| From: | "Robert G. Paterson" <rgfp@mail.utexas.edu> |
| Date: | 21 Sep 1998 08:49:25 |
| Reply: | cpeo-brownfields |
| Subject: | Re: Feedback: Community Involvement |
I think what a city/region may admit to, verses what an objective observer might conclude are often two different things. Some of the so called model input processes in the Brownfield showcase and other programs are not so "model" from my perspective. The problem, I think, is one of language and expectations--public involvement means many different things to many people, especially within government. Is it simply one-way provision of information from experts (informing)? Or a mutual exchange of ideas (mutual education), but all real decision making still residing with government experts/policymakers? or is it "empowerment"-- a sharing of ideas, responsibility and decision making for community action? I don't have any knowledge of Portland's program, so I couldn't comment. But I think the issues of what, when, where and how of "community involvement" could use more air time in Brownfields and other environmental programs. Two recent articles that folks might find useful on this topic are: King, C.S, Feltey, K.M. and Susel, B.O.N. 1998. The Question of Participation, Public Administration Review 58:317-326 Lowry, Ken, P. Adler, N. Milner, 1997, Participating the Public, Journal of Planning Education and Research 16(3)177-187 Regards Bob Paterson University of Texas at Austin > > Dear Everyone, > > My name is Alan Hipolito, and I work at the Urban League of Portland's > Office of Environmental Programs. As some of you may know, Portland was > designated both as a Demonstration Pilot and a Showcase Community. We > have had some significant problems at achieving meaningful community > involvement in those efforts. I would be happy to discuss these in > further detail, but I will make this message brief. Recently, we have > heard from EPA Region 10 that no other community is having such > involvement problems or environmental justice issues with that > community's Brownfields Demonstration Pilot or Showcase Project; in > short, these issues only seem to exist in Portland (thereby implying > that it is we in the community who have the problem). I thought I'd > write to this discussion group to see whether any community folks out > there are having similar difficulties, including: > > * lack of meaningful community involvement or access to brownfields > decisionmaking > * the public sector obtaining pilot funds or showcase designation based > on statistics from its low- income communities or communities of color, > yet directing very little in the way of pilot/showcase resources to > those communities > * lack of response to community concerns > * being portrayed as malcontents when you advocate for your community's > legitimate brownfields concerns > > Thanks for your time > > Alan Hipolito > Urban League of Portland > > --------------E45FCD184266629698FFB54B > Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > <HTML> > Dear Everyone, > > <P>My name is Alan Hipolito, and I work at the Urban League of Portland's > Office of Environmental Programs. As some of you may know, Portland > was designated both as a Demonstration Pilot and a Showcase Community. > We have had some significant problems at achieving meaningful community > involvement in those efforts. I would be happy to discuss these in > further detail, but I will make this message brief. Recently, we > have heard from EPA Region 10 that no other community is having such involvement > problems or environmental justice issues with that community's Brownfields > Demonstration Pilot or Showcase Project; in short, these issues only seem > to exist in Portland (thereby implying that it is <I>we</I> in the community > who have the problem). I thought I'd write to this discussion group > to see whether any community folks out there are having similar difficulties, > including: > > <P>* lack of meaningful community involvement or access to brownfields > decisionmaking > <BR>* the public sector obtaining pilot funds or showcase designation based > on statistics from its low- income communities or communities of color, > yet directing very little in the way of pilot/showcase resources to those > communities > <BR>* lack of response to community concerns > <BR>* being portrayed as malcontents when you advocate for your community's > legitimate brownfields concerns > > <P>Thanks for your time > > <P>Alan Hipolito > <BR>Urban League of Portland</HTML> > > --------------E45FCD184266629698FFB54B-- | |
References
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