PRESS RELEASE

CINCINNATI – Hamilton County Commissioners today kicked off Community COMPASS (Comprehensive Master Plan and Strategies), announcing their resolution supporting the process that aims to include the whole of the county in planning for the future of the county.

“Community COMPASS will help provide a clear, long-term direction to the county,” said Commission President John Dowlin. “Importantly, it will be a direction shaped by the will, the ideas and the vision of the people who live and work in Hamilton County.”

Community COMPASS will be the first comprehensive plan to be developed for the county in more than 36 years. It will draw extensively on the ideas of residents through a series of Community Forums, and will culminate in a Countywide Town Meeting on January 12, 2002.

“This type of planning and cooperation is long overdue,” Commissioner Todd Portune said.  “With the issue of people and jobs leaving Hamilton County one of our primary challenges, developing a coordinated plan that represents and respects the interests of all 49 jurisdictions in the county will offer us great promise in responsibly reversing those trends.”

While uniting the county in one voice, Community COMPASS also will demonstrate the difference one person can make in the community.

“Community COMPASS provides an outlet for each individual voice,” Commissioner Tom Neyer said. “The Community Forums are an open invitation for individual residents to have an impact in the future of Hamilton County.”

The schedule for the Community Forums:

• 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9, at Scarlet Oaks Vocational School Auditorium, 3254 East Kemper Road, Sharonville

• 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10, at Colerain High School Auditorium, 8801 Cheviot Road, Colerain
• 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, at William Henry Harrison High School Auditorium, 9860 West Road, Harrison
• 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, at Taft High School, 420 Ezzard Charles Avenue, Cincinnati
• 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, Oct. 15, at Carson School, 4323 Glenway Avenue, Cincinnati
• 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, Oct. 15, at Woodward High School Auditorium, 7001 Reading Road, Cincinnati
• 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16, at Sycamore High School Auditorium, 7400 Cornell Road, Montgomery
• 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, at Mariemont High School Auditorium, 3812 Pocahantas Ave., Mariemont
• 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, at Withrow High School Auditorium, 2488 Madison Road, Cincinnati
• 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18 at Oak Hills High School, 3200 Ebeneezer Road, Bridgetown
• 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18, at Aiken High School Auditorium, 5641 Belmont Ave., College Hill

A 1,000-member Countywide Town Meeting, planned for January 12 at Music Hall, will analyze and prioritize the ideas gathered in the Community Forums.

“We encourage the community to be a part of this unique and engaging process,” said Ron Miller, director of the Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission, the group spearheading the project.  “Community COMPASS truly opens the door for each of us to chart our future. It is an opportunity not to be missed.”

For more information about Community COMPASS, please visit www.communitycompass.org on the Web or call the information hotline 946-4505.