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February 6, 2006
Making the Case for Planning
I had the opportunity to attend the MPAC Mayor's Forum last Friday. The event was the first public review of a new study by Davis/Hibbitts on attitudes toward regional planning. You may have seen some of this quoted in the Oregonian on Friday.
I'm trying to get a hold of the PowerPoint file, as there are some great questions on transportation with some important insights. But meanwhile, here a key learning we need to absorb for making the case for good regional planning.
Appeal to their pocketbooks, not just their values.
While the poll clearly affirmed that citizens support planning to protect our quality of life (83%), a strong 76% also agreed that "Land use planning helps protect the value of my home."
Similarly, when asked about farm and forestland, the responses lined up like this:
76% lean toward preserving farm and forestland for their value to the economy, versus 18% that lean toward opening up these lands to business expansion.
So lets keep keep in mind that planning tastes great AND it's less filling.
Posted by Chris Smith at 6:22 AM
Comments
February 6, 2006 9:09 AM
paul g. Says:
Chris,
Thanks for the balanced post. I'd be interested in seeing the Powerpoint or marginals also, and would be happy to send you my reactions.
It's not surprising for the public to aspire to seemingly contradictory goals. It's not that the public is stupid, they are just ambivalent, cross-pressured, and sometimes uncertain.
February 6, 2006 5:48 PM
Garlynn Says:
Here's a broad-brush thought: The Portland metropolitan area is slightly larger than classical Rome was during the age of empire (~200 B.C.E. - 400 A.C.E.), when that city was somewhat over a million people in size, but controlled an empire stretching from Britain to North Africa with about 50 million subjects within its borders.
Keeping that in mind... that Portland is, judged as a stand-alone city within the larger context of world history, quite an impressive achievement of human urban civilization... what can be done to maintain and improve the quality of urban life, to succeed where Rome failed in providing the benefits of society equally to all of its citizens?
And how can sound urban planning contribute to the accomplishment of these goals?
cheers,
~Garlynn
