Visioning effort wins national award

	TRR photo by Charlie Buterbaugh Fifty residents from Highland, Lumberland, Shohola and Lackawaxen attended a community meeting led by Laurie Stuart of the Visioning the Upper Delaware River Corridor committee on October 15 at the Shohola Township building. With the aid of a slideshow created by Pike County Assistant Planner Kelli Zittergruen, Stuart identified challenges faced by residents and municipal officials in Wayne, Pike, Sullivan and Orange Counties as communities confront growth of construction and population. Seven members of the 20-year old Lumberland Environmental Council attended the meeting, including president Ann Danuff. (Click for larger image)

NARROWSBURG, NY — An interstate effort by The River Reporter to introduce officials to their colleagues on the other side of the Delaware River and begin a discussion about approaching new regional economic growth has won national attention.

The River Reporter garnered a second place Community Service Award in the recent judging of the 2003 National Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper Contest in the non-daily division, with circulation less than 6,000.

In presenting this award the judges wrote, in part: “The staff of The River Reporter embarked on a well-organized ambitious effort to bring together two communities which, facing a geographic barrier, seldom mix. The newspaper published two informative special sections, and organized a series of forums on growth and change. Work on bridging the communities continues today.”

Work actually began early last year, with an unprecedented plan to bring together and introduce officials from Orange, Pike, Sullivan and Wayne counties. While officials lived and worked on opposite shores of the river and shared similar responsibilities and problems, many had never met colleagues in the other state. The catalyst for the gathering was the growth taking place in both states and the resulting outcome was a new effort to coordinate planning for that growth.

Publisher Laurie Stuart and writer Tom Kane coordinated the work.

Two large workshops were held in April and October, both of which were detailed in special supplements to the newspaper.

The conferences prompted networking of commercial and government interests in both states, which led to the creation of a smaller ad-hoc visioning group, which began meeting to discuss common issues.

The group has also sponsored two series of additional smaller local meetings to bring together municipal leaders and residents from the towns and townships opposite one another along the river.

That continuing process has most recently led to the successful joint application for Upper Delaware Technical Assistance Grant funding for a common ridgeline protection planning effort by the towns of Highland, Lumberland and Tusten in New York, along with Shohola Township in Pennsylvania.