Politics will always be a part of development: a letter to the editor
By Letters to the Editor
October 13, 2009, 1:35AM
Re: "Public meetings on N.O. master plan set for this week," Page 1, Oct. 12.
Anyone touting this plan as the be-all and end-all for making objective land use decisions should be run out of town. Politics and back-room deals will always be a part of zoning changes and development. It is the nature of the beast. The hope was that this new master plan would somehow correct the manipulative practices of the past. Bruce Eggler correctly points out that this new plan fails to do this.
Like previous documents, this one will have its text copied and pasted into requests for zoning changes and variances. Depending on the will of the "powers that be," only the text that support the outcome will be included or emphasized as the reason for making the decision.
This is not an excuse to throw out the plan. It is only to point out that it is just not right for it to be sold as a fair, non-political plan. Compounding this snake-oil sales pitch is what will likely be contained in the community participation section in Chapter 15. It is still under review, so we have no idea what is in it. At this late stage one can only guess that it will give a formal voice to residents' associations.
This may sound good, but the current form of many residents' associations gives a voice only to those on the board. These groups would more appropriately be labeled political action committees that push the agenda of the few that control the group.
Some residents' organizations, for example, will not allow an open ballot process to elect their board and president. Their sitting boards hand-pick the candidates that can be on the ballot. Formal polling is seldom done on issues affecting the membership. These are just some pitfalls of the autocratic character of these groups. Self-appointed leaders have no place in a system trying to achieve democracy and fairness.
Every single one of us should have an equal say in the decision-making process. Formalizing residents' associations in the land use decision process will only dilute the rights of the individual.
Gregg Huber
New Orleans
I'll go one further. Formalizing residents' associations voice in land use decisions is actually tantamount to government for and by property owners. This entire master-planning process has been about giving the "right sort of people" a firmer grip on the levers of power. An effective candidate for mayor might want to point this out.
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