Archive: Opinions

From time to time I hear someone say that one of our local municipal entities is doing some heinous thing.  They say that the public officials of the Town, Village, Fire or School District are trying to hide that they are doing this despicable thing, that they are not publicizing it, and don't want the public to know.  Nothing I can say dissuades these folks, including the fact that I went to the public meeting and the whatever-it-was was openly discussed.  And it is personally frustrating for me when I have reported on the  whatever-it-was was, yet the whoever-it-is complains to me that it wasn't reported on anywhere.

Far be it for me to counter a good juicy rumor with fact, but I always try.  Maybe that proves I'm an idiot who I never learns, because I rarely win these arguments even though I really was there.  As someone who attends a ton of local public municipal meetings I can relate with our public officials' frustration when they hold public hearings that nobody shows up for.  I can tell you that most of the public hearings in Lansing have few members of the public.  The same with regular public meetings.  Sometimes I am the only member of the public.

Municipal public meetings are advertised by law in the 'official newspaper' they designate.  It must be a print newspaper by law, so the one they all choose is the Ithaca Journal.  This has the benefit that if you are interested in what your municipalities are doing there is one place to look for all the announcements.  In addition the municipalities say when their regular public meetings take place on their Web sites, and in most cases you can just call them and ask.  Some even post their agendas on their Web sites ahead of time.  I just bookmark the Web sites.  It's a quick lookup.

As for the whatever-it-was, a lot of times the whoever-it-is has the facts entirely wrong, made up fears that have no connection to what is really happening.  But I must say there have been plenty of occasions when I have heard things at public meetings that alarmed me mightily.  I was glad to be at those meetings and have an opportunity to weigh in as a citizen.

I am not taking a holier-than-thou position.  Of course I go to all these meetings because I am a journalist.  I report on them as best I can, which is another way for people to get the facts.  I view myself as a kid of surrogate who sits thorough all the meetings so other people don't have to.  I do wish more people would read the articles, at least if they are going to complain about something.

Getting the facts first hand is more reliable than second hand, but a newspaper story isn't long or hard to read, and the Lansing Star is free, on-line, and we archive every story and provide a search engine and archive page to make them easier to find.

But when something is of such importance that whoever-it-is is moved to outrage, I have to wonder why they didn't just show up?  The fact is that it is not hard to find out when meetings of interest are taking place and what is going to be discussed there.  And local government is made better by citizen participation.

Look at the outcome of the proposed law to truncate planning board member terms from seven years to three.  For once the large courtroom in the Town Hall was uniquely jam-packed with people who either wanted to listen or to speak out.  A lot of people did speak out against it, and their arguments convinced the Town Board not to enact the law.

That's how it should be.  I don't blamethe  local officials who have expressed frustration that they don't get enough input from the people who elected them.  Then they are excoriated for making whatever decision whoever-it-is doesn't like.  You can't win for losin'.

----
v5i11