Comments on: be part of ‘one bay’ http://sticksoffire.com/2008/05/29/be-part-of-one-bay/ A very loose interpretation of the news and happenings in and around Tampa Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:40:43 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: GKR http://sticksoffire.com/2008/05/29/be-part-of-one-bay/comment-page-1/#comment-211830 GKR Fri, 30 May 2008 16:35:15 +0000 http://www.tampais.com/2008/05/29/be-part-of-one-bay/#comment-211830 As opposed to the antiquated and tired "developer-led" direction of One Bay, the latest in smart growth and sustainable planning is "planner-led". This means that instead of the land development industry taking the lead and limiting the pesky voice of the citizenry to reach it's pre-determined sprawl goal, the county would hire the best multi-displinary planning team it can afford to create a true citizen vision with corresponding design guidelines (a new code). I am not talking about county planning staff, I'm talking about cutting edge private planning firms like Duany Plater-Zyberk, Torti Gallas, or Dover Kohl who know how to conduct a REAL public planning charrette (workshop). No, such a firm would not be cheap, and they do not use Legos, but they'd be a great investment in the future quality of life of our county. Until this unbiased, third party, expert team is retained, we will not see the true collective citizen vision of future Hillsborough County. Currently, all we're seeing is a con being passed off as "democracy in action" which just happens to mirror what the local sprawl industry desires. As opposed to the antiquated and tired “developer-led” direction of One Bay, the latest in smart growth and sustainable planning is “planner-led”.

This means that instead of the land development industry taking the lead and limiting the pesky voice of the citizenry to reach it’s pre-determined sprawl goal, the county would hire the best multi-displinary planning team it can afford to create a true citizen vision with corresponding design guidelines (a new code). I am not talking about county planning staff, I’m talking about cutting edge private planning firms like Duany Plater-Zyberk, Torti Gallas, or Dover Kohl who know how to conduct a REAL public planning charrette (workshop). No, such a firm would not be cheap, and they do not use Legos, but they’d be a great investment in the future quality of life of our county.

Until this unbiased, third party, expert team is retained, we will not see the true collective citizen vision of future Hillsborough County.

Currently, all we’re seeing is a con being passed off as “democracy in action” which just happens to mirror what the local sprawl industry desires.

]]> By: George-UCAN Member http://sticksoffire.com/2008/05/29/be-part-of-one-bay/comment-page-1/#comment-211532 George-UCAN Member Fri, 30 May 2008 03:20:17 +0000 http://www.tampais.com/2008/05/29/be-part-of-one-bay/#comment-211532 The One Bay effort is a conglomerate of business interests and a heavy contingent of the home building industry trying to plan our future in a way that will maximize their profit margin. And they're going to do it all without giving real citizens any control or oversight over the finished product. They want citizens to participate, but only in a passive way. The way this effort has been set up is truly self serving. They have created 4 theoretical models which are grossly oversimplified and are designed to steer people to choose the most obvious one or possibly 2 "desired" scenarios. In order for the outcome to be meaningful they would have to totally revise this effort from the ground up. Are they willing to do that? I seriously doubt it. Since this effort is primarily funded from private sources, they will play the game their way. Instead of playing the game their way hoping to get a slightly better outcome from a tainted, self serving process, I would rather see citizens aggressively go after their county leaders to not accept the One Bay product because it is so flawed. They should demand that their elected leaders do what they were elected to do and create a vision, instead of letting monied interests do it for them. Remember, if you join in the One Bay game you will have a hard time later saying you don't like the finished product. Instead, you will be giving it your endorsement by default. And many of the local county leaders are looking for One Bay to be successful in this effort so that they can adopt whatever plan One Bay offers. We want to be in control of our own destiny and One Bay is not the way to accomplish that. We need to band together and demand more from our respective local governments. If the One Bay turnout is poor and concerned citizens turn up the heat on their local elected officials not to accept the flawed One Bay plan, we might end up with something that has average citizens' interests at the forefront. The One Bay effort is a conglomerate of business interests and a heavy contingent of the home building industry trying to plan our future in a way that will maximize their profit margin. And they’re going to do it all without giving real citizens any control or oversight over the finished product. They want citizens to participate, but only in a passive way. The way this effort has been set up is truly self serving. They have created 4 theoretical models which are grossly oversimplified and are designed to steer people to choose the most obvious one or possibly 2 “desired” scenarios. In order for the outcome to be meaningful they would have to totally revise this effort from the ground up. Are they willing to do that? I seriously doubt it. Since this effort is primarily funded from private sources, they will play the game their way.

Instead of playing the game their way hoping to get a slightly better outcome from a tainted, self serving process, I would rather see citizens aggressively go after their county leaders to not accept the One Bay product because it is so flawed. They should demand that their elected leaders do what they were elected to do and create a vision, instead of letting monied interests do it for them.

Remember, if you join in the One Bay game you will have a hard time later saying you don’t like the finished product. Instead, you will be giving it your endorsement by default. And many of the local county leaders are looking for One Bay to be successful in this effort so that they can adopt whatever plan One Bay offers. We want to be in control of our own destiny and One Bay is not the way to accomplish that. We need to band together and demand more from our respective local governments. If the One Bay turnout is poor and concerned citizens turn up the heat on their local elected officials not to accept the flawed One Bay plan, we might end up with something that has average citizens’ interests at the forefront.

]]> By: Kelly http://sticksoffire.com/2008/05/29/be-part-of-one-bay/comment-page-1/#comment-211350 Kelly Thu, 29 May 2008 19:08:55 +0000 http://www.tampais.com/2008/05/29/be-part-of-one-bay/#comment-211350 Maybe they should call it ONE DAY because that is all the time they took collecting the data! Why should we be burdened even talking to them? I think we need to hold our elected officials accountable for our land use and transportation decisions and ask that they not hand over these decisions to private interests such as the Partnership.......ooops I mean One BAY. The developers already control our county and now they are asking for the official blessing to do it? Only in Hillsborough..........or judging by their Sprawl.......maybe Orlando. Maybe they should call it ONE DAY because that is all the time they took collecting the data! Why should we be burdened even talking to them? I think we need to hold our elected officials accountable for our land use and transportation decisions and ask that they not hand over these decisions to private interests such as the Partnership…….ooops I mean One BAY. The developers already control our county and now they are asking for the official blessing to do it? Only in Hillsborough……….or judging by their Sprawl…….maybe Orlando.

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