Mike Sarahan, a former Assistant City Attorney (1984 to 1999), writes clearly about the recent “charrette” process that was conducted by the City of Richmond; ostensibly it was an effort to include fresh input about city planning from ordinary citizens.
But was it was really something else? Was it mostly meant to be window dressing by way of a fancy word? Here is an except of Sarahan’s revealing piece on this week’s Back Page of STYLE Weekly.
…Instead the city turned over its responsibility to give public notice about the event primarily to the private downtown promotional organization, Venture Richmond. You practically had to be a friend of Venture Richmond, or at least be on its list for “e-mail blasts,” to get invited to the table.
Fortunately, word of the event spread more broadly in the last few days before the event started. But what do you make of an invitation to dinner, so to speak, when it arrives at the last minute? And what do you make of an invitation to dinner when it doesn’t even come from the host?
Click here to read the entire piece.
h/t to Buttermilk & Molasses
