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2020 Vision Committee August 19, 2010 7:45 a.m.-9:45 a.m. Selectmen’s Meeting Room Members present: Fernando Quezada, Janice Frascatore, Dan Krupka, Peter Enrich, Marian A.O. Cohen, Alan Wrigley, Jane Warren, Anne Redmon, Chuck Benson, Barry Orenstein, George Burnell Staff: Candy McLaughlin, Brianna Olson ACTION ITEMS:  Beginning in October, Committee members will conduct focus groups with various civic organizations in the Town. th  By September 10, Committee members are asked to review the list of themes and goals that were established in 2000, develop potential questions for the focus groups, and e-mail these questions to Candy and Fernando. Meeting Began: 7:45 a.m. The minutes from last month’s meeting were approved. Big-Picture Thinking Session: The Committee reviewed its work over the past ten years, and discussed ideas and issues for the committee going forward. Key points of the discussion included:  One of the primary purposes of 2020 Vision is to serve as a framing group; that is, to identify the substantial issues that will affect the community ten or more years down the road, and focus citizen and Town staff efforts on addressing those issues.  The idea of establishing a new vision time frame, such as 2050, was raised, but a complete re- visioning process would be an overwhelming effort given current Town resource constraints.  The 2020 Committee originally identified a vision statement, as well as major themes and goals. The vision and themes were defined from the bottom-up and left intentionally broad, with shorter-term goals established. The consensus was that the major issues haven’t changed substantially, but current short-term issues may be expressed differently. The committee felt it may be worthwhile to engage residents in discussing what issues they see as important now and in the future. This will help confirm or realign the themes and goals established by the Committee in 2000, and identify issues around which there are convergent or divergent opinions.  There may be a need to look more comprehensively at issues, and seek increased coordination among the efforts of different groups.  Concern that the 2020 Committee was not fully representative of the Town’s demographics was raised. Also, it is difficult to reach out to some groups and unenfranchised persons in the community.  A productive agenda for this fall would be going out to different groups and engaging their members in conversation about whether the current themes and goals capture what is important to people in Lexington today. The Committee will talk with enough groups to get divergent points of view and hopefully hear some new voices, but not attempt to represent the entire community.  Follow-up to the ideas heard in these conversations could include a community-wide survey. Next Meeting: Thursday, September 16, 2010; 7:45 a.m.-9:00 a.m., Selectmen’s Meeting Room Adjourn: 9:45 a.m.