Big Bear, Ca, January 13, 2011, 12:00pm – On January 12th the County of San Bernardino held a meeting at City Hall to discuss the vision for the County’s future. 60 people attended the meeting and expressed concerns and hopes for the Big Bear Valley and County’s future. Moderator Steve Pontell took attendees through a SWOT Analysis, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Citizens identified the County’s strengths as the following: tourism and recreation, an abundance of land, a diversity of landscape, and good water supply. Weaknesses identified were: a lack of economic opportunity for residence, crime rates, and transit. Pontell then asked the group to look to the future and think of opportunities for the county: expansion for tourism and recreation, an Olympic training facility, county wide trail systems, and a better transportation network were all mentioned. Threats for the future were identified as: natural disasters, continued high unemployment rate, and the state and federal debt. At the end of the session Pontell had everyone write a letter to a friend from the year 2030. Attendees were to write from the future telling their friend how amazing the county and Big Bear is. The county will use this to see what people really are interested in seeing happen for the future. To take part in the County Vision Survey go to www.sbcounty.gov/vision
