A coat of paint and a new pot plant
Redevelopment sounds like such a big deal doesn't it? THIRTEEN MILLION DOLLARS sounds like such a big amount of money doesn't it? What does a small community expect of the two phrases worked together into a lovely press announcement by a Government Department? They expect a big deal and a big benefit. To quote one of my husband's famous, and slightly Shiraz fuelled speeches many years ago, they want everything to be Bigger & Better! But what does Bigger & Better look like in bricks and mortar? How does the community get to decide how that looks and what they want? How do you get more than a coat of paint and a new pot plant for your hard effort and dollars? The first step is to include community members from day one of the process. I'm deliberately not using the word consumer here. Consumers and Community can be very different beasts for the corporate and government worlds to deal with. I'll explain. A Consumer Representative is when you