Oops, forgot the citizens: DC's new task force on streetcars
Hey, I was just discussing the growth machine with my mentor, and I commented that I am part of it too, just focused on ameliorating some of the worst aspects. But the Examiner article "Gray creates streetcar task force" is a perfect illustration of the reality that local political and economic elites are for the most part united and that average citizens are excluded from the process.
Real estate interests are represented, and for the most part, independent citizens are not, on the task force.
Private citizen members
Vice Chair: Jair Lynch, President and CEO of JAIR LYNCH Development Partners
Richard Bradley, executive director of the Downtown Business Improvement District
Charles "Sandy" Wilkes, chairman of The Wilkes Company
Matthew Klein, president of Akridge
Robert Puentes, senior fellow with the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program
Ginger Laytham, senior executive officer to the president, CEO and chairman of Clyde's Restaurant Group
Government agency representatives
Chair: Allen Lew, city administrator
Terry Bellamy, director of DDOT
Victor Hoskins, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development
Harriet Tregoning, Director of the Office of Planning
Natwar Gandhi, D.C. Chief Financial Officer
Eric Goulet, director of the Mayor's Office of Budget and Finance
Brian Hanlon, director of the Department of General Services
Nicholas Majett, director of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs
Ultimately, the government agency representatives are beholden to their boss(es), the Mayor primarily, and ultimately the elected officials, including the Mayor, are simpatico with the Growth agenda.
I understand how it works, and it's not that it works badly, it's just that it could work a lot better, and more quickly, if the composition of the people involved in such task forces was broader.
Labels: civic engagement, electoral politics and influence, government oversight, Growth Machine, organizational behavior, transportation planning
posted by Richard Layman @ 11:09 AM&Permanent Link
6 Comments:
As evidenced by?
For one, people elect the politicians.
Second, we often see the process when "the people" are represented by a small group of NIMBYs who are not representative of the general population.
Not advocating for a dictatorship though.
"I understand how it works, and it's not that it works badly..."
If you understand how it works, and that it doesn't work badly for the few elites running the show, then you must realize that for the vast majority of folks, it doesn't work.
As Malcolm X liked to say, "The chickens are coming home to roost."
Given that most of the money to pay for the system will come from the interests represented by the private side of the task force, I am not sure what the problem is.
This group isn't going to be deciding alignments or where car barns are to be placed.
The Growth Machine reminds me of Calvin's magristrates in Geneva. Local worthies are usually not very worthy.
Is a reliance on rules and codes better?
The real problem with the growth machine is that it owns the local goverment. At the very least you want some balance.
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