City, OSU prepare plan for long-term outlook

The study is to be completed in about eight months.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Salem leaders have begun work on the details of a plan that will guide the city for the next 50 years.
Bill Grunkemeyer, co-director of Ohio State University's Cooperative Sustainable Development Center, said he is sure the study can guide the city that far into the future.
"Without a doubt," Grunkemeyer said.
Such planning, he said, helps people "overcome the immediate problems and think about what could be possible."
Groups will study nine areas: natural resources, parks and recreation, historical properties and the "built" environment, infrastructure, housing, economic development, education, community life and values and social services.
Grunkemeyer told the group, "Please remember that it's a 50-year plan. That 50 years will come fast."
During a 3 1/2-hour meeting at the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, Grunkemeyer pointed out repeatedly how the areas are connected on many levels.
Tasks ahead
The plan, for example, will effectively include Perry Township. Trustee Jerry Wolford was among the area leaders taking part in the talks.
Preliminary work on the study showed Salem has several assets to build on, including foundations that are uncommon in even bigger cities: a very active alumni association, a locally owned and controlled hospital and a branch of Kent State University.
Problems in the city range from a work force that must change from basic manufacturing to jobs requiring more knowledge and education, to increasing poverty, home foreclosures and drug abuse.
On the business front, the chamber has already planned a series of three luncheons to match entrepreneurs with potential investors.
wilkinson@vindy.com