Gene C. Reid Park and Reid Park Zoo

Community Conversation

Update March 16, 2021

The City Manager’s Office has brought together an independent team of outreach and engagement specialists. The team includes the Center for Community Dialogue & Training (Christina Medvescek), a program of Our Family Services, which will be conducting neutrally facilitated Community Conversations and supporting a representative Stakeholder Group. This independent team has put together a plan to ensure a broad representation of community input within the time frame.

Objective:

Conduct a transparent, accessible, equitable, and structured process for obtaining broad community input on the Gene C. Reid Park/Reid Park Zoo plan with a focus on educating and discussing potential options, impacts, and trade-offs, and provide a report on community recommendations to the Tucson Mayor and Council within 45 days. This process will conclude on or before Friday, April 23, 2021 – which is the end of the 45-day period. The findings and recommendations will be brought to the May 4, 2021 Study Session Meeting of the Mayor and Council.

Process / Action Steps

  1. Individually interview City of Tucson Mayor and Council members to ensure the defined engagement process is aligned with the Mayor and Council’s expectations and needs.

  2. Form a core Stakeholder Group of 15–20 representative stakeholders, including those specifically outlined in the Mayor and Council motion.

  3. Seek community input about the plan by creating and distributing bilingual surveys: online, paper, and intercept.

  4. Pursue additional input opportunities: WhatsApp, secure portal, email, phone/voicemail — dedicated to public comments on this issue.

  5. Invite a broad-based stakeholder group of up to 220 people* to participate in accessible, structured Community Conversations that result in consensus-based recommendations to the core Stakeholder Group. The Center for Community Dialogue & Training will lead this effort on Saturday, March 27 (scheduled to not conflict with the Mayor’s Budget Town Hall).

  6. Facilitate the core Stakeholder Group in considering and prioritizing input from the surveys, portal comments, and the March 27 Community Conversations.

  7. Facilitate the core Stakeholder Group in drafting a final report to Mayor and Council within the defined time frame.

*These Community Conversations are designed as facilitated “Conversation Circles” comprised of 10–11 people per Circle, with a member of the Stakeholder Group in each. The details of this process will be documented in the final report.

View the March 16, 2021 update in PDF format.