Wednesday, July 02, 2008 | You keep an eye on Keyser Marston! I worked for four years on the Downtown Community Plan Update (2002-2006) and saw how Keyser Marston worked with CCDC and the myriad “friends of CCDC” to do their bidding regarding land use and feasibility studies on development potential. The presumption with Keyser Marston is that they are magicians of sorts, that they have very sophisticated lenses through which to see the world, and that their studies and assessments are derived from the greatest depths from the well of all truth.
Keyser Marston’s shtick is that they have seers who have this extraordinary ability to glean the one truth, when in fact, we all know that the truth is a moving target and relative from the position of the believer — not all studies and assessments done by Keyser Marston have only one magical answer, but that is how they portray their product on behalf of their client. It is in their interest to be perceived as the truth sayers about land use, that they are the only ones with the capacity to get to the truth. And they sell their “truth” to CCDC, SEDC and elsewhere for top dollar, so you better believe it’s true!
I could not believe how strongly I felt that Keyser Marston fixed the facts around what CCDC and the development community wanted to see. Keyser Marston is in the business of facilitating their clients’ needs, and if the client wants such and such, then Keyser Marston grinds out the truth that such IS such.
So I would be very suspect of anything Gerald Trimble says, of his assessments, of his studies that say a change in land use is necessary, that the land is worth so much as commercial versus industrial, etc. Keyser Marston built a business on portraying themselves as the buck stops here for the truth about land use, but really it’s always only the truth their clients are paying to hear. I am appalled they would paint themselves as objective when everything I ever saw them do was for the benefit of their client.