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OUR CLIENTS: The San Diego Airport Authority
 Flying into San Diego International Airport, known locally as Lindbergh Field, could not be more convenient. Small and manageable, the airport is only a few miles from downtown and within a 30-minute drive of most of the county's population.
However, San Diego County is growing and Lindbergh
Field's single runway will be hard-pressed to
meet the needs of this high-tech city 15 years
from now. But developable land is scarce, and
the only thing residents want to see near their
neighborhood less than an airport is a nuclear
power plant.
For decades, the issue has been gridlocked,
fought over by powerful special interests including
the business community, homeowners associations,
the military and environmentalists. In November
of 2006, the law requires the San Diego County
Airport Authority to put a solution on the ballot
for voters to decide.
It will be at least 15 years before the airport reaches capacity, which is about
as long as it takes to build a new airport, and the consequences of inaction
are far off and abstract. However, when San Diegans from around the county worked
together in a series of ChoiceDialogues to discuss this traditional NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard)
issue,
they came to agree that steps needed to be taken now to put in place a better
solution to San Diego's future airport requirements.
There was also surprising
agreement on the nature of those steps and the future directions that made sense.
This represented a real change from where the ChoiceDialogue participants began.
Wanting to bring more people from around the county into the conversation, the
Airport Authority asked Viewpoint Learning to design and conduct an Online
Dialogue.
Almost 800 people signed up through the San Diego Union-Tribune's highly trafficked
Web site to participate in a two-week online experience. Thousands more read
daily postings of each of the small groups as they worked their way through the
same set of scenarios and tradeoffs and ultimately came to a similar set of conclusions
as the participants in the face-to-face ChoiceDialogues.
The dialogues demonstrated support for moving forward with some decisions unpopular
with special interests, previously the only voices at the table. And the effects
continue to be felt. Upon conclusion of the Online Dialogue, many participants
wanted to keep talking and formed a group that now meets regularly face-to-face.
At many Airport Authority meetings now, participants from Viewpoint Learning's
Online Dialogue attend and speak publicly in support of the conclusions reached
online. For the first time the voice of the previously unorganized public is
at the table. On an issue where NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) attitudes traditionally
reign, this holds the promise of breaking through gridlock and finding a better
solution.
go back to Client List
go back to ChoiceDialogue
go back to Online Dialogue
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