What's the "big idea"?

"I can't help but think that workshops at Irish pubs about creating rivers that will need to flow uphill are just intentional diversions so that the homefolk don't notice the developers down the street in the Cardinal Club cooking up the meat and potatoes of the comprehensive plan."

-- Lunsford Lane, April 30, 2008, in response to No panaceas

Comments

[Jason Sullivan]

I can't help but suspect that a lot of folks who weren't actually there seem to be criticizing it.

Never attribute to malice what could easily be explained by stupidity. Heck, the council-gal Lane loves to hate was there (which actually got me a little hived-up myself).

Remember that this was targeted at the year 2030, after all. The small, actually useful, ideas could start now. Snarky blogsters seem to be focusing on the cheap targets (surprise!) like riverwalks and mythical monorails, and ignoring the genuine good ideas (safe pedestrian/bike crossings of Capital Blvd. to bring downtown and Five points "closer", open that courtyard North of the legislative building to more events) that came out of this.

And yes, it is kinda awkward to be thinking riverwalks when we can't even seem to keep a music venue open downtown, but harshing my buzz when I try and participate doesn't even enter the realm of helpful.

[LL]

Jason:

I do appreciate your ability to discriminate between malice and stupidity. But blogsters and news reporters are focusing on what this event was billed as, not cheap targets. I was emailed the press announcement (someone at the city is delusional enough to consider my blog part of the virtual media?). It said: Big Ideas Planning Week - You want a river downtown? Tell us. An arena surrounded by walkable retail? Tell us. A zip line between the Two Hannover Tower and Wachovia Capital Center? Tell us.

Calling us out for reporting/commenting on that is snarky at best, supercilious at worst. If you knew that this workshop was supposed to focus on genuine good ideas, then you knew more than we did. If you didn’t, but went anyway and convinced the city planners to focus on what really matters, then my hat is off to you. The anonymous person that writes this blog has it right - he/she knows more than the average bear about planning if he/she can quote from City Comforts and elicit a response from its author.

You drink the electric koolaid, you’re gonna get a buzz. Laugh at all us little thinkers if it makes your trip trippier, but you are hallucinating if you don’t think this comprehensive plan update is being written by and for the development industry. I WANT you to participate, but I also want your voice to count, and right now it doesn’t.

I don’t get out as much as I did when I was much younger, but I do appreciate a good music show, whether it’s at the Lincoln or the Pourhouse. These don’t count as music venues downtown? What I miss are the music venues out of downtown (this City is after all much more than just a downtown) – Hideaway BBQ is quickly fading into distant memory.

And I gotta say, if our professional city planners need citizen “big thinkers” to tell them that we need safe walkway and bikeway crossing on our major thoroughfares, then we are in much deeper doodee than I ever suspected.

LL

[AVOTC]

We applaud Mr. Sullivan's participation in public dialogue about the future of the city. We acknowledge there's no buzz like the buzz from a good community visioning workshop. At the same time, we long for the day when the city's leaders can be counted on to honor the good-faith contributions of the citizens.

[Jason Sullivan]

In terms of downtown music, I was specifically bemoaning the demise of the Downtown Events Center, which complicated my weekend plans a little. No slight against the Lincoln and Pour House, both of which I've happily availed myself of. I never got to the Hideaway, regrettably (which is a shame, because I heard the Gourds were a blast).

I'm sorry if I ruffled feathers by calling you out on not attending; y'all certainly have the right to comment solely on the pamphlet. That part didn't come across clearly to me in either AVOTC or BTB, however, and we can have a separate discussion about blogging vs. journalism if you like (and there's no slight intended there , I consume both just fine), but mainly I wanted to say "Hey, it wasn't like that at the actual meeting. Why are you saying otherwise?" I could have been nicer about that, because I am a regular and enthusiastic reader of both blogs.

Back to the content of the meeting, what you're implying is (at least from my perspective) exactly what happened. The ideas seemed to be overwhelmingly small ones (the question "Why does it take two hours by bus from the Airport to downtown?" being a particularly telling one). My take-away feeling was that folks didn't ask for what other cities wouldn't have in 2030, but what other cities did have right now.

As for the best places to spend my time trying to make the city better for everyone; Hell, I'm still trying to figure that out myself. I _do_ think that big money has the city in grip that's going to be hard to pry away (my eyes may be dilated, but that part of the image is clear), so really I'm looking for anywhere I can stick a lever (which explains my optimism about the meeting despite the dorky pamphlet). I'm lucky to have a councilman that usually gets it right (Crowder), but that doesn't mean I can relax.

[ncwebguy]

I'll inform the Longbranch, the Brewery, and Volume 11 that they don't exist, since the only live music venue to exist ouside of downtown was Hideaway. Not Boo's Hideaway on Hillsborough, but the one with the mediocre barbecue on Capital.

While I'm at it, I'll tell gotriangle.org that their 1 hour, seven minute trip from downtown Raleigh to RDU Airport is a lie, since someone at a meeting asked why the trip takes 2 hours at a meeting.

And I'll tell the city's planning department that their ongoing series of meetings to get public input on their 2030 plan was useless due to the fact that some people got together at Tir Na Nog.