This is an Open Thread / Coffee Hour and all topics of conversation are welcome. Today's suggested topic is the Vallejo General Plan Update - Part 2 or every one is welcome to talk about your city general Plan.
In the last weeks Street Prophets Coffee Hour I reported on two of public meetings to develop the guiding principles for the City of Vallejo General plan. See: Street Prophets Coffee Hour - Vallejo General Plan Update - Part 1. These meetings are the first of a three year process. My goal is to infuse some progressive values into the plan. A little more on the meetings and process beyond the fold.
What is for dinner? How are you doing? What is on your mind. If you are new to Street Prophets please introduce yourself in a comment. This is an Open Thread / Coffee Hour and all topics of conversation are welcome.
The City of Vallejo officially launched the Planning Initiatives Project, a community-wide planning effort, on Wednesday, March 5, beginning with a series of workshops to establish Guiding Principles for the project. This multi-year project invites residents, businesses and community groups to provide ideas on the vision and values that will help direct long-term planning decisions for Vallejo.
City Council member Robert McConnell
Above is City Council Person Robert McConnell welcoming the community to the last of four Guiding Principles Meetings. This meeting was held at the Florence Douglas Senior Center in Vallejo. The Florence Douglas Senior center provides recreational, educational and social activities, volunteer opportunities, an information and referral service, a nutrition program, and coordination of services with other agencies serving Solano, Napa and Contra Costa counties for persons 50 years of age and over.
Each of the four meetings started off by attendees filling out two cards that were put on display. One card was a statement about what we loved about Vallejo. And the other card was, the yellow ones, were about what what shared values we would like to have in the guiding principles. These cards were collected and posted on the project's website along with the principals developed in committee. Those that missed the meetings are able to post their ideas on line: See: Vallejo Open City Hall.
Meeting Introduction and Process Overview
After everyone arrived and had a chance to fill out the cards and read what everyone else posted the group assembled to hear an introduction about the whole process.
After the introductions we split up into working groups and we discussed the values we wanted to include in the guiding principals document.
My group in the picture above included a number of persons that I would consider my political opposites. Despite our differences we were able to discuss our values and our group came up a number of shared values.
At the end of the evening each group presented their list of values to the whole group.
I attended three meeting and I tried to infuse some "progressive" ideas into the mix. At one I suggested that the city should support "alternative currencies" such a Ithaca Hours. At this last meeting I spoke at length about including in the plan that we are planning for a rise in the water line due to global warming. At another meeting I suggested that we should put in the plan that the City has the right to own and administer utilities and infrastructure.
I have yet to see if any of my "liberal" ideas are going to be considered. But, I still have the opportunity to post these ideas to the projects website. Also, the process is just beginning and all the future meetings are open to the public. So, with time and persistence I expect to have some influence on the process.
What are you doing in your City to improve the quality of life for everyone?
Best,
Jonathan