The right to move around

Here's a report from the uptown RTA charrette. This might be triggering for those of us who went through the post-Katrina public input planning process.

The series of planning events are open-house style; people can drop in to participate throughout the event. The activities and information session are meant to take about 20-30 minutes to complete.

At the meeting, attendees were each given a packet of materials with a set of stickers for them to use in interactive displays about changing the transit system. Using the stickers, participants can vote on what they want to see most in the redesign, such as more frequent streetcar and bus stops versus more express lines, where they travel to most within the city, and which options are most important to them: more reliable service, more frequent service, faster service, more weekend service, more late-night service or better regional connections.

According to Jennifer Brady, who conducts outreach for the RTA, the RTA is surveying people at bus stops, including Elk Place and Canal Street, the largest transfer point in the city, so that people who cannot attend the meetings are able to provide feedback for the redesign.

The survey asks about how frequently people ride the bus and streetcar, what other transit options they use, as well as what they would most like to see change within the current transit system.

Well at least it only takes 20 or 30 minutes to go play the game with the stickers. I have no idea if it's worth participating.  The purpose of these events is to have some sort of "outreach" on the record in order to insulate decision makers from criticism when the actual policies are made.  That doesn't necessarily mean they'll do a bad job. But it does mean they are definitely going to be condescending about it one way or the other.

Anyway the goal is to create a transit system people can use to navigate the city with as much convenience as a car owner might.  That means allowing for actual freedom of movement at all hours and in all directions. But for the most part, the pros and consultants are focused on getting grunts to work and back "efficiently." That isn't good enough. And they're going to use your pile of stickers to justify whatever they want to do either way.

But if you want to play the game, here is the schedule. There is one tonight in Mid-City.