Planners Need To Be Less Polite Sometimes

"You have to sympathize with citizens who are frustrated with government. Then again, you don’t have to be James Madison to understand how hierarchical jurisdictions work. No matter how unresponsive, oblivious, or indecisive a local official or bureaucracy might be, shouting at a state agency with zero legislative authority in a meeting about a program that serves a purely advisory function is the epitome of futility."

"Meanwhile, the timidity of the planning profession was on full display. Yes, the public must have a chance to speak, and planners must listen. But, still, there’s only so much time and so many ears. Time and again, audience members interjected with little resistance. The presenters, looking weary as can be, issued some tepid reminders about jurisdictions. Then citizens went on with their rants. One slide stayed up for over a half-hour, hovering excruciatingly above the lectern, while the discussion went this way and that."

"Any greenhorn planner in the most podunk jurisdiction knows that he needs to keep a few audience-management tricks up his sleeve. Why veterans of the state’s most important planning-related agency don’t is beyond me. Any number of trinkets — a gavel, a microphone, a conch — would have helped. Even better: stick to the agenda and that 'targeted discussion.'"