Peabody is moving forward
By JOANNA BRAZIL
Peabody Main Street Director
It pleases me to think about Peabody's bright future. Several things are happening now that will have a powerfully positive impact on our community.
The Peabody City Council is working in partnership with the Main Street Streetscape Committee and the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing on a strategic plan.
It always is beneficial to work toward a vision of the future, and the city of Peabody is doing just that. Developing this vision is proving to be an exciting step in the right direction, and our journey through this process is both thought-provoking and rewarding.
The fun part, however, really begins when we can begin implementing the plan.
Where does our community want to be five, 10, 20, or 100 years from now? Where has it been? How can we preserve our unique history in conjunction with growth and economic development? What are our goals for our future? What steps must we take to work toward our vision?
These are the questions we are asking ourselves as we develop the strategic plan. Our consultants, Bucher, Willis and Ratliff, are leading us through this journey.
The strategic plan is funded by grant monies from the Community Capacity Building Program in the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing and will be complete by June of next year.
Another wonderful step for Peabody is our access to high speed Internet. DTN SpeedNet now is available to Peabody residents and businesses. When my brother-in-law was visiting Peabody, he asked me if high speed Internet was available. He is a young graphic designer and told me, "Peabody is such a comfortable town, and I could see myself raising a family here if I could work from home. I would need high speed Internet to do that." Fortunately, it is now available and professionals like Brian can do just that.
It is thrilling to see the development of Main Street's committees and the exciting projects they are planning.
More events, marketing strategies, Streetscape, building restoration projects, and services for our businesses are happening now or are in the works. The opportunities are endless, the possibilities are limitless.
This journey is exciting and I am really proud of the initiative and efforts of this community in seeing that we continue to move forward in a positive direction.
