|
Planning for Portsmouth's Future
April 3, 2003 Every ten years, our City, through the Planning Board, reviews and revises the Master Plan-a guiding document of what our community is, and what it wants to be in the future. State statutes require that the Planning Board obtain public input in this process. However, consistent with one of the most important characteristics of this community, our Planning Board is not satisfied by just doing the minimum. Instead, the Planning Board endorsed the Study Circle concept as one of the ways to get the best and most well reasoned public input for the City's Master Plan. Going even further, the Planning Board will solicit additional public input through public hearings throughout the community and surveys. The Portsmouth community is indeed fortunate to have a City government committed to listening to its entire community. As a government policy statement, the Master Plan is often only thought of in terms of what the City can and should do. Portsmouth Listens has encouraged all Study Circle participants to recognize it should be about what everyone can do. That is, in addition to what the City can do, we must also be prepared to act and contribute through public-private partnerships, non-profit and volunteer institutions, businesses, and, most importantly, as individual citizens. It is all about, “How Can We Make Portsmouth the Best Place to Live and Work for Everyone?” This report summarizes the efforts of Portsmouth Listens through Phase I of the Study Circle process. We brought together nearly 300 people in 26 groups to ponder and respond to the question, “How Can We Make Portsmouth the Best Place to Live and Work for Everyone?” The purpose of this Summary Report is to provide an overview of the information coming out of Phase I of the Study Circles. This is not a statistical analysis, nor is it intended to be a substitute for the information and ideas developed and presented by each of the Study Circles in their attached reports. Rather, our intent is to pique your interest and encourage you to read each and every one of the 26 reports totaling 147 pages. This may seem a daunting task. Nevertheless, we encourage you to read each and every report because you will find a treasure trove of information and ideas that will inspire you about what this City is and can be. The Process Utilizing the Study Circle format, 26 teams averaging approximately eight to twelve participants per team, met for weekly two-hour sessions over four weeks. Each Study Circle met for a minimum of eight hours, and many extended well beyond that. During the sessions, they explored their likes and dislikes about Portsmouth, their view of what Portsmouth is and their dreams of what Portsmouth can be. Guided by trained facilitators, each Study Circle came up with a list of issues related to the question, “How Can We Make Portsmouth the Best Place to Live and Work for Everyone?” and then proceeded to prioritize their top three to five issues. The Study Circles then focused on their priority issues, each providing a final report describing the highlights of their dialogue; areas of agreement and disagreement; and significant findings and recommendations concerning what they considered to be priority issues. The significance of the Study Circle process is in bringing together large numbers of community members to work together on critical common issues. It is dialogue rather than debate. Study Circle participants are asked to work together to review the issue, share and respect each other's opinions, and report out their collective findings and recommendations. It goes far beyond simply offering one's opinion. Study Circles engender a commitment within the group to work together to get the best answers. Hence Study Circles are an excellent means of gathering well-reasoned, balanced community input and advice. However, they are not statistically based like a survey or an opinion poll. The validity of their findings and recommendations is based on the deliberative nature of the process and the convergence of ideals and recommendations from a large number of groups. In addition to gathering input for the Master Plan, Study Circles serve as a community building activity. Its impact on our participants was significant and is best explained in their own words which can be found in the Appendix. This process would not have been possible but for the outstanding work of these individuals: started it all last summer. The Participants Who were these people? From the beginning, Portsmouth Listens believed in getting the largest grassroots input possible for the Master Plan. To recruit, volunteers hand-delivered 5,938 brochures door-to-door. We also recruited through newspaper ads and displays in businesses. Signups totaled 415 individuals or 2.7% of city adults over 25. In the end, 295 residents began the study circle process. We later added 20+ participants in Phase IA (described below). The participants were diverse in age. Average income was $63,000 vs. the city family median of $59,630. But 89% of the participants were college graduates versus 49.3% of the population in the 2000 census. Also, while the city is split 50-50 between renters and homeowners, 76% of Portsmouth Listens participants were homeowners. About 20% had children in the schools - identical to the proportion of city households. Because renters and moderate-income residents were under-represented, Portsmouth Listens recruited additional study circles to get such input in what we called Phase IA. Input from these participants should get added weight in the planning board's review, because they speak for a large portion of the city often not heard in the Master Plan review process. A demographic profile of participants based on an exit survey is in the appendix. HOW CAN WE MAKE PORTSMOUTH THE BEST PLACE TO LIVE AND WORK FOR EVERYONE? Portsmouth Listens did not ask each Study Circle to specifically answer the question, “How Can We Make Portsmouth the Best Place to Live and Work for Everyone?” It appeared that a specific answer to the question would be too limiting. Yet, in reading the reports, there is substantial convergence on many themes that almost beg the question to be answered. Here is our answer as inspired by our reading of the attached Study Circle reports: “Portsmouth should be a livable, walkable city that preserves its history, lives in balance with its natural resources, protects its waterfront and views, provides a good climate for entrepreneurial opportunity, acts on its belief in socio-economic diversity through affordable housing and connects neighborhoods through multiple and innovative modes of transportation. Portsmouth should consciously support its local arts and culture, take steps to build community through citywide events, enhanced and beautified common living and recreating spaces and neighborhood connectedness. In these ways, Portsmouth will remain the most historic and most passionate city in New Hampshire.” This compression of so much outstanding work cannot come close to the experience of reading all of the Study Circle reports, any more than a screenplay writer's two-sentence pitch can replace seeing “Gone with the Wind.” The reports speak for themselves and must be read in full to achieve the full tableau and brilliance of their thinking. The step-by-step reasoning of each group is captured, from their assessment of the city's strengths and weaknesses, to prioritizing what they view as