Reading the complaints about my breaking of the news about City Manager Bill Emlen reminded me of something that I have been puzzled by for a long time. Why is the city of Davis, who wants to become a high tech and green tech leader, an innovator of new climate policies, still stuck in the last decade – at best – when it comes to communication?
Observe the issue of reverse angled parking. How did the people of Davis become aware that there will be a meeting this week? They either read it on this site or in the Davis Enterprise. The city also sent out a paper mailing to some of the business owners on second street. We live in one of the more educated and technically sophisticated communities in the nation, which means also on the planet, and yet we are still getting our information about the city like it was at best 2005, if not 1990.
How many people do you think would sign up to receive such alerts either through email, Facebook, or Twitter? My guess is that within a short time, the city could instantly and directly reach a couple of thousand people for the cost of the staff time it takes to write a 144-character notice and click a button.
Think about what this would do. First of all, even if it only hit the politically-connected people, it would filter to the average person who lives in Davis through networks and common connections. There has been political research, in fact done right here in this community at UC Davis, about communication nodes and opinion leadership. So, true, only a few thousand would be signed up, but about important issues, the word would get out.
So, let us say that we have a key commission hearing on a controversial topic, now the city can reach 2000 people (I keep making up this number, admittedly), and they can talk their friends and forward the message. Now suddenly the public can no longer complain that they are being kept in the dark.
The city does a decent job, for instance, in getting the word out to neighbors of a particular development that a hearing is coming up. But they do a poor job of getting that information out to the rest of the community.
How often have you heard people complain that they were blindsided by a discussion? How often has the council met to talk about a particular item on the agenda, made a decision, only to find out that there was a large group of people who deeply care about the issue who did not know it was coming up because the Brown-act requirement, though fulfilled, only requires a posting of an agenda. Most people are not engaged in reading the regular reading of council agendas and thus are left in the dark.
Sometimes this inaction means that the council has to reconsider an issue, like they did with the homeless rotating cold weather shelter or the Korean Church. Sometimes it means that people are just stuck with the council’s decisions, and leave the council feeling alienated and disenfranchised.
The saddest thing about it all is that this is so unnecessary in this day and age. And even sadder is that it would not cost the city a dime to implement.
Meetings can be tweeted, Facebooked, and emailed. Key issues that come up either during council or before the commission can be publicized, at no cost to the city.
I sent this suggestion to the the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem of the council a few weeks ago and got no response from either one of them.
Is it not time that the city of Davis joins the rest of us in the 21st century?
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Information = power, and the Council doesn’t like to share. If this were a well-run community all Council agenda items would have to be posted online an absolute minimum of four days in advance. No publish, no discussion.
“I sent this suggestion to the the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem of the council a few weeks ago and got no response from either one of them.”
Relax David, they will be mailing you a response soon 😉
Honestly, I think it is self/defense. Council meetings already drag past midnight as scores of aging hippies need to vent (using almost identical statements) on trivial issues. Imagine if even more knew about issues in a timely way…
Think of it as an anti-bloviation technique.
There is a reason issues are not publicized. The City Manager does not want public input. Citizens are expected to “trust” city staff, and city staff’s view of things. After all, city staff are considered the “experts” by the City Manager. I would like to see this proprietary attitude change. Bob Weir from Public Works was willing to put the water issue before citizens way ahead of when it was to be discussed, and was willing to take the heat along that came along with doing that. He was not afraid of public input. The City Manager could take a lesson from Bob Weir…
I looked at the City web site and did find a place (http://cityofdavis.org/email/lists.cfm) where one could receive City Council agendas so I am not sure what the issue is.
I agree with most comments above, that both the City Staff and City Council seem hostile to public input. Yes there is a lot of bloviating but that is part of the process and Davis is hardly unique.
The real problem with this Council is that it spends too much time on trivia and too little on the issues that matter, in particular our budget issues. I’m not sure more public input would help here since many of our citizens seem similarly inclined, but democracy, with all its flaws, works best if we have open communication. THose days are gone in Washington and Sacramento, but still possible in Davis.
The City Council agendas can, indeed, be received as you describe. But I have found that issues that may be of particular concern to me are not that easy to spot. I think David may be describing a notice that is more like a press release, or highlighted reminder.
I don’t think the City Staff and Council can be expected to highlight where they see controversy, which they obviously want to avoid. On the other hand the process needs changing. Bringing up votes quickly; reducing discussion are standard ways to circumvent proper discussion and Saylor and co are well versed in this.
Its up to us to change it. It looks like we failed in the last election. I think we need to realize the flaws in our CC and staff and limit their discretion on spending and other issues–at the ballot box. Its not an ideal solution but otherwise its business as usual.
