We should try a civil open and honest debate, how come it is so difficult?

Bill Smith posted what can only be described as a mean spirited, offensive point of view on his website in response to what Jeff Smith posted this past week on density. My response below was posted on his site this morning.

I have a bigger problem though; how do we go about having truly productive and meaningful debate about hard issues in Evanston?

Whether it is District 65, 708 Church, affordable housing, gun control or density – we as a community cannot seem to sit down and truly debate an issue.

Imagine what could be accomplished if only we could.

Response to Bill Smith -
Wow Bill, when did your site become a place to start personal attacks toward other members of our community? I have read, and I must say several times, what Jeff wrote (http://centralstreetneighbors.com/?q=node/220) and cannot understand how you could interpret it to mean what you wrote.

First and foremost, I will state that I am a board member of CSNA and live in Northeast Evanston. I take personal offense to your comment that we are “density-phobic” and “status-conscious” neighbors. Since when did living in a small 1927 farm house or bungalow near the tracks become a status symbol? I have lived in Evanston since 1989 and was lucky enough to purchase my home years ago before prices escalated. I doubt many of us living here could afford to purchase the same today, and I like many in my surrounding neighborhood wonder how our children will be able to afford a home, much less the taxes, in our community should they choose to.

Second, my take on what Jeff posted was that he was questioning, and opening debate on how dense Evanston should be. Clearly Jeff and a lot of citizens have continually requested that the leaders of Evanston, staff, participants on planning, zoning boards and commissioners all provide some answer to this question especially prior to approving a downtown plan or any new planned developments such as Fountain Square. As a matter of fact Jeff asked this exact question while going through the planning process for Central Street, which does allow for further development. This is not an unreasonable request and in fact makes logical sense.

I was pretty astounded to read that out of the “US Census study from 2000” (http://www.demographia.com/db-2000city50kdens.htm) Evanston is ranked 47 of 601 cities as the most dense. Remember this census is from 2000, where do we stand today? So to Jeff’s point, and I do not know how any reasonable thinking person could disagree, this fact deserves to be discussed and debated at all levels. What are the advantages and disadvantages of becoming denser? Is it more taxes and if so how much? What are the costs to the city if we become denser? We already are denser than 8 years ago and citizens continually question if all that development has helped the city increase tax revenues and offset expenses. When have any of these questions been weighed, balanced or discussed? By you just saying “there’s no reason to fear more of a good thing” whether you mean for downtown or Central St. is extremely shortsighted and can only be a disservice to the entire community and the planning process currently taking place. Furthermore, I believe most experienced and respected planners would insist that this question be answered before engaging in any modifications to the city’s zoning laws.

Attributing base motives to other citizens is not a legitimate way to promote website traffic or moderate a public discussion. While you may disagree with what Jeff Smith has written and discussed, for sure he has always been fair and respectful whether speaking in public or posting issues for discussion on the website. His piece on density was no different, and for you to characterize it otherwise came across as mean spirited.

PS: if we are “density-phobic” – a rather ugly term since it implies some mental disorder – why did we move here.