The city of Santa Rosa, California (Sonoma County area) has announced that there will be a Neighborhood Summit in August 2010. A planning meeting was convened, chaired by Tanya Narath, executive director of the Leadership Institute of Ecology and the Economy and a member of the Community Advisory Board. The LIEE is the source group for the 'green' members of the city council, a political incubator, and espouses the virtues of smart growth, form-based zoning, visioning, redevelopment, transit-oriented development, high density development, UN Agenda 21 et al.
I attended the first meeting of the 'summit' planning group. It appears to be a 'farming' operation to create city-sponsored neighborhood associations in areas that don't have them. The presumed purpose of that is to then have them join the neighborhood alliance and manufacture consensus with city plans. I'm sure they'll identify 'troublemakers' and sideline them since this is the manner in which the 'visioning meetings' are conducted.
Artificial neighborhood associations to use when public buy-in is needed. Anyone not in the official association will be ignored, slimed, and lied about if they bring up any issues not officially sanctioned.
The 'summit' is tentatively planned to be on two days, the first being an evening lecture by someone who is a Seattle expert, so called by organizers, in creating neighborhood associations. The next day will be two sessions on making a neighborhood association. No need for a planning session, it was already planned before the actual neighbors were brought in. They'll get to decide what food will be served. Tables or booths will be provided for city sanctioned groups, like mine ; >
I don't suppose it will matter if anyone shows up for this since it's just window dressing. There were only about 10 unconnected neighborhood people in attendance. There didn't appear to be much enthusiasm and there was confusion among the actual real people there about what it was all about.
I attended the first meeting of the 'summit' planning group. It appears to be a 'farming' operation to create city-sponsored neighborhood associations in areas that don't have them. The presumed purpose of that is to then have them join the neighborhood alliance and manufacture consensus with city plans. I'm sure they'll identify 'troublemakers' and sideline them since this is the manner in which the 'visioning meetings' are conducted.
Artificial neighborhood associations to use when public buy-in is needed. Anyone not in the official association will be ignored, slimed, and lied about if they bring up any issues not officially sanctioned.
The 'summit' is tentatively planned to be on two days, the first being an evening lecture by someone who is a Seattle expert, so called by organizers, in creating neighborhood associations. The next day will be two sessions on making a neighborhood association. No need for a planning session, it was already planned before the actual neighbors were brought in. They'll get to decide what food will be served. Tables or booths will be provided for city sanctioned groups, like mine ; >
I don't suppose it will matter if anyone shows up for this since it's just window dressing. There were only about 10 unconnected neighborhood people in attendance. There didn't appear to be much enthusiasm and there was confusion among the actual real people there about what it was all about.
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