| Preamble to a Vision for Houston The Vision Work Group of the Foresight Project was asked to address two questions – where do we want to get and what is our vision for Houston--and to then relate clean air to what we learned in considering these two questions. In trying to fulfill our commitment, the group collected materials and ideas from numerous other communities as well as the Imagine Houston campaign, developed our own wish list, and tried to write a short "vision" for the Houston area. We were all deeply affected by the experience David Crockett related to us about the way Chattanooga was turned around from the dirtiest city in America to one of the cleanest. The work group became increasingly energized by the process of thinking about what our area could be and it is our feeling that the discussion of clean air needs to take place in the context of a vision of what we, as a community, want the Houston area to be. Clean air is intricately intertwined with virtually all other aspects of our community, including transportation, education, clean neighborhoods, employment opportunities, parks, greenbelts, industrial vigor. We also looked at how other communities have taken a vision and moved them into action. It is our feeling that an empowered, funded "institute" similar to that established in Chatanooga, is needed, not only to coordinate the activities within the context of sustainability, but to provide high-level leadership to energize the roads toward our vision. The encompassing "vision" we drafted, and the more loosely collected list of specific ways in which we could envision Houston in the future, are meant, we hope, to energize you and our discussions about clean air for the region. Although the members of our work group had differing perspectives on some of the specifics, we all agreed that continuing to do what the area has been doing is not going to get us where we want to go.
The group feels that this statement has a life of its own, apart from the Foresight Project, which is studying the draft document. For this reason, it is being widely circulated. However, the statement in this form has not been adopted by Foresight and does not necessarily reflect the views of members of that project. This document was first published on October 27, 1998. |