Public involvement - an inconvenient truth

2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 216-217
Author(s):  
Bob Sang
1997 ◽  
Vol 1571 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toni Botte Bates ◽  
Dennis J. Wahl

Virtually all public works projects require a substantial planning effort to identify impacts, costs, and alternatives. Federal and state laws and regulations call for certain levels of public involvement during planning, but meaningful, collaborative public involvement entails doing more than the minimum requirements. This is particularly true when there appears to be an imbalance in public input, where one viewpoint is heard above others. The San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB) has undertaken efforts on two corridor projects to expand its public involvement in ways that maximize the range of community views, enhance project design, and build support for the project. In addition to the traditional public meetings, newsletters, and open houses, MTDB has used public relations firms, neutral facilitators, and staff outreach to achieve expanded public involvement goals. MTDB has found that, while there are risks and costs associated with these approaches, they ultimately result in better projects that receive more widespread public and political acceptance.


1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1537-1543 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. Bruvold

Models recommended for public involvement in environmental planning call for: 1) early and full involvement with technical planners from the start, 2) involvement at an intermediate phase once technical planners have developed a short list of the most feasible alternatives, and 3) later involvement only by ratification of the one alternative selected and developed by technical planners. The present study reports results assessing public involvement in planning at the intermediate phase using results from three general population surveys of the greater San Diego area done in 1989, 1990, and 1991 which dealt with municipal water reuse alternatives. Feasibility of the intermediate approach was demonstrated by correspondence between survey and technical planning evaluations and by consistency between and within survey findings.


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