Consultants

I have been busy as of late helping two groups of consultants that are coming to town. The first, DPZ, are going to do a design charette, where they spend a week helping the community figure out what type of architecture they want to see in their country.

The second group of consultants is working on a plan about what part of the country will be redeveloped and what part will go to green space.

I have to say, it is very nice to be busy. Mostly, I have been running around gathering data and sending it off to the consultants, which is fine.

I am especially looking forward to DPZ’s work. They are one of the top firms in the nation at what they do. I think it will be pretty interesting to see how they structure their activities.

I am fairly concerned about the other group. They are going to produce a plan that says a large part of the parish is off limits to development. They will back this up with a rigorous, logical analysis. The problem is, when you tell someone they can not rebuild their homes, they don’t care about logic. They react from their gut.

I have been advocating a interactive process where we work with the public to help them understand the harsh choices that the county has to make. I argue that in decisions that are emotional and value based, you need to involve the public from the beginning. You can not present a finished product and ask people to except it. I am concerned we will meet the same fate as New Orleans, where the plan went down in flames.

Oh well.