At a state Department of Commerce community open house event held Thursday in Hoquiam, visual communications artist Lori Rock stood beside a “chaotic mind map” — a brightly rendered visualization of some of Hoquiam’s top priorities for the coming years.
She built the map based on information gathered from leadership meetings Commerce has held with the city to identify some of those priorities. This is part of Commerce’s new pilot project, New Approaches, which seeks to help communities identify priorities, then team those priorities with Commerce’s nearly 100 programs that could help participating cities like Hoquiam with financial, planning and other assistance.
Commerce Community Outreach Specialist Julia Havens called the New Approaches pilot program “intensive technical assistance.” Commerce works directly with the cities in the pilot program — Hoquiam was one of three cities included in the yearlong pilot program, along with Chewelah and Toppenish — to identify priorities and pair them with corresponding Commerce programs.
Top priorities — circled in red on Rock’s mind map — included providing a safe community, housing, development (commercial, recreational and industrial), historic preservation and infrastructure. Under infrastructure, Rock had added several items taken from the input provided at the open house related to improving the trail system in the city and upping street, sidewalk and alley repairs and maintenance not just in commercial, but in residential areas.
Under development, some ideas included converting the Timberland parking lot into a piazza with public seating and food trucks, providing an evening gathering space for youth, and creating more recreational waterfront space.
Rebecca Duncan, Commerce Research Program Coordinator, checked in visitors and asked them to mark on a board how many years they had been connected with the city. Dots marked anywhere from a few years to more than 30.
After checking in, red arrows pasted on the floor led to Commerce Community Outreach Specialist Leslie Wolff. She handed out colored markers, asking each participant to jot down what they loved about Hoquiam.
“Everything!” wrote one. “Welcoming community that feels like home,” wrote another. Others included, “Not too hot, not too cold,” “Schools are supported by the community,” “It’s not us and them, it’s US,” “The police department,” and “7th Street Theatre.”
Next up, Senior Planner Matt Ojennus displayed a board with a list of projects Commerce has already teamed up on with the City of Hoquiam. The agency’s programs have helped fund the Hoquiam Eastside fire station and water transmission pipeline replacement in 2012, the recent renovation of the Hoquiam Library, and currently preservation of Olympic Stadium.
Past Rock’s map, where Hoquiam City Administrator Brian Shay stood ready to answer questions and take suggestions, was a station where a short survey was waiting, giving participants a chance to tell Commerce what they felt about how the open house was operated. At the next station, Cassie Lentz, Housing Resource Coordinator with Grays Harbor Health and Social Services, was volunteering her time to talk about what Commerce and the city intended to do with the community input gathered at the event.
She explained that Commerce will take the information from the open house and leadership group — made up of city elected officials, emergency service providers, and local organizations like CCAP and the YMCA, to name a few — to narrow the priorities based in part with how they match up with Commerce programs that can provide planning, financial and other assistance.
“Ultimately they will make a recommendation to the City Council of 3-5 priorities to adopt,” said Lentz. The council can narrow that list to two, as described in the pilot program, or one, whatever they think would best benefit the city and reap the most benefits from Commerce’s assistance.
Commerce will be back in Hoquiam next week to offer more information on the program and take more public input. Stephen Dunk, Commerce Community Outreach Program Manager, will have a table set up Tuesday from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the YMCA, 2500 Simpson Ave.; and on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hoquiam Timberland Library, 420 Seventh St.
DAN HAMMOCK | GRAYS HARBOR NEWS GROUP Visual communications artist Lori Rock produced this sketch of some of the ideas for Hoquiam’s top priorities. As visitors passed by, she would incorporate their ideas into the drawing and connect them with other projects that could complement each other.
DAN HAMMOCK | GRAYS HARBOR NEWS GROUP Participants in Thursday’s Department of Commerce open house were asked to write down what they loved about Hoquiam, as the city and Commerce took input from the community about what should be the citys top priorities. Pictured is Department of Commerce Outreach Specialist Leslie Wolff.
