Westside report delayed two months

Lolita Harper

The committee was large. The task was considerable. The conclusion

will take more time.

The City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, approved a

two-month extension Monday for the final report due from the

Community Redevelopment Action Committee. The report -- the

culmination of an 18-month process to allow various residents to

present suggestions for the future of the Westside -- was scheduled

to be presented at the end of this month.

Committee facilitators Civic Solutions, which was hired to guide

the committee through the “consensus building” process and forge the

final report, asked for the additional time to allow committee

members to be actively involved in the drafting.

The facilitators initially requested that the report be due in

September, said Mike Robinson, the city’s director of redevelopment,

but council members refused to delay the process.

“I would like to get this thing wrapped up as soon as possible,”

Councilwoman Libby Cowan said.

The report will end the city’s contract with Civic Solutions and

the initial study period. The contract, originally set to end June

30, will be extended to Aug. 30, without further compensation.

Committee member Bill Turpit said Civic Solutions created a rough

draft of the report, which was then given to a subcommittee for

revision. Once the changes are made, it will return to the entire

committee for more input for the final draft.

“In the last three months and three meetings, the committee has

made tremendous progress in comparison to the first nine months,”

Turpit said. “It doesn’t surprise me at all that we are getting an

extra two months to finish the report.”

Mayor Gary Monahan, who has been critical of the Civic Solutions

during the tumultuous study, said the extension was “not acceptable.”

Throughout the process, a core group of about a dozen members of the

committee repeatedly complained that the methods being used to gain

consensus were childlike, and that facilitators spoke down to them

and wasted time on fruitless exercises.

“We are talking about a consulting firm that, from day one, [we’ve

gotten complaints] that nothing has been moving, and now we are

talking about a one- to three-month delay?” Monahan asked.

Although the committee was deliberately created to have no council

input, Monahan intervened briefly to make sure all the players were

on the same page. Officials from Civic Solutions and committee

members were reminded of the goals of redevelopment and what the city

actually had the power to accomplish.

Despite the bumpy ride, many members of the Community

Redevelopment Action Committee were anxious to carry on their

meetings and continue giving their input.

In May, the council voted to invite all members back for an

ongoing study of the city’s redevelopment, after the initial 18-month

study is completed.

Cowan said Monday that delays regarding the final report would

hinder the group’s momentum.

Monahan supported the unanimous vote to extend the deadline, but

said he refuses to grant any more time.