Page 2 November 1977 RAIN More than two years ago we were involved in the planning of both the National Center for Appropriate Technology and California's Office of Appropriate Technology, as well as trying to get RAIN on its feet as support for a decentralized grassroots a.t. network. We're far enough down the road now to begin to see the different nature and effects of each of these institutions. What do we get for our money from each? What can each do and how rapidly, how thoroughly and how effectively? What are the restraints on each? Perhaps a dozen states are in the process of trying to set up offices as a result of California's success-without having been prodded by federal funding or bureaucracies. And hundreds of local projects have sprung up assisted only by grapevine knowledge of what other folks are doing, with neither help nor hindrance from any institution Actions need to happen on all levels, federal as well as local, state or bioregional. We 're learning . :~hat belongs where. ,· • We turned this issue over to Gigi Coe of OAT to give us all ;~ report on what it's like to try to affect things through the morass of the second largest bureaucracy in the country. Read between the lines. It's time that a.t. get into politics (more on that next issue) and OA T's experience is valuable both for what they can and cannot do or say. This issue is also a closer look at what's going on in one r~gion of the country. In the future we plan to be working vfith other state and local a.t. groups to focus on happenings in;othe.r regions. - TB .T.- . rJ The Office of Appropriate Technology was established by executive order on May 12, 1976. We are a division of the Office of Planning and Research in the Governor's Office. Policy is set by a steering committee of three members. Sim Van der Ryn, the State Architect, is Chairman of the Steering Committee. The other members are Bill Press, Director of the Office of Planning and Research, and Wilson Clark, Assistant to Governor Brown for Issues and Planning. The Steering Committee serves to chart om course as well as defend our interests when necessary. Appropriate Technology and Ktrk Marckwald, Director of the California Office of Approriate Technology since January 1977, has brought living reality to the chaos of ideas and brought OAT home to itself Turning untried, often spacy, ideas into usable substance in a state government as large as California's requires supreme political tact and insight. One is forever balancing on the tightrope of the rules and budgets of bureaucracy, the policy directives of the OAT steering committee, the hopes of the conscientious and politically aware OAT staff and the needs of the citizenry, all to produce human-scale changes which will endure beyond the next election. Kirk's J!,Ood-humored effectiveness in the stormeye of the transition we are all now making may even lead California's legislature and line agencies towards making a home for OAT among them. We need more Kirks. - LJ Despite our successes during the past 18 months, some nagging, possibly unanswerable questions remain. Can any state or other public entity which has traditionally fostered a "more-of-thesame" approach to problems serve as a catalyst to promote change which will ultimately mean a radical re-ordering of priorities in the projects the state undertakes? Are fundamental institu tional change and tangible demonstrations of that change possible? By what criteria should we choose our projects? How should we concentrate our limited energies.and money? How can we build the lateral support both within the government and, more importantly, outside it, to promote our programs? The Power and Politics of the Governor's Office What are the pros and cons of being in the governor's office? The support which OAT has received from the governor and his staff has encouraged other agencies to seek us out and listen. Our location in the governor's office has been more than a terrific moral boost; it has awakened many citizens to the innovations which the state is encouraging. The political support of the governor's office has opened doors as the office began to develop and flourish on its own. Jt has allowed our staff to work cooperatively with existing line agencies to begin to reexamine and rethink how projects are designed and where money is spent. An ongoing challenge is to throw off the impression that because our office remains small and some of our programs call for radically different solutions to California's problems, that OAT essentially is a "toy" of the Brown administration. There is only one way this impression can be overcome. When our programs are subjected to the scrutiny of the legislature, other agencies, or members of the press they must show a high quality of work and follow through, must have had the support and endorsement of clients and constituencies inside and outside of government and, above all, must have communicated that there are practical choices and alternatives to high levels of resource consumption. Project Criteria There are probably a hundred times as many projects OAT might sponsor as we can, given time and money constraints. How, then, does OAT choose to support certain activities? To date we have picked projects as they have come along and as staff members were able to support them. We arc now beginning to evolve a basis for making these decisions. Some of the considerations are: • Change. Does a project promote another "bandaid" solution which treats a symptom without a commitment to change basic attitudes about resources and natural energy balances? •Benefits.Who will benefit from the project? The easier the project is to do, the more likely it is to affen exclusively middle and upper income persons. The more ambitious and comprehensive a project, the less likely it can be accomplished (for either political or logistic reasons), or that our office can have an impact on the process. • Follow-through . Can we follow through on a project, or pass it on to an agency which will? While it is novel and fun to start a Bicycle Program in Sacramento, the program brings with it many routine tasks such as building support among
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