Annapolis Capital Punishment

Welcome Citizens:

This is about a 1000-word post. It is entirely about the public hearing on the comprehensive plan. In it I mainly criticize the meeting for failing to be clear about its purpose and for wasting my time. You will learn why I left the meeting in disgust. Thank you for your time. Now, let us begin:

There are good meetings and there are bad meetings, just as there are good and bad speakers and presentations. Most of us in any professional field know about meetings. Tonight’s Planning Commission hearing fell into the very bad category on all accounts—at least from 7 until 7:45 when I left….disenchanted. But perhaps the fault was that I was getting something I did not want or did not expect. But is that not the point of planning a meeting and giving an agenda out in advance? This was billed as a “Public Hearing.” I for one was familiar with the draft plan. I would assume that many if not most in the audience did not need a complete review of the plan—but that’s what they were giving us, until I left.

Rules for Meeting Success—Be clear about the purpose, make it action-oriented or at least have some kind of desired outcome, create an agenda and share it with all parties in advance, review the agenda at the start of the meeting, and stick to the agenda. Never forget that you are taking people’s time and attention—respect that! This did not happen. That’s why this meeting was a recipe for failure. A hundred or more people packed City Hall—a room hopelessly ill-suited for this meeting. A handful of commissioners took up about half of the big chairs at the front half of the room, with a packed crowd squeezed into the other half.

After all the perfunctory thank-yous and introductions, we finally got underway. Oh wait—one more thing. Alderman Shropshire, er I mean mayoral candidate Shropshire. He asked for and received special dispensation to make a statement—before anyone else had the chance. Why? Because he had somewhere else to be and wanted to get there--instead. I had other stuff to do as well, but Sam, you are running for mayor and if you can’t attend this hearing—that is your business—although it does make some question your priorities, but you used, yes you used your special privilege to make a statement—which some might construe as a cherry opportunity for you to promote yourself and your campaign. And then you ducked out. You did not say much of any consequence—but you did get everyone’s attention for a few minutes. It’s called grandstanding. Been there. Seen it. Expect more of it. Good move Sam.

By the time the city planner got up front—er to the side rather, and started narrating what I immediately knew was going to be a loooong presentation, I quickly lost interest! While the handful of commissioners enjoyed the spacious front half of the room, a large screen was put up to one side of the room, so that most of one side of one-half of the room could view the screen. That left about half of the audience unable to view the screen. One person thankfully spoke up about it. The poor planner explained what a challenge it was to do this presentation in City Hall. Hello! Why not hold it elsewhere—such as The Stanton Center? Or—perhaps they could have asked the commissioners to move in with the rest of we the plebeians, and place the screen in the front of the room and project it from the center!!!! What is this—rocket science? No—it’s planning….

More rules about public speaking: Always plan the room out in advance. Know your audience. Remember that they are giving you their time and attention—don’t waste it. More failure. I had read much of the plan—at least the parts I wanted. The plan was on-line and at public places. Everyone in the room had the same opportunity. By the time the boring planner got to the third slide out of about 36 she told us were coming, I just lost all interest. Even after she got through her 36 slides, there was going to be public testimony—which is the real reason I came.

I cannot know what the rest of the audience was feeling, whether they had read the plan, or why they were there. However, I was pissed. The meeting was going to be a waste as far as I could tell. I won’t go into a massive missive about everything that is wrong with planning in general or this plan in particular, but I will say this:

THEY ARE DEAD WRONG AND ABSOLUTELY MISUNDERSTAND THIS CITY AND THE BASIS OF PLANNING AND THE HISTORY OF OUR CITIES IF THEY BELIEVE IT IS BEST TO INCREASE DENSITY AND THEREBY REDUCE AUTOMOBILE DEPENDENCE AND IMPROVE TRANSIT. DEAD WRONG.

First you plan and build infrastructure—including transportation such as transit—and then you build density around that. This plan, as described by Chair Ron Jarashow is dead wrong in this respect. The reason people such as Ron don’t ride a bus into West Annapolis and drive instead, is because people such as Ron, who is a runner and drives the half-mile to work in West Annapolis, is because he can afford to do it, it is relatively cheap and there is a lot of cheap parking! But there is no transit! Bingo! If you wish to reduce automobile use, you make parking difficult and costly. You don’t create density and then hope you’ll get alternatives to driving!!!

PLEASE---UNDERSTAND THAT CLEARLY.

Ohhhhh……ugggghhhhh….I did not want to sit through an hour or more of slides taken directly from the plan I already reviewed. I left. And now my final point—If our planning commission cannot even plan a meeting properly, how can we expect it to plan our city????

I’ll send my comments in writing—along with this posting. I hope you liked reading this. Thanks for your time.