Harrison Square
Paula and I went to the public forum on Wednesday. Unforunately we got there just before 6 and all of the seats were already filled, so we had to stand. There were 250-300 people in attendance.
The panel members started off by talking about the project and what they hope to accomplish. During this time, the facilitators were collecting written questions. When the panel members were finished, someone started reading questions.
Since we didn't have a seat, we didn't feel like standing around for the full time, which would have been 9 PM (it started at 6 PM). But we did hear a few questions and their answers. Some questions were not answered very well, but the format of the session did not allow the public to ask follow-up questions. I can understand the need to do it this way, otherwise it would go on all night. I'd prefer to have more of a discussion back-and-forth.
Paula is planning on writting a letter this weekend to send off to city council members and others involved in the project. I don't know if we'll get a personal response, but that would be nice. We both still have many questions.
It isn't that we think it will fail, or that it is a horrible idea. I think there might be better ideas out there and this baseball park seems to be the only one getting any attention. Paula questions some of their answers and numbers they're using.
For example, they compare Fort Wayne with Atlanta, since Atlanta is also trying to revitalize their downtown area. That hardly seems a fair comparison.
The panel members were asked directly, "For how many cities has a ball park downtown worked, and for how many cities has it failed?" The answer was a bit vague: they've looked at about 20 cities where it has worked, but there was no mention of how many cities failed. They did say that the ones where it didn't work out had not done things very well from the start. It would have been nice to know some exact numbers, and surely they know the exact numbers if they've been studying this project for years.
I could write a whole lot more, but I don't want to get too carried away. We'll work on a letter this weekend and maybe I can prune it down for a post here.
-- C.
The panel members started off by talking about the project and what they hope to accomplish. During this time, the facilitators were collecting written questions. When the panel members were finished, someone started reading questions.
Since we didn't have a seat, we didn't feel like standing around for the full time, which would have been 9 PM (it started at 6 PM). But we did hear a few questions and their answers. Some questions were not answered very well, but the format of the session did not allow the public to ask follow-up questions. I can understand the need to do it this way, otherwise it would go on all night. I'd prefer to have more of a discussion back-and-forth.
Paula is planning on writting a letter this weekend to send off to city council members and others involved in the project. I don't know if we'll get a personal response, but that would be nice. We both still have many questions.
It isn't that we think it will fail, or that it is a horrible idea. I think there might be better ideas out there and this baseball park seems to be the only one getting any attention. Paula questions some of their answers and numbers they're using.
For example, they compare Fort Wayne with Atlanta, since Atlanta is also trying to revitalize their downtown area. That hardly seems a fair comparison.
The panel members were asked directly, "For how many cities has a ball park downtown worked, and for how many cities has it failed?" The answer was a bit vague: they've looked at about 20 cities where it has worked, but there was no mention of how many cities failed. They did say that the ones where it didn't work out had not done things very well from the start. It would have been nice to know some exact numbers, and surely they know the exact numbers if they've been studying this project for years.
I could write a whole lot more, but I don't want to get too carried away. We'll work on a letter this weekend and maybe I can prune it down for a post here.
-- C.
posted by Cerpicio at 11:49 AM
3 Comments:
okay I'll let you handle that, then.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Well I think these new buildings are going to work out fine... as a matter of fact, I was wondering about our agreement? about me staying on one more season? And if these new buildings DO work out, I'd like to transmit my application to the academy THIS year.
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