Transparent Region Development Guidelines

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Rosie Gray
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Re: Transparent Region Development Guidelines

Post by Rosie Gray »

Tanoujin Milestone wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2020 12:11 am

Suggestion 2:

Add to 1)
„To keep the Citizens informed about changes and give them a chance to publicly complain, the Chancellor will bring up any minor changes made to the CDS environment at the next LUC meeting for discussion. If there is no complain after 7 days after publishing the transcript, the changes are deemed approved.“

I think this is going too far and takes away any initiative of the Chancellor. If a Chancellor has to discuss replacing a tree or changing some chairs before doing anything, this will prevent anything from being done and adds the burden of having to make notes and descriptions to something that should be a simple operation, and would take too long to accomplish anything.

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Delia Lake
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Re: Transparent Region Development Guidelines

Post by Delia Lake »

I agree with Rosie regarding the burden of posting every single upgrade of every environmental item. If we would have to discuss and wait 7 days every time a better version of a tree version or rock comes on the market or is provided as a free upgrade by a seller, it would be so cumbersome we would not be able to make any changes at all. As an example, Alex Bader updated his Skye tree groves and sent the updated versions for free to all of us who had purchased the previous versions. Rosie, Sudane, and I then went around the CDS regions and replaced the old versions we had out with the newer versions. They function much better but look very little different from the old ones. The replacement took very little time for each of us. If I had had to go through the regions and write down each tree then bring it up at the next LUC meeting and then wait 7 days I for one would have just left out the old versions.

We do want to give citizens a voice in how our regions look, but ordinary upgrades that don't change the character of a place should in my opinion be part of the Chancellor's executive responsibility.

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Tanoujin Milestone
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Re: Transparent Region Development Guidelines

Post by Tanoujin Milestone »

Rosie, Delia, you get me wrong. I want the Chancellor to just do it and mention it - for the sake of low workload in a transcripted meeting. No waiting time, no discussion at the LUC if it is a nobrainer.

In your example, Delia, the Chancellor utters something like: "The Skye tree groves have been updated under my management throughout the estate." If there are no questions, that would be the whole job. Otherwise the Chancellor would have to answer those questions, which woud be recorded through the transcript, so again, no additional workload. The interested Citizens would have to read it themselves, I believe that is not too much asked. If there is no reaction, the provisional change is deemed approved after 7 days. Otherwise a discussion starts, without changing the status quo until an agreement is found, either between the interested Citizens and the Executive, or, if that Citizens seek support, by RA resolution.

I'd like to point out that any executive all around the world has the duty to make its actions known, except under despotism. No offense meant!

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Rosie Gray
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Re: Transparent Region Development Guidelines

Post by Rosie Gray »

Thanks for your explanation, Tan, as that is not how I understood it from your wording. In that case, I would propose this wording instead:

1) The Chancellor has the discretion to replace/upgrade/place individual trees, rocks, street-lights, and any other environmental decor as they see fit without consultation, providing that they fit the theme and ambiance of the area and don't interfere with any citizen's enjoyment of their land. The Chancellor needs to inform the LUC or the RA of the updates that they or their directed Executive team have done.

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Re: Transparent Region Development Guidelines

Post by Tanoujin Milestone »

Well, that is a compromise. Fair enough. We do not need to smooth the way for constant nagging. I do hope the Chancellor would be willing to adapt if she meets with concerns from the LUC or massive public resistance. In the end the Chancellor as an elected official will have an interest to stay popular.

I will add the section about terraforming in slightly different wording to avoid the rubber term "minor" again. To prevent misunderstandings I add the term "Changes" to "Updates". I strike "and if" from "work must be kept on hold until and if a concensus is found." (because that makes no sense to me - incomplete?)

What we have now:

1) The Chancellor has the discretion to replace/upgrade/place individual trees, rocks, street-lights, and any other environmental decor and perform corrective and adaptive terraforming as they see fit without consultation, providing that they fit the theme and ambiance of the area and don't interfere with any citizen's enjoyment of their land. The Chancellor needs to inform the LUC or the RA of the updates and changes that they or their directed Executive team have done.

