Hey Kirsten! Great blog post, I really enjoyed reading your what you had to say about the RPA Third Regional Plan and it really got be thinking about things that I didn’t think about when I first read it. I found it very interesting the way you compared the city planners to lawyers and how like lawyers have to make the convincing narrative, so too do city planners. And I agree with you that the city planners probably played off the fears of the people and over-exaggerated the situation that the city was actually in.

While reading that, it reminded me of the book, Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Economics I Learned from Online Dating, by Paul Oyer, which I had to read for my microeconomics class two semesters ago. In the second chapter of the book, Oyer discusses whether or not one should lie, or stretch the truth, on his online profile. Although Oyer recognizes that lying is bad, he concludes that if one would be at a disadvantage if he did not lie on his profile. Since most people are known to lie, by not lying he is only making himself less desirable. Since lying is such a common occurrence, people will probably assume that he is lying even if he were telling the truth.

Now you’re probably wondering what this has to do with Economics or the RPA Third Regional Plan, so let me explain… Trying to find a match online is similar to selling a product—it must be marketed properly. The most important thing of course is to know that talk is cheap. Therefore, one must be a smart shopper and even smarter salesman. And when you think about it although they aren’t selling a physical product, city planners need to market their “product” properly in order for it to sell. Businesses have to lie just enough to sell their product, but they cannot over-do-it or else they’ll loose their customers for good. (And getting back to the online profile… well he probably won’t be getting a second date if he over exaggerates or lies too much).

At the end of the day, everyone who is trying to sell something whether it is a physical product or a type of service, lying (even if it’s just a little white lie) will always be intertwines as being apart of the equation. So it doesn’t surprise me that the city planners composed this narrative that the city was being threatened, and its success and future solely on the city implementing their solutions. I’m not commenting on whether or not this is right or wrong, I’m just saying that I can’t blame the city planners for exaggerating or lying. Because I’m sure the other city planners who were trying to get their plans approved were doing the exact same thing.