Neighborhood planning process
Neighborhood planning process
John Watts has posted thousands of words the past couple days about the neighborhood planning processes. I disagree with his analysis based on my four years of intense experience updating our Happy Va
John Watts has posted thousands of words the past couple days about the neighborhood planning processes. I disagree with his analysis based on my four years of intense experience updating our Happy Valley plan plus over 30 years paying attention to our city planning processes. To rebut all his statements would take me thousands of words. Instead, here are some thoughts to keep in mind when you read his posts.
- Neighborhood planning process was in place in the 1990s and going forward. But Happy Valley residents managed to get the plan they wanted and not what the city planning department wanted them to have. Immediately, all neighborhood planning stopped for five years. And during those years, many planning options that the neighborhoods had were actually taken away and made city wide. Thus Watts statement that the city has given "... renewed emphasis on its neighborhoods." is not supported by the actions of the city council these past five years. The city has stripped the neighborhoods of planning powers.
- If neighborhoods are so important, then why has no neighborhood planning has taken place for over 5 years. None - until last November when city planning urged - indeed begged and pushed - 18 of our 22 neighborhoods to file papers for updating their plans. Zero for five years; 18 in one year. That is not a process. That is chaos. Why? Until the new rules were in effect, the city was afraid of updates because the neighborhood residents would control the process rather than the city planning department. The truth is, the old rules gave the neighbors much more power over their neighborhood plans.
- The council voted in a new comprehensive plan a couple years ago that outlined the new planning process and they voted in new rules. But the discussion and hearings on that comprehensive plan were a charade. Anyone care to recall? Those meetings were noticed as 'educational meetings' to help us learn what we needed to do for a new comprehensive plan. I directly challenged Barbara Ryan on this question at a public meeting and she insisted it was only educational. Many of us who were watching the process suspected it was going to be later cited as the public planning process - and not an educational process. Terry Bornemann also said it was merely educational. And so did the city planners. It was not the truth. We were tricked.
So - three things. The neighborhoods have been stripped of many options they had in the 1990s planning process; there have been 5 years of no neighborhood updates and now there is a confused mess of 18 updates; and the comprehensive plan under which the new rules rest was a trick on the citizens. Don't buy that? Go check the record. And you might read my post of Sunday, Oct 7 for further info and opinion on the city planning.
You know that frog-in-hot-water saying? How to boil one? Well it is false. A frog will at some point crawl out of a pan of water with a slowly rising temperature. But it seems that it does work with people. Change things slowly and people do not notice and will even claim nothing changed. Or think things are better because the water is warmer.
- Neighborhood planning process was in place in the 1990s and going forward. But Happy Valley residents managed to get the plan they wanted and not what the city planning department wanted them to have. Immediately, all neighborhood planning stopped for five years. And during those years, many planning options that the neighborhoods had were actually taken away and made city wide. Thus Watts statement that the city has given "... renewed emphasis on its neighborhoods." is not supported by the actions of the city council these past five years. The city has stripped the neighborhoods of planning powers.
- If neighborhoods are so important, then why has no neighborhood planning has taken place for over 5 years. None - until last November when city planning urged - indeed begged and pushed - 18 of our 22 neighborhoods to file papers for updating their plans. Zero for five years; 18 in one year. That is not a process. That is chaos. Why? Until the new rules were in effect, the city was afraid of updates because the neighborhood residents would control the process rather than the city planning department. The truth is, the old rules gave the neighbors much more power over their neighborhood plans.
- The council voted in a new comprehensive plan a couple years ago that outlined the new planning process and they voted in new rules. But the discussion and hearings on that comprehensive plan were a charade. Anyone care to recall? Those meetings were noticed as 'educational meetings' to help us learn what we needed to do for a new comprehensive plan. I directly challenged Barbara Ryan on this question at a public meeting and she insisted it was only educational. Many of us who were watching the process suspected it was going to be later cited as the public planning process - and not an educational process. Terry Bornemann also said it was merely educational. And so did the city planners. It was not the truth. We were tricked.
So - three things. The neighborhoods have been stripped of many options they had in the 1990s planning process; there have been 5 years of no neighborhood updates and now there is a confused mess of 18 updates; and the comprehensive plan under which the new rules rest was a trick on the citizens. Don't buy that? Go check the record. And you might read my post of Sunday, Oct 7 for further info and opinion on the city planning.
You know that frog-in-hot-water saying? How to boil one? Well it is false. A frog will at some point crawl out of a pan of water with a slowly rising temperature. But it seems that it does work with people. Change things slowly and people do not notice and will even claim nothing changed. Or think things are better because the water is warmer.