2) Important structural elements to be changed: including public buildings, roads and pathways, forests and parks, large dramatic or important land formations must be posted to the forum for a period of no less than 10 days for public discussion. If there are objections to the plans then the work must be kept on hold until a concensus is found.

3) The Land Use Commission (LUC) reviews the regions on a regular basis and finds areas that need attention for upgrades or changes. If changes are small they may recommend them to the Chancellor directly. If important changes are being recommended (see item 2 above), then the LUC creates a proposal and presents it to the Chancellor and the Representative Assembly (RA) and posts to the forum for a minimum of 10 days for public comment. If the Chancellor agrees to the changes, the Chancellor assigns the work to a CDS Artisan Guild member, or a member of the Executive team.
The RA's role is to ensure that the process is followed properly, to make comment on behalf of RA and citizen members and approve the proposals if there are no serious and reasonable objections.

I propose we write a little preamble too, like:

"The Intention of this law is to keep our citizens informed about changes in our region and give them a chance to voice complaints. Public spaces have to be developed in accordance with policy and changes need to be subject to public comment and review. On the other hand the legislator does not want to add more bureaucracy to our community and make the work of the executive team unnecessarily difficult."

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Kyoko
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Re: Transparent Region Development Guidelines

Post by Kyoko »

Just caught up with all of this.

In my view this revision remains problematical.

1. Does the chancellor need to tell LUC or RA that they have put up holiday decorations? Or rearranged the benches on the Platz? Or put out additional or changed locations of horse or bicycle rezzers? Most of that kind of change happens on public land, near a road or junction and does not affect a parcel owner.

2. "Inform LUC or RA that X has been done." No problem, but codifying a complaint system for smaller items is overkill. In fact a new water system will have gone through LUC already. Sudane does a lot of upgrading of residential buildings. She, historically, tells LUC what her next project is, as do Mizou and Rosie, for example. It will be in the transcript, but, again, any "complaints" can be handled in a less bureaucratic manner.

3. In the end, we either trust the skills and integrity of those the citizens or the officials chosen by the citizens, have placed in charge of landscaping and public buildings or we don't. There ALWAYS remains the option of commenting. I just wouldn't codify it.

The chancellor also has a budget line item for upgrades. Some of these are just done at his or her discretion, such as the Teagle horse rezzers.

4. In the preamble I would change "complaints" to "complaints, if any."

In conclusion, I do not approve of the revision as written. I think we should pull back a bit and not try to cover every case. A change this big needs rethinking. Let's try to take a wider view. Look at the big picture rather than always focusing on the details. Landscape is organic, thus should be responded to in a more organic manner.

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Tanoujin Milestone
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Re: Transparent Region Development Guidelines

Post by Tanoujin Milestone »

Kyoko:

1) Yes. Of course i could ask at every RA meeting, te chancellor would have to answer.

2) There is no complaint system planned for smaller items. They are just mentioned. I support single Caretakers mentioning their projects, no matter being little or big. Again, there is no bureaucratic handle planned.

3) This is not about trust. It is about communication. As I said already, work on public property needs publicity. There is no option of commenting if no one knows.

4) If we give the Chancellor money, why should we not get to know what she is doing with it?

Kyoko, I won't go around and control 6 regions to check if you have secretly deleted a stone. If you accomlish things, you should be proud of it, what hinders you to drop a word? The level of detail is up to you. this is not ment as an attack or "powergrab".

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Re: Transparent Region Development Guidelines

Post by Almut Brunswick »

Kyoko: Trees, Rocks, Water, Roads, Parcels, Permanent Decor, CDS-owned Structures, Terraforming traditionally at Chancellors discretion with input by LUC.
[...]
Almut: extend the LUC’s optional advising to the items Kyoko mentioned.

@Tan: Mission accomplised :D

It is an open secret that I personally would prefer to see the LUC as more than just an advisory board with very limited competences, but as a sort of building regulatory agency and land registry. Anyway: The LUC should at least get informed sufficiently about all changes in respect of land use - especially because the LUC is serving as an advisory instance for the RA! At least a summary of activities would be good to keep tracking. Nobody expects elaborative novels about such actions, but executive organs are generally demanded to render records for the legislative.

