It is not an official site of the City of Williamsburg.
The idea was originally conceived by me, Joe Hertzler, a member of the Williamsburg Planning Commission. That is the extent of the "official" connection. For good or for bad, this site rests completely on my shoulders. It has not been sanctioned or approved by the City of Williamsburg in any way. My hope is that people throughout the City use the site as a resource, but I have to make that disclaimer clear.
As I've worked on the Comprehensive Plan these last few months, I found I wanted to share my ideas and to have people comment on those ideas. I also wanted to have other commissioners and citizens do the same. I believe that the act of refining our thoughts to the point where they can be read and understood by others and discussing those thoughts with concerned people in an open manner, allows those ideas to be refined to a point we cannot achieve individually.
Why not harness the power of the Web toward that end? The worldwide web is at its fundamental core a place where people can share their ideas freely and easily. I don't know the technical side of how to do it, but I know someone who does. Enter the infinitely talented and gifted Phil Hertzler, my amazing younger brother. After graduating at the top of his class from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Graphic Design - no small accomplishment to anyone who knows the world of graphic design - Phil started his own web design company called Top Dead Center Design. He has become a fan of so-called "Blogs," short for Web Logs, a web-based tool that is being used by an increasing number of organizations to create an on-going dialog around whatever issues the organization deals with.
This site is our attempt to create such a discussion about the Comprehensive Plan for the City of Williamsburg. I don't know if we will be successful, but I hope we are. Toward the goal of being successful, I make the following commitments:
- Update the site on a regular basis with the most current information I have.
- Encourage as many officials, staff and citizens of our fine City as I can to use the site.
- Bring comments posted on the site to the attention of my fellow Commissioners and other city officials and staff.
Thank-you for visiting the site and I hope you find it helpful.
Joe Hertzler