Commentary from Facilitated Exercises

“The Opportunity Agenda, What America’s Values Really Are.” 

What comes out of The Opportunity Agenda is that the idea of America as a Land of Opportunity is still very much alive and still quite powerful. These are the Key Concepts Sabrina Klein listed —

VOICE: Everyone has a right to be heard.

SECURITY: Is more than personal safety but also involves access to healthcare, education and housing.

COMMUNITY:

MOBILITY: Access to the necessities of life.

EQUALITY: Benefits and burdens of a society to be shared equally by all.

REDEMPTION: Valuing second chances.  

What follows below are all comments from all six breakout groups (one group for each key concept.) —  

VOICE

How do we make a difference/have our opinions heard?

How do we hear each other as neighbors?

How do the less powerful voices get heard? For example in this forum though the moderator did a pretty good job of wording some questions, this was an unbalanced presentation.

On the other hand, prior to ULTRA’s formation and the ULTRA Forum today, only the voice of those whose views contrast with ULTRA’s were heard.

Ted the presenter said; “Plan not just for density, but for community.”

Everybody in the community has a say.

Communication skills critical

Need democratic leadership in government: not skewed by special interests or loudest voices.  

SECURITY

Physical safety – incidents?

Know your neighbors

Feeling at home

Ownership

Watching out for one another

Housing Security (evictions, affordability, stability)

Porch lights on!

Picnics

BBQ

Community involvement = Security

Neighborhood Watch

Focus police on what to look for

NCPC – STOP enforcements

Traffic safety – Bike and Pedestrian focused

Drug Laws = Market = Crime incentive

Nuisance laws

Fire safety

COMMUNITY

Meeting places to gather, commons, parks, sense of connection to others

Empowerment to have a say/voice

Information

Shared benefits

Size = relevant

Share everything

Feeling comfortable

Time/space to make good choices

Organic growth

Importance of public space

Addressing privacy vs. community. Together figuring out how to balance.

Everyone participates (seniors, youth, adults, etc.)

Schools, jobs, events, places to meet are all interconnected.

Walkability

Independent businesses

Public transit is connected to community, it connects you

Diversity (cultural/economic)

Feelings are valid

All needs matter

Not agreeing always; opinions are different and that’s ok

MOBILITY

Traffic is not just cars – dogs are traffic, people are traffic, bikes are traffic.

Diversity of social fabric

Pedestrian friendly

Connection

Poor traffic engineering

Centrally located

Need to travel less

Being able to walk, bike or bus

Accessibility

Reducing lanes on Broadway/Telegraph Avenue can increase speed and reduce travel time; look at Marin Avenue in Albany/Berkeley.

Shorter distances from home to work/shopping/entertainment

Shorter distances = more connections to neighborhood

Mobility, safety, amenities

EQUALITY

Public spaces - Carter, Emerson, Oakland Tech, Studio One, playing fields, open space.

Land trusts for small spaces

Pocket parks (Gilbert @ Mather)

Community gardens access

Equal access to privileged neighborhoods

Equal share of burden of very affordable housing throughout Oakland

Capital improvement funds to support more open space, pedestrian safety, etc.

How to calculate entitlements for developers vs. infrastructure of public amenities/services for existing residents.

Community services support either money or commensurate with development and increase in population.

Access for everyone to art, books, cultural history, avant garde, quality education, transportation.

The disappearance of the “commons.”

Ground floor use of new retail space to be used for the community by the community

Community Trust to operate/acquire spaces.

REDEMPTION

Adaptive processes.

Redeem ourselves from the freedom of suburban living.

What do we do with our returning convicts?

Redemption

- Human

- Physical

            - waste

            - open space

            - brown fields

            - resource efficient

            - community connections

            - diversity (economic & racial)

Change is the only constant.

Dialog to get to redemption – tolerate differences of people, industries, economies, felons, recycling/reuse, rainwater, housing types.

How to consciously incorporate “shadow” at all stages of a process (building/redevelopment/personal life), etc. “We thought it was a good idea at the time…” OK to change course as we go.

Continuous process/cycle/involvement constantly change course as we go; no absolute answers; no easy answers; recognize/admit what didn’t work; open to new ideas/change (change is ok, necessary, The Way.)

What we think is our redeeming history or redeeming what we want and what we know.

Cause and effect risk.