The Project

This project was launched at the Common Ground Alliance annual meeting in Long Lake on July 20, 2011.

At that time we committed to write up a detailed set of scenario development materials and hold a number of workshops through the next few months, depending on the level of interest.

There has been sufficient interest to schedule three full two-day workshops:

• Workshop One: Paul Smiths College, September 27 and 28, 2011.  Report is here.
• Workshop Two: Chestertown Town Hall, November 30 and December 1, 2011. Report is here.
• Workshop Three: View, Old Forge, January 10 and 11, 2012.  Report is here.

In addition, we have started a half-day workshop series that we hope to hold at a number of venues around the Park.  We have held two so far.

• The first one was held in Keene Valley on December 28.  You can read the report on it here.
• The second half-day workshop was held in New York City on January 17, 2012.  A group of seasonal residents participated.  You can read the report on it here.

Future Workshops

The next workshops will be in May.

• Two-Day Workshop Four: Lake Placid Conference Center, May 1 and 2, 2012. Send Jim email (jim12942@gmail.com) if you wish to participate in this workshop.
• A Half-Day Workshop at the Whallonsburg Grange Sunday May 6 from 1 to 5pm.  There is no pre-registration for this workshop.  You can just show up.
• Two more half-day workshops are in the works in Saranac Lake and the Town of Fine but details are not yet available

We will roll all the results up into a report to the Common Ground Alliance in Long Lake on Wednesday July 18, 2012.

Surprising Alignment

Here is our first important data set: the ranking results for all workshops (see figure below).

(To understand more about the ranking exercise and the endstates go here.) The different columns are:

CGA = Common Ground Alliance Forum July 2011.  119 people did the ranking exercise.
PS    = Paul Smiths Two-Day Workshop Sept 27 & 28, 2011.  33 people did the ranking exercise.
Ctwn = Chestertown Two-Day Workshop Nov 30 & Dec 1, 2011.  31 people did the ranking exercise.
OF    = Old Forge Two-Day Workshop Jan 10 & 11, 2012.  35 people did the ranking exercise.
AATV = Talk to Adirondack Assoc. of Towns and Villages, Dec 5, 2011.  13 people did the ranking exercise
KV     = Keene Valley Half-Day Workshop Dec 28, 2011.  29 people did the ranking exercise.
NYC   = New York City Half-Day Workshop Jan 17, 2012.  24 people did the ranking exercise.

The main message here is that C (The Sustainable Life) is most desirable, usually by a significant margin, across all workshops.  B (Usable Park) is second.  D (Adirondack County) is also generally viewed as desirable.  But the ranking on attainability is a bit more variable.  C (The Sustainable Life) is usually first or second in attainability. 
E (Post Big-Government Solutions) is often viewed as highly attainable because it most closely matches to current state. B (Usable Park) is often viewed as highly attainable, too. D (Adirondack County) is widely regarded as most difficult to pull off.

The fact that there has been such strong agreement across such diverse groups is an important result.  There is a real common ground!  Secondly, the fact that the outcomes you desire are viewed as fairly attainable is also an extremely positive result.  There’s a lot more work to do, but this is a good first set of results.

There are also detailed data results on event voting available.  The first PDF is a record of all voting on event likelihood across two-day and half-day workshops.  You can download it here.  The second is a record of all voting on which events must or must not happen for the different scenarios.  You can download that one here.

If you want to know more.  Read the workshop reports.

The Workshops

Here is the presentation we made at the Common Ground Alliance annual meeting along with the results of the ranking exercise.  Below is the group that came together at the meeting in Long Lake on July 20, 2011.

We have held three  very successful workshops, the first at Paul Smiths, the second at Chestertown Town Hall and the third at View in Old Forge.  We are now preparing for Workshop Four. 

Here is the full report for Workshop One.  Below is the group that came together for the first workshop at Paul Smiths College on September 27 and 28, 2011.

Here is the full report for Workshop Two.  Below is the group that came together for this workshop held on November 30 and December 1, 2011 in the Chestertown Town Hall.

Here is the full report for Workshop Three.  Below is the group that came together for this workshop held on January 10 and 11, 2012 at View Arts Center in Old Forge.