City council’s plan to hold a series of open houses seemed like a good idea at the time. But if attendance at the first two sessions is indicative of the people’s interest, then maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Indeed, Wednesday night’s open house at Servus Credit Union Place was proof these meetings are little more than a public relations exercise that gives a platform to the same people to repeat the same arguments. And for council to pretend it’s interacting with the citizens.
A grand total of 14 people, excluding councillors and city staff, showed up on Wednesday for what was supposed to be an open dialogue with members of the community. Of that 14, about half attended the last open house back in February. Five individuals affiliated with the St. Albert Taxpayers Association (SATA) – slightly more than one-third of the crowd – were present. The group had four at the last get together. Three people in attendance who did not appear at the last open house have made repeated presentations to city council during council meetings.
As can be expected when the same people attend the same meetings – especially with such a small turnout – those who spoke dominated the open mike to repeat arguments and complaints made either at the last open house or directly to council. Those individuals affiliated with SATA spoke of the same issues they have tirelessly repeated — the city’s high tax rate, the size of the city’s bureaucracy, buying “nice to haves” instead of “need to haves,” the Steinhauer sculptures, the downtown area redevelopment plan and its potential costs, special interest groups and the magnitude of city spending, all topics that have been discussed with council on more than one occasion.
Which is not to say council is blameless in all of this — if people are repeating the same arguments over and over again, it is because they feel council is not listening. At one point councillor Malcolm Parker, who chaired the meeting, tried to placate the small crowd by offering the stale platitude of “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” Nothing should be further from the truth. Council as a whole will listen to whomever it feels warrants its attention, but the volume and frequency of squeaking should be among the least important factors.
Yes, as was stated at the meeting, some individuals do get ‘pigeon-holed’ by both council and staff, but the blame is equal. Councillors don’t want to listen to individuals harping repeatedly on the same points; points councillors or city staff – rightly or wrongly – don’t believe.
The entire evening was an exercise in futility because as soon as any individual attentive to the city’s affairs surveyed the room, it was easy to discern exactly what the agenda would be. Parker at one point asked what the city could do to get more people to attend. The answer is probably nothing.
Residents will attend if they feel it’s more important than their family activities, work commitments or other constraints on their time. Yes some are complacent and others might feel there is no point because they know they will not be heard, but the rest simply don’t believe it would be worth their time.
It would be hard to disagree. So long as the faces never change, the discussion never will. On the surface council is meeting openly with the public, but in reality they are just talking about the same issues with the same people. It’s hard to see why anyone would give up an evening for that.
