I'm wondering whether our community would be well-served by a civic association.
The association I have in mind would meet monthly, and would be open to anyone who chose to attend. It might have school district, city council and board of trustees committees, that would monitor all meetings of those bodies, and report to the association at each monthly meeting. It might also have a committee responsible for monitoring the doings of our neightborhood associations, and for enlisting their cooperation when appropriate. Hopefully they would do the same. The association might even have a committee responsible for monitoring, and reporting back on, developments that come before our local zoning and planning boards, and other similar units. It might even reach out to the county, and to neighboring communities.
The association could invite speakers to better inform the membership on subjects such as Ohio property and income tax laws; the pros and cons, and logistics, of consolidating our two units of local government; Ohio school law; and other matters of common interest. And, of course, the association would provide a forum, enabling us to talk through local issues.
Although such an association would be nonpartisan, and might not actually endorse candidates, candidates for local office could nonetheless address the association. The association might even sponsor debates among them, which could be structured to actually bring out the issues in such campaigns.
We, as a community, need to take ownership of our schools and our local governments. It's hard to do that when all we do is take pot shots at local leaders and initiatives, which sometimes are well-informed, and sometimes are not. A civic association might give us a sense of community, might enable us all to become more well-informed, and might give us a vehicle for making local officials more immediately responsive to us voters and taxpayers.
Please let me know what you think about the need for such an organization, and what it might be able to accomplish. If enough folks are interested, I would be eager to work with you to get it started.
By Yosemite Pam
The association I have in mind would meet monthly, and would be open to anyone who chose to attend. It might have school district, city council and board of trustees committees, that would monitor all meetings of those bodies, and report to the association at each monthly meeting. It might also have a committee responsible for monitoring the doings of our neightborhood associations, and for enlisting their cooperation when appropriate. Hopefully they would do the same. The association might even have a committee responsible for monitoring, and reporting back on, developments that come before our local zoning and planning boards, and other similar units. It might even reach out to the county, and to neighboring communities.
The association could invite speakers to better inform the membership on subjects such as Ohio property and income tax laws; the pros and cons, and logistics, of consolidating our two units of local government; Ohio school law; and other matters of common interest. And, of course, the association would provide a forum, enabling us to talk through local issues.
Although such an association would be nonpartisan, and might not actually endorse candidates, candidates for local office could nonetheless address the association. The association might even sponsor debates among them, which could be structured to actually bring out the issues in such campaigns.
We, as a community, need to take ownership of our schools and our local governments. It's hard to do that when all we do is take pot shots at local leaders and initiatives, which sometimes are well-informed, and sometimes are not. A civic association might give us a sense of community, might enable us all to become more well-informed, and might give us a vehicle for making local officials more immediately responsive to us voters and taxpayers.
Please let me know what you think about the need for such an organization, and what it might be able to accomplish. If enough folks are interested, I would be eager to work with you to get it started.
By Yosemite Pam
