Colorado Springs 2020: Oct. 19, 2002
by Katie Donnelly, Oct 21, 2002

Jaccaci as Jefferson

On Saturday, October 19th, citizens of the Pikes Peak region gathered at City Hall for "Colorado Springs 2020: Our Town, Our Future." The day began with a keynote by Gus Jaccaci, introducing the theme of the day and thanking participants for their participation in helping create the future. Mr. Jaccaci is the author of CEO: Chief Evolutionary Officer, Leaders Mapping the Future and a recognized community expert in social architecture. He portrayed Thomas Jefferson, dressed in Colonial garb, speaking from the year 2020.

We conducted two futures oriented "Opinionnaires" (totaling 100 questions relating to the future of Colorado Springs). This format was developed by The Forum Foundation of Seattle, WA. The survey questions came from a variety of sources within our community including The Center for the Study of Government and the Individual, our  transportation department as well as the city planning department and our City Council.

Jay Gary

After the lunch break, local futurist Jay Gary presented a second keynote on "Creating our Future."

Dr. Jim Null

"Following his presentation we gathered into small groups to engage in dialogue regarding the future of Colorado Springs. From each of these groups came "civic articles" and each began: Toward the year 2020, to see if the people of Colorado Springs will..." We then consolidated these articles into a single list while Dr. Null provided a keynote. A town meeting on the future was held during which time the citizens voted on, and thereby prioritized, each of the civic articles. The prioritized list of articles was presented to Councilman Null who represented City Council at our gathering. This was the closing event of the day.

It is our hope that the individual citizen who participated in this process realized that their civic voice does matter, and that it can and will influence our local government officials to help create for our citizens their ideal future. This research, after being written up in report form, will be presented before our city council on Dec. 9th. The Colorado Springs 2020 meeting gave participants greater insight into where we've been, where we currently are as a community as well as how we wish to reach toward our desired future in 2020.

The event was sponsored by The Colorado Springs Chapter of the World Future Society, The Center for the Study of Government and the Individual, The Forum Foundation, and The Colorado Springs Utilities.