“Creating a Positive Future for Haines,” a community forum organized by residents Brenda Josephson and Tresham Gregg, will be held 7 p.m. Saturday at the Chilkat Center.
“I’m hoping that a cross-section of people come. We’re going to talk in positive terms about creating a brighter future for people here, economically and socially,” said Gregg, who also serves on the Haines Borough Assembly.
Gregg said he sees value in discussions that occur away from the heat of local political debates. “It gives people an opportunity to speak without real judgment involved or necessarily any outcome. It’s a chance to talk amongst ourselves and listen to each other.”
Gregg said he ran on a platform of more public involvement, but what the majority of the public wants isn’t always evident. “In the end it comes back to bite leaders if they don’t really know what the public wants.”
The meeting will be held in a “peace circle” format, he said. “People will speak for a few minutes and other people will get up and do the same. We’ll probably write down a few topics we’d like to discuss more in the future.”
A series of public discussion could help add “the people’s voice” to upcoming strategic planning by the assembly, Gregg said.
He said he also saw the meetings as a way of updating community goals laid out in the borough’s comprehensive plan. “The comprehensive plan still needs to be implemented in terms of today’s people and situations.”
Economic, social and local political issues are welcome, he said, but Gregg said he’d like to see the discussion take a positive tone. “How do we make our own businesses thrive and make our community the place we’d like to see in the future.”
Josephson, a member of the borough’s planning commission, said she hopes the meeting is a “positive, active exchange of ideas” and the start of a civil, community conversation.
“Some people say we’re all so different we can’t find common ground. This is where we start the discussion of what is important to the community and how do we approach that with positive energy. I want good things for the community. I don’t want a fractured community,” she said.
The political arena isn’t structured to allow for questions or give-and-take, Josephson said.
Josephson said her involvement in a group that fought a proposed minor offenses ordinance led her to believe that residents’ common concerns are bigger than their differences.