Mayor Carty Finkbeiner had his first Town Hall meeting last night at Ottawa River Elementary School, as I read the above linked Toledo Blade article this got my attention:
When a woman tried to ask whether Point Place would get a high school or junior high school as part of the $821 million school construction project, the mayor firmly stopped her, saying he and his staff had nothing to do with those decisions.
"That's what most of us are here to talk about," said Jill Brewer, the parent of a 3-year-old, after she was ushered away from the microphone. "If they call a town hall meeting, they should address the issues of the majority of the people."
Everyone should know it's not the Mayor's job to make those decisions, that is the local Board of Education. Part of this problem is Mayor's talk about schools, especially during campaigns and speeches, and at times don't make those lines clear of what they can actually do. Part of it is people not stopping to realize that if they have concerns about when or where a new school will be built they should be showing up at the Board of Education meetings.
If it's true that the majority of those last night wanted to talk about Schools, then perhaps the Board of Education needs to do a better job in providing information and a chance for those who are concerned to speak. I for one am glad Carty didn't get involved in that topic. He can "recommend", he can "urge", but other than that? He really has no input on where or when a new school will be built.
I wondered when I heard his State of the City address how successful he was going to be at getting these Town Hall meetings to focus on the positive, the "vision quest" that he wanted them to be rather than more about airing complaints. I doubt he'll give up easy though, and that's a good thing.
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2 comments:
Very true, Lisa, but sometimes Carty has a way of rankling people.
He probably would have been better off saying something like "I understand your concerns, folks. I promise I will relay those to the Board of Education."
Even though he technically has no control over the buildings program, he does carry a lot of weight.
And, under the radar, the one of the reasons the trade unions supported Carty over Jack was related to the awarding of some of these contracts, I am told by a few knowledgeable little birds.
:-}
He made it pretty clear what the intention was for these town hall meetings, the point was stressed it was to promote future vision type ideas rather than a complaint forum.
Had he and his staff not done the prior announcement work? I'd be a little more sympathetic to those who decided to change the agenda. Given I've seen him "micromanage" areas that don't really have anything to do with what his real responsibilities as Mayor are, I was happy he didn't address it. Nor do we really know what the exact statement was in response, just what the Blade reporter paraphrased.
He's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't on some issues. If he addressed the school building issue then people would say OMG he doesn't have anything to do with that! If he doesn't? You have this situation. So I pick...dealing with things that are really part of his job description.
:-)
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