Dr. Karen Trapenberg Frick suggests that in public participation processes, planners may find common ground with Tea Party and property rights activists.
In a guest commentary for the California Planning & Development Report, Dr. Karen Trapenberg Frick offers some thoughts drawn from her research on public participation processes in planning:
"This fall, California’s Strategic Growth Council will release a preliminary assessment about SB 375’s implementation to date. So now is a good time to step back and deeply reflect on how we are running public participation processes in this state, especially legislatively mandated ones. We need to consider how legislative requirements like those for the SB 375 regional planning process may help or hinder meaningful public engagement.
Public process design is critical when participants are ideologically divided and do not trust each other or the public agencies in charge. It can be important to seek out areas of common ground..."

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

Study: Maui’s Plan to Convert Vacation Rentals to Long-Term Housing Could Cause Nearly $1 Billion Economic Loss
The plan would reduce visitor accommodation by 25% resulting in 1,900 jobs lost.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Federal Homelessness Agency Places Entire Staff on Leave
The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness is the only federal agency dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness.

Restoring Northern India’s Himalayan ‘Water Temples’
Thousands of centuries-old buildings protect the region’s natural springs and serve as community wells and gathering places.

Milwaukee to Double Bike Share Stations
Bublr Bikes, one of the nation’s most successful, will add 500 new e-bikes to its system.
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