The Art of Public Meetings, Part II

So meetings are not one-way streets. There are facilitators and there are participants. As I wrote about with the AIA Sustainable Design process in August, I find myself a little conflicted at many of these public meetings. I am a die-hard believer in the importance of public process, but then I also frequently find myself wanting to shake people and say "Stay on topic!" or "Didn't you listen to what the man just said?"

I'm trying to balance this tendency with a growing suspicion that if you want people who are not meeting junkies to participate in a given public process, the first step has to be letting them have a chance to vent about whatever's on their minds before you can nail them down to focused contributions to solutions. In that light, that's what tonight was for many people, I think.

There were a lot of personal pet peeves (like the tangent of people complaining about historic codes that won't let them paint their house the color they want or how there are too many bars on South Pearl) and general storytelling about how the neighborhoods used to be and how it's all gone downhill.

Much as at the beginning of the SDAT charettes, there was also a lot of concern about the comprehensive plan process not duplicating all the neighborhood planning that's been happening. Doug answered that quite well by saying that they would be drawing together the existing plans and looking at how they relate to each other and how the city relates to its larger region. A comp plan, he noted, should be, among other things, a single document that can sit on the podium at every planning board and zoning board meeting, making sure that all decisions are being guided by a single vision for the city. (Archie Goodbee, in a characteristically brief appearance, compared the need from a comp plan to a business with many branches needing a guiding vision for its presence in a region.)

It's a good answer. It will be, of course, harder to answer the people, especially those who've been part of the recent South End planning, who are complaining about general meeting burnout. I'm not sure there's a good way around that, except to draw in new blood.

In amongst all this, though, there were also some clear planning themes emerging that could definitely carry into a comprehensive planning process: vacant buildings/lots; infrastructure, especially failing water and sewer; local hiring for public works; and getting useful retail into underserved neighborhoods. The people in that room had some very detailed knowledge of how the water/sewer problems and vacant buildings and codes issues were playing out in their neighborhoods.

Given that, I wish again that these folks had been part of the SDAT process. Not only would they have contributed a lot to the discussion, but they would have been, I think, heartened to hear the very concrete, achievable  suggestions about changes to the handling of vacant and abandoned properties in particular that the SDAT team suggested and that the city is looking into trying to implement. I did wish that some of that had been brought out in response to some of the comments.

In general, I think that one key to getting folks like those who came tonight involved long term in this  planning process may be being able to show some concrete action on issues they care about so they don't feel like they're treading water. In fact, that wouldn't hurt for any us, of course.

One of the women at the meeting said to me afterwards that while the overall tone may not have been quite what the organizers had been hoping for, she thought it was a good and hopeful meeting and that when people were given a chance to get into the meat of the issues, they would. That could be pretty neat, I think.

Comments

[trh]

Evidently, there is a literature on how to do successful charettes -

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007383.html

[Dave]

Here's a brief report I sent to the SUNY grad students:

"I attended the Comprehensive Plan Community Meeting last night at the Albany Housing Authority. I thought I would report back what I gathered from attending. The purpose of the meeting

"There was a guy there, I believe a city planner, who gave a brief presentation of what the comprehensive plan process was supposed to accomplish and what the process looked like. Barbara Smith, councilwoman from Arbor Hill, was also there as a resource. She is who put together this meeting.

"A brief recap of what was said: A number of people spoke about the fact that Albany has had numerous plans before, such as the Recapitalize Albany plan, and all the various neighborhood plans. One woman spoke about the defects in the affordable housing the AHA has built with respect to water drainage. Another woman spoke about the difficulty in maintaining her house when historic preservation ordinances are applied to her house, but she is not given funding to adhere to those ordinance requirements, and that those requirements are too strict. One man talked about the excessive amount of bars downtown, and he thought that wasn't downtown economic development. I mentioned the need for the plan to include youth centers where young folks can organize their own stuff, and how the shows at the church on lark street were shut down by some rude and mean-spirited people. I also mentioned how many of the problems people were identifying stemmed from the Mayor's office and the fact that we in Albany have a "strong-arm mayor" kind of government. It would certainly help the cause of planning to have a weakened mayor's office.

"I also mentioned the University and the planning department. I said there were many students perspiring with anticipation at the chance to help an Albany Comprehensive Plan effort. The planning guy said that there was an effort being made and that there would be volunteer opportunities and internships.

"There were many complaints about the quality of people moving into some neighborhoods, particularly Arbor Hill, but also a few others. There was a comment about what happened during the building of Empire State Plaza, when 15,000 people were pushed out of downtown to Arbor Hill and other neighborhoods; traumatized renewal refugees, if you will. Many complaints about the affordable housing situation, and a discussion about the relationship of Albany to its surrounding communities.

"At 8pm, the meeting wrapped up. "