res ipsa loquitur

The rebuilding of New Orleans is the most important planning process in American history. More than half of the population remains displaced far outside the city. Is it adequate to advertise critical planning meetings by simply putting them on your Web site, and adding them to the usual list of meetings in the newspaper? Or would you use more effective mediums of communication like television and radio in various markets?

res ipsa loquitur

The Pavilion of the Two Sisters at the City Park Botanical Gardens is a lovely venue for a wedding reception, but if you invited the entire city to your wedding, would you choose the Pavilion?

res ipsa loquitur

If it were important for people to be able to speak to one another in large groups corresponding to each of the 13 New Orleans planning districts, wouldn't you think that one big room with solid walls, floors, and ceilings would just become one big echo chamber?

res ipsa loquitur

An appreciation of the geography of the city, the rivalry of neighborhoods, classes, and races is vital to an understanding of how to sensitively bring people together into a unified planning vision. Would you call in people who have no local planning experience just days before they were supposed to facilitate planning discussions?

res ipsa loquitur

You want the process to be inclusive and democratic. Would you only invite people to vote in that process who aren't displaced and who have an email address?

res ipsa loquitur

You're a planner, and you want to hold a citywide meeting. Would you open the calendar to make sure you didn't schedule the meeting on the same night as, say, perhaps the most widely-attended neighborhood gathering in the country -- the National Night Out Against Crime on Tuesday, August 1st?

res ipsa loquitur

Hat tip: Melinda, for the latin inspiration.

Related:

Adrastos -- fubar

Michael Homan -- Red Dots for the UNOP

Metroblogging New Orleans (Maitri) -- What Is UNOP?: Sunday's Unified New Orleans Plan(ning) Meeting

Becky Houtman -- Unified New Orleans Plan -- My Take So Far on 11 Months of Development

Mid-City Neighborhood Organization -- Sunday's UNOP Meeting

Tags: Hurricane Katrina | Katrina | New Orleans | Louisiana | We Are Not OK | Rebuild New Orleans | Unified New Orleans Plan | UNOP