Workshops vs Town Halls

You know, after re-reading the "Target Workplan" for the Task Force I see that they are going to do it TransPlan style rather than Murray's New Deal style. To wit:

Step 2: City Wide Public Consultations
Purpose:

To determine the Public's views and attitudes towards Transit generally and Rapid Transit for Winnipeg.

Process:

• 10 Public Workshops
• Public Interest Group Interviews
• Questionnaire for Interest Groups and Organizations
• Website Feedback Page

Starting January 2005

They're workshops, not town hals. I guess that means the Task Force has already decided what they're going to recommend this coming Spring.

I participated in the TransPlan 2010 "workshops" in the mid '90s and I can tell you that I find them less democratic than using "town hall" meetings as a model. Why I say that is that in the workshop model, you have 6 or more people at several tables. The facilitator will give brief introductions to that phase, then will instruct those at the tables to work on a compromise plan -- in this case for rapid transit for Winnipeg. Yet, what happened in the TransPlan case is that the people who put TP2010 together were, largely from the pro-highway Streets & Transportation Department.

I want this Rapid Transit Task Force to be different. I think almost everyone would agree that last year's town hall meetings on "the New Deal for Winnipeg" is the way to go. It let's people speak directly to the panel, and not to a chance group of people at a table, who may have vested interests in *not* building rapid transit. Who's to know that one of us could be sitting next to a highway planner (from the province?) who doesn't want rapid transit here.

Is it too late to change the direction of the Task Force and hold 10 Town Halls instead?