Maitri’s Contest – who are CityWorks?
July 27th, 2006
I’ve lived in New Orleans long enough now that “Will Work for Food” has become all too true. Not that attempting to understanding the byzantine rebuilding process isn’t a worthy end in itself, but now that there are brownies on the line… (no offence to Byzantium – we should be so lucky)
Having a go at Maitri’s City Rebuilding Essay Contest, I’m having trouble figuring out exactly who CityWorks is/are. I’ve never attended one of their meetings, and the content on their website is a little too generalized for me to get a grasp on them. Can anyone give me a little background or point me to a better source?
Alas, the brownies may never be mine, but there’s nothing like invoking chocolate and my latent competitive streak to force me into a Learning Experience…
July 27th, 2006 at 9:27 am
City Works probably has less content on their site because they lack a substantial acronym. The acronym obsession has taken over.
In fact I wake up most mornings humming,” You are Nobody till Somebody acronyms you.”
July 27th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
Not a clue. It’s not a very information website. I think we can just call them CW or CWorks for short, if we fell compelling.
My own attempt at a graphic representation of the whole problem is here: toulousestreet.wordpress.com
July 27th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
The “eye” of your recovery storm graphic says it all.
July 29th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Here’s my take on CityWorks. I was truly taken aback by the vagueness of their website when I first saw it. It looked like a front for some type of drug enterprise, etc… In reality, CityWorks website is so vague because the organization lacks a clear programmatic agenda. As we all know, they are currently working on mapping New Orleans neighborhood organizations, but I don’t think they have any other concrete programs on the horizon.
Here’s a clue for the essay contest (and if you win I expect a bite of your yummy reward), as of this week they have been hired by Concordia to finish their neighborhood group map to facilitate the Unified Planning Process.
July 29th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
I see…the plot thickens. I think a collaborative brownie-seeking effort is in order…