From April 17 to April 19 McBride-Dale-Clarion conducted a charrette at the Bradley Center Mall. The purpose of the charrette was to get citizen input on the work done so far on the growth plan known as BCC2035.
A successful charrette promotes joint ownership of solutions and attempts to defuse typical confrontational attitudes between residents and developers.
On April 17, a group of concerned citizens gathered to discuss their concerns about the consultants, the money being spent and the final outcome of BCC2035. The citizens attending this meeting were encouraged to participate and express their concerns. And they did. There were also citizens present during the entire charrette to observe the complete event.
On April 19 at 6:30 p.m., citizens arrived to hear the results. No results were available. We were at first told it was due to a lack of time to prepare the findings and then we were told the real reason was because the results were too negative. Regardless, the citizens that attended the charrette spoke and the results of the surveys indicate a very strong negative opinion toward the BCC2035 process.
In my opinion the consultants would like to make the public believe these results do not reflect the true feelings of the community. In my opinion they prefer to hide the truth with rumors of sabotage. Would they have felt the same way if those same citizens submitted positive results? Citizens were invited to attend and citizens attended. Because the results did not go in their favor they are finding fault with the citizens instead of their plan. Charrette or charade?
Karen Bracken
libertycoalitiontn@gmail.com