September 4, 2024
Greetings Leavenworth Community,
I hope you have seen our notices about the upcoming Community Visioning sessions at the Festhalle on the next three Monday evenings this September. I understand that attending three-hour meetings is a significant commitment, but I encourage each of you to attend. These sessions are crucial for shaping the future of our beloved town.
Leavenworth’s transformation into a charming Bavarian-themed destination began with community conversations under Project LIFE (Leavenworth Improvement for Everyone). This success didn’t happen overnight; it was the result of years of dedicated effort and vision.
When I ran for mayor in 2019, I called for a new phase of community visioning, which I initially dubbed LIFE 2.0. Now, we’re focusing on NEW LIFE for Leavenworth. Our success as a tourist town has come with challenges like increased traffic, housing affordability, and environmental concerns. We need your input to find a balance, address these issues, and continue to grow the benefits of our success. Let’s come together to discuss and shape the future of Leavenworth.
This is a time for the City to invite discussions, not direct them. Our role is to listen. Guided by a professional facilitator, Mike Nash, we will be gathering input during these discussions about the quality of life in Leavenworth. I’ll introduce the session’s theme each night, then join the City Council and Planning Commission as a listener. We will be the proverbial “fly on the wall” during the brainstorming sessions and solution-focused conversations.
We will combine this input with the online survey results and report back to the community at a fourth, and final, meeting on Monday, October 14th, at 6 PM at the Fire Hall (228 Chumstick Hwy). This meeting will be our opportunity to summarize what we have heard and discuss the next steps. These conversations are just the beginning of much more work to come, feeding into the process of updating the City’s Comprehensive Plan by mid-2026. This plan will only reach its true potential if built upon these informal conversations and ongoing community engagement.
If you cannot attend these workshop sessions, we will live-stream and record them. While there won’t be an opportunity to comment online during the live discussions, you can still participate by taking the online survey. This survey has already been our most successful to date, with many community members participating. We have already received many thoughtful comments alongside the simple rankings and checkboxes. The survey will be open until the end of September and can be taken online at surveymonkey.com/r/leavenworthvisioning. This high level of engagement reminds us why Leavenworth earned the name “Miracle Town.” Let’s keep the grassroots effort of our “miracle” Bavarian Village strong as we adapt to new realities!
Thank you for your continued involvement and commitment to our community’s future.
Carl Florea
Mayor | Office of the Mayor
[email protected]
