Still on the fence about whether to attend CivicCon on Thursday night at Janesville Performing Arts Center?
Wondering what CivicCon is and how it was developed?
Interested in figuring out what the desired outcomes are from this community, free, open-to-the-public event?
WCLO recently welcomed a trio of guests to break it all down on an episode of 'Your Talk Show.'
LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE
Joining the program were:
- Quint Studer, presenting sponsor who first helped launch CivicCon in Pensacola, Florida
- Victor Dover, co-author of Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns and a nationally recognized urban planner who, along with Joe Kohl, will be the featured presenter at CivicCon
- Claire Gray, our Director of Policy & Strategic Initiatives
Studer described why CivicCon was born in the first place in Pensacola:
"We started in Pensacola in 2005, with a very difficult, controversial project – where social media was just nasty and violent and wild. And we passed a referendum … and we started gaining good progress. We got things going. Downtown started happening. Then, in 2015, we had two projects I really believed would be beneficial to the community. … I got frustrated and had focus groups with about 100 community citizens and said, ‘Why is it so hard to do something here?’ … They basically said, well, maybe we need to educate people more. Maybe we need to get people more knowledgeable of other cities, because we’re sort of isolated here.
We brought the first speaker in, and we were amazed at the interest in the community. … It was such a positive thing, that we started bringing more in. We want to keep it objective. It’s not political. I don’t even talk to the speakers before they come in. … We bring in the most impeccable credentialed people in the country, that people are usually stunned they’re coming, and they do great work. And then, you can take it if you want it. … What’s happens next is then up to the community.
We hope you will attend Thursday night and see CivicCon for yourself!
REGISTER TO ATTEND CIVICCON HERE