My interest in local decision making prompted me to investigate smaller organizations within the Fredericksburg local government. I ended up exploring the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (FAMPO) and its role in decision making. To do this, I attended a FAMPO technical committee to pursue non-participate observation methods. I discovered one member’s influence over the rest of the committee supports a relationship with the policy committee, in order to influence transportation decision making. FAMPO also makes decisions to receive state funds in order to gain some decision making flexibility outside of federal mandate.
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I appreciate your paper on FAMPO, as I am interested in becoming a city planner myself. I am intrigued by your critique of the power relations on display at the meeting, especially considering the obvious importance of the assembled group. I would like to believe that each discussion point presented would be of importance to each group member, but clearly that is a misconception. Despite this, I am perplexed that the group members did not take greater interest in the arguments of their peers considering that the arguments and future resulting decisions will affect not only the City of Fredericksburg, but also the surrounding counties and the greater Northern Virginia region. I agree with your analysis that FAMPO makes decisions for more than just one group, which is why there were several representatives present, but it is worrisome that you did not notice more discussion or interest.