Public Comment

The Adeline corridor got a $750,000 planning grant to study “revitalization.” Run for your lives.

When all the “planning” and “assessments” have finally evolved into money lining the pockets of consultants, be sure to take a good look at all the crayon-covered little maps and suggestions from the neighbors for parks, playgrounds and low-income housing, because that’s the last you’ll ever see of them.

Want to see what they’ll build before they build it? Just stroll over to University Avenue, where a similar crayon-filled “participatory” planning process managed to net the neighborhood butt-ugly, comically small, unaffordable condos and apartments in huge buildings stacked to the sky whose mostly student residents manage the inadequate parking provided by taking up space in the surrounding neighborhoods. 

University Avenue neighbors were asked what they wanted along the way in nifty little focus groups with attentive facilitators busily writing down ideas from attendees. But what showed up later was big, tall, ugly-ass buildings nobody can afford; exactly what maximizes profits for developers. 

It isn’t illegal to hand out crayons and maps to a struggling neighborhood and ask them their dreams. But don’t think for a minute that a developer’s dreams won’t trump everything a neighborhood asks for. If you don’t believe me, be sure to put in a wishing well. And keep your eye on it, map after map, until it’s gone.