Case Study: Deliberative Decision Making Process

Salient Points

For:

• The ambitious and expensive recreational park is intended to be a destination project
• Help integrate this community to address the growing east-west divide due to economic growth
• Other cities have benefited from similar centers
• Greater good would be served by spending the money and locating the center in a place that would not reinforce the east-west divide that seemed to be growing
• project will benefit the community in the long run,

Against:

• neighborhood associations think it would bring unwanted traffic and destroy a landmark neighborhood park
• fitness centers see the park as potential government competition with private sector
• anti-tax group believes it is too costly
• if built at this size and at this location it will alienate a significant portion of the population

Alternatives Forwarded:

• Neighborhood associations, fitness centers and anti-tax group suggest that the neighborhood recreation center be built on the west side, the growing and affluent side of town

Deliberative Decision Making Process:

The aim of constructing the recreational park is not to alienate some segments of the population but to help them grow economically. The community however does not see it this way. They believe that it will alienate them, thus, the source of conflict.

The best way to address this problem is to allow the community to participate in the decision-making process and let their voices be heard. At the same time, the local government should be vigilant against catering to the interest of the few.

The community is adamant about putting up a recreational park because they are not aware of the goals and the future benefits they will reap from it. The local government should initiate a dialogue with the residents in order to convince them of the need to put up such project.

Through these dialogues, the local residents should be given the opportunity to voice their concerns. At the same time, the local government should be able to assure them that they are taking their opinions seriously and are looking for ways to address the issues effectively.

Compromise should be the name of the game. The solution is to find a way to marry two conflicting thoughts – those for and against the project.

Every huge endeavor is bound to alienate some segments of the society at one point or another. The community’s major concerns are it might disrupt peaceful neighborhood and compete with local businesses.

Competing with local businesses is indeed a possible effect of the recreational park. But what the local businessman fail to consider is if the park operates, their customer base will no longer be limited to local residents but to a larger perhaps wealthier group of tourists who will be flocking to the place. The loss of local customers could be offset by the influx of more tourists.