Participation Guidelines
The City of Flagstaff (the “City”) has partnered with OpenGov, a third-party online forum provider, to create a civic engagement platform that will allow the citizens of Flagstaff get more involved in City government. Flagstaff Community Forum is a forum for the discussion of proposed City projects and upcoming policy topics related to local government in the City and its partner agencies. The topics are generated by City staff, commissions, and Council for the purpose of public participation in current government decision making.
To ensure that all voices are heard and that forum participants are able to speak freely about the posted topics, participants who register to use the forum must agree to not post disruptive statements. Disruptive statements include the following:
- Statements that do not relate to the posted topic;
- Personal attacks and statements that threaten or abuse other forum participants, members of the public, City staff or City officials;
- Statements that discriminate on the basis of race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual preference, age, region, disability, etc.
- Hate speech of any kind;
- Statements containing any sort of commercial advertising or soliciting funds, goods, or services;
- Repetitive or meaningless messages (“spam”);
- A statement from a user who has falsified their registration information with the intent to post multiple statements in one topic or to misrepresent their city of residence; and
- Statements that include obscene, pornographic, abusive, or otherwise illegal material.
OpenGov, acting as the forum monitor, will remove any disruptive statements that are posted on the forum. Forum participants who post disruptive statements may lose their posting privileges.
Frequently asked questions about the participation guidelines
Why does Open Town Hall monitor for disruptive statements?
OpenGov is a non-partisan company dedicated to building public trust in government and broadening civic engagement. Many people will not participate, if the forum has disruptive statements.
Does Open Town Hall find many disruptive statements?
No. Disruptive statements are quite rare - less than one in a thousand statements on OpenGov moderated topics nationwide are disruptive.
What does Open Town Hall do if they find a disruptive statement?
OpenGov
- moves the statement to a different web page,
- describes the problem in an email to the author, and
- invites the author to change the statement.
Does Open Town Hall ever edit or delete statements?
Never. Only the statement's author can edit or delete a statement. If a statement is removed from the public website, it will still be seen by the City of Flagstaff and be part of the public record.
If I disagree with someone, can I post my opinion?
Yes. Open Town Hall encourages open dialog and debate which, by necessity, includes disagreements.
How do I know if my statement is a 'disagreement' or a 'personal attack'?
Personal attacks are disparaging remarks which impute motives to a person's action. Statements of fact, or of your own opinion are generally not personal attacks.
Here are some examples of statements which are, and are not, personal attacks.
Personal Attack v. Not A Personal Attack
He is a liar. V. He said he did X, but in fact he did Y.
She misrepresented the truth. V. I don't believe what she said.
He is greedy. V. He is making money from this project.
It is merely a power play on her part. V. She will announce her candidacy soon.
Translate
Do you support widening the right of way on Humphreys Street (between Route 66 and Fort Valley Road/Columbus Avenue) for the purpose of:
Do you have any additional comments about widening Humphreys Street or not?
I originally supported the widening of this corridor. However, after reviewing the options, I no longer support widening. One, I don't ride my bike down Humphrey'sb ecause there is too much traffic. Adding more lanes and more traffic, even with a dedicated bike lane, doesn't sound like fun riding to me. I would rather use Beaver and San Francisco as my commuting corridors and leave Humphreys to vehicular traffic.
How many buildings along Humphreys Street would you be willing to remove in order to add the following features?
Do you have any other comments about potential impacts to buildings on Humphreys Street?
No response.How many parking lots along Humphreys Street would you be willing to remove in order to add the following features?
Do you have any other comments about potential impacts to parking lots on Humphreys Street?
No response.Do you support widening the right of way on Fort Valley Road (between Humphreys Street and the Wing Mountain Snow Play area) for the purpose of:
Do you have any additional comments about widening Fort Valley Road or not?
The road through the Coconino Estates area already has a mutimodal trail and a decent bike lane. I ride my bike on 180 frequently as far north as the Nordic Center. There is no shoulder after Baderville and the riding is treacherous. This section of road needs a decent bike lane.
How many buildings (including residential homes) along Fort Valley Road would you be willing to remove in order to add the following features?
Do you have any other comments about potential impacts to buildings on Fort Valley Road?
No response.How many parking lots along Fort Valley Road would you be willing to remove in order to add the following features?
Do you have any other comments about potential impacts to parking lots on Fort Valley Road?
No response.What types of enhancements do you agree are needed on Humphreys Street?
Do you think there are other enhancements that are needed on Humphreys Street?
Do you support adding an additional northbound travel lane on Humphreys Street, which would allow an additional left-turn lane from Route 66 to Humphreys Street? (This may require the removal of several buildings and parking lots.)
What types of enhancements are needed on Fort Valley Road? Please rate each improvement.
Do you think there are other enhancements that are needed on Fort Valley Road?
No response.Do you support adding a continuous sidewalk along Fort Valley Road within the City of Flagstaff city limits?
Do you have any other comments about Humphreys Street or Fort Valley Road that you would like to share?
I think extending a FUTS type trail along Fort Valley Rd to the city limit, especially if it connects to a forest road or trailhead on the north end is a good idea. However, it doesn't make much sense to do it if the trail just dead ends at some point along the side of the road. Connectivity to other trails/forest roads is key.
Please rate how much you support each of the below US 180 alternatives. [1 = Strongly Oppose, 3 = Oppose, 5 = Neutral, 7 = Support, 9 = Strongly Support]
Why do you support your preferred alternative? Why do you not support others?
I think dedicated bus lanes are a bad idea because snowplayers/skiers as a general rule don't want to ride buses. I have three children and when they were young, going to play in the snow required lots of gear. I piled it all in my vehicle and we headed out for a day of fun. It would have been difficult to pack everything into bags that we could carry on the bus. Based on what I see of snowplayers, getting them to take buses seems like a losing cause. I ski at Snowbowl, but usually I'm in a time crunch, so I don't have time to wait for a ski bus. Let's encourage carpooling to Snowbowl and/or develop a park and ride at the Snowbowl Rd turnoff before spending lots of money on building dedicated bus lanes from town. I feel that if the road is. widened, people will drive faster than they already do, which makes life more dangerous for me as a bicyclist. I like the idea of modest improvements to the great road that we already have.
Which enhancements do you feel are needed to make Ft. Valley Road a “Great Street”?
Please rate how well each alternative would make Fort Valley Road (US 180) a “Great Street”. [1 = Very Poorly, 3 = Poorly, 5 = Fairly Well, 7 = Well, 9 = Very Well]
Please provide any additional comments about Fort Valley Road as a Great Street here:
More development/wider right-of-way = less great street