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Public Policy
A fight that erupts between neighbors at the "grass roots" - where democracy starts - can be as bitter as any divorce, and just as destructive to the causes and goals that the parties hold dear. When government planners think they know what's best for a neighborhood or a region, local folks tend to respond with "not in my backyard!"
The public policy decisions that most directly affect individuals, such as major rezonings, school closings, the siting of unpopular projects such as landfills and sewage treatment plants, the routes of new roads and transit lines, are all made in the heat of conflict. Those who favor a project usually create a coalition based on old-fashioned politics rather than what's the best plan!
Significant new infrastructure takes a long time to build because every project has to deal with opposition from neighbors and lawsuits over everything from technical defects in the bond issue to discrimination in hiring on the job site. Yes, we are a government of laws not people. But just because the courthouse door is open to all, does every dispute have to be decided there?
In fact, only a tiny fraction of the disputes that are filed ever make it to decision by a judge or a jury. Most are settled, but not until the parties have exhausted themselves and each other by exceeding both patience and budgets for legal fees. Regulars in the growth business--real estate developers and government officials--know this already, but have a hard time breaking old habits.
Fortunately, there are better ways to resolve these issues. Alternative dispute resolution or "ADR" now has a ten-year history of settling garden-variety lawsuits in the courts of many states. The process most often used is mediation, where a neutral third-party helps define issues and generate options for settlement.
But there are special processes for the more complex issues that come up in public policy cases, such as whether or where a commuter rail line will be built. State and local governments need to be proactive in bringing "stakeholders,' including likely opponents, to the table long before a route is announced. These processes can be fine-tuned in advance by experts to take in just the desired level of community input, from response to a trial balloon to actual decision making, and everything in between. And when legal action threatens, mediation should usually be the first resort, instead of the last before trial.
Robert Wildau's professional career combines experience as a journalist, state government planner, lawyer, judge and mediator. Add his specialized training in collaborative management of policy disputes at CDR Associates in Boulder, Colorado, and you have the ideal mix of skills and experience for innovative public problem solving.
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