Being in the development industry, I have often heard for-profit developers and investors talk about the importance of predictability. Most will say ‘we can live with whatever rules there are – just tell us the rules and don’t change them’.
This isn’t what Wall Street and bankers say, but it sure is what the folk putting buildings in the ground say. And today, at the Cincinnati Neighborhood Summit, it was there again, paired with another word: predictability.
These people are by nature risk takers, big dreamers, they want to make change. But they want to be in a game where the rules are understood, where there is no quicksand. And that is one of the big reasons why they want trolleys on fixed rail, so that the next City Council can’t suddenly just change its entire mind, 4-5, on any given day. Makes sense to me.
And I’m also thinking in terms of spirituality. The same rules apply, in a sense. We can go way out on a limb. But we at least need that limb to go out on. More later, as my thinking ripens.