Tonight I had my first direct experience with my hyper local government, the Old Town Triangle Association (OTTA). The agenda for the meeting was fairly straightforward, Marge's Still, a Corner restaurant and bar within the neighborhood, had submitted permits with the city for a sidewalk cafe, a designated roadside loading zone for their food and beverage deliveries, and the right to operate a valet parking service. Approximately 60 residents arrived at the meeting, all of them eager to engage in the democratic process, some of them seemingly itching for an argument, and a few of them looking for one chance to desperately cry out "Won't someone please think of the children!?" while nearly fainting.
Back and forth, agitated bickering....ahem...excuse me....I mean debate, ensued. Luckily, several generous neighbors were on hand to see that the "please state your name and address before making your comment" rule was strictly enforced, lest absolute chaos ensue. These malevolent ....ahem.... excuse me again... benevolent souls...coupled with the decision by many of the debaters, to describe in detail, the many years that they had resided in the neighborhood, was sure to provide a warm and welcoming environment to any new, would be voices from the neighborhood.
Whip! Crack! the comments flew:
"This is a quiet neighborhood, which must be preserved"
"where do you live?"
"the bar is loud and raucous at all hours of the night!"
"I walk my dog by the bar every evening, and it is not, in fact, loud, nor is it raucous."
"I'm not a dog person.... or a cat person....but I love animals".
Alas, like so many good things, after a mere two and a half hours, it had to come to a dragged out, somewhat unsatisfying end. Marge's Still would be allowed to have their loading dock and their outdoor cafe, but would not be allowed to operate a valet parking service (out of legitimate fear the bar would attempt to utilize the nearby school playground as their parking lot".
Scorecard for the evening:
Marge's Still - 2 points
Conspiratorial Local Wacko(s) - 1 point
Democracatic Process - 3 points
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1 comment:
While there is a certain beauty of democracy in its raw form - it doesn't take too many meeting to figure out why people stop going and you have to wonder about the mental capacity of anyone willing to actually sit at the front of the meeting and try to accomplish anything.
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