Main Street envisions Meridian in 2010

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
March 5, 2004
Imagine a Meridian with high-speed Amtrak trains, an expanded airport with flights to several cities and a Toyota assembly plant inside of a full industrial park on I-20/59.
It's a dream that was shared at the Main Street Meridian meeting on Thursday the followup of a "visioning" meeting from two weeks ago, when about 90 people, working in groups, collectively wrote what they hope to find in Meridian in 2010.
About 30 people were at the meeting Thursday, most of them participants in the earlier session in which several strengths and weaknesses in the community were listed.
Again, they were split into groups by Beverly Meng, executive director of the Mississippi Main Street Association, who gave them the assignment to read the visions written and come up with five specific goals to make some of the dreams realities.
The goals will be considered by the Main Street Meridian Board, to be assigned to committees as projects.
Meng said the Meridian community has a lot of diversity that can be used to its advantage in attracting cultural heritage tourist dollars, including several different ethnic groups, religions and cultures.
Local organizers of Thursday's meeting said they believed the turnout was lower than the previous meeting because several other meetings were being held at the same time. Debra Brewer, president of the Main Street Meridian Board, said many people said they would be late. It also was speculated that several people were held up in traffic due to a major accident on the interstate.