Tom Gray's brief post (copied below) deserves comment. His last sentence, I believe, embraces an essential wisdom of democracy all too often overlooked and under appreciated.
"The more reactions and ideas we have from others, the better job we can do in arriving at recommendations . . .".
This is easy to say, but no easy thing to sustain.
A committee or board made up of volunteers spends hours and hours of what for the rest of us might be leisure time in meetings and document review trying to find solutions that makes sense to them. They open their efforts to public comment from a bunch of neighbors who may not even bother to read the committee or consultant report. Some public comments are informed and thoughtful -- meaning the committee probably has more work to do -- but more often these committees receive criticism for not thinking my way, or worse, no response at all.
Consider school boards which labor countless hours to accommodate irreconcilable interests as part of their annual budget process -- with only a handful of citizens in attendance -- then must endure complaints about rising costs or why Jimmy's extracurricular got the axe from voters who never bother to attend these budget meetings.
After a few years of earnest effort serving the public, it's no wonder the most thoughtful give way to the cynics and the demagogues who tend to rise to the top in our political system.
So it's worth tipping the hat to Tom's modest, wise invitation that embraces the conflict and complaints that come with public comment. At its core lies the old adage "two heads are better than one;" a fundamental insight into democracy and relationships of all kinds.
We are all profoundly provincial individuals aware only of what we have lived through ourselves. Wise democratic leadership requires us to reach beyond our own ideas to understand how others see these issues, if only for fear we may ourselves be missing the bigger picture. Hearing out a variety of views and helping forge compromise among them, in recognition that a better, more enduring solution usually results from that compromise.
The alternative is a winner-takes-all partisan drumbeat, one side claiming a mandate because they received more votes in the latest election, spurning compromise and pressing through their policies by strict majority until their opponents gain the votes to turn the tables. Plagued by partisanship at every level of government, we could all learn from Tom's example of humble leadership.
- 8 ---------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2011 11:47:43 -0500
From: Tom Gray
Subject: [Norwich] Public Forum on Communications
All,
Speaking for myself only and not for the rest of the Capital Finance
Planning & Budgeting Committee (because I haven't discussed it with
the other members), thanks for the feedback on the communications
report! Keep it coming! The more reactions and ideas we have from
others, the
better job we can do in arriving at recommendations that are likely to
attract public support and acceptance.
Regards,
Tom
"The more reactions and ideas we have from others, the better job we can do in arriving at recommendations . . .".
This is easy to say, but no easy thing to sustain.
A committee or board made up of volunteers spends hours and hours of what for the rest of us might be leisure time in meetings and document review trying to find solutions that makes sense to them. They open their efforts to public comment from a bunch of neighbors who may not even bother to read the committee or consultant report. Some public comments are informed and thoughtful -- meaning the committee probably has more work to do -- but more often these committees receive criticism for not thinking my way, or worse, no response at all.
Consider school boards which labor countless hours to accommodate irreconcilable interests as part of their annual budget process -- with only a handful of citizens in attendance -- then must endure complaints about rising costs or why Jimmy's extracurricular got the axe from voters who never bother to attend these budget meetings.
After a few years of earnest effort serving the public, it's no wonder the most thoughtful give way to the cynics and the demagogues who tend to rise to the top in our political system.
So it's worth tipping the hat to Tom's modest, wise invitation that embraces the conflict and complaints that come with public comment. At its core lies the old adage "two heads are better than one;" a fundamental insight into democracy and relationships of all kinds.
We are all profoundly provincial individuals aware only of what we have lived through ourselves. Wise democratic leadership requires us to reach beyond our own ideas to understand how others see these issues, if only for fear we may ourselves be missing the bigger picture. Hearing out a variety of views and helping forge compromise among them, in recognition that a better, more enduring solution usually results from that compromise.
The alternative is a winner-takes-all partisan drumbeat, one side claiming a mandate because they received more votes in the latest election, spurning compromise and pressing through their policies by strict majority until their opponents gain the votes to turn the tables. Plagued by partisanship at every level of government, we could all learn from Tom's example of humble leadership.
- 8 ---------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2011 11:47:43 -0500
From: Tom Gray
Subject: [Norwich] Public Forum on Communications
All,
Speaking for myself only and not for the rest of the Capital Finance
Planning & Budgeting Committee (because I haven't discussed it with
the other members), thanks for the feedback on the communications
report! Keep it coming! The more reactions and ideas we have from
others, the
better job we can do in arriving at recommendations that are likely to
attract public support and acceptance.
Regards,
Tom
