[MA-RPC] FW: [at-l] 250 senior living homes

[Kerry Snow]

Wow!  A virtual flurry of opinions and ideas!
And just in time for the big meeting.
 
A reminder that our March meeting is scheduled for the 11th, 0930 at the
Unitarian Church in Boiling Springs.
Karen and I are putting the finishing touches on the agenda, which should be
in the mail presently.
 
Kerry

  _____  

From: ma-rpc-bounces at commerce-02.cilia.org
[mailto:ma-rpc-bounces at commerce-02.cilia.org] On Behalf Of Hal Wright
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 2:43 PM
To: MARPC list
Subject: Re: [MA-RPC] FW: [at-l] 250 senior living homes



On Feb 27, 2006, at 2:28 PM, James Hooper wrote:


I have another thought. My experience says that the township boards listen
better to local voters. 

Could the ATC sort the PA members by zip code and then we could look at the
zip codes along the trail and try to locate members that are in the various
townships?

On Feb 27, 2006, at 12:43 PM, Hal Wright wrote:


Good to hear from you Michelle, Thyra and Jim. 

So this dialogue has brought focus onto a big problem (development pressure)
and one solution (activism directed at local government).

It's been suggested, I think by Walt, that the best sort of local government
activism is to be a member of the governing body. For those of us who do not
live near the trail, and for many who do, that's not a realistic
possibility. So we are forever in reaction mode, flooding public meetings
when the issue is important and hoping our voices, or some serendipitous
outside force, will turn the tide in our favor.

Reaction-based activism from the outside looking in is difficult to sustain,
particularly at a distance. For example, when the Alpine Rose development
issue was at the early stages, I joined the BMPA. I made the two hour drive
up to Eldred Township once or twice a month to attend meetings. It made for
a late night, and it became impossible to keep up with my on-the-job
responsibilities. The township residents, while appreciative, knew I wasn't
from around there. Most mistook me for a reporter at first. Not being from
the township, my opinion meant little in any event.

If we are to be proactive rather than reactive, my sense is that media tools
will help those of us who don't enjoy proximity and don't know the local
players. A spiffily-produced Power Point and a short video presentation with
the official ATC logo, general enough to be used at any public gathering and
on-point with the "curb the development" message, would be a good tool. Any
one of us could then present, and all of the presentations would be unified.
It would lend credibility and cohesion to our message, and make it possible
for any RPC member to get on the agenda of any relevant public meeting.

Google-Earth and TerraServer photos of the trail corridor, as well as
close-ups of maintainers, hikers, and impressive natural sights, would make
a good combination. 

I also think a component of our organized message should be the damage being
done to the environment by inappropriate trail use. Every time a member of
one of our clubs cleans up a bunch of beer cans or other garbage, he or she
should take a photo of the before and after, and email it to a central
account with the date and location. Every time we see ATV tracks, take a
picture and email it. Every time a car window gets smashed at the trail
head, take a picture and email it. This evidence can be accumulated, and a
map of trouble spots established based on empirical data. This would make
for an impactful presentation, and give us much data to present to
enforcement in an effort to convince them that a problem exists.

I would be happy to help with these efforts, and I do have some media tools
at my disposal. The issue has always been motivating individual club members
to supply content. Maybe with the RPC, we can get some of that accomplished.
For a start, I can set up an email account where maintenance pictures might
be forwarded. Longer term, I think this should be automated with an online
database, and possibly a mapping function via GPS.

What do you think?



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