Nov 8, 2015
John V. Carlson: Greenville shows game-changing possibilities
More than ever, there exists in greater Gainesville a sense that our region is on a precipice of unprecedented opportunity. Happening across the community are collaborative, bold and complementary efforts all with the potential to advance our region toward achieving a vision of being a global hub of talent, innovation and opportunity … Yet some game-changing opportunities remain beyond our grasp. New perspective gained by about 40 greater Gainesville business leaders on a recent, Chamber-led visit to Greenville, South Carolina, underscores a discomforting truth: Many opportunities will remain out of our grasp until we reach the level of public/private collaboration needed to overcome barriers standing between our region and new levels of job creation, growth and progress.
... We want jobs in the areas that really need them and have been left behind. We want to address underemployment. We want to help UF reach preeminence. We want to see our county achieve its conservation goals at no taxpayer expense.
To facilitate these outcomes, we need the Alachua County Commission to adopt policies that are both business-friendly and supportive of conservation efforts. We are asking our county leaders to be more open-minded and improve the Alachua County Comprehensive Plan to support this direction. Specifically, we are urging county commissioners to approve the Envision Alachua Sector Plan.
Gainesville.com, The Gainesville Sun, November 8, 2015. (Read entire article)
