I really wish I knew ahead of time that somebody had come up with the bright idea of embedding a required NJ DEP public hearing on a brownfields project into a so-called “community forum.”
A city official told me as much when I arrived at the Washington Community School cafetorium Thursday just before the hearing’s scheduled 6:30 p.m. start time. The idea was to increase the audience for the hearing, but the “forum” started late, ran overtime and included more than a dozen topics in addition to the nine advertised on the city web site. The public hearing was pushed to nearly two hours later, by which time most of the members of the public had gone home. No fewer than 15 city staffers were on hand to speak, in effect overwhelming the brownfields consultant and a large group from the Rutgers School of Business, who gave a very good presentation on economic development.
The cumbersome format had a slew of statistic-laden reports from city divisions, which will be posted on the city web site and so need no accounting by bloggers. Several of the previously announced topics, such as street repair, recreation activities, the Armory and shared services with other entities, turned out to be rehashes of public discussions held at other meetings.
The gimmick of combining the forum with the hearing was ill-advised at best and I’m sure the long-suffering attendees had choicer language on the subject, especially those who were attracted by the promise of a Q&A session at the end. This event no doubt inoculated members of the public with a healthy suspicion for the very mention of anything billed as a city-run “community forum” in the future.
--Bernice
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I understand your extreme frustration, Bernice, as I feel it as well. I had already made other plans before I found out about this forum, and couldn't even get as much as an advance look at the agenda items after requesting one--and I am an elected official.
ReplyDeleteMy constituents want to be informed about what is going on in our city on a timely and regular basis. I always inform them that the city council is precluded from getting involved in the day to day "operations" of the city. However, that does not mean that the residents shouldn't know what is happening on their behalf on a regular basis. The administration's constant "show and tell" dog and pony shows cannot stand in for substantive information on a number of serious issues.
As I have said previously, I really wish I could attribute it to something else, but my fear is that it is simply incompetence. I hope not.
Rebecca
Rebecca, regrettably you are correct with your assumption. It can't be anything other than incompetence or a cover-up for something else.
ReplyDeleteThe "peter principle" at work!