ANNOUNCING THE OPEN SPACE

Introducing the First Ever News Site for Central Coast Planners
“The Open Space” Will Inform and Connect Planning Pros

We are extremely excited to introduce a new news source for Central Coast Planners called the Open Space. As a media outlet for the Central Coast APA, the Open Space will replace the quarterly Coastal Connection newsletters you used to receive via email announcements. What you’ll now have access to is a news site with original and more frequent content for planners and other professionals in our field.

A compelling argument could be made that land use issues compose the lion share of what most people consider “important local news.” But even if a traditional media source could present all the relevant topics related to land use, the perspective would have to appeal to John and Jill Q. Public and not planning professionals. And we all know that planners have a unique perspective and a language all their own.

So we created the Open Space.

Let’s face it. There are two very critical ingredients that are missing from today’s media coverage of land use: 1) relevant facts and 2) constructive dialogue. What we read nowadays are stories about the NIMBY, the red tape, the missing public notice or the Brown Act conspiracy. And what we hear are the people that complain the loudest.

So at the Open Space you’ll find in-depth articles about the politics and science of planning; the community vision and enabling legislation; and the facts about growth, resource protection and transportation systems that are our industry. And when we write a press release for the APA, we now know it will get published!

You’ll also see that there’s a place to post your comments next to each feature article. That capability is not necessarily missing from traditional media – but it is missing from Central Coast Planning. In our view, the level of collaboration or information sharing could be higher amongst the dozens of land use agencies on the Central Coast. We’re aware that you may be shy, but when you consider that we’re essentially all facing the same challenges just within different political boundaries, the commenting box at the end of each article starts to make sense. We hope you use it – and we hope it becomes the constructive dialogue that is currently missing from our urban affairs.

If you have comments or questions, or more importantly, have a story you’d like to share… reach us via email or post your comments on The Open Space.

Regards,

Jay Higgins, AICP

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