The Problem with Public Meetings, Part 1

The War on Cars

The War on Cars, LLC

Cars, Society & Culture, Culture, Bicycling, Politics, Urbanism, Walking, Transportation, Cities, Transit, News Commentary, News

4.9 • 937 Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2019

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the battle to make cities better for walking, biking and transit, there’s no more important front line than local community meetings. So when a flyer advertising a town-hall forum about the New York City Department of Transportation’s alleged “war on cars” began appearing in Brooklyn neighborhoods, we knew we had to attend. On this episode, we discuss what happens when regular citizens gather to discuss losing precious parking spaces to benefit the greater good. What are some tactics advocates can use to bring people around to their point of view? Given the typical format of these forums, is finding common ground even possible? Is there a better way to conduct public meetings or is screaming at each other in a church social hall a necessary evil? [NOTE: Due to some late-breaking developments, this is part one of a two-part series on public meetings.]

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SHOW NOTES:

Is a Better Public Meeting Possible? Casey Berkovitz, The Century Foundation.

Progressive Boomers are Making it Impossible for Cities to Fix the Housing Crisis. Michael Hobbes, The Huffington Post.

Background on the reaction to the NYC DOT residential loading zone program. NY Daily News.

A play-by-play of the Fort Greene “War on Cars” meeting. Via Julianne Cuba, Streetsblog.

This episode was edited by Jamie Kaiser.

Find us on Twitter @TheWarOnCars, Aaron Naparstek @Naparstek, Sarah Goodyear @buttermilk1 and Doug Gordon @BrooklynSpoke. Email us: [email protected]

https://thewaroncars.org

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everybody there have been some developments since we recorded this episode so please
0:05.7	consider this part one of a two-part series on public meetings.
0:11.5	So did you both see this flyer that was posted around Brooklyn and
0:15.7	made the rounds online last week or the week before? The war on cars meeting?
0:20.1	Yes, the war on cars meeting. I saw it on social media, but I didn't actually see a copy of it.
0:24.6	Do you have a copy of it here?
0:26.1	Yeah, I have a copy right here.
0:27.9	There was a meeting advertised for last Tuesday.
0:30.6	It showed two brownstones with a big banner that said preserve our Brooklyn
0:35.6	neighborhoods Fort Green Clinton Hill town hall on the NYC War on Cars.
0:40.9	It says first they took away traffic lanes, then gas stations, now they're
0:46.3	coming for the parking.
0:47.3	Oh my God, and they didn't, I assumed Sarah posted that.
0:51.0	No, this was not a viral marketing campaign for. This was not marketing for our own
0:57.0	podcast. No. I didn't know that City Hall was sponsoring this program. No, this was not an official. This was not an official city hall meeting this was not
1:06.4	dote this was organized by a group of people and I went to it.
1:14.0	This is the War on Cars, the podcast about inappropriate analogies in the fight to reclaim
1:20.1	streets for people.
1:21.1	It wasn't our analogy. Well, actually full holocausts on there you know.
1:25.4	Actually it is our analogy but but yes. I'm Doug Gordon and I am here with my co-host Sarah Goodyear and Aaron Napers Day.
1:35.0	Hey, as everyone knows if you want to change your street in any way to make it better for people on bikes or put into pedestrian plaza, all roads go through your local
1:44.4	community board or community association and involve some sort of public
	...

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