First I want to say thank you to Kathy O'Brien for sending relevant data to
this discussion. I'd like to see her become a more regular participant!
Carol's last post just made the argument for transparency. Without it,
citizens will never become educated enough to criticize the process as she
outlined.
And the flip side of Carol's two way street is that our elected, appointed
and hired officials must take citizens concerns carefully and not just
dismiss them out of hand because they believe citizens are not involved in
the process and are not educated on the issues. Even though citizens might
not be as intricately involved with an issue, doesn't mean they don't have
something important to say. Dare I say they might even have "an intuitive
voice" that at times might add substance to an educated process. If we
listen carefully, we might just learn something from our citizens.
I guess I just believe that if we had transparency and a fully participatory
city hall that reached out to it's citizens we wouldn't even be having this
discussion.
Russell W. Peterson
Ward 9
Standish
R U S S E L L P E T E R S O N D E S I G N
"You can only fly if you stretch your wings."
Russell W. Peterson, RA, CID
Founder
3857 23rd Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55407
612-724-2331
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
