When Geneva still had a full-time director of planning and economic development, the city received proposals for six multi-million-dollar housing developments: the conversion of the former DeSales High School into apartments; new construction of apartment complexes on Genesee, Jackson, and Exchange streets; and construction of several single-family homes on Middle and Crystal streets.

Housing is the bedrock of economic development. A city needs people to support grocery stores, movie theaters, retail, restaurant, and commercial businesses. As our population has gone down, many of these things have gone away. The city hired an economic development director who had great success taking plans that had collected dust on a shelf and putting the good ideas into action.

However, none of these projects are yet underway, and some have been put back on the shelf again. I worry that Geneva is slipping back into its “all talk, no action” posture.

Not all of these projects were welcomed by the community with open arms, and robust debate and review of plans is always an important part of the process, but review and debate need to be grounded in economic, social, and political........

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