Geneva already has a plan for economic development, recovery, prosperity, and health — but we haven’t followed it. That was the message of my previous column, written before I knew the “Treatise of Grievances of Quasi-Anonymous Public Citizens Wanting Another Chance to Build Up the Lakefront” was going to suck all the air out of the room.

But the eight-part series did prove a point: Elected officials (and people with enough social and political capital to get an essay printed on the front page) do a great job of ignoring sound advice. In fact, it seems that the more detailed, well-documented, and clear a recommendation from an expert is, the more these people insist on asking their buddy down the street if he has any random thoughts we could follow instead.

My columns this summer, appropriately housed on the opinion page, were a multi-part examination of the city’s comprehensive plan. I hoped to remind people that Geneva had the good fortune of landing well-respected national experts in community development, housing, and economic revitalization who analyzed our situation using sound practices. Their work product was a framework to jump-start economic........

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