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Providence Tomorrow


Cotuit

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I couldn't load ProvidenceTomorrow, but I got in the back way.

http://www.providenceplanning.org/matriarc...orComprPlanning

I spoke to Thom a couple weeks ago about the planning department's website and he said they are connected to the city wirelessly via the Public Safety Department's system. If something goes wrong with the Public Safety Department's servers, the planning department is the last priority on fixing it. Planning is trying to get connected to the city via fiber optics, I'm not sure what the hold up is on that.

if the planning department's website is run off a server that's connected to the internet via wireless, that is the more royally pathetic setup i've ever heard of. it should be on the same server as the rest of the city departments and they can just do all the administration remotely.

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if the planning department's website is run off a server that's connected to the internet via wireless, that is the more royally pathetic setup i've ever heard of. it should be on the same server as the rest of the city departments and they can just do all the administration remotely.

Thanks, all. And to think I AGREE with a Yankee fan.

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From the mayors office

Mayor David N. Cicilline and the Providence City Council announced a citywide charrette will be held from October 10th through October 14th as part of Providence Tomorrow: Our City, Our Neighborhood, Our Future. The unprecedented neighborhood planning workshops will give residents a hands-on opportunity to play a role in shaping the future of their city.

The Providence Tomorrow charrette begins on October 10 at 9 a.m. on the first floor of the Caesar Misch Building, 400 Westminster Street. The 7 p.m. official kick-off of the charrette will feature a

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i think it is a valuable opportunity for folks who have never been through a charette or anything like it, and would remind folks that you can't win if you don't play. to paraphrase thom deller: if you don't participate in the process, then there will be no complaining if you don't like it.

I'm confused by the scheduling of the sessions, and who they are targeting. It seems like very few people will be able to participate in a 2 1/2 hour session in the middle of a workday. Are these sessions targeting mostly developers, planners, non-profit folks, etc who would be able to prioritize this in the middle of the week, or do they expect Joe Citizen to be there, too? And are they still talking about doing those intensive neighborhood-specific meetings at some later date? Will those be at times when more people can make it?

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I'm confused by the scheduling of the sessions, and who they are targeting. It seems like very few people will be able to participate in a 2 1/2 hour session in the middle of a workday. Are these sessions targeting mostly developers, planners, non-profit folks, etc who would be able to prioritize this in the middle of the week, or do they expect Joe Citizen to be there, too? And are they still talking about doing those intensive neighborhood-specific meetings at some later date? Will those be at times when more people can make it?

i think the neighborhood specific ones are planned for february. i imagine they'd be at the same times.

i didn't attend the 2 sessions during the day because i did have to work (although i could have taken it off if i didn't want to save my vacation time for later in the year). i know cotuit went to them and he's a regular "joe citizen". he also told me that the 2 daytime sessions had a lot more people at them. the evening session yesterday had a lot less people than they expected. if you want to be part of the process and have something to say, you should go to whatever sessions you can. otherwise, like jen said, you can't really complain about the outcome.

depending on the schedule of the neighborhood specific ones, i'll probably use at least 1 vacation day for those.

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if you want to be part of the process and have something to say, you should go to whatever sessions you can. otherwise, like jen said, you can't really complain about the outcome.

However, if you cannot attend any of the sessions becasue you work long hours or travel for business during these times, you know, the things that make you Joe citizen versus Joe Homeless, you still get to complain :) The times for these do suck.

Hopefully though there will be other opportunities, such as the neighborhood intensive ones.

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However, if you cannot attend any of the sessions becasue you work long hours or travel for business during these times, you know, the things that make you Joe citizen versus Joe Homeless, you still get to complain :) The times for these do suck.

Hopefully though there will be other opportunities, such as the neighborhood intensive ones.

they can't please everyone... i can't make any of the day sessions, but i'm going to all the evening ones. you can't really expect them to hold them from like 9-midnight so that the small fraction people who work longer than the almost universal 8 hour 9-ish to 5-ish day can make all the sessions.

there will be a wrap up on friday that i would love to go to, but can't, and there will be a thing on saturday morning from 9-11. you don't have to go to one of the sessions to go on saturday.

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they can't please everyone... i can't make any of the day sessions, but i'm going to all the evening ones. you can't really expect them to hold them from like 9-midnight so that the small fraction people who work longer than the almost universal 8 hour 9-ish to 5-ish day can make all the sessions.

there will be a wrap up on friday that i would love to go to, but can't, and there will be a thing on saturday morning from 9-11. you don't have to go to one of the sessions to go on saturday.

No i would not expect them to even try to please everyone. I simply cant go due to my schedule and thats my own thing. But to say I cant complain, well thats diffferent.

9-5, is that still universal? Almost no one I know works that schedule anymore.

Edited by basachs
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No i would not expect them to even try to please everyone. I simply cant go due to my schedule and thats my own thing. But to say I cant complain, well thats diffferent.

9-5, is that still universal? Almost no one I know works that schedule anymore.

just about everyone i know works the 9-5 thing (i actually do 8:30-4:30, which is why i used "ish"). i have a few friends who are allowed to basically work when they want as long as they do 8 hour days... and they usually go in earlier, like 7:30-8 so they can be done by 3:30-4, unless they know they have meetings or other things to do. i should add that most of my friends are engineers, developers/programmers, or admins, the types of jobs that you generally don't see working normal hours.

i don't know anyone who works beyond 6. i think the 7-9 time was designed for those people who do work during the day (and i definitely don't know anyone who works past 7 regularly).

anyways, if you're able to go to the sessions, you don't have a right to complain if you don't go.

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just about everyone i know works the 9-5 thing

Me too, although in medicine, it's more like 7:30 - 6:00.

i don't know anyone who works beyond 6.

Count me in that group. On inpatient hospital rotations or after a busy clinic day, it's not unusual for me to cruise well past 6.

If I didn't happen to be on vacation now, it's unlikely I ever would be able to attend anything other than the evening sessions (and some nights, not ever those).

Regarding the PT charettes, one unfortunate aspect of the time issue is that it's leading some people to already declare the entire process as "illegitimate" or "invalid" because of the inaccessability of the AM and noon sessions to others. That too bad, because you're right that they can't be everything to everyone.

I'm going to be blogging my impressions of the charettes soon at the new GCPVD website.

- Garris

Edited by Garris
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Me too, although in medicine, it's more like 7:30 - 6:00.

- Garris

Ugh that's my hours mon-thurs, or like yesterday, 6:30am-9pm, but then I get friday off :P Thank you gas-saving tactic from the 70's that stuck around through today that allows me a three day weekend every weekend!

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I don't know if it means anything, but the day sessions yesterday seemed to be slightly better attended than the evening session was.

i was really surprised at how few people showed up for the evening session. people at the kickoff event in july were all gung ho for the whole process, but very few people showed up.

the mayor made similar remarks last night that he made during last wednesday's thing... the people in this room do not represent the diversity of providence. he even came out and asked us to urge our friends who are minorities to come out and be heard in the process.

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It is difficult for people to attend sessions whether at night or during a weekday when they have jobs or family commitments to balance. The neighborhood charettes will be an opportunity for more interaction with the planning department because Planning will locate an office in each neighborhood for a week, so residents will not have far to go in order to voice their ideas. Kudos to Planning for this.

P.S. - For the love of pete Planning, fix your website...please (there, I was nice about it :lol: ). Seriously, it's down the majority of the time. How are people who can't attend the charettes e-mail suggestions or post pictures? Ok...gripe over.

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