I really hate to keep harping on the N&R, but what can I say —- they just keep writing interesting stuff. Today’s Short Stack editorial again raises the issue of the proposed downtown design guidelines:
They tried to hold a public meeting on the new downtown design guide recently and a town hall meeting on health care broke out.
Or so it seemed, by most accounts.
The proposed guide would provide rules and guidelines for new construction downtown with an emphasis on making the center city more appealing to pedestrians.
Some people find the guide too thick and its rules too nitpicky and overbearing. In some cases, they’re right. But their outright hostility was hardly constructive.
This issue calls for a civil dialogue, not a backyard brawl.
That’s it. So help me out guys —- exactly which meeting are you talking about? The only account I’ve seen of a meeting between city staff and property owners to discuss the guidelines was in The Rhino, where John Hammer wrote that staff definitely had a “divide and conquer” strategy and pretty much “dodged questions.” But Hammer also says City Council member Zack Matheny “asked people to discuss matters respectfully, which everyone did.”
Again, the N&R might not be talking about the same meeting, but I don’t know —- I couldn’t find an account in the archives, so I have no idea where they’re getting information about a “backyard brawl” and “outright hostility” toward city staff or the guidelines.
