After the top 10 ideas were revealed for the city’s next envision process (dot #4763), it elicited a variety of immediate reactions.
You could hear the cheers from several groups in attendance who were happy that their pet project made the list. Less overt were a few in the background grumbling because their area was not specifically mentioned.
It was disheartening for me to witness the singular focus in either direction. The volunteer group had the difficult task of culling 3000 ideas into a manageable list of 10. Of course, not everything was going to be included, but they presumably focused on the big picture to make their decisions. It wasn’t meant to be a representative list, but rather a doable and impactful one.
In this process, as well as in politics and too many other venues, people get fixated on one issue and overlook the rest. They vote because a candidate is for/against one particular thing. They forego relationships because of one area of disagreement. They dislike companies because of their stance on one policy.
Try to look beyond “one” of anything and evaluate the whole before forming an opinion. The whole is comprised of many pieces.
