Perspective: Our communities' futures
 
 

Experience and ideas can only teach what they can answer. Planning and process are the only tools government have when they create growth projects like Iowa Environmental/Education Project and the convention center.

Governing like a business means it runs for business. The City Council is not corrupt, but it is not looking at the cultural or fiscal uncertainties. If Coralville wants a business-like government, then the public has neither the ability nor right to complain if things go bad because of bad planning and market uncertainty. All one can do is change government, and that might not be better.

Secrets and democracy

Democracy means community involvement in planning, not community disenfranchisement. Ask what happens when profits and tax base expansion drives people's decisions. Every business and government has a growth plan, but where is the public interest? Where are the plans? What was the process of decisions? Can things fail? There are always ifs. We have to hope things work out for the best.

Democracy doesn't like secrets. Communities need direction and open plans. In simplest terms, plans provide information about interdependent decisions; governance makes collective choices and regulations set rights. If democracy is the best social/political/cultural mechanism for cultural growth that humanity possesses, then plans and process matter. If one tries to control or stifle that evolution without due process, then radical change will happen at some point.

Ted Townsend's recent e-mail shows serious dissension with the city's plans in the combination of these two projects. If my perceptions of Coralville residents' concerns are right, then the best way to sum their thoughts could come from Lewis Hopkins' "Urban Development: The Logic of Making Plans":

• Interdependence -- The value of A depends on B. Townsend is saying the convention center/hotel design lessens the value of Iowa Environmental/Education Project. The city says they're separate ideas, but they're both part of a comprehensive plan for the old Industrial Park.

• Irreversibility -- One can't undo or replace actions without greater cost. The cost of failure is so high that failure is not option. The city has put $40 million into the old Industrial Park, and Congress fed $50 million, but the overall cost of failure is largely unknown. Both the projects are a 50-50 bet because there are some positive visions, challenging ideas and reality-based negatives.

• Indivisibility -- Small incremental actions arbitrarily decided lessen the value of actions. Hopkins is speaking in both time and space. It seems that Coralville had two solutions looking for the same problem at the same time, and Townsend's e-mail says they are not compatible. Both projects are a cure to Coralville's perceived economic eyesore. Are these projects ready-made solutions for the brownfields? And will they work together visually?

• Imperfect foresight -- One can't foresee the future variables pertinent to our decisions. here the city gets rosy is in its forecasts. Politics and policy fall hardest on the most local level. We only can hope Coralville, Iowa and America see the consequences of free markets and central planning. Coralville must plan for economic problems (such as state budget cuts) that affect the municipality's growth. Our nation's economy has major hurdles to overcome. Balance and discipline should be the nation's 21st century buzzwords. We need to plan ahead while things are good because crisis planning means hard choices. I hate to think what will happen if things go south anytime soon.

We must work to balance the role of government and the marketplace without distorting information or public trust. Communities and individuals must find a way to communicate without distortions or division. Everyone may disagree, but we are still a community with common ground. Talking to our neighbors is the most courageous thing we can do in uncertain times.

The notion of community is a notion without borders or limits. Communities are interdependent systems. Planning for our community's future means we need to talk to one another neighbor to neighbor. And after this election year, we need to seriously talk about some sort of direction past this anger and fear.

Private interests and government decisions quietly are being removed from our community's oversight. This doesn't appear intentional, but it does erode people's faith in social institutions. This atmosphere leads to rumors, division and mistrust and hence more anger. Only people's understanding of one another can reverse this trend. We need to enhance our democracy with education, empowerment, equal opportunity and a reasonable standard of social justice or the risk of our social inaction will rise.

Our socioeconomic culture is highly reactionary yet a resilient system. Still, the city leaders should have known the dangers of plowing into the unknown without asking the necessary questions. Faith, loyalty and morality do not require blind submission. Faith in government, moral actions and true loyalty require some degree of responsible questioning to have true value. Questioning our thoughts, beliefs and actions will lead to profound moral growth for all.

Questions are the basis of philosophical thought and all of us ought to still be learning. Life is a journey not a destination.

I only can hope we can make better choices and with better timing. Hard times will come. The stakes are always high, but we have no choice but to endure.