Actually, Jim, any planning process is biased towards those for whom planning has some psychic reward. Many people are poor PARTLY because they have such trouble getting any psychic reward from the components of the planning process. But what is society to DO about that? I can't imagine how it can be remedied. If a person doesnt respond to bad experience by reflecting on it and what options are available, they are doomed to relive history. Even smart people, when their egoes get too involved, are guilty of this (consider our current foreign policy).
Maybe what NRP needs is an explicit rewriting of its charter to make involvement a DESIRABLE secondary goal, but to make verifiable renewal of the city the only crucial goal. We're not dealing with multiple options here. Either citizens plan or government plans. The question is whether its better if ONLY government plans, not whether its better for all citizens to plan or only some. If NRP opens the planning process to at least the interested citizens, it is a success. Because, bottom line, the interested are always the ones who show up. If there are some who cannot show up, they should be given an address somewhere to write, and all NRP committees should get a summary of their comments. With that input, perhaps the committees can reschedule for greater involvement. Or, at least, consider the written input of the absent neighbors. And for that they could be help accountable. But if a person has such an address, and DOESNT write, then they just don't care. -------------- Jim Mork--Cooper "War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our Country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out." Gen. William T. Sherman (1864) Letter to the Mayor of Atlanta. Get your free Web-based E-mail at http://www.startribune.com/stribmail _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
