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What does our future entail — 25 years down the road?

Imagine it is the year 2025 and you are standing on top of Sheridan Street overlooking Williams. You are standing there with your kids, grandkids or even your great-grandkids.

What does Williams look like? Do you still see the beautiful pines and oaks in the city? Are the streets paved with sidewalks? Where has the growth happened? What does north of the freeway look like?

These are the questions I am going to ask the Williams City Council during our planning retreat scheduled for Jan 26-27. I believe that Williams will grow, but what kind of growth and where it grows are questions we need to answer now. We can plan for our future, or it will be planned for us. The developments and developers will decide those questions for us by building what they think will be successful. We need to plan our city.

I don’t want to look at our city in 25 years and not see those tall ponderosas or beautiful oaks standing so tall among our houses and hillsides. I can’t bear to think of how our town will look with high-density construction. Our future is ours to plan or give away.

This council has the job of trying to establish a long-range plan and to start the process for that plan now. We have made a stand on the water issue, and we will see that our future is supplied with water. What about our streets, schools, parks, police and our quality of life? Our decisions create a much larger effect upon the future.

I believe we need to establish a direction for growth, slow growth, that includes the provision for parks, streets and the necessary infrastructure needed for our town. Putting these plans into action now will secure the quality of life we desire.

How big do we grow? Do we double in size and how long do we take to do that kind of growth? We are restricted by the amount of land available for development.

Someone once told me that when the ground is ready to grow things, you have a choice. Get up early and plant the kind of seed you want to harvest in the fall, or wait and see what kind of seed others plant for you.

When I look out over Williams with my great-grandkids, I want to see the harvest from the seeds we chose to plant instead of a harvest from the seeds we allowed others to decide to plant for us.

What kind of city do you want to see in 25 years? Let the city council members know your views and thoughts.

We recently lost a gentleman who spoke very positively of how he wanted our city to look like in the future. Drake Seaman often wrote letters reminding those of us in leadership of his views and thoughts.

We need your feedback. Write to me or any of the other council members and let us know. This is our town. Both you and I will be standing on the side of the mountain someday soon, overlooking this city and surveying all that it entails. Let’s pray that when we do it will be a city we are proud of and one of character.

(Ken Edes is mayor of Williams.)


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