Downtown Manager Sharlene Cannon plans second visioning forum

ALBANY — Looking to build on the momentum created with the first “visioning forum” held two weeks ago, Downtown Manager Sharlene Cannon will host the second forum Tuesday from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. at the 230 S. Jackson St. Microbusiness Enterprise Center.

All downtown stakeholders and the general public are invited to the forum, which will be held in the business center’s first-floor conference room.

“We were planning all along to have several meetings, but we wanted to do them at different areas of the city,” Cannon said. “We certainly hope everyone who was at the first meeting will come back, and we want to fold others into the mix.”

Around 70 attended the first visioning forum, held at the Riverfront Resource Center, a gathering that exceeded Cannon’s expectations.

“I’d hoped that we’d have enough to fill up that room, but I was certainly prepared for less,” she said. “It was a really good meeting with a lot of good ideas discussed. There were several redundancies within the groups at the meeting, so there are obviously a lot of common areas of interest. It’s really important that we get as much input from as many different segments of the community as possible.”

Cannon said that while there is ongoing progress downtown, many have expressed concern about the absence of a “big announcement” they’ve been expecting from the Central Business District.

“I don’t know if it was wise to talk about some of these things before they happened, but I think it was just a product of too much enthusiasm,” she said. “We’re anxious to let folks know when good things are happening, but we don’t want to jump the gun.

“I can say, though, that the groundbreaking for the Waffle House (on Oglethorpe Boulevard) will be happening soon. Their crews moved to a different location to finish another restaurant, but they’re getting ready to start work on the one downtown.”

Cannon said the plan for the next visioning forum is to collect input from Albany State University, Darton State College and Albany Technical College students. That event’s time and location have not yet been set.