“The City Manager could take a lesson from Bob Weir…”
ERM: After watching many of Bob Weir’s presentations at open Council meetings, my impression is somewhat different than yours as ,IMO,when the heat was turned up from the dais, his principal MO was stonewalling and obfuscation.
We might want to distinguish between the technical and political issues here.
Technical: the city’s web site doesn’t support a notification mechanism that is available elsewhere and appropriate for municipalities; or, the city web site has usability problems that prevent me from finding what I want.
Political: the issues that interest me don’t land on the home page / calendar / mailings due to some attempt to hide information.
May I suggest that if the issue is primarily political, take it to the council, and don’t confuse it with technology.
If the issue is primarily technical, the constructive thing to do would be to take your ideas to the Telecommunications Commission (or even join the commission — there is a vacancy).
The commission next meets Wednesday, September 1, 2010, at 600 A Street, in City Training Room. That meeting, ironically, is missing from the city’s event calendar.
davisite2: “ERM: After watching many of Bob Weir’s presentations at open Council meetings, my impression is somewhat different than yours as ,IMO,when the heat was turned up from the dais, his principal MO was stonewalling and obfuscation.”
You may not agree with Bob Weir’s positions, but do you agree with his willingness to put things before citizens in sufficient time to have plenty of opportunity to express an opinion? I did not always agree with Bob Weir, but I respected his ethics in terms of process.
“The City Manager could take a lesson from Bob Weir…”
Maybe Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead. At least the meetings would be more entertaining…
gunrock, if you don’t like Davis hippies then why are you still here?
isn’t there a shi..hole like Woodland or Esparto where you’d feel more comfortable amongst people of your ‘OWN’ kind?
Really you should go…republicans like yourself have made Davis become quite unbearable.
we need a return of the hippies..wherever the hippies go, they make a good life for themselves and their surroundings.
then inevitably, their community gets destroyed by right wing leaches, that come to partake of the clean green peaceful communities.
before you know it, the community has turned into a group of fake ppl driving around in SUV’s and complaining about the hippies..
please..go away right wing republican. we don’t want your nazi ideology here.
GTFO!!!!
as a matter of fact, there’s a little town in Somalia that you and Rush Limbaugh would love..
guns everywhere…little to no government at all which means you can do what ever the eff. you want.
in Mogadishu, you can run around like a crazed plundering marauder..free from that evil big government with all of its regulations that you ppl hate so much.
and oh yes..hey no taxes at all..and no roads, or plumbing..no clean water really..no education system or health care..and because of your no government…it’s every man woman and child for themselves.
if you have enough money for health care, food, and housing, well then good for you..if not…guess what. you die on the streets from starvation and disease…
is this what you want for our country mr. right wing republican? well guess what, you can have it all..just not here in America..
Mogadishu will fit you all just fine.
Palin and fiorina will love it there. they’ll get to shoot animals whenever and wherever just for the fun of it. and if your soul desires a little more suffering, you can walk the streets of mogadishu with your guns, and witness the fruits of small government and no taxes.
thanks to a no welfare state, i’m sure you’ll find loads of starving men women and children. god bless america. plz mr right wng republican..get out of this country..it’s clear you love your money, more than freedom, clean air, clean water, happiness and life itself.
your ‘pro-life” stance is obviously just a mirage…while you claim that you’re pro-life, and you go to your catholic church, you’d rather see ppl die on the streets, you’d rather see ppl starve, lose their homes, lose their lives, than pay taxes..
tell me mr/s right wing republican..how do you reconcile your greed with your religious belief? oh wait a minute..your religion is greed right? and money your god? oh okay in that case..it makes perfect sense!!!
meg whitman would love it there too..she’d get to fire everyone, and feel good about herself that she’s being “fiscally” responsible..
only problem is, she forgot the basic principles of economics…if all of her fired “employees” don’t have any money, then how are they going to spend it on her steadily increasing fees on EBAY?
all these so called “fiscally” responsible republicans never spend within their means. they want to destroy America for their own private financial greedy gain.
they always raise taxes for the poor (Arnold and his sales tax hike, fees, dmn fees etc)
they give their rich cronies a free tax ride, and cut every single social service program for poor people that they can get away with.
WAKE UP PPL..WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO RECOGNIZE…THEY DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOU OR AMERICA!!!
to me, they are life the traveling japanese whalers and dolphin killers.
they have no heart. they are cruel, calculating and heartless.
they do not care about the effect of their actions on others. while they hack away at the flesh of the innocents..they laugh and sneer at the pain and suffering they cause, while they run to the bank, to get their precious money.
does capitalism HAVE to be about suffering and exploitation? did you ever stop to think and realize, that maybe, we can make money, but not in such a heartless way? what has happened to the human race? where is our soul, where is our dignity?
WHERE IS OUR HUMANITY?