Dear Albany Residents–

Thank you again for participating in Voices to Vision. More than 1,200 unduplicated residents participated in the process – through the 38 sessions last spring, the online survey in November, and the most recent 10 sessions in January. It was a busy nine months, and we’re pleased that nearly one in every nine residents participated, and still more read the materials.

We are excited to share the results of this process with the community on April 5 at the City Council meeting (which will devote significant time to the presentation). We will present key findings and recommended guidelines that reflect the collective thoughts and concerns of Albany residents. The meeting will take place at the Council Chambers (1000 San Pablo Avenue) at 7:30pm. (Visit the city’s website for meeting details.)

The complete Voices to Vision report will be available online on April 6. We will also be at the next council meeting (April 19) to respond to questions – enabling residents to have two weeks to gather their thoughts, reflect on the recommendations, and read the full report.

This has been a long and complex process. Since you played a role in bringing vision to the waterfront thinking, I know you realize that the recommendations are unlikely to correspond “directly” or “exactly” to any one person’s detailed vision. Rather, they reflect the collective vision of the largest number of Albany residents ever to have participated in such a process.

As we wind down our involvement with Voices to Vision, we’d like to take the opportunity to say that we have enjoyed meeting and talking with such a large portion of the community over these 22 months. We felt welcomed and valued. Albany is fortunate to be home to so many thoughtful people, whose visions and concerns we hope to have captured. We hope that you found the process interesting and worthwhile, and that the results will be productive. Our staff has collectively spent more than 700 days on this effort, and we look forward to watching the community take the next steps.

We sincerely appreciate your participation in Voices to Vision.

Thanks again for making this process a success, We hope to see you on April 5th (and on April 19th).

Fern Tiger, Fern Tiger Associates