Post in I am a citizen not a consumer

Aug 03 03:36 UTC

James Gilmour wrote:
>
> The park planning example illustrates some coherent policies.  But
> what about when the city council (local government) decides to
> rezone a "redundant" school playing field for much needed local
> housing?  Then there will less green space in the city, fewer places
> for organised sport, fewer places for local children to play, and
> with what overall consequences?  An example of incoherent policies
> perhaps, but what about the priority need for more housing?

I guess this is a second type of problem.  Let's say we've already
"lived through" the first problem.  To recap, we promoted ourselves
from passive consumers of park services to active "park citizens".  We
used the electoral medium to vote up our local plans, and to run our
communication and power lines into City Hall.  Soon our neighbourhoods
were all healthily competing with each other, striving to develop the
best parks, and learning from each other's efforts.  Then we ran into
this problem:

Conflict of Particular over General

We were blindly pursuing our own local plans, with no thought for a
coherent policy across the city.  The bureaucracy was becoming
confused by our conflicting demands.  To solve this problem, we
extended our decision-making responsibility to cover the whole Parks
Policy.  We began voting up alternative policies until we attained a
rough consensus across the entire city.  This left the central
planning bureaucracy with the purely technical task of reading plans
in the light of policy - the particular by the general - acting on
those plans that were in compliance, and striking down any others.  By
that simple trick, as though by magic, our planning had become at once
competitive and cooperative, diverse and aiming at common goals.

Conflict of General over Particular

Now we have the opposite problem.  In response to a general need for
affordable housing, consensus is forming on a large-scale development
project to alleviate the shortage.  But there's a stickler.  The
project depends on the rezoning of green space in several
neighbourhoods.  These neighbourhoods are going to lose a few parks.
Consequently, as the popularity of the project grows across the city,
resentment is mounting in the affected wards.  The Councillors are
becoming alarmed.  They meet with the Mayor to express their concern.
If the housing project hits the floor of Council, they'll all be
paying a high price at the polls.  The Mayor agrees.  She needs the
support of these Councillors, and she does not want to be caught in
any crossfire, herself.

A few days later, the Mayor brings up the subject in her regular news
conference.  She highlights the positive contributions of both sides
in the looming dispute: the project planners have shown initiative in
working to resolve the housing shortage; the local residents have
shown dedication in caring for their park facilities.  The City
planning departments are striving to keep up with these initiatives.
Sometimes they need guidance from the wider public, and an area of
particular concern at the moment is the approval of development
projects where green space is at stake.  Planning coordinators
currently lack rules to follow in these situations.  What balance of
parkland is desired in the city?  How are rezoning conflicts to be
resolved when parks and recreation facilities are involved?

Then the Chief Planning Coordinator speaks.  He explains that the
current set of zoning guidelines is out of date and needs to be
revised.  The planning office will not attempt its own revision at
this time.  Instead, the Mayor hopes to see new ideas from the public,
and preferably a rough consensus on a new set of guidelines.  In the
meantime, the office is temporarilly suspending the approval process
for any development projects that affect green space.

The next morning, as always, the Mayor reviews the latest election
results.  She looks first at her standing across the city, then at
each of the wards affected by the housing project.  It's still too
early to judge, but it looks like she's gaining in the wards...