public participation
I would label last night’s meeting generally
successful, but reflecting back on what I observed and participated in. Before
I get into my reactions, a quick few notes on what actually happened. The
meeting took place entirely in small groups. As noted above, I participated in
the transportation group. The official title of the theme is:
Getting
Around: Transportation:
(transportation of all forms, regional assets, partnerships, potential for
shared success)
All of the groups basically followed the same
format, kicking off with an introduction by the group go-chairs and then moving
into the meat of the discussion, which was supposed to touch on four different
questions, all with a tilt toward the particular theme’s interest area.
You may have seen my earlier post that described what
theme groups are actually are and what they'll be doing. Tonight, theory
will become reality with the first of the four theme group working sessions at
Ephesus Elementary School. Here's what on the agenda:
- Review the process
- Clarify the roles and responsibilities
of all members and leaders of the group
- Identify the components for the
theme based on the community data collected at previous meetings
- Identify
areas in common with other
themes
- Identify resources for the group,
both in terms of staff and data
- Have discussion of decisions in
the theme group
So at this point there’s been much discussion as to what a theme
is, who will make up a theme working group, what these working group will do
and how they will do it. The town has answered these questions in series of
blog on the 2020 Buzz site, but
there’s a good deal of information to wade through, so I’ve tried to succinctly
summarize them below in a Q&A format:
What is a theme? The town calls the themes the building blocks of the plan.
They’re not necessarily value-laden; instead they’re areas that the plan will
focus on. Currently there are six themes. You can find a list of the current
themes here.
Tonight residents from
across Chapel Hill gathered for the second stakeholder meeting as part of
Chapel Hill 2020 planning process. I’m going to structure this post, the same
as I did for last one, first I’ll report what happened chronologically and
then give my feedback/thoughts.
Tonight makes the second stakeholder meeting in the Chapel Hill
2020 comprehensive urban planning process. If you’ve been following the 2020 Buzz blog that I posted about a
few days ago (Get
the Buzz on Chapel Hill 2020), you’ve probably already seen that some
themes and vision statements have been posted. I like what the facilitator and
planning staff have come up with and think it’s a great jumping off point, but
from the perspective of my group’s discussions at the first meeting I think a
lot has been left off.
The main thing I think is missing is coverage of the social
aspects of Chapel Hill. My thinking on this was sparked mostly from what my
small group talked about the first meeting. We spent a lot of time talking
about making Chapel Hill a community that supports youth (ages 0-25) and that
has a servant mindset. We also spent a good deal of time talking about Chapel
Hill as it fits into the larger regional context. I can see how these topics
might fit into the themes listed, but I think they deserve more specific
treatment.
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