Council OKs plan for Westside

Lolita Harper

Their destination remains a distant goal, but at least they have

some direction on how to get there, members of a city committee said

Tuesday after city leaders unanimously agreed to give them more

specific plans and guidelines for the Westside redevelopment process.

Members of the Community Redevelopment Action Committee, a

76-person group charged with forging a future for Westside

redevelopment in an 18-month process, say they feel their group now

can make more informed decisions with an “action plan” that gives

them access to more city documents, graphs and basic information

about the complicated process.

Council members agreed Monday night to provide committee members

with the added information about redevelopment, including an in-depth

session hosted by outside redevelopment consultants, Urban Futures

Inc.

The resulting “action plan” was created not to influence the ideas

of committee members but to educate them about redevelopment and the

limitations, as far as the legal aspects of the project, officials

said. The plan guides the committee through a four-step process

designed to get members “on the same page” as the Redevelopment

Agency.

“We have all been floundering and all felt [the process] has not

been very productive to date and it was time to get rolling,” said

committee member Chris Eric.

In February, the City Council voted unanimously to appoint anyone

to the committee who wished to participate. The committee is charged

with deciding a common direction for redeveloping the Westside.

Council members aimed to create a group that was completely

divorced from the council in an attempt to get a true idea of what

the committee wanted for the most western portion of the city.

Since then, members have met once a month in a conference room at

the Neighborhood Community Center on Park Avenue with other residents

who are like-minded in wanting improvements for the city’s arguably

most impoverished area. Staff members from Civic Solutions, who were

hired to assist the committee in building consensus, have said they

employ a specific process to ensure various viewpoints are heard.

But after the council was bombarded with complaints from seven

members of the community committee last month, Councilman Gary

Monahan set out to develop some parameters for the fragmented group.

Dissenting members claimed Civic Solution group leaders dominated

discussion and stifled debates.

Mary Fewel, a committee member who has consistently defended the

consensus-building process used by Civic Solutions, said the

council’s action Monday is helpful in providing more information to

the group but will never be enough to make all the members happy.

Various members of the group are always going to want to move at

different paces, focus on different solutions and move in different

directions, she said. That is the reality of having a large

committee, with about 40 active members.

“It is hard to get us to a point where we can all go forward all

at the same intelligence level,” Fewel said.

If having more interaction with Urban Futures Inc. makes people

feel more informed about their decisions, then Fewel said she is all

for it. Most of the decisions that the committee is faced with --

such as recommending the city rezone the Westside bluffs fore

residential use -- require lots of input, discussion and debate, she

said.

She added she is confident that all group members are dedicated to

making a positive impact for the city and is optimistic about the

process.

Eric agreed, saying Monday’s action was a step in the right

direction.

“With a little luck, now we will pointed in the right direction

and be able to actually accomplish something,” Eric said.