Findings From 2017 Rust 2 Green Binghamton Community meeting

Rust to Green Binghamton (R2GB) held a community meeting to share what results of student intern research about Binghamton and to hear community member’s thoughts and ideas on some of the amazing opportunities there are to reshape Binghamton’s downtown and its rivers.
 

During the meeting, four R2GB interns from this summer gave a presentation on the Living with Water Project and the major projects we worked on this summer, including placemaking activities at Live on the Waterfront, interviews with Binghamton residents on their thoughts about the rivers and ideas for the future, and community surveys of residents’ thoughts on river usage, river quality, and the downtown area. Click here to view the presentation! community_presentation_.pdf
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Following the presentation, community members worked in focus groups to discuss next steps and ideas for shaping the future of Binghamton. Our main points of discussion included:

1. What priorities do you have for the river/riverfront development? What is most important?
2. What are Binghamton's strengths that we can build on?
3. What would you like to see happen next?
4. How would you like to be involved?

Some of the most common responses to the priorities question included improving access to the rivers, more programming and activities, and more economic development along the rivers. For question two, community members felt we could build upon the strong sense of community, natural beauty, and affordability of Binghamton. For questions three and four, community members said they would like to help create more parks along the rivers, a whitewater park at Rockbottom Dam, more stores along the waterfront with better advertising, and a "Friends of the River Trails" group. 

​In addition to the focus groups, we also asked community members to participate in picture voting on projects they would like to see happen in Binghamton. Participants also responded to questions on chalkboards asking what the river is to them, what Binghamton is to them, and what they wish each had. See some of the responses in the slide show to the right!  Overall it was a fun and inspiring night for us students to learn from the community.