August 11, 2010
Replacing cracked and broken cement sidewalks with rubber ones. Turning car parking into bike parking at strategic locales. Buying out blighted areas to accommodate urban infill projects.
These ideas and others like them have been posted to www.passthepotatoes.com, a virtual town hall event sponsored by Environment Omaha. The site is seeking ideas from the public on how to create a greener city in five topic areas – the natural environment, urban form and transportation, building construction, resource conservation and community health. There is no cost to participate, but you must be age 14 or older to submit an idea.
“The Environment Omaha team couldn’t be happier with the quality of the ideas submitted to date and the thoughtfulness of the participants,” said Connie Spellman, director of Omaha by Design. “It’s evidence that Omahans are willing to think in new and different ways about improving the sustainability of our city and the important role it plays in maintaining a healthy economic and social climate.”
The first topic up for consideration – preserving and enhancing the city’s natural environment – garnered 48 ideas from the public. Idea submission on the second topic – improving the way Omahans move around the city and what shape its future growth should take – continues through Friday, Aug. 13.
Also on Aug. 13, the idea submission period for the next topic – building construction – opens and runs through Aug. 27. “This topic is all about generating ideas on how to help Omaha become a national leader in innovative building construction, renovation and maintenance,” Spellman said.
Following each idea submission period, the public can vote on their favorite ideas. To review all the ideas submitted to date, go to www.passthepotatoes.com. You must have an account to participate in the voting process. If you’re new to the site and haven’t yet created an account, which is free, go to “sign up” and fill out the form.
Votes can be cast in one of four categories:
- Love it! (+3 points)
- Like it. (+2 points)
- Okay. (+1 points)
- Don’t like it. (-1 point)
All those who submit ideas to www.passthepotatoes.com are awarded community points based on the votes their idea gets. The top 50 point recipients will be publicly recognized this fall.
Then, a panel of local experts convened by Omaha by Design and the city will review the top ideas generated in each of the five topic areas for potential implementation. Pending available funding, the goal is to be able to implement one citizen-inspired project in Omaha within the next calendar year, Spellman said.
For more information about www.passthepotatoes.com, contact Omaha by Design at 402.554.4010 or info@omahabydesign.org.
Environment Omaha – a partnership of the City of Omaha, the community and Omaha by Design – is a policy development initiative under way that’s creating a new environmental vision for the city. Omaha by Design serves as the project manager. For more information, visit www.environmentomaha.com.