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Entitled people are already enough of aproblem, with their demands, whining and generally delusional behavior.
First and foremost, we wanted to hear, as a city planner, what misconceptions he keeps encountering.
The biggest misconception is that planners have agency.
The elected officials call the shots.
Planners advise but dont make policy.
And elected officials often do not listen.
I am embarrassed for all the times I pointed at a planner and said you should do this.
People need to focus on lobbying elected officials.
I recommend people read city as a growth machine to understand how it really works.
He also had a few explanations for why this might happen more often than not.
But mostly they are against it.
Sometimes thats good because it can scuttle bad proposals.
Or an empty grocery store because people fought housing above, he shared.
The process of proposal approval means there is no room for integrated solutions.
Planners give input in early phases, but they are not inclined to be innovative.
Citizens pretty much only input in hearings, when things are already set, he shared with Bored Panda.
An example would be a transit station site in DC.
But it is a transit agency, then a developer, then a project approved by the city.
With zero inflection points to be innovative.
Plus this contradiction is never discussed or addressed.
Rarely is there adequate education built into planning engagements.
Its rare that people become more knowledgeable and better at participating with each engagement they participate in.
Thats pretty damning (although I am an exception).
People expect things to be fast.
2 projects in DC I participated in took 13 years.
Another, the Metrorail site, is in its 24th year although groundbreaking is likely this year or next.
As a board member of a park were planning projects now that maybe will be finished by 2030.
All roads, regardless of land use context, are built to enable fast driving.
I argue we should have differentiated pavements around parks, libraries, schools, transit stations etc.
to make speed and land use context more congruent.
This particular story is a good example of some of the difficulties one can run into.
Similarly, there are laws against this.
But all this regulatory power suffers in comparison to oneentitled fellowand his BMW.
Image credits:JESHOOTS.com (not the actual image)
Readers thought the mans actions were hilarious
