community

Joelle Lyons Everett JLEShelton at aol.com
Sun Dec 1 10:26:51 PST 2002


Judi--

Sorry for the blank message.  I worked with a community in a very conflicted
situation (state-mandated land-use regulation).  I was hired after an earlier
process produced flawed results and the first consultant to lead a second
process quit.  If I had had a choice, I would have used Open Space, but the
work groups were three weeks into a ten-week process.  We succeeded in
writing a set of policy recommendations which were accepted, then the county
commissioners were voted out of office in the next local election--obviously
the process of finding agreement was not yet finished.

I did learn a few things:

You need time and space for people to yell sometimes.

The people on the committees, who were talking to each other week after week,
did come to see the others' viewpoints and needs, and they began to speak up
for each other.

Unfortunately, committee members went back to their groups in the community
and were called traitors to their cause for supporting the needs of others.

Unlike a corporation or nonprofit organization, where there are some common
values that come from the vision of the founders, a community has many
visions and disparate values.  It is not a coherent culture.

It really is important to have everyone in the room, the more conflicted
their views, the more important.  I support the suggestion to bring the
industrialists.

My two cents' worth--

Joelle

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