Thinking
- Ultimately, our City belongs to the people. And rules around our City’s legislative process are put in place to ensure that all residents: (a) are allowed adequate notice about what’s going on in their city, and (b) are provided adequate time to reach out to their representatives to share their thoughts and have those integrated into the decision-making process.
- Especially when situations impose new requirements on citizens, or when there’s a material commitment being made by the City, these changes are required to have two (2) “hearings” – This means that the agenda item has to appear in two separate meetings and the public provided two separate opportunities to comment, propose changes, disagree, support, etc.
- Occasionally, an emergency or other compelling circumstance may arise where the legislature may consider suspending the rules to avoid adverse impacts that might otherwise occur. To accomplish, a majority of the body must vote in favor to ‘suspend the rules’.
- Absent those types of scenarios, in my opinion, a legislature should not invoke suspension powers out of respect for the prerogative of the people.
- I learned 2-3 hours before the meeting that Council would be considering suspending the required two-hearing rule for the four Resolutions on the agenda.
- The circumstance cited was that our normal Second Meeting of the month had been cancelled (and not rescheduled), since it fell on the Monday of Christmas week.
- In my judgment, our resident’s rights aren’t any less in December simply because Council opts to cancel its second meeting.
- In the short time left before the meeting, I was able to confirm from our legal counsel that there would be no adverse impact to taking up the affected Resolutions at our next scheduled Regular Meeting on January 13 as normally required. Two of the Resolutions related to the DROP program, and it was very important to me that Police and City employees rights were protected.
- The DROP program is the Deferred Retirement Option Plan and it was being considered for extension for four years. The final bits of the program had just been shared with me over the weekend, and I was in the process of digesting the information, hearing others’ thoughts, and arriving at a vote decision.
- A list of lighting products
- Helpful fact sheets to educate yourself
- Sample municipal codes
- Success stories
- And more …
- Exercises good financial stewardship of the monies entrusted to the City by its residents
- Thinks to the future on how to lay a foundation on which residents can build true community
- Promotes a spirit of unity and collaboration
- Serves as a personal connection residents can reach out to for answers and to know that their voice is heard
My Vote Against Rules Suspension at Tonight’s Council Meeting
Those tuning into tonight’s Council Meeting may have seen that I voted three times against suspending rules that safeguard the passage of legislation. Those rules call for two “hearings” before a vote can be taken on Resolutions, and the Council was short-circuiting that to one. For anyone who may be interested further on why, I’ve provided the below.
Big picture:
Particular to tonight’s agenda:
In my opinion, the rules are there for a reason, and that is to ensure the people have their voice. To me, even if many times no one is present in the room, we always need keep them forefront in our mind and protect their space for whenever it is needed.
I like to think of it like the old Motel 6 commercial, grounded in good hospitality: “We’ll keep the light on for you.” To me, when we short-circuit the rules, we usurp the power that is the people’s. And absent a sufficiently compelling reason, we’ve sacrificed for convenience’s sake the very trust we purport to uphold.
Preserving the Beauty of our Night Sky
Earlier this fall, a resident shared with me a resource she found called Dark Sky International – I then ran into it again a month later at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum when I visited with my son for his birthday. Wouldn’t it be cool if our city’s night sky looked like this?
This is Flagstaff, Arizona – The first city certified in the U.S. as a “Dark Sky Community” in 2001. The idea is that with thoughtful lighting both from municipality and residents, we can all look up at night and marvel at the sky. 🙂🔭 (Btw, did anyone catch the aurora borealis earlier this year fall?)
A big part is just knowing the basics, like: (a) what types of lights are best, and (b) the 5 principles of outdoor lighting, as illustrated below:
And there’s absolutely no need to sacrifice safety – In fact, studies show that properly lighted areas that aren’t ‘over-lit’ are actually safer for pedestrians, homeowners, and businesses. (Ever get blinded by a car’s headlight at night and couldn’t see anything around the perimeter of the lit area? – Same thing can happen around your house or business.)
Dark Sky’s website has a plethora of resources, like:
So hopefully something in here has sparked your interest too, to search for and help preserve our ability to wonder at the sparks of beauty in our night sky! 🌃
“Thank God for this Thanksgiving Day” song
Over the last few years, my family has adopted a new small part into our Thanksgiving traditions of watching Ben Rector’s “The Thanksgiving Song”. He’s an artist we’ve really enjoyed as a family, and he wrote this song during COVID - It expresses so many sentiments from then and now that help set the stage and day for Thanksgiving. We hope you enjoy it too, and all your family’s Thanksgiving traditions as well!
“50 Best Places to Live in US”? #1 Silver Spring, MD
After evaluating 2,000 cities across almost 200 data categories, Fortune Magazine found Silver Spring, Maryland as #1.
Here’s a great 3-minute video synopsis of their findings:
Categories they looked at included: livability, financial health, resources for aging adults, education, and wellness. The winners are communities that are sustainable for their youngest and oldest residents – including many fast-growing suburbs and edge cities that find creative ways to improve people’s well-being
“What people are looking for is that balance of ‘I can afford to live here, so I don’t have to work all the time, but then in my free time, there are actually people to connect with and things to do.”
Of course, I can’t help but notice parallels to our own town here in Laurel, and that makes me smile. The video and accompanying article also gives me thoughts on directions where we as a City can enhance further (i.e., not rest on our ‘Laurels’). 😉
“We know that health isn’t just what’s happening inside your body,” says Rickles. “It’s your social connections, your perceptions of safety, and there’s a lot that goes into what makes a city well.” The index is a “person-centric” metric and considers social determinants of health, such as access to transportation, green spaces, parks, libraries, and community.
When 51-year-old Pazit Aviv walks her dog in her Silver Spring, Md., neighborhood, it takes an extra 30 minutes as she inevitably gets lost in an impromptu chat with a neighbor.
A great vision for what a city can be!
Amazing, surreal, honored
Amazing, surreal, honored. Three of the many emotions I felt tonight in the process of being selected to fill the vacant Ward 1 seat on the City Council.
Thank you to the Council for your confidence. And thank you to the voters and residents for your support in last fall’s election - Although we came up just short at the time, your strong support in the last election cycle (highest among all unseated candidates) was a major factor in tonight’s result. Please accept my heartfelt thanks! :)
During my closing statement, I shared my vision for the role of a Councilmember - One who:
I now take it as my task to live these out on behalf of you and our City. And I want to encourage us all to continue building our friendships, churches, neighborhood organizations, small businesses, hobby clubs, civic organizations, and more — Each one of the small moments shared between people is truly what makes Laurel great!
And happy 4th of July! :)
(Photo credit: City of Laurel)
