RE: Two published resources

[Caron Chess <chess_c@aesop.rutgers.edu>]

My name is Caron Chess and I am currently an academic researching public participation.  I am also currently on my local environmental commission and more than a decade ago served in state government and led an advocacy org.

If our book "Improving Dialogue" (which was also authored by BJ Hance), published in 1988, is still considered one of the best resources on public participation, I'd say that reflects poorly on the field.   Most books on env science from more than a decade ago are considered hopelessly out of date.  I think it reflects how little research, funding, and attention that public participation has received in the past.  (I will investigate what it would take to get at least the short version on our website...)

I give the folks at EPA who organized this dialogue a lot of credit for taking on these topics.  I think one (of the many) reasons pub par is not taken more seriously is that it is not part of many job descriptions of managers and staff.  PP also falls prey, in part, to the "not my job" syndrome.  Plus pub par can be hazardous to agency personnel's career--vocal participation and lots of feedback often means lots of work, headlines, and maybe less than positive attention. 

It makes the situation really tough for everyone.  When citizens finally get someone in the agency who listens, they often have stored up years of problems, complaints, etc. that is understandably dumped on that person...who gets overwhelmed by not only the tasks but the emotional baggage left over from less responsive agency personnel. And the staff person may not be getting much support from managers for taking on the concerns citizens raise.

I think there is more apt to be "success" in situations where the agency and citizens can figure out ways to work together to solve problems.  Sounds very Pollyanna.