Providence Tomorrow

[Cotuit]

PRESS RELEASE

MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL INVITE RESIDENTS TO PLAY A ROLE IN SHAPING PROVIDENCE

[mental757]

do you have to be a resident of Providence to attend???

[Cotuit]

do you have to be a resident of Providence to attend???

I doubt they'll be checking IDs at the door.

[mental757]

I doubt they'll be checking IDs at the door.

alllrightly then...

[Cotuit]

OK, so if the members of UrbanPlanet want to organize to lobby for a more urban Providence, now is the time when we need to organize. I'd like to set up a meeting in advance of the 26th for us to meet and strategize. I'd like a location that is not public, so that we can actually sit down and write stuff down, sketch stuff out, whatever we need to do. I'm going to PM Ari to see if we can get the Peerless roof space, if anyone has any other ideas, let me know. I'd also like to set-up a place to meet before the Providence Tomorrow meeting on the day of the meeting itself, someplace at RWP where we can get together an hour before and have a talk.

The hope that has been bandied about has been to make the UP membership a sort of citywide neighborhood group that lobbies for better urbanism within the city. Anyone who has experience organizing these types of groups, please step up!

The 26th is coming up quick! Let's discuss here, and I'll work on setting up a meeting time/place. Would people be opposed to meeting on a Saturday, most likely the 22nd?

[runawayjim]

OK, so if the members of UrbanPlanet want to organize to lobby for a more urban Providence, now is the time when we need to organize. I'd like to set up a meeting in advance of the 26th for us to meet and strategize. I'd like a location that is not public, so that we can actually sit down and write stuff down, sketch stuff out, whatever we need to do. I'm going to PM Ari to see if we can get the Peerless roof space, if anyone has any other ideas, let me know. I'd also like to set-up a place to meet before the Providence Tomorrow meeting on the day of the meeting itself, someplace at RWP where we can get together an hour before and have a talk.

The hope that has been bandied about has been to make the UP membership a sort of citywide neighborhood group that lobbies for better urbanism within the city. Anyone who has experience organizing these types of groups, please step up!

The 26th is coming up quick! Let's discuss here, and I'll work on setting up a meeting time/place. Would people be opposed to meeting on a Saturday, most likely the 22nd?

i could do the 22nd... i'm thinking about going to the providence tomorrow thing too...

[JimmyGreaves]

I could do the 22nd during the late morning/early afternoon, but weeknights except next Wednesday and Thursday would probably be better for me.

Edited July 13, 2006 by JimmyGreaves

[Recchia]

I'm not a Providence resident but I'd go. And Saturdays are usually good for me, more so than during the week.

[Garris]

Anyone who has experience organizing these types of groups, please step up!

Would people be opposed to meeting on a Saturday, most likely the 22nd?

I can make the 22nd.

I think having the guidance of someone who has organized such efforts is critical to prevent us from wasting time and spinning our wheels.

- Garris

[Dan]

I wonder how much of this will be a presentation of Providence Tomorrow's objective and mission and how much of an opportunity residents will have to speak.

I hope I can be there on Saturday...

[jencoleslaw]

i could be there in the morning on saturday... do we have a location yet?

[Cotuit]

i could be there in the morning on saturday... do we have a location yet?

Morning? Saturday? They have mornings on the weekend?

Garris and Ari have both said that they can't make Saturday, and I'd really like the two of them to be able to make it. Not that I don't want to meet with the people who have said they can make Saturday.

I'm thinking maybe getting a big meeting together so quickly is a little unrealistic, and while there will definately be issued discussed at this workshop, the real meat of the matter will be at the charrette in the fall. Perhaps we should plan to meet early on the 26th at RWP to touch base before the workshop, then maybe stay a bit late to digest what came out of it and plan a reaction to it, and a plan of attack for the charrette. And before we leave on the 26th we should set a time and place for a formal sit down.

We still can have a meeting sometime before the 26th if people want of course. I haven't chosen a space yet, since Ari's out of town, Peerless is off the list. Someone else has offered a space we can use, but not on a Saturday.

Not knowing RWP very well myself, where's the best place to meet in advance of the workshop? (I don't even know where the casino is. I know where the zoo is, and where the natural history musuem is.)

[runawayjim]

Morning? Saturday? They have mornings on the weekend?

Garris and Ari have both said that they can't make Saturday, and I'd really like the two of them to be able to make it. Not that I don't want to meet with the people who have said they can make Saturday.

I'm thinking maybe getting a big meeting together so quickly is a little unrealistic, and while there will definately be issued discussed at this workshop, the real meat of the matter will be at the charrette in the fall. Perhaps we should plan to meet early on the 26th at RWP to touch base before the workshop, then maybe stay a bit late to digest what came out of it and plan a reaction to it, and a plan of attack for the charrette. And before we leave on the 26th we should set a time and place for a formal sit down.

We still can have a meeting sometime before the 26th if people want of course. I haven't chosen a space yet, since Ari's out of town, Peerless is off the list. Someone else has offered a space we can use, but not on a Saturday.

