Finished!

You mean there are people actlaluy living in the Revitalization Zone!? At least ten worst things in two meetings a record?Urban renewal is new territory for our remote prairie city , so planners were perhaps over-enthusiastic at the prospect of actlaluy planning such an area in contrast to their usual fare of drafting numerically-detailed prescriptive ordinance, jealously evaluating developer-designed neighborhoods, or evaluating requests for yet another variance for snout-garage heights all from the safety of cubicles At the required public meeting, city representatives characterized the area as fertile ground , an empty palette , allowing a unique opportunity for creative design not usually possible in mature cities apparently neglecting to notice the large number of actual residents from the neighborhood present (including a contingent of transient and homeless folks). Understandably, this raised objections: that far from being an empty palette , real people actlaluy lived and worked there, and enjoyed a community sociology that many sterile suburban developments did not. And then the obvious question: had any of the planners actlaluy walked the scary area? As the lineup to speak to this matter grew, the moderator closed discussion with the suggestion that they’d got the message, and people could fill out comments in the handy sheets provided or, in the alternative, could use the city’s web form. More audience groans the area is a landing place for Aboriginals and new immigrants, many not comfortable in English, and few having Internet access. Shouts of Let them eat cake . With the Press present, it was theatre.And not the end of the matter; at the followup meeting planners boasted they had now walked the neighborhood (a novel alternative to planning from maps and airphotos?), and that every attempt would be made to accommodate those displaced with off-site social housing. No discussion of social disruption, nor that the estimated numbers were based on primary occupant data, arguably half the actual community residents.Too many blunders to count an exercise left to readers.