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Tanoujin Milestone
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Re: Transparent Region Development Guidelines

Post by Tanoujin Milestone »

Thanks for your support, Almut, and for stepping back from the plan to make the LUC overpower the Chancellor. I believe it is the hardest job we have to offer, and I do not want to spoil the last bit of fun to it.

And I apologize for making this personal by telling Kyoko I won't go around and count the stones - my intention was to point out that it would be the decision of the chancellor still to decide on the level of detail when they talk about their actions.

Further, I remember I have written I plan to limit the Chancellor a little. Please believe me this is not the case with this law here. I was talking about parliamentary system versus presidial system. We changed to presidial long time ago, and I was not especially fond of that change. But it is constitutional, and I won't touch constitutional issues as long as the code of law needs so much attention.

We need this Transparency Act, because two other laws depend on it, and I am willing to go very far in compromising to get a result.

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Kyoko
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Re: Transparent Region Development Guidelines

Post by Kyoko »

Thank you Tan.

We, obviously, have strong opinions on both sides of the issues raised. And I appreciate Tan's willingness to reach a consensual compromise.

I accept Rosie's proposal on page 1 of this discussion with Delia's addition concerning minor terraforming.

Tan's two adjustments after Rosie's positive response to Tan are also fine, with one suggested adjustment from me. I would like to see the words "complain/complaint" replaced by "comment," which encompasses a full range of possible responses.

/done.
-------
Other thoughts not meant to affect my acceptance of the above.

With regard to changes to buildings, including public buildings, there is a continuum between upgrading/updating and replacing that will have different levels of advisory input needed.

It's fine to have a law for times of conflict, but necessary for that law not to impede the more organic flow of the good times. I hope the framers of our laws will keep that in mind.

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Tanoujin Milestone
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Proposal: TRD Act - Draft Nov032020

Post by Tanoujin Milestone »

@ Kyoko: if I replace "complaints" with "comments" in the preamble, I collide with the term "comments" in the following sentence, ending up in bad style. So I took the freedom to write "give them an opportunity to state their opinions". I hope this is neutral enough, if not I welcome futher suggestions anytime.

Proposal, Draft Nov032020

Transparent Region Development Act

Public spaces have to be developed in accordance with policy and changes need to be subject to public comment and review. The Intention of this law is to keep our citizens informed about changes in our regions and give them an opportunity to state their opinions. On the other hand the legislator does not want to add more bureaucracy to our community and make the work of the executive team unnecessarily difficult.

1) The Chancellor has the discretion to replace/upgrade/place individual trees, rocks, street-lights, and any other environmental decor and perform corrective and adaptive terraforming as they see fit without consultation, providing that they fit the theme and ambiance of the area and don't interfere with any citizen's enjoyment of their land. The Chancellor needs to inform the LUC or the RA of the updates and changes that they or their directed Executive team have done.

2) Important structural elements to be changed: including public buildings, roads and pathways, forests and parks, large dramatic or important land formations must be posted to the forum for a period of no less than 10 days for public discussion. If there are objections to the plans then the work must be kept on hold until a concensus is found.

3) The Land Use Commission (LUC) reviews the regions on a regular basis and finds areas that need attention for upgrades or changes. If changes are small they may recommend them to the Chancellor directly. If important changes are being recommended (see item 2 above), then the LUC creates a proposal and presents it to the Chancellor and the Representative Assembly (RA) and posts to the forum for a minimum of 10 days for public comment. If the Chancellor agrees to the changes, the Chancellor assigns the work to a CDS Artisan Guild member, or a member of the Executive team.
The RA's role is to ensure that the process is followed properly, to make comment on behalf of RA and citizen members and approve the proposals if there are no serious and reasonable objections.

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Kyoko
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Re: Transparent Region Development Guidelines

Post by Kyoko »

Nicely done Tan!

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Rosie Gray
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Re: Transparent Region Development Guidelines

Post by Rosie Gray »

This looks good, Tan. Thank you!

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Re: Transparent Region Development Guidelines

Post by Almut Brunswick »

Looks good - ready for the RA vote IMHO.

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