From the start of the planed reuse the community and I were very worried that the result would be the creation of two Concords, the plan before us succeeds in that goal for it has created four Concords.
Shortly after the founding of this city of Todos Santos the people changed the name to Concord. No one knows why it was done, but I would like to think it was because of the spirit of a single community that the word concord represents. This was typified by the founders Pacheco/Galindo who when they put in the first swimming pool in their adobe, it was opened to all the children in the City.
The community has recognized the need for a development of an UPTOWN area as it looks forward to an efficient extension of the city into the 21st Century. This is seen on both plans. We should not harness that hope with the curse of divisions and isolated locales upon the hope of a GREATER CONCORD.
For generations the traditional citizens of this city have been confronted with the stark ugliness of the Cold War as represented by the visual display of the rows of Bunker City south of Willow Pass Road. Now that we have an opportunity to reward their patience: shall we honor that sacrifice by the back end view of an OBSCENE development with a green moat to highlight its separation from the rest of OUR city?
If Concord wants to have separatist new developments and elitist villages then we should annex Clyde and Clayton and still keep this land for parks and open space.
YES to PARKS and open space which is more than just dirt and weeds but the fields of play and the fulfillment of the original soul of a city searching for greater unity rather than retreating to more divisions.
The Clustered Villages plan for CONCORD is a blueprint for DISCORD.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
The homeless and the barely housed are a separate topic as is the issue of bringing businesses to the area. The focus here is the choice between the two concepts, one has a set of villages and another has a large green area.
I believe that if we build the villages it will degrade the current city attractiveness and provide no added value to the city citizens as we are.
However, if you believe in Concord First as I do, then the addition of a large regional park and open space adds value to everyone already here and encourages further in-fill and recommitment to our existing local communities within a greater Concord that will continue to improve rather than be a rerun of the late 60’s and 70’s when people fled the cities to the new communities of the suburbs.
They need to think about how to bring businesses to the area. Homes are nice but without jobs, all that will be left are a bunch of empty buildings. I agree that they should make a large section for a park but then again, they have to figure out what to to with the Counties homeless problem and not even the council knows how to deal with that.