Jeff Miles's blog

First Chapel Hill 2020 Report Out Session: What to Expect

Tomorrow morning will mark the first report out session for the six theme groups in Chapel Hill 2020, the process to create the town's new Comprehensove Plan. These report out sessions are designed so that all the theme groups can get together to find areas of agreement and discuss agrees of disagreement. The theme groups have a good deal of overlap, so these large group meetings are necessary to ensure that the plan is cohesive while still being comprehensive.

First, the leadership team will be providing a summary of the process. They’ll give a little more explanation as to where we are and where we’re going in the near future, and they’ll highlight some of the resources available on the web and outreach efforts that are being conducted by the town.

Is It A Vision or An Illusion: My Response

You may have noticed an editorial in Wednesday’s edition of the Durham Herald-Sun concerning the Chapel Hill 2020 process. It’s author—Chapel Hill resident and writer Joe Buonfiglio—points out some conflicts of interest that may be present in the theme group structure and argues that the public input process will result in a plan with only “the mere appearance of citizens running the narrative.” While Mr. Buonfiglio makes some legitimate points about the weaknesses of the process thus far, I would argue that the 2020 process features more involvement than past planning efforts in Chapel Hill and than can be seen in other similarly-sized cities around the country. 

First Theme Group Meetings Successful, But Need More Input

I would label last night’s meeting generally successful, but reflecting back on what I observed and participated in. Before I get into my reactions, a quick few notes on what actually happened. The meeting took place entirely in small groups. As noted above, I participated in the transportation group. The official title of the theme is:

Getting Around: Transportation: (transportation of all forms, regional assets, partnerships, potential for shared success)

All of the groups basically followed the same format, kicking off with an introduction by the group go-chairs and then moving into the meat of the discussion, which was supposed to touch on four different questions, all with a tilt toward the particular theme’s interest area.

The Work Begins: First 2020 Theme Group Meeting

You may have seen my earlier post that described what theme groups are actually are and what they'll be doing. Tonight, theory will become reality with the first of the four theme group working sessions at Ephesus Elementary School. Here's what on the agenda:

  1. Review the process
  2. Clarify the roles and responsibilities of all members and leaders of the group
  3. Identify the components for the theme based on the community data collected at previous meetings
  4. Identify areas in common with other themes
  5. Identify resources for the group, both in terms of staff and data
  6. Have discussion of decisions in the theme group

CH 2020 Theme Groups: A Summary

So at this point there’s been much discussion as to what a theme is, who will make up a theme working group, what these working group will do and how they will do it. The town has answered these questions in series of blog on the 2020 Buzz site, but there’s a good deal of information to wade through, so I’ve tried to succinctly summarize them below in a Q&A format:

What is a theme? The town calls the themes the building blocks of the plan. They’re not necessarily value-laden; instead they’re areas that the plan will focus on. Currently there are six themes. You can find a list of the current themes here.

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