As I mentioned earlier, tonight was a meeting organized by Councilwoman Barbara Smith to encourage residents of the South End, Arbor Hill, West Hill, and Park South (i.e., people who are often underrepresented and especially people of color) to get involved with the comprehensive plan. As usual, I'll break my notes on the meeting into a few posts based on theme.
Overall, this was a very hopeful meeting. They had a great turnout—I counted in the vicinity of 50 people, about half people of color (and of the white folk most were actual residents of those neighborhoods). And while there were some familiar faces, there were a lot of folks who have not been involved much with citywide issues, and some that even the regular neighborhood activists said were new. So the basic goal of the meeting—expanding who was participating in the conversation about the comprehensive plan—was clearly met. Not that it's all over and done; this was the first step. But it's started.
Also, and I hadn't really processed this before when I passed on the meeting announcement, this was technically the first official public community information session about the comprehensive plan. It was nice symbolism not only to be really working to get these neighborhoods represented, but to actually go to them first.
So, on to the details...
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