Nimbys and Bananas — Email Exchange with Councilor Pattje

----Original Message----- From: Frank Murphy 

 Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 12:14 PM

 To: Fred Pattje Cc: Mayor&Council; John Horn 

Subject: nimby's and bananas 

Hi Fred -- a couple of quick thoughts about the "Vision Rally" last night in particular Mike Harcourt's presentation and his comments about the assisted housing projects being introduced into neighbourhoods. I sense your position has hardened on this but let it not be said I didn't offer some perspective. 

Strikes me Nanaimo sure doesn't need another round of "them and us". Neighbourhood concerns about these projects are valid, understandable, and predictable -- not to say they can't be introduced successfully. But for Mike -- an accomplished seasoned and polished politician of the first rank to read that crowd and say essentially "Who's against kicking kittens?" and get a hearty boisterous reaction is pretty cheap stuff. You probably recall the 16th and Dunbar kerfuffle he referred to -- an understatement to say he simplified things in his recounting. 

Downtown is for People —

Jane Jacobs
Fortune Magazine 1958

If the downtown of tomorrow looks like most of the redevelopment projects being planned for it today, it will end up a monumental bore. But downtown could be made lively and exciting -- and it's not too hard to find out how...

Link here.

Childhood Memories of the Downtown Eastside

Celebrating a New Public Plaza in Brooklyn: You Can Feel It All Over

Putnam Block Party from adele pham on Vimeo.

Project for Public Spaces: 

Want to see how good public space can make people feel? Watch this beyond awesome video by documentary filmmaker Adele Pham, of people celebrating the opening of the new Putnam Triangle plaza in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, last weekend.

WNET New York Public Media Asks:

What Would Jane Jacobs Say?
Sam Lewis | METRO FOCUS September 16, 2011


Transforming NYC Streets: A Conversation with Janette Sadik-Khan from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Vancouver Sun's Daphne Bramham and Architect Stanley King Walk Around & Talk About Their S. False Creek Neighbourhood

Sun story here.

To the Editor, Sat. Sept 17 2011

The tenure of the current Nanaimo Mayor and Councilors is coming to an end. As the November civic election approaches it might be a good time for this administration to reflect on whether or not they leave the institution — one of the key governing bodies in our democracy — in better shape than they found it. At the end of their watch is our City Hall more or less respected and trusted by Nanaimo citizens?

They might want to consider some or all of the following:

The City's top public servant — then City Manager Jerry Berry — was allowed to walk away from his post with a very rich severance package the details of which, though often promised, were never made public.

The contract to construct a very expensive state of the art City Hall Annex to house City departments and workers has been awarded in a behind closed doors process without consultation with any stakeholders who might be impacted by this decision.