Runing With the Bulls

Running from the Bulls or Riding One
Is it a secret? Anticipating PlaNYC.gov

Real and imagined unknowns are part of our embedded information society, but the big picture keeps getting bigger. How and why New York City keeps secrets is the stuff of its greatness. Despite the call for transparency and a more open society, government officials, business leaders, and human rights advocates share the mantra of the bull rider that says, don’t get killed the moment the gate opens. The preference for advanced knowledge includes knowing that it will throw you off regardless.

There are many ways to look at an idea though; you can bring in advisors, experts, consultants to test the bull for weaknesses and its moves. A recent example involves the members of the advisory council used for the 2030 PlaNYC.gov project. They were asked to hear it first, keep it quiet, and begin to prepare their respective constituencies with ideas about changing the city to solve problems, meet needs, or produce higher levels of confidence. Knowing or unknowingly they have entered New York’s version of a time honored practice known as the “run from the bulls”.

Whether they are advocates for community planning, housing or environmental activists, business or labor leaders, everyone one of them has their own bull to ride or dodge. They also have some foreknowledge about successful placement within the arena, the running crowd or on a balcony above the fray. This is an OK thing. It is the burden of either leading or getting out of the way. Whether the 2030 Plan gets called the Olympic plan in a green dress, the World’s Greatest Bull ride, or the NYC version of the San Fermin Festival in Pamplona, every resident should be encouraged if one single truth is made clear. This truth will hold all of the increments proposed for change and raise them a simple cup.

All ideas begin as the secret of a few before they are shared, but we also have a city that will argue for a better life for all residents regardless of their household’s income. This is no secret, and it makes a great city, one of beauty. New ideas must meet this first test, whether it is pressing to remove trans fats or bringing all New Yorkers to the shocking realizaton that the cost running the MTA is a financial responsibility that travels well beyond that paid by its riders.

We cannot pretend that the burden of financing NYC’s glory in the American sense or its survival in a global sense is the exclusive responsibility of the Mayor, his team or our political representatives. It is every “Jack one” of us. The simple uncomplicated truth is about our responsibility to protect vulnerable families. If this is not dismissed as truism, then the real proof of our work and our time in the making and re-making of this city will have a measure to value the change. The hard questions about this responsibility are like secrets. The real test is upon us all to start talking about them.

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