When I had the floor at last nights MTCY&NPG meeting, the only issue that came to mind to talk about was what I had written on my comment card, yet I couldn’t bring myself to say it aloud. I don’t really know why… Was it the ridiculousness of my comment? Or did it deserve  more than the 30 seconds I could give it at the end of the meeting? Hmmmm, things to learn about myself.

Regardless, I felt it was something I could share with you on my blog…

Much of what I wrote about in my project paper had to do with communication. Though I proposed that the interactive internet be utilized in government/community interactions, the suggestion I made on my comment card was far from the group harnessing new technology.  It still deals with communication, because it seems that contention is still prevalent at times – highlighted at last night’s meeting, but it’s often there – for a number of reasons.  I think it’s due to time constraints – this is just my opinion, but I think we’d all like to talk, and talk, and talk.

So my proposal (comment) is that we talk… outside of the meetings. We could do this on blogs but what if we got together for a social gathering(s) to get to know each other? We could talk shop and/or talk about our lives and values. This could be as simple as walking/conversing on Mt. Tabor, or as intermediate as a potluck, or as extravagant as a camping off-site.

Yes, this is where it veers toward the ridiculous (at the very least it’d be logistically, um… nuts), but besides the benefits of 1) getting an opportunity to explore issues together for longer than a couple of minutes, and 2) getting away from fluorescent lights, it would make a great marketing tool. Knowing that we have to present this to the council and to the community, images of Parks and the community engaging in innovative ways will go a long way in helping pass this update to the master plan.

Oh, and most importantly, I think it would help dissipate the contention and misunderstandings.