Public Comment

Walking by the art opening entrance on Center Street was a young woman who took the brewery sandwich signboard blocking the sidewalk and slid it several feet into the passageway. I stood close by and thought it was some kind of strange magic. I walked out to see and two people who knew her counseled me to let it go as she walked away, explaining that she was one of the people constantly getting ticketed and hassled for sidewalk stuff, while nobody bothers with the signboards blocking sidewalks. 

It made perfect sense to me. I'd only a couple months ago documented over a hundred permit violations by similar businesses; tables, chairs, signboards, rolling racks of merchandise. There were no legal permits for any of it; I had checked with various planning and code entities to make sure. But the police and the city council have an agenda, and signboards aren't on it, only poor people, and mostly for their visibility. They're serious when they insist that their downtown look like Disneyland. 

This is the same nexus of policymakers who want your money and your vote in a few months. They want you to support more taxes without addressing the lopsided use of police resources against the poor. If you're anything like me, you're receiving newsletters and carefully ironed updates with carefully chosen vocabulary in the hope that you'll have your view of the city and your neighborhood's issues framed in a manageable parameter. 

This is your chance. Ask them why they haven't spoken up for respect for People's Park's city landmark status. Ask them why they haven't led a parade through your local commercial district picking up sidewalk-blocking signboards and placing them back inside the businesses where they belong. Ask them why the tent sweeps always seem to happen in the middle of the night, in the dark when it is hardest for the people affected to pack their belongings, find their glasses, and safely comply. 

You don't have to raise your voice, sound angry, or use profanity; you'll probably give them an advantage if you do. Just ask. Watch them to see if there is any sign that they recognize the issues you're raising and have given them thought. Call their opposition and ask the same questions. 

This matters. Because those carefully constrained newsletters and campaign events are going to come harder and faster as the election grows closer. And each time someone hears the civil rights concerns often unaddressed in a town that thinks it has all the answers inquired about with dignity and civility, it gives others courage to raise the same questions. 

The best politicians are not born. They are crafted and nourished by eagle-eyed citizens taking their measure, nurturing their talent, and if necessary, exposing their corruption. Be that citizen with your poetry, your art, your dance, your theater, your wallet, and certainly your voice. You may start alone, but you won't be alone for long.