What could Galesburg become? Our city has been in existence
since its founding in 1837, some 183 years ago. A lot has happened here. Colleges
have formed and prospered; one (Lombard) floundered during the Depression.
Railroads came and became dominant. Slaves came for refuge via the Underground
Railroad and boxcar people made their impacts as well. A mental health center grew
and was grossly underminded by national policies. In its wake a large prison
was built. Large solar arrays are being installed as we write and a new library
appears to be on its way.
These are things that have happened here (or soon will).
What do you want to happen here? What type of City do you want to live in? Raise
your kids in? We want to know. We suspect that others do to.
Why? Well, we firmly believe that such thinking is a
necessary precursor for any positive change. Yes, leave your cynicism “inside”
and let your dreams come out. We need dreams. We need them now.
You don’t have to start from scratch. Fortunately there have
been some important developments over the past year or so that you should keep
in mind as you formulate your dreams. For one, the City government had an
external consulting firm complete a Comprehensive Plan as well as a Parks &
Recreation Master Plan. These two lengthy documents, found on the City’s
website (
https://www.ci.galesburg.il.us/),
contain a lot of very forward-thinking and thought-provoking ideas and should
be perused by all residents. In addition, our city was blessed to be a Heart
& Soul Community and thus underwent a two-year community-based project to
determine its assets and key areas for improvement and innovation. One can find
out more about the current state of this work at the Galesburg On Track
Facebook page.
While these documents and activities are very important and
worth looking at more closely, we definitely know that many people weren’t
involved in these efforts (though Heart & Soul tried tirelessly to get as
many stakeholders involved as possible). Some have been swamped with work and
other personal distractions. Others have been paralyzed by misguided actions or
political intransigence at the state or federal level. It is hard to watch TV
today and not feel at least a bit powerless. Yet, we can’t afford to become
complacent or despondent.
If we want our community to be a certain way, we need to
make it happen. We need more resilience in case of climate change or some other
challenge. We need more awareness of our true situation (as in hunger,
homeless, mental health issues, etc.). We need more accountability in our local
leaders. We need more effort. With more “hands-on-deck,” we can build/fix
almost any “ship.”
On Wednesday, 6 PM, Feb. 19th, at the Knox County
Brewing Company, we will convene for our sixth Many Paths Galesburg
podcast: Dreaming Galesburg into the
Future. We would love input from the members of the community. Now is the time
to dream. If not us, who? If not now, when?
