By VICTORIA OXENDINE
Associate Editor
Hundreds of Guilford County citizens, including Smith science teacher Lewis Brandon, have been gathering together to look into the future and develop a plan to improve the community by the year 2015. The group, which calls itself Forecast 2015, was divided into committees to tackle major issues facing the county.
One such committee has spent the last year studying various facets of life in North Carolina and Guilford County. The group has analyzed trends and issues so it could develop a plan for future development of the county's natural and human resources. There are five parts to the vision: (1) exellence in education; (2) county-wide planning; (3) neighborhood empowerment; (4) celebration of cultural heritage, and (5) government efficiency.
The committee that Brandon works on hopes to deal with several major needs: improving schools, controlling ubran growth, providing more efficient transportation, safer neighborhoods, a healthy economy, broad support of the arts and a more responsive government.
In the road map towards achieving this vision, a better education for all students is a major priority. Since an educational system with high standards generates a well-educated and skilled workforce, this will solve more than one problem facing the county. Recruiting and retaining the best teachers will increase the opportunities for higher education and will help build community schools where everyone can participate.
To help preserve open space, Forecast 2015 reported that the county should consider comprehensive long-range land use plan. To balance growth and environmental needs, Guilford County must develop an efficient use of land and resources. By renovating vacant buildings and property, the county can preserve other natural area and promote new, compact development to prevent suburban sprawl and foster a sense of community. Forecast 2015 also held a forum on a county-wide transit system to shift from mere construction to better maintenance in our transportation system and help reduce traffic congestion.
Next on the agenda is to improve housing and expand neighborhood organizations. Increasing affordable is a major priority, as is replacing blighted housing with new comunities. Yet another major goal is the reduction of crime through prevention and community-based policing. By changing juvenile crime laws for violent offenders and providing early intervention, the plan will provide meaningful rehabilitation.
The last areas are greater government efficiency and providing an atmosphere that honors our cultural diversity and rich heritage. Guilford County will merge departments and services to avoid excess confusion and increase service quality. By promoing the arts, the vision hopes to ensure an appreciation of the past by our children.
�Greensboro and Guilford County really need to do a better job of promoting our resources,� Brandon said. �You look in the paper and see these full-page ads for places like Asheville. We have just as much to offer; we just haven�t looked deeply enough at what we have to promote.�
Brandon pointed to the Greensboro Coliseum, the colleges and universities and several historical sites as being very attractive parts of the county�s vast resources.
�This is relevant to students in several ways,� Brandon said. �This is about how we improve the physical facilities of the schools and how do we prepare people for the work force.
�Students are also the future taxpayers of this county. They are going to inherit these situations, like paying for upkeep on current schools and building new ones as the population increases.�
Through this plan Guilford County's citizens can improve all aspects of daily life for future generations. The vision of Forecast 2015 addresses a wide range of public and private problems that, if changed, will provide a much more stable and efficient community life.
The report, submitted in March, has been getting a lukewarm response from business and the County Commissioners.
�Not one single member of the board of commissioners attended our presentation,� Brandon said.
The Smith teacher said one stumbling block was a tree ordinance.
�Business, development and the Chamber of Commerce wanted none of that,� he said.
Victoria Oxendine is a junior at BLS. She is an honors student and plays on the girls' tennis team.
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