Cornithaca County

Family Fables – The Wise Man and the Fools

At a planning conference there was a Lecturer who greatly impressed the attendees with his slide show of Form-Based Code Planning. He finished off with a vision for the County that was so breathtaking that the spectators stood up and applauded. But a Citizen who stood at the back shouted: "Call that sales pitch a plan! Nothing like it. You give me till tomorrow and I’ll show you what that plan is really based on." The audience laughed, but next day, sure enough, the Citizen appeared on the stage, and putting his presentation on the screen, so undercut the Lecturer’s “vision” that the attendees cat-called and booed to make him stop. "You fools!" he cried, "See what you have been applauding," and pointed to the many flaws that were exposed by his logical analysis, but he was shouted off the stage. •• Moral: Bureaucrats would rather commit to a boondoggle than be shown up as fools. • If the Citizen was truly wise he would have known that. ••• Form-based codes are part of the New Urbanism and represent an urban viewpoint. Cornithaca County uses form-based codes in rural towns to expand their power base and drive out the existing rural community.