Williston Design Workshop

Our design workshop in Williston was a much different experience than the one we did in Denmark several months before. At the Williston workshop we had roughly 10 citizens that showed up which was initially disappointing, but those citizens were helpful in providing input about the direction Williston is moving and what needs the community should address in the near future. We had two tables setup to evaluate the internal and external forces affecting Williston and rank them on importance to the community. I was surprised by the way my table ranked certain things. For example, I would assume Williston's proximity to Aiken would be an important external force on how future development does or doesn't occur in Williston, but my table did not rank it as high as some other issues. That is what getting public input is all about I suppose. It gives us a chance to listen to what the residents concerns are before we propose plans simply based on our assumptions about a place. Although we would have liked to have more public interaction that day, it was also good for our class to see that not all public workshops bring out the masses. From what I've seen, Denmark is in a much more desperate situation than Williston, and there was significantly more public showing at that workshop than in Williston. So...I wonder if the public feels the needs aren't as urgent in Williston, and therefore are less motivated to get involved or if there is more work that can be done on our end to get the community more involved in the future.

Williston

A few weeks ago Sara, Kaylan, Meika, and I conducted surveys around different neighborhoods in Williston to help with the Design Workshop we were having at the end of the month. I'm typically a real wimp about knocking on people's doors to ask them to buy things or fill out something, but this wasn't too bad. Everyone was friendly and some were even enthusiastic about getting their opinions out there about what they think is going on in Williston. As far as the town goes, Williston mainly seemed kinda sleepy. The main concerns of the people I talked with were a lack of medical choices, such as a local physician and not enough restaurant variety or shopping. Only one couple talked about a drug problem or that there were areas they deemed unsafe. Overall I found the survey experience interesting. It gives you a chance to get a first hand account of the types of people living in the community and how different demographics are distributed.