Online Collaborative Map

The Speech Bubble

Odds are you have probably seen it already, since it has been all over town! The speech bubble is a blank slate on which community members can write down their big ideas for the Urban Core. Sometimes it is a chalkboard (or two) sometimes a piece of paper cut in the form of a speech bubble, but one thing has remained the same: EXCELLENT contributions captured in some pretty cute photos!

Surveys

MAP launched two surveys in September 2014 to reach out to the public: a resident survey and an employee survey. The resident survey sought input on participants’ experience as residents in Macon’s Urban Core and included questions on their housing situation, characteristics of their community, their shopping habits, and how they travel around Macon. The employee survey sought input on participants’ experience as employees in Macon’s Urban Core and included questions on what types of businesses they patronized and what they considered to be a reasonable distance to walk from where they park to where they work. Steering Committee members helped circulate the surveys among their networks, and it also was among the activities at the first Open House event. An online version was available as well. All told, 573 surveys were completed.

Interviews and Focus Groups

Throughout the process, the MAP planning team conducted approximately 75 interviews and focus group discussions with local stakeholders, community leaders, and elected officials to test ideas and gain further insight from local expertise.

Social Media

With the help of Goods PR, MAP has maintained an active presence on social media through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. These platforms have encouraged participation and a way for web visitors to share feedback and be kept abreast of updates, upcoming events, and findings from events.

The opportunities for the community to get involved with the Macon Action Plan have been many, and the community responded in force to MAP’s call to action. Your input informed the plan. Look through it, read it, and you’ll see and hear yourself and your neighbors, your colleagues, friends, family, and fellow Maconites… Again, from the bottom of MAP’s heart, we thank you for your ideas and input, and the time and energy spent thinking, together, about the future of the heart of Macon!

Second Sunday The first public MAP event was on Second Sunday in July 2014, when MAP joined Macon residents and visitors at the Second Sunday Concert in Washington Park. Equipped with the chalkboard speech bubbles and an ample supply of chalk, the MAP team introduced the Macon Action Plan and asked Maconites to share their big idea for the Urban Core.

October Open House October 2014 marked the next public MAP event: an Open House generously hosted by the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. On opening night, participants engaged in interactive activities that covered topics including visioning, programming, downtown spending, activating alleys, and transportation as well as a physical version of the collaborative map. The employee and resident surveys were available as well.

More than 130 guests signed in on opening night. Participants enjoyed hot dogs from Nu-Way and beer from the Macon Beer Company, in addition to other drinks and snacks. The lawn in front of the Sports Hall of Fame became a temporary park and playground, with outdoor games, tables, chairs, and umbrellas. Participants were also able to “launch” their big idea after jotting it down on a piece of paper and then folding it into a paper airplane. The speech bubble made an appearance at the event.

After opening night, the Open House remained open for the public through the end of November. Additional visitors included school groups and Mercer classes, NewTown board members, One Macon, Georgia ASLA, AIA, USGBC, Sheridan Solomon & Associates Realtors, Historic Macon Foundation staff, and Hay House staff. In addition, Mayor Reichert and Just Tap’d hosted a mini-MAP Open House for an evening to collect more big ideas and contributions to the collaborative map. In all, over 300 community members attended the Open House during October and November 2014.

March MAP Party March 2015 marked the MAP Party, with the Cox Capitol Theatre as the gracious host. This event debuted MAP’s preliminary recommendations. Boards summarizing the recommendations hung in the theater for public view, and a more in-depth slideshow ran on loop. A formal presentation of the slideshow took place as well.

Participants were given a “scorecard” to make comments under the main themes of the recommendations during the presentation. In addition, they participated in a budgeting exercise involving allocating play money into “piggy banks” along specific themes (clean & safe, events & programming, marketing, public realm improvements,

Ocmulgee Heritage Trail Network, park space design, gateways & pedestrian improvements, neighborhood stabilization & housing development, and economic development) to indicate their priorities.

220 attendees signed in at the Party (although more came!). After opening night, the MAP Party went on the road, sharing a presentation on preliminary plan recommendations with approximately 750 people at 30 meetings and events.

Thanks for all of your input, Macon!

In your words:

MAP’s vision for the future echoes the community input and provides a road map for the future grounded in the values of the people who live, work, worship, learn, and play in Macon’s Urban Core.

Your words, highlighted in pink, are the building blocks:

for Macon’s Urban Core

We are proud of our city - its good bones, rich history and traditions that give rhythm to community life.

Our future will respect, honor, and complement our past.

We see positive momentum at work in our urban core, and we are ready to work together to continue this trend.