Your community needs meeting space. The inherited resources are limited. You make sure to mention all of the wonderful activities and resources and citizen groups in your community when you make a speech, but you can't decide how to splice the locations for these elements in your budget.
You have historic properties and other civic properties available. How do you use them to benefit your community?
Answer:
You don't. You let them rot for years until you can justify eliminating what you don't care for due to costs. Then you hope the people who want to use them will just go away.
Engineer says Brook Run Theater needs to be gutted http://t.co/kNwtkdGTye
— Reporter Newspapers (@Reporter_News) June 29, 2015
Next question:
How do you engage with and accommodate citizens with various priorities that are praised at civic functions but wrestled with in less-visible scenarios?
Answer:
Is it the same as the first answer?
Stay tuned...
5 comments:
I believe the theater was trashed before we became a city. DeKalb County is to blame. They poured tons of concrete and built a dog park instead of fixing theater. im not aware of a demand for meeting space. The library rooms are usually vacant and local churches and swim clubs have filled the gap. There is no way an industry would seriously consider using a building in Brook Run for a convention. That talking point is so weak I can't believe I even mentioned it. Sorry, but the building is nothing but a shell. There is no ide spread demand for a new theater.
Hi Rick-
Thanks for visiting. And for commenting. Most of all, thank you for demonstrating so eloquently the very point I raised in the post.
So.. YOU are not aware of a need for community spaces, therefore the need doesn't exist. You're wrong. I'm aware of it because I'm involved with groups who can't reserve space anywhere or are cramped into 1960s-era elementary classrooms when they can get that. Churches and swim clubs have not "filled the gap". Go ask All Saints how much community space they have to share. No one is advertising their facilities as available for use. If you're "not aware", then you haven't been paying attention to the citizens around you.
And with this grandiose dismissal, you make it clear that you're not interested in any opinion except the one you've already formed. Is this just your POV? Do you speak for the entire Planning Commission? How about all of government, including your friends on City Council? Is it a waste of time for anyone with a different perspective to come to you with a concern? Pass the blame to someone else? Are you going to dismiss them if they try to confuse you with facts or opinions because you've already made up your mind? Are you going to ignore them and let them rot so they just go away? Or mock them on your blog if they stick up for themselves, and MAKE them go away?
The current theatre may be a loss. But is that loss an unavoidable circumstance based on incorporation and resulting lawsuits? Or was it a test case to see if you can ignore something else until it disintegrates? That's why we should "stay tuned".
Like I said earlier - this is an election year for Dunwoody. How our candidates and their appointees (that's you) handle this question may make a difference in the outcomes.
The Dunwoody library meeting room holds 100 people and is available for $35 for non-profits. If you seek space for a private function, hotels and restaurants in the area have large spaces for rent. If you are looking for a free space to use at taxpayer expense, that is more difficult. I'm not aware of any government entity that provides free meeting spaces. And I don't think it's wise to spend $6 million or more so that we can have meeting space for 100 people. Sounds like you seek a free or subsidized meeting place. Not sure why you bring up Planning Commission. There's no pending case regarding the theater. I was in that theater before we became a city, and it was trashed then. Prior reports said a theater revamp would cost millions. You mention the elections this year - please know every single person serving on every Dunwoody board is/was appointed by the mayor. Council members do not have appointees. This is very clear in the city's charter.If a candidate runs a campaign based on spending $6million + on a theater, I doubt they will win. And has everyone seen how trashed the 'new and improved' dog park looks lately? Get rid of the dog park and I'd be open to discuss a public/private partnership on a theater. As long as the city council allows a dog park at Brook Run, that park will continue to decline. The dog park ruined one section of land, and now another. In two years council will move it again, ruining another few acres. Within 30 years, dog parks will have ruined the entire park. If talking long term on Brook Run, the dog park issue needs addressed first.
And one last note, what is the Brook Run Conservancy's stance on the dog park? Now and long term?
Rick, Rick, Rick....
Not helping.
You've thrown in a bunch of red herrings and false assumptions instead of answering the key questions.
You quote stats about ONE space, as if that can cover everything in the city.
I didn't mention "free" or "subsidized". You did. You draw conclusions based on your current opinions, not what's presented to you.
You say the theatre was "trashed" right before Dunwoody incorporated. And yet there were no efforts to either rehabilitate or demolish it ASAP. It was just allowed to disintegrate. Which supports the title of the post.
Then you bring in a slew of other issues about Brook Run in general, which have nothing to do with what I discussed, but we all know they are important to you. Changing the subject is not the same thing as answering the key question.
I mentioned Planning Commission because you are on it. Is your response on this blog typical of what the average citizen bringing a new concern to you can expect? The theatre, for the purposes of this blog and post, is merely a symptom, an example of dismissive decision making that could be an exception or a rule. Time will tell.
And why are you asking me what the Brook Run Conservancy's stance is on anything? Unless that's not directed to yours truly and you're expecting one of those members to chime in.
I'm not encouraged.
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