To kick-off the rebuilding of Lake Street "planning" process, Hennepin County and the Smith Parker public relations law firm created a Lake Street PAC. The PAC, in an idealized version, is ostensibly to create plans for Lake Street based on neighborhood goals, resident dreams, business owner needs, etc.
Doesn't that sound great? Residents can select their own future - isn't that what is implied? Many voices are calling for fewer lanes, larger sidewalks, and other pedestrian-oriented amentities to support a livable and shop-able Lake Street. Because the "public input" process created by Hennepin county and the Smith Parker law firm didn't include opportunities for residents to be included in a visioning process, meetings were held in Spanish and English to obtain resident and business visioning ideas for the street, sponsored by Karen Clark, Robert Lilligren, and Gary Schiff. At the meeting, Gary Schiff (thankfully) drew attention to the sad detail that the state money is tied to increasing capacity on Lake Street. Without state money, there is no project. Hence, the elaborate "input" process created by Hennepin County and the Smith Parker public relations law firm is so misleading that it may constitute an outright lie. Why are residents led to believe that their ideas matter, when the only ideas that REALLY matter are the ones that increase capacity?? If you put the Lake Street project into the context of increasing capacity, I think many people would simply decline it alltogether. Instead, it seems there is a strategy - not unlike with the Access Project - to let residents say their piece, then gradually eliminate all resident ideas for "technical" reasons, making it seem that the PAC has selected the otherwise unacceptable expansion of Lake Street capacity. This approach may "get things done", but it shouldn't be construed as a community input process, and I hope Peter McLaughlin won't accept it as such. There are consequences. The Access Project PAC, with their acceptance of infrastructure to accomodate additional lanes, has now ensured that the additional lanes will be built; MNDoT's plan is to accelerate the 2015 timeline - insiders say the acceleration is to have the construction of additional lanes coincide with the construction of the Excess Project. So, to Dave Jensen and all others who dismissed such concerns as "conspiracy theories", I am now (sadly) saying "I told you so". David Piehl Central __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
