City government
Oct. 26th, 2005 01:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tenayaI went to my first city council meeting tonight. They are going to put a light rail passenger train service on the freight train tracks that go through town. All the little towns along the tracks will have depots and this meeting was to discuss where the depot will be. Apparently, someone decided it would be a good idea to put a 4 story, 750 space parking garage in a residential neighborhood, removing a business and comdemning a few blocks of homes. Mind you, this town hardly has any buildings that are two stories, and the little Napoleon's in the planning office dictate the details of your remodeling down to the color and size of the shutters on your windows. Why the hell would they let a 4 story structure in when they won't allow homeowners to build 2 story garages? Not to mention this bus/train depot would mean closing down the only western exit to a neighborhood of 25 square blocks, the only exit that leads to the freeway. The meeting was standing room only. Luckily, they councilmen seemed to now agree this would be a bad thing, and are talking about researching a vacant area adjacent to the downtown area. Why this spot wasn't the prime spot, I'll never guess.
But the reason I bring this up is while there were a lot of smart, passionate and polite people, there were a few stubborn and excitable people, and some that accused the councilmembers to their faces of being duplicitous, scheming, unethical and corrupt. Which proves my point that bad behavior in fandom is nothing new, it's just human nature.
After 3 hours, we left. They had voted to rescind the proposal that would put this monstrosity about 3 blocks from my home, and seemed likely to not push the other two sites that were adjacent. I would have liked to stay, but Mom needed to get to bed as she has to get up early. 73 years old and she's on a jury for a murder case. This will take about two weeks apparently.
Aren't we the civic minded citizens?
I think I'm going to do yard work tomorrow. I didn't like the way they were discussing 'blighted' properties.
BTW, the four siblings are coming by nearly every night. They've knocked over the birdbath, dug up some naked ladies bulbs, and pulled the screen door off the track twice now. But you know what? We still giggle and point out what they're up to because they are just so darn cute! They were eating right next to the gawd-awfulist ugly adult male posseum I've ever seen. The beast was hissing at this coon that kept trying to sniff him. The possum was nearly as big as the smallest raccoon. Luckily, there was no escalation of hostilities.
But the reason I bring this up is while there were a lot of smart, passionate and polite people, there were a few stubborn and excitable people, and some that accused the councilmembers to their faces of being duplicitous, scheming, unethical and corrupt. Which proves my point that bad behavior in fandom is nothing new, it's just human nature.
After 3 hours, we left. They had voted to rescind the proposal that would put this monstrosity about 3 blocks from my home, and seemed likely to not push the other two sites that were adjacent. I would have liked to stay, but Mom needed to get to bed as she has to get up early. 73 years old and she's on a jury for a murder case. This will take about two weeks apparently.
Aren't we the civic minded citizens?
I think I'm going to do yard work tomorrow. I didn't like the way they were discussing 'blighted' properties.
BTW, the four siblings are coming by nearly every night. They've knocked over the birdbath, dug up some naked ladies bulbs, and pulled the screen door off the track twice now. But you know what? We still giggle and point out what they're up to because they are just so darn cute! They were eating right next to the gawd-awfulist ugly adult male posseum I've ever seen. The beast was hissing at this coon that kept trying to sniff him. The possum was nearly as big as the smallest raccoon. Luckily, there was no escalation of hostilities.