a.. Anyone who's attended one (or more -- which helps to show the pattern) of the "citizen-driven planning" forums run by Penn Praxis knows they are pre-framed debates in which the conclusions are foregone and certainly known in advance by the folks running the show.
This seems to be the only type of meeting that citizens are allowed to endorse in this new order that seems to govern us! I haven't seen anything else lately except when people gather with their fists in the air. I do feel there is some value for us to tell the stories, share ideas and discussion on our populist. I agree with you that a next step is missing. When the cops gave me misinformation about a carjacking, they said they should have immediately referred me to their media unit. Our listserv and other internet forums are considered and function as media. It's a small media, but it's the place where we might expect to sometimes get honest stories and accounts. I think that is part of what infuriated the barking cheese gang when they couldn't shut up honest information here from someone like you. ( I suspect you were one of the unidentified "ranters" that was targeted to be pre-banned on the Penn list..) One tangible thing that I believe concerned citizens can start doing is to commit to always rejecting any plans that use the dog and pony shows; these "citizen driven planning forums" When people play games, placing hoped for outcomes over the process that gets there; the people always lose. I see this as the reason that "divide and conquer" works so well. Rather than being helpless, I see rejecting these dog and pony shows outright, by all of us, as the important first step. When these entities demand that dog and pony shows substitute for honest transparent information, they can not and must not be trusted! (I continue to focus on the credibility of Campus Inn and SHCA. They are protecting lies given during official testimony to a government commission. All of their additional studies, drawings, etc are completely irrelevant until they publiclly apologize and start the process over from the beginning. Period) If we could somehow band together around the principal that an honest process must be more important than some hoped for outcome, the power to divide and conquer is taken away. Here in the UC District we have hoped for some free charity to trickle down and thus accepted these dog and pony shows for several years. If we don't come to some societal agreement to focus on the propaganda, lies, and secrecy; I think everyone needs to realize that each of us will live in the shadow of a campus inn eventually. When the deceivers toss out their trash, it will drop on all of us! This Department of Recreation problem should also have us all angry about the Clark Park redesign money not ebullient that UCD is a "winner." I think we need to tell the mayor to take back that big fat check to UCD and stop being a party to dog and pony shows too. Sincerely, Glenn ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 7:47 AM Subject: Re: [UC] Pennspiracy & L & I response time to torture requests In a message dated 7/2/2008 7:43:26 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I don't believe that Nutter and Rendell have drunk the Kool Aid, I just mean that they--Penn--are all over the place and should be subject to the same scrutiny by the media as say Geno's steaks. The mayor does seem in thrall to Penn. This isn't all bad, notwithstanding past and ongoing ethical lapses which we can't really tell are institutional or individual. But, as I recall from reading "The Best and the Brightest" long enough ago so that the recall may not be so good, President Kennedy didn't do all that well by going for people with high IQs as their main credentials but who simultaneously weren't well grounded in the realities of everyday life. Think of Robert MacNamara and the Vietnam war. MacNamara was no Cheney, but -- whatever either of their motives -- the result was a disaster. Also, I fear that Nutter is not being as free from the distortion of personal feelings as he could or should be (or, perhaps, thinks he is). All this hooey about Penn Praxis -- an objective look at the Delaware Riverfront (the mayor's speech as reproduced in yesterday's University City Review) and it's having run "an open, transparent, legitimate citizen-driven planning process" ... a.. As was pointed out by a representative of one of the casinos in the Inquirer a few days ago, Penn Praxis has already come out against the casinos that Harris Steinberg characterizes ad "the windowless boxes" -- so penn Praxis is hardly "objective." b.. Anyone who's attended one (or more -- which helps to show the pattern) of the "citizen-driven planning" forums run by Penn Praxis knows they are pre-framed debates in which the conclusions are foregone and certainly known in advance by the folks running the show. Of course, we can talk to each other about this ad infinitum and achieve the usual nothing. How do we get, as Joe would have it, the media to subject these sorts of things to some scrutiny? Can we look to the Inquirer (or DN), considering that former editor and still big voice, Chris Satullo, has been part and party to many of the Penn Praxis "citizen-driven planning" forums? a.. Fox News b.. The University City Review, The Weekly Press c.. The Public Record d.. The University City Trumpet e.. The (new and struggling) Philadelphia Bulletin f.. The Philadelphia Tribune g.. The DP h.. A demonstration i.. A press conference j.. Nailing (or masking-taping) those theses onto the doors of City Hall Remember, you read it first here, on the popu-list, Al Krigman ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient used cars. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.4.4/1530 - Release Date: 7/2/2008 8:05 AM
