Last winter I attended the Town Hall meeting in Bolton regarding the Caledon Community-based Strategic Plan and Vision. The first question that was put to our particular group was “What are your hopes and dreams for the Town of Caledon?” and I knew immediately I was hooked.
Throughout that evening similar themes started to surface and it became apparent that people want Caledon to remain this small, safe town that we see as a “community of communities”. It was also evident that we value our natural capital and our heritage, that we want to enhance arts and culture in our town, that we genuinely appreciate the endless hours invested in our community by dedicated volunteers and that we care about supporting local businesses so they can succeed.
I’ve stuck with the process throughout, attending subsequent meetings, sitting on the Strategic Advisory Team (SAT), even observing the Council workshops and presentations by LURA consulting. As well, Green T Environmental Awareness encouraged residents’ involvement by helping to circulate the survey for community input.
All in all I’ve been very impressed with this effort to engage the community in what truly is a distillation of what is really important to us. The resulting Plan and Vision Statement will remind us, and will tell the rest of the world, what we are about and what matters most to us. And that’s important……because, as someone once said, if you don’t define yourself someone else will. Defining Caledon should be up to us.
