tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post12668989471253906..comments2024-03-25T17:49:41.408-07:00Comments on Salem Breakfast on Bikes: Two Interpretive Questions: Goal 1 for Part or Whole? What does Implement Mean?Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-72921569017347252332017-05-09T07:59:32.489-07:002017-05-09T07:59:32.489-07:00Updated with what seems to be the actual definitio...Updated with what seems to be the <i>actual</i> definition of "implement"!Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-19166034073934540942016-10-19T11:31:24.588-07:002016-10-19T11:31:24.588-07:00nI have found that over the years the City has don...nI have found that over the years the City has done less and less to inform the public. Examples are the dropping of 5 Community staff who used to work with Neighborhood Associations; moving NA out of the Planning Department; reducing the time between notification about any issue to the minimum required by law; reducing the notification area to the minimum required by law; not providing documents in full, but just referring people to a website or go to the Library and see a copy (not checking them out or printed copies); making the public pay for materials; and not producing "focus issues" or documents that explain complex issues and give information on how to follow the issue through the process. These are just a few of the things we have lost since I started to get involved back in the late 1980's. They also give less support to NA by not providing meeting space for NA and no longer offer training conferences on citizen engagement.<br /><br />So, we can complain, or we can encourage citizens or groups who have special knowledge or interest to put together their own documents for distribution and to make presentations to neighborhood associations and other groups. I think people care, but they do not know how to go about getting good information in a timely fashion<br /><br />My thinking is that if a citizen group were to take on this task, the City might perk up and do more. <br /><br />You can complain, or you can do!<br /><br />Thanks to Salem Breakfast on Bikes for doing what you do to help educate us in the pubic!!Susann Kaltwassernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-32321467766008781612016-10-17T20:56:24.754-07:002016-10-17T20:56:24.754-07:00Thanks for the kind words! A goal here is to throw...Thanks for the kind words! A goal here is to throw stuff out there and share it in hopes that smarter, more informed people might find something of use to refine and improve on. To be a kind of chunky resource. As a form, blogging is sometimes too loose! and it is helpful for there to be a kind of community filtering and collaboration and editorial curation process.<br /><br />For example, someone might know whether there is a relevant definition of "implement" and could rework and tighten material to make a better case. Or maybe someone would know more about the ways Goal 1 has been interpreted and applied. Or maybe one of these would suggest an entirely new angle.<br /><br />Or perhaps it is the case that this is definitely grasping at straws and is actually not very relevant at all. Just cranky blather.<br /><br />If you or others see something to use and improve on, please do so!Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-63450413275448358502016-10-17T09:43:28.248-07:002016-10-17T09:43:28.248-07:00Thanks for all your analysis SBOB. I wish you woul...Thanks for all your analysis SBOB. I wish you would submit testimony to the City before Wednesday. ;-)<br /><br />I would also add that "Citizen Involvement" opportunities declined very significantly after December 11, 2014 which was the last time that the SRC Oversight Team had a meeting. The project kind of went underground after that, as far as the public is concerned. I find it remarkable that this planning project has not had any "oversight" by elected officials for nearly two years!<br />At least not any in the public eye as required by Oregon law. There has been no outreach to Salem Neighborhood Associations which is the normal way that the City pursues citizen involvement. Before the public hearing last Wednesday, the only way citizens have been able to provide input recently has been for us to show up uninvited at "public comment" periods at City Council meetings which has not been effective. If Goal 1 has any meaning, it will be found that this project has ignored it for at least the last two years. <br /><br />Of course another big deficiency in Citizen Involvement is the fact that the SRC Task Force stopped meeting after August 15, 2012. If we were having robust citizen involvement in the SRC we would see a SRC Task Force that still met occasionally to provide their input and an Oversight Team that met regularly to oversee the project and take public testimony.Jim Scheppkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04077003905171156283noreply@blogger.com