Idea Gatherings

Initial Results from Planning Amherst Together:
Try out the IDEA MACHINE

In order to have a valid comprehensive Master Plan that is actually designed by the members of a community, there is need for wide public participation that reflects as many components of the population as possible. And the overall process must be as transparent as possible.

The initial “IDEA GATHERINGS” consisted of 5 area-wide meeting as follows:

• Thursday evening, October 12th, 7-9pm
  Amherst Regional Middle School


• Saturday morning, October 14th, 10-12noon
  Amherst Regional Middle School


• Wednesday afternoon, October 18th, 1-3pm
  Jones Library in Downtown Amherst


• Wednesday evening, October 18th, 7-9pm
  Immanuel Lutheran Church in North Amherst


• Friday morning, October 20th, 9-11am
  Franklin Patterson Hall on the Hampshire College Campus

Each of the 2-hour meetings above had the same format. They started with an opening presentation that provided an overview of the process and some basic information about Amherst.  This was followed by a breakout into small groups of [10 to] 15 citizens who were led by a trained facilitator and had the opportunity to voice their personal values and their individual ideas for planning Amherst's future. Participants were asked to brainstorm ideas about how to make Amherst the best it can be as well as participating in a mapping exercise to identify the weak places and strong places within the Town.

Thousands of ideas were recorded verbatim on flip chart paper and then entered into a database. Now, these ideas are available via the IDEA MACHINE, an interactive system that allows for keyword and categorical searches.

All of these ideas are currently being organized and assigned to one or more Working Groups for discussion and consideration at the next stage of the process.