Not knowing RWP very well myself, where's the best place to meet in advance of the workshop? (I don't even know where the casino is. I know where the zoo is, and where the natural history musuem is.)

the casino is near one of the elmwood ave entrances i think.

i'd prefer to meet during the week, unless it's later on a saturday. i don't do weekend mornings, and if the weekend is nice, i'll probably be at the beach since that weekend is the one weekend in july that i'm free to do whatever i want for myself.

[glassandsteel]

I'll be there no matter when you guys arrange this. This is the meeting I've been waiting for the since we started meetings so I wouldn't miss it for the world. Does anybody in this forum have any prior experience with this sort of process? It'd obviously be of great assistance but I think that we're collectively capable of creating a plan to execute this. Yay! I'm so excited!

[CtownMikey]

I always have weekends off of work, so depending on the time... I could probably go

[Cotuit]

Does anybody in this forum have any prior experience with this sort of process?

Yes, I'd like to get someone who has some experience help guide us. I'm going to send an email to GrowSmartRI to see what kind of support they can offer.

[Cotuit]

Are people available next Friday afternoon (07/21) to get together hash over some ideas on becoming more organized, bullet point some preliminary things we feel are important in regards to the Comprehensive Plan, and nail down a time/location for a more formal meeting, to take place after the Providence Tomorrow workshop?

[runawayjim]

Are people available next Friday afternoon (07/21) to get together hash over some ideas on becoming more organized, bullet point some preliminary things we feel are important in regards to the Comprehensive Plan, and nail down a time/location for a more formal meeting, to take place after the Providence Tomorrow workshop?

assuming nothing comes up, friday afternoon is good for me.

[jencoleslaw]

i have an appointment with Providence Municipal Court first thing in the am, but i can meet in the afternoon/early eve, whatever it ends up being.

[glassandsteel]

I'll be there!

[Cotuit]

From the city's website: Providence Tomorrow [pdf]

Nothing much, just a pdf of a powerpoint.

[Cotuit]

Ok then, let's plan to meet on Friday the 21st at 5pm-ish, location TBD. If Friday we decide we want to continue, we'll plan something for Saturday at that time.

On the 26th we can aim to meet at 5pm-ish at RWP before the Providence Tomorrow Workshop.

In the interim we can discuss ideas, goals, hopes, dreams... in this thread.

I'd also just like to say, that though the Providence Tomorrow meetings are for Providence residents, and we're stepping up our organization in reaction to it. I don't want any formal organization that may come out of this to exclude people from outside of Providence. In fact, though Providence will probably always be our primary issue, I'd like us as a group of Urbanists to be able to comment on things outside Providence, in Pawtucket, Warwick, Newport... I hope that we can become a state-wide advocacy for urbanism and smart growth with a primary, but not sole, focus on Providence.

And just because I moderate the forum, doesn't mean I have to be the chief of whatever organization end up creating, in fact I'd probably rather not be. I'm too shy.

[citybuilder]

Does anybody in this forum have any prior experience with this sort of process?

I was at a neighborhood meeting with Linda Painter, who is coordinating the P2M process, this week, so we got the verbal commentary that goes with the powerpoint that DPD just posted.

The process for P2M will be based on Dynamic Planning, which is the charrette approach developed/maintained/taught by the National Charrette Institute (www.charretteinstitute.org).

I'm not sure you (collectively or individually) need to have prior experience in order to be effective in this process. But you do need to show up and be articulate at the citywide charrette(s) themselves (Fall/Winter 06).

From my understanding, the kickoff on the 26th is to introduce the process and the background information (Providence Plan is doing the demographic/statistical analysis now). Their will be brainstorming sessions in smaller groups, but that may be more practice, to give people a taste of the process - and the facilitators some real-world exercise - in advance of the "real deal".

So UP may want to adjust their effort and position development accordingly.

There will also be neighborhood charrettes starting in early '07. The 25 neighborhoods will be grouped into some logical groupings so that DPD can actually get all the meetings done.

Edited July 14, 2006 by citybuilder

[Cotuit]

I'm not sure you (collectively or individually) need to have prior experience in order to be effective in this process. But you do need to show up and be articulate at the citywide charrette(s) themselves (Fall/Winter 06).

Oh we'll show up!

The planning part isn't directly to take part in Providence Tomorrow, though I feel many of us would like to have a group agenda to put forward as part of Providence Tomorrow. The goal is to morph into a sort of city-wide (or state-wide) advocacy group that backs strong ideas of urbanism. Depending on how far people want to take things, we could be looking at creating a commitee structure, applying for grants, publishing opinion pieces, hiring professionals to help us draft plans...

We definately want to be part of the planning process, but are looking toward creating a group that will follow and prod the outcome of the current planning through to completion.

Basically, rather than indivdually pointing to problems, we'd like to collectively be able to put forth possible solutions to said problems.

[Garris]

Ok then, let's plan to meet on Friday the 21st at 5pm-ish, location TBD.

I can probably make that...

That pdf actually has a nice framework for ways to organize thinking about certain issues and questions. It's nice to know what the city is thinking (that document is reassuringly urban in its tone) and it'll be helpful to frame our desires and ideas using the broad conceptual outline they have there.

- Garris

Edited July 14, 2006 by Garris