(This week’s civic education and engagement column from Danville’s The Republican newspaper.)
I’m pretty sure that Siri thing knows more about me than I do. I’m even starting to suspect it’s capable of mind-reading. I wouldn’t be completely surprised if Siri started taking the initiative. “Please tell me you’re not going to wear THAT blue shirt again.”
Given the ever-accelerating developments of artificial intelligence and brain research, it’s possible we’ll reach a point when the local governments that receive our property taxes (and some of our income taxes) will know exactly what we want to know about, exactly when we want to know it.
Until then, there’s only one way local government can know you have strong feelings about something or want to better understand something else: if you let them know.
If that seems obvious, you probably aren’t spending much time on social media chatter sites. Because if you were, you’d be accustomed to angry posts and comments pretty much anytime local government does anything. One of the most common themes? “Why weren’t we told about this?” “What else is the Town Council keeping secret from us?” “You know the School Board doesn’t want anyone to know their building plans.” “How did we just find out that important public meeting is tomorrow evening?”
Whether it’s a proposed data center, a roundabout replacing that intersection you constantly gripe about, or a gas station being built across from your housing addition, most local residents pay zero attention – until it erupts into a social media firestorm. And even though the local government did everything the law requires it to do to publicize the information – and usually, quite a bit more – people claim it must have been kept secret, because they haven’t heard a darned thing about it.
For many, it’s as if they believe their government representatives should inherently have been aware of their interest in this particular matter. In fact, those representative should have personally brought it to their attention. “Ms. Jones, this week’s Plan Commission meeting will discuss plans for that intersection across town that you don’t like.”
Sure, local governments sometimes do a lousy job of communicating, and posting a legal notice somewhere hardly qualifies as effective public outreach. But there’s a difference between government failing to communicate and residents failing to pay attention.
“I didn’t hear anything about it” is a claim that sticks in my craw because I know how hard most local governments work to share information. Plainfield Schools regularly hosted an evening event that’s been known by a variety of names, most recently Quaker Conversations. The school board members, the superintendent, and a handful of administrators gathered in the boardroom to talk about whatever people wanted to discuss (except anything involving specific students or employees). Attendees asked frank questions and got frank responses. If five people showed up, it was a big crowd.
When people would reach out with a complaint or a concern, we’d usually mention the event and encourage them to bring their thoughts to the next – because they just missed one! We’d often get an angry pushback. “You should do a better job of publicizing it – I didn’t see anything.” You didn’t see the multiple posts on your social media feed given that you follow our pages? And you’re a parent, so you received at least two announcements through our parent information app. “I don’t have time to read everything!” Okay, but we know you received it. Fact is, you were told about it. You chose not to read it or add it to your calendar? That’s not on us, my friend.
As I’ve noted before, information about most contentious topics like new subdivisions, road projects, and school district bond issues is readily available online. When it isn’t, an email or phone call to the appropriate local official provides a chance to learn more and register your opinion in a way that can have a real effect. Most local governments post meeting agendas and minutes, and many stream their meetings on video and save them so you can watch them later. But you have to take the first step, because there’s no way your local government officials can read your mind. You can’t improve your community if you don’t invest some time to learn. Ranting on social media generates a lot of noise and minimal real effect.
Your local officials may communicate well or poorly, and you have every right to expect them to make important information easy to find. But they still can’t know what matters to you unless you pay attention and speak up. At least not yet. Maybe Siri will eventually tell them.