas of concern to families today.
Advancing In-State Energy Development
In Vermont today there is a sense of urgency about changing the current levels of fossil fuel usage for heat and transportation. Vermont is highly dependent on energy sources outside the state and extremely reliant on imported fuels for heating and transportation. The decline in the availability of low cost oil is inevitable, and Vermonters are increasingly concerned about the state s growing carbon emissions. Vermont should dramatically expand conservation in all state facilities. The State government should lead the way in expanding renewable energy generation and fuel development to meet its institutional needs. Public efforts that support energy conservation and alternative, renewable fuel use in private homes and businesses should be expanded. While the trends facing the state are global in scope and severity, Vermont should take action to enhance energy security by encouraging in-state options, developing energy generation and fuels in state for an energy mix that
is clean, green, and economical.
Promoting Downtown Vitality
Vermonters celebrate the character of town centers, but the distinctiveness of Vermont is endangered by the commercial homogenization seen in so many other areas of the country today. Vermont is threatened by commercial and residential development that are out of context with the small scale of the state. To preserve working downtowns, and to remain an attractive place for tourists and locals alike, local arts and cultural activities, local purchasing, local economic development, and the expansion of Vermont markets should be supported through measured policy and investment.
Strengthening the Creative Economy
Both Vermont s identity and ability to innovate rely on active artistic expression and presentation. The cultural strength of the state spans its traditional heritage and more contemporary expressions of the imagination. In times of economic pressure, the cultural sector should be recognized as integral to the state s community, educational, imaginative and economic life.
Other Highlights
Advancing Vermont Agriculture
Expanding Agricultural Partnership. Agricultural organizations and associations need to partner in common purpose around a long-term vision for the future of agriculture and value-added production in the state, then act to realize it.
Preserving Vermont Farmland. In addition to advancing the agricultural economy, Vermont needs to rededicate itself to the preservation of its valuable prime agricultural soils to maximize our capacity to feed ourselves in future.
Expanding Local Food Production, Consumption and Export. Vermont should devote resources and invest in infrastructure to advance local food production, processing, and consumption, town by town, region by region. When faced with potential threats from global warming, disease, and the decline of the oil-based economy, many Vermonters support the expansion of local and regional food systems. There is an opportunity for local food system planning and development to expand local sales, reduce dependence on imports, expand agricultural diversity, and broaden the variety of fresh and value-added markets for local Vermont foods. The State of Vermont should provide leadership by setting measured and cost-effective policies to dramatically expand institutional purchases from local farmers. To the best of our individual capacity, we should support local agriculture and buy locally produced products.
Diversifying Agriculture. More than any other state in the union, Vermont s agricultural economy depends on a single product. Today and for the future, the success of family dairy farms is of tremendous value to the state; but there are dangers to the dairy economy, such as price volatility in national and international markets, the high costs of production, the aging of farmers and uncertainty over the next generation of farmers. While Vermonters appreciate the heritage of dairy and its central role in the agricultural economy, the diversification of agricultural enterprises is essential. Along with dairy, diverse and value-added enterprises are a cornerstone of the future of Vermont s agricultural economy, and a foundation for the economy as a whole. They should be supported and encouraged.
Coordinating Land Use Planning
Vermont s natural environment, working landscape, and typical pattern of development with villages and open countryside are in danger. Coordinated strategic planning at local, regional, and state levels needs to balance the needs of transportation, economic development, energy, and natural resource assessment and land use planning as a comprehensive whole. Currently, the absence of coordination among levels of planning undermines its utility and effectiveness. It is time for Vermont to advance a better-coordinated regional and statewide land-use strategy.
Guiding Growth
Everywhere Vermonters continually reaffirm their love for the small scale of the state, its peacefulness, and its open landscape. We want to see Vermont build on its assets, and expand its local economy, but not do so at the expense of its small-scale communities or environment. We recognize the concept of limits to
growth. Vermonters need to find new ways and compromises that allow for economic development without undermining the essential character of communities and countryside. We want to achieve efficiency in the regulatory process without losing or undermining local identity. Vermont will suffer if the choice is either
unrestrained growth or the status quo.
Moving Vermont s Health Care System Forward
Vermonters are calling for a health care system that provides access for all to good care at affordable prices.
While recognizing the challenges inherent in a rural healthcare system, Vermonters see that, because of our
scale, this is a major opportunity for the state. While it supports the development of a national program for
universal health care access, Vermont should identify the reasonable changes that are achievable in Vermont,
some of which include the location of rural health centers, incentives for medical professionals, advancing
preventative care, using and sharing best practices, and increasing tele-health options.
Advancing Vermont s Transportation System
Investing in Infrastructure. Vermont needs to invest fully to meet its long term infrastructure and maintenance needs, and develop the resources and strategies to support and advance the entire system of transportation for the future.
Expanding Public Transportation. Vermont s transportation infrastructure is in need of critical investment. As Vermonters look to the future, however, we see a priority for expanding options and services for public transportation throughout the state. Rural transportation networks for commuters could join with municipalities
and schools to provide bussing services, allowing students greater mobility, seniors more access to more events, and working Vermonters alternative transport to their jobs. Vermont needs to devise an efficient public transportation system that provides all of us with reasonable and affordable service routes, connects and coordinates the needs of schools, elders, and commuters, reduces our dependence on fossil fuel-based personal transportation, and reduces the number of vehicle miles traveled.
Usage of selected key words in the Report
balance used 10 times
economic development 15
growth 16
non-profit(s) 8
profit 0
money 0
wealth 1
commerce 8
industry 6
recession 1
industry 6
growth 16
sprawl 2
control 1
regulation 1
regulatory 4
job(s) 21
employees, employers, employment 9
unemployment 1
Business(es) 40
environment 32
ecology 1
conservation 12
conserved 1
land 34
Vermont 380
green mountains 0
Vermonters 180
community 83
communities 37
health 28
healthy 4
healthcare 3
tax(es) 2
farm(s)(ing) 17
agriculture 27
bank 1
energy 35
telecommunications 1
communications 6
cell phone (cellular telephone) 3
internet 3
web(site) 5
google 0
twitter 0
blog 0
diversity 10
diverse 6
creative, creativity 14
good 18
bad 0
Republican 0
Democrat 0
Source: www.futureofvermont.org