Golden Valley Is Unique

As an inner-ring suburb only four miles from the center of downtown Minneapolis, Golden Valley represents the best of both suburban tranquility and urban style. This pleasant community of 20,947 features many spacious lots, winding, tree-lined streets, and gracious homes, but it is also home to several international corporations that bring an additional 30,000 people into the city each day to work (more per capita than any other metro area city).

Although Golden Valley is fully developed, its location and amenities continue to make it appealing to potential businesses and residents. The four major freeways that bisect the city provide convenient access to other parts of the Twin Cities metro area, yet fifteen percent (more than 1,000 acres) of the city's 10.5 square miles is dedicated to parks and open space, including two lakes, a creek, two golf courses, and 47 miles of recreational trails.

So Are Its People

The people of Golden Valley are a diverse, well-educated group who defy the stereotype of people who move to the suburbs to get away from urban problems. People may move here because of the proximity to Minneapolis, but most Golden Valley residents care about their community and want it to thrive and have an identity of its own. The ideas in this Vision Guide attest to that.

Hundreds of people—residents of all ages, business owners, employees of local companies, members of civic and faith organizations—earnestly contributed their ideas to Envision Golden Valley. This Vision Guide is just the beginning.

Throughout this Vision Guide, a recurring "we" voices the aspirations for Golden Valley.

Who are "we?" Hundreds of citizens who spoke in depth about our hopes for the community through the Envision process. "We" also represents the thousands of community members who have a stake in the future of Golden Valley:

• individuals and families whose personal choices and daily actions define community
• youth and schools who represent our community identity and hopes for the future
• neighborhoods, where judgments about quality of life are fine-tuned
• nonprofits, civic groups, and faith communities, where human connection and common interests
• inspire community service
• employers and small businesses that produce jobs, provide services, and create gathering places
• City staff, elected officials, and advisory boards who frequently balance the visionary and the practical,
• the local and the regional, the special interest and the greater good
• developers, builders, and realtors whose interpretation of our community aspirations create a lasting imprint
• other communities, since we are all in this together

How To Use This Guide
Golden Valley Is Unique
What's Next?
About Envision Golden Valley
Thanks