important from their own experience as residents, to recommendations that balance the needs of all citizens. We strongly urge all readers of this summary report to take 60 minutes as a citizen of Portsmouth and read all of the reports. We even suggest that you then write your own answer to the question, “How Can We Make Portsmouth the Best Place to Live and Work for Everyone?” (Enter it at www.portsmouthlistens.org or mail it to Portsmouth Listens at PO Box 119, Portsmouth, N.H., 03801) Your answer to the “question” and any comments you have in response to the process or the findings and recommendations of the Phase I reports will be collected and passed on to the Planning Board. COMMON ISSUES The commonality of issues and themes across the reports was enlightening and encouraging. It provides one with a sense of the conviction felt by all members of the community about making Portsmouth “the Best Place to Live and Work for Everyone.” From our review of the reports, six major themes or issues seem to percolate to the surface. Certainly these are not the only issues, but they are the ones that appear to us to be the most common and significant. They are . . . A reader of all the reports will also note the intense concern for all of these issues in both the downtown and outlying areas. While the study circle process does not lend itself to traditional statistical analysis, we attempted to rank the issues by frequency of mention in the reports, and the priority ranking given each item by the groups. We concluded the above list comprises the “big six.” There is also particularly intense feeling (high priority on their lists) among participants when it comes to three areas: building community, the downtown, and transportation. Here is how we briefly summarize what we garnered from our reading of the reports on each issue. Natural resources. Natural resources include the waterfront, our recreational and open spaces, paths connecting these resources, and irreplaceable views. There is a clear directive to preserve, protect, enhance and sustain our natural resources and open spaces and incorporate wise environmental practices in this stewardship. Participants say it's not just preserving, but creating access and connection to these natural resources that helps to make Portsmouth the best place to live. Housing: Participants believe strongly in a socio-economically diverse community. They recognize it is dependent on affordable housing. They understand the difficulty of the issue, and have given it a lot of critical thinking. Nearly every group felt this was a key to making Portsmouth a great place to live in the future. Despite the fact that the majority of our participants own a home and are from higher socio-economic levels, they place socio-economic diversity of the community high on their table of values. Building Community. In describing what they liked about Portsmouth, almost every Study Circle mentioned the “sense of community,” and one Study Circle devoted its entire report to “Building Community.” The reports indicate that building community starts on an individual level dealing with how we interact with one another, widens to neighborhood activities and decision making, and ultimately expands to citywide activities that bring all together for special events, celebrations, or decision making. Building community is substantially impacted by the “built” and “natural” environment. We found a strong desire for “third places” in town - locations that are neither home nor work, but places people gather (like Prescott Park, Market Square, etc.), and a directive to seize new opportunities for them, such as the McIntyre Building. The Study Circles provided long-range ideas for planning and constructing our community in a way that brings people together and preserves and connects us to our natural resources and open spaces in a way that will enhance and sustain our community. Connecting our community, or what one Study Circle referred to as “linkage,” is and should be an overriding theme on all issues. Transportation: Transportation rises to the top because participants see it as profoundly important to daily life and community “linkage.” Participants want to enhance walkability. They see walking and bike paths and other non-automotive transportation modes forming corridors connecting green spaces, downtown, and the waterfront to the rest of the city. Traffic circulation is a necessity for connecting all residents and providing better access for visitors. Economic development: Portsmouth is a good place for small- to medium-sized businesses to thrive, and participants want to keep it that way. In particular, participants want to ensure locally owned businesses, artisans, and craftspeople stay a vital part of the business mix because this helps make Portsmouth a great place to live. Participants value the working port and the commercial vitality of downtown. Suggestions range from local venture capital initiatives and incubators, to restrictive zoning to preserve the small town character of our community. Arts, culture and history: Participants see our city's arts and culture as major contributors to our quality of life. For the local arts scene to continue to be viable, it must be economically successful. Providing forums for performance, and affordable housing for those in the arts community, is vital for the city's future. Similarly, participants also recognized our history as a critical part of our heritage and character and the economic viability of the community. Our history is an extremely valuable asset to not just protect, but more actively celebrate and disseminate. Participants are keenly aware that the success of downtown is an engine for Portsmouth. They are passionate about the downtown and have deliberated with great care to offer solutions to further enhance it. But they also speak frequently about other parts of town. They are concerned about rapid growth and sprawl, and want to better plan for and manage this growth. Some envision that the kind of community centers, green spaces and ease of access for the downtown area also be planned and developed in the rest of the city. Our future depends on focused planning for downtown and outlying areas, suggesting the need to explore both with equal weight in Phase II study circles. How do we make this happen? Through Phase I, citizens in Study Circles have attempted to determine those quality-of-life issues that are the keys to making Portsmouth the best place to live and work for everyone. The next step in helping the Planning Board make this happen is Phase II Study Circles. In Phase II, each Study Circle will be asked to tackle a specific issue and provide feedback and recommendations of concrete action steps for the master plan. The remarkable convergence of thinking in all 26 Study Circles naturally suggests six key areas for further deliberation and, we believe, the reports suggest two more as well. We anticipate Phase II Study Circles on the following topic areas: Phase II Study Circles will commence with a kickoff event on April 15th and will meet weekly from the end of April through May. If you are interested in signing up, please go to our web site at www.portmouthlistens.org, or mail your name, address, email, phone and topic choice to Portsmouth Listens, PO Box 119, Portsmouth, N.H. 03801. All are welcome. Finally, we urge you read each report as thoughtfully as your fellow citizens created them. You will not be disappointed!
|