The city of Colorado Springs is hoping to help guide future growth and development in the southeast area of the springs. They're asking the public to provide feedback on a draft of the new southeast strong community plan. Organizers say the plan will address key development topics. Things like transportation, housing, public safety and more. It's a plan that the city wants your feedback on. A public meeting is being held Wednesday, 10/23/24, at the Stompin Groundz coffee shop off Chelton and Jet Wing. It starts at five pm. I met with Yevgeniya Tsyganok who works at Solid Rock Community Food Bank on the southeast side. She's been through the plan and tells me it's nice to see in writing, but hopes it actually comes to fruition. She has some other concerns as well- "We have a lot of abandoned buildings and it should be a lot of small businesses coming in." I asked why the abandoned buildings are a problem. Tsyganok tells me "Its an eyesore to our community. It is dangerous because people dont want to come to an area that has one shop in it and everything else has been abandoned... they dont feel safe."Tsyganok tells me more about what specifically she thinks the southeast side needs. "We need more walkable areas. We need infrastructure to support the housing going up for people coming in. We need hospitals. We need grocery stores and more schools to support that."The plan covers the six neighborhoods south of Fountain Boulevard. You can check out the draft for yourself and give feedback until November third. The planning department split the city into twelve neighborhoods, and will eventually have a community plan for all of them.