This is an update designed to inform and update Blanco citizens and interested parties on the many activities underway and planned to improve Blanco and its surroundings.

The Blanco Streetscape project has not been dormant. The Streetscape Committee received approval of the City Council back in August for the selection of Winter and Company, an urban planning company from Boulder, CO, as the master plan designer. Since then, members of the committee have had many informal contacts with representatives of Winter & Co. discussing various details of the project.

The primary ‘detail’ is raising the funds in order to formally engage Winter & Co. to complete the Master Plan design. That has been the focus of the Committee during the past 4 months. Now, the fund raising efforts are about to begin! Letters have been prepared soliciting contributions for the project and are being mailed this week to various businesses and potential contributors both within the city of Blanco and surrounding areas. We’ll report the results of those efforts in future “Blanco Tomorrow...” articles.

A major milestone in the Streetscape Committee’s efforts was enlisting the active support of Keep Blanco Beautiful, Inc. (KBB) KBB’s objectives are to promote public interest in the general improvement of the environment of Blanco and other similar activities such as beautifying streets, highways, etc. Their objectives, of course, are closely allied with those of the Streetscape Committee. And, as a 501(c)3 organization, KBB is tax exempt.

They have agreed to support the Streetscape effort by receiving funds for the project. Thus, contributions to the Streetscape Project, in the form of a check, are made out to KBB and are tax exempt! KBB has not only agreed to support the Streetscape project through administering the fund raising efforts but also has pledged the first $5000 of the fund raising campaign. Further, the City has agreed to do the same! The Streetscape Committee, the City and KBB have formalized their cooperative efforts for the fund raising campaign through a Memorandum of Agreement between each agency. Working together, we can achieve any goal!

The bottom line is: The fund raising campaign to contract with Winter & Co. for the Blanco Streetscape Master Plan is well on the way to satisfying our goal of raising $50,000. As stated in a previous article, “with the enthusiasm and support the Committee has received from Blanco citizens and local businesses, we’re confident that we can raise the necessary funding which will enable the City to enter into a contract with Winter & Co. for the Blanco Streetscape Master Plan.”

In summary, Happy New Year to all from Blanco’s Streetscape Committee –and much more to follow on the road to developing our Streetscape Master Plan!