AJC > Sandy Springs > Blog > Archives > 2008 > April > 15
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Do you know what’s happening in Sandy Springs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Now and again I’ve fussed and fumed like an old scold over the lack of enough of us getting involved and knowing what’s going on around town.
I think it’s a safe bet more Sandy Springsteens know the status of Britney Spears’ mental state than we do what our elected city council members are up to.
The latter has gotten a little easier, meaning there are fewer excuses for being ignorant. Assuming, sadly, anyone was looking for an excuse to be so.
The Sandy Springs Council of Neighborhoods has launched a Web site that tracks the vote every councilperson has cast from the beginning. That would be Dec. 5, 2005 for you Britney fans.
Simply by clicking past tmz.com over to www.sandyspringscouncil.org, it is now possible to easily pulls one’s head from the sand, know what’s going on, and who voted how to make it so.
The only way it could be more user friendly would be if they gave away coupons for donuts.
And I really do think this is a great idea and a wonderful tool, but there is some sadness that citizenship has to be made so rudimentary.
If you don’t want to make time to go to city council meetings, you can access what happened on several Web sites. You can sign up for e-mail updates from your council representative and stayed informed that way. Assuming you know the name of your council rep.
I get that it takes some extra effort to stay informed. You have to get off your couch, turn off the TV and do something. Conduct an online search, make a phone call, talk to a neighbor, read the paper.
By the time most people become aware of a decision they disagree with it’s usually too late. The discussion is long since ended and the votes have been cast. The battle cry of the uniformed could be: “Nobody told me!”
To which I would reply: “Did you ask?”
There’s that old 60’s pabulum that if you aren’t a part of the solution you’re part of the problem. For the sake of this discussion I would suggest morphing that to: “If you haven’t taken the time to know what’s going on, you might want to keep the old pie hole shut.”
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