Tonight’s KAYAC sidewalk charette: “Like a dinner party”

I attended my first, but probably not my last, Kyle Area Youth Advisory Committee (KAYAC) meeting last evening hoping to get some sort of preview of tonight’s KAYAC sponsored sidewalk "charette."

I attended, not so much because it was KAYAC, but because it involved sidewalks and while the rest of the county, the state and the country seems obsessed with roads, I’m much more concerned with sidewalks. Perhaps it stems from my childhood growing up on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where everyone walked everywhere — to the grocer’s, to work, to the park, to school and to schul — but I firmly believe a stronger community is one that is more walkable not more drive-able, a liveable community is one that is more pedestrian friendly and less automobile friendly. By definition, this sort of emphasis reduces traffic congestion, keeps the air cleaner, reduces the need to spend tax money on constant road repairs, and, on an individual level, reduces all kinds of transportation expenses, from fuel purchases to repairs. What right-thinking person can be on the other side of those subjects? So when I heard KAYAC was sponsoring this workshop in order to obtain citizen input on sidewalks it naturally drew more than my casual interest.

The most common definition of "charette" is "a meeting in which all stakeholders in a project attempt to resolve conflicts and map solutions." And that’s exactly what’s going to take place this evening starting at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall. In this case, "map" should be taken literally.

There will be munchies available in the anteroom area — I’m thinking deli-style sandwiches, chips, non-alcoholic (of course) drinks, even some cookies. After what I expect will be some sort of schmoozing as well as munching opportunities in the anteroom and perhaps inside the chamber itself, attendees will, at least by 6:45 p.m., be asked to sit wherever they choose at one of probably four tables in the chambers. City Planning Director Howard Koontz told the KAYAC members last night they should like on the entire affair as "a little like a dinner party."

A pair of KAYAC members (and for those who are not familiar with who comprises KAYAC, they are local high school students and they are sharp) will be at each table, one to act as a discussion facilitator and the other to act as a form of court reporter, making notes on whatever is discussed at that table. A large map of the city, which reveals where sidewalks are currently located and those neighborhood without this kind of an amenity, will be placed on each table and what’s going to happen is this, in its very simplest form: Participants will be asked to mark on these maps where in the city should the installation of sidewalks be a major priority, where they should be a secondary priority and where, perhaps, sidewalks might be nice but right now are not absolutely necessary. And the facilitator will prod participants to explain why they feel the way they do about sidewalks.

Those might not, in fact they are probably not, the specific questions the facilitators are going to ask, but that’s the information participants who take the time and the effort to make Kyle a stronger, more liveable community and therefore decide to participate in this effort should be prepared to impart.

At the end of all this, the facilitators and the note takers might be able to find the opportunity to quickly huddle and arrive at some form of consensus which they can then impart to those who attended the charette. But, to be perfectly honest, I could care less if the KAYAC folks provide some sort of conclusionary report tonight. In fact, I wouldn’t mind it one bit if the KAYAC members involved in this effort huddled for a couple of days or even weeks with some of our city planners to produce a comprehensive sidewalk plan that could be forwarded to the City Council for debate and discussion and to the city’s management for possible incorporation in the CIP portion of next year’s budget.

But, regardless of the outcome, the process itself is an admirable one and deserves citizen participation. I would really like to see 40 Kyle residents, at the very least, who are willing to show up at City Hall at 6:30 tonight take part in this worthwhile effort, to offer their opinions on where the city needs sidewalks, to impart how they want to make this city more walkable and how to strengthen this community we have chosen to call home.