Speed kills

A few months ago, the DC school system announced plans to close 23 schools. Two weeks ago, a notice went out for planning sessions, held last week, for neighborhoods to provide input into what they wanted to have happen with the buildings. This process has bothered me because it was initiated by the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, rather than the Office of Planning, which indicates that a rational and deliberative planning process isn't necessarily part of the program.

According to the Washington Post blog entry "The Future of Empty School Buildings," the Deputy Mayor for Education released RFQs (Request for Qualifications) for the use of the buildings on March 17th, before any of the public meetings were even held, and the applications are due April 4th.

I happened to be skimming the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell last week, and a big part of it is when people are pressed, especially in time crunched/stress situations, they often make bad, uncorrectable decisions, with terrible repercussions.

I fear this is happening with the use of deaccessioned school buildings in DC.

I understand the desire for speed and "action."

But bad actions are hard to correct. And I can't really say the government has shown us thus far that they are making good decisions about property dispositions, leases, etc.

When you move really fast, your reaction time has to be very fast, and the likelihood of making the right decision has to be very good. This is the basic point about speeding. The time to brake and stop is much longer when you are traveling faster.

Of course, if you are a race car driver, your reactions and capabilities are greater and speedier than the typical driver.

But I don't think our government officials have demonstrated that they are the NASCAR equivalent of skilled property managers.