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Council Visits |
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Copyright © 2000 by Dave Badtke |
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I don’t like to go to Benicia City Council meetings. The few times I have gone, I’ve come away from the visit thinking that it was a place where I didn’t want to go again. The physical space is hard, cold and uninviting; the lighting is cheerless, turned down just enough to cast a gloomy pall over the proceedings; and Council and Staff sit in a circle like stern judges and prosecutors who view the sacrifices at their alter, the rostrum that sits in the center of their semicircle, as annoyingly necessary if the appearance of representative democracy and the demands of the Brown Act are to be met. Personally, I’d rather watch the proceedings at home on TV unless there’s a need for a show of bodies, a need for a mass of people, individual exclamation points indicating to Council and Staff that the topic under discussion truly is important. (Since most issues addressed by Council are important, why does a show of bodies so frequently make the difference? As our representatives, you’d think they could devise a better way to measure constituent feelings, especially since their house is so uninviting.) Certainly, I wouldn’t think of going routinely to Council meetings to speak. While it’s true that I’d rather do just about anything—clean the bathroom, rake leaves, pay taxes—well maybe not pay taxes—than speak in public, finding that real-time thinking demands more from my rather slow brain than it can handle, my reasons for not walking to the podium are more complex. Go ahead, step right up, the Council seems to be saying to me, and spend some time with us, but not too long. And we probably won’t listen to you anyway, or if we do listen to you, you probably won’t know that we have, since we will rarely engage you in dialog. Unfortunately, you may discover later on, when we summarize our views before our vote, that one of us was indeed listening to you and finds it necessary to deride your opinion, ridicule your beliefs, or reinterpret your motivations. Though we are your elected representatives, we prefer to sit in judgment. As I’m sure you understand, it’s more fun to have the last word, though we religiously follow procedural law, than to create an environment in which those who participate feel as though issues have been fairly heard and debated. But never mind all these unimportant details. Come on down and step right up to the microphone, the Council seems to saying to me, and tell us what you think. So I admire each one of you who has the courage to walk to the podium, smack in the middle of this intimidating environment, and speak your mind coherently, without getting lost while wandering along your five-minute verbal path littered with side routes and brambly bushes ready to snag you. The health of our community depends on your courage. But beyond admiration, I also frequently feel sad and embarrassed. Sad that so few Council members seem to be listening to your usually cogent arguments, and embarrassed for Council, Staff and our community when the watchful camera catches a Council or Staff member in a smirk or a sidelong glance at another member, showing that he dismisses your opinion or, worst of all, that he doesn’t see you, that you are transparent and don’t count. Council and Staff members could obviously argue that some who choose to speak say nasty things as well, but I wonder if we have arrived at this uncivil state because so little information is exchanged between Council and public at these regularly held meetings. Some people seem to say outrageous things in an effort to be seen, feeling perhaps that to be reasonable and rational is to be ignored, especially if their views don’t coincide with what appears to be the predetermined decision of Council and Staff. But it’s the holidays, and miracles do happen. Who knows what the new year will bring? Many issues will be faced by Council in the coming year, some of them very difficult. Who’s to say that Council and Staff won’t reevaluate their procedures, avoiding intransigent solutions to hard problems by including more community members who care and are affected by the outcome? Perhaps they’ll even consider remodeling their house, adding color and art, festooning their chambers with inviting symbols that welcome those who visit. It wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve seen a miraculous change in attitude and morale when win-lose confrontation was replaced by win-win accommodation, but such a change, should it come, will require considerable courage. |
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- Dave Badtke can be contacted at: www.CarquinezReview.com; Dave@Badtke.com; PO Box 763, Benicia, CA 94510; or by calling 707-745-5540.
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