Your Opinion: Progress includes respect for history

Dear Editor:

"Where there is no vision, the people perish." Nearly 100 years ago, those words from the Bible were inscribed in marble letters four feet high at the state Capitol building. In the past two years, 400 local visionaries spent long hours developing a bold and dynamic plan to transform Jefferson City from a town in decay and decline into a more vibrant community that respects and appreciates its past, but looks forward to the future.

As the president of the Historic City of Jefferson (HCJ), I believe the transformation plan is very much on the right track. For the past five years, the HCJ motto has been, "Looking Back ... Moving Forward." That is exactly what the transformation plan is all about. It will revitalize Old Town, which is really pretty much everything from the river to Ellis Boulevard, and from Clark Avenue to Dix Road. It will secure the old MSP buildings that have become tourism gold. Demolition by neglect, which is happening now at MSP and in core areas of the city, will be reversed and the community as a whole will benefit for decades to come.

One way I know this plan is on the right track is the way it has been enthusiastically supported by young professionals in this community. At this moment in time we are blessed with some of the best and the brightest who have moved here, or have returned here, and have decided this is the place they want to be. The future of this community belongs to them and to their children. We can hand them a city on the move with the best years ahead of us, or we can, in effect tell them, "Sorry, if quality of life, a vibrant economy, and a great future is what you are looking for, you'd better go elsewhere."

So many times we hear this phrase: "Jefferson City is a great place to live, to work and to raise a family." It has been that way for me and I want it to be that way for the next generation and for generations to come.

I urge you to vote for the Transformation tax on Feb. 7.