Wednesday, September 19 -- Drawing from multiple sources – the Vision 2020 plan, meetings with town officials and interested citizens, one on one interviews, and countless informal conversations – the PlaceMakers team prepares today to share their work in progress in a 6:30pm community meeting.

“We’ve tried very hard to capture and address the things we’ve heard,” said PlaceMakers principal Susan Henderson, “but we can’t know for sure without you. This is your chance to affirm our efforts or, if need be, let us know where we’re off track.”

Since the start of the charrette on Monday, a steady stream of citizens and officials have visited the design studio to share thoughts and ideas or discover more about the effort. The Tuesday schedule was full of public meetings focused on specific topics, from the concerns of public officials to transportation issues and retail. All sessions were open to everyone, but the hope was to attract folks especially interested in drilling down more deeply into subjects affected by SmartCode planning.

Turn-outs were inspiring, with attendees filling up Alcade Room seats for most meetings. In the Taos tradition, participants weren’t shy about expressing themselves and making their priorities clear to the PlaceMakers consulting team. Here’s a quick overview of the four Tuesday meetings:

(Click for a full summary of what happened in each meeting)
Public Officials
Community Groups
Public Works and Transportation Professionals
Retail/Commercial Interests

This morning at 9am, a similar meeting will address development issues. The “pin-up” presentation this evening will take place in the Taos Convention Center’s Don Fernando Hall.

See you there.