[RP TownTalk] Cafritz Vote

Wed Jul 11 19:54:02 UTC 2012

[To be clear, I am writing here as a private citizen, not as list moderator]

Melissa,
The issue of low participation in voting in general (in the U.S.) and, in
particular in local and "off-year" elections, and especially in  elections
for mayor and council representation in Riverdale Park is a critical one.
 I have been concerned with it as long as I've lived in town, and in fact
researched and posted some data on RP elections on the RP Wiki (see:
http://rpwiki.wetpaint.com/page/2009+Election+Results ) a few years back.
 I compared our data with Hyattsville's at the time (we actually discussed
this on the Hyattsville podcast radio 4HAX at the time) and found them to
be similarly dismal. Turnout goes up a bit when seats are contested, and
down when they are not.  I took from this some encouragement that at least
people are paying attention.

While I am sure any of us who is concerned with the health and vitality of
our democracy and community shares your consternation with low voter
turnout, I am not sure how this point can be flipped on its head and used
as a critique of the very representatives who did step up and make
themselves available to serve.  Seems to me the critique should be directed
at any and all who did not vote - not at those who volunteered to run and
now serve in office.  While it is true that in many places where only one
candidate appears on the ballot, this is taken as evidence that the
elections are rigged in favor of the party in power, I am not aware here
that anyone who wanted to run has been kept from appearing on any ballot. *Au
contraire, *I know that the mayor has worked very hard to recruit
candidates when none had as yet raised their hands to volunteer.

I, for one, as am absolutely grateful as I can be that we have the quality
of representation that we do.  For a town that seems outwardly -as you
point out - to not give a hoot, I think we're pretty damned fortunate to
find people, all of whom have day jobs, most of whom have families, and I'm
pretty sure though I haven't polled them, all of whom have other things
they might actually prefer to be doing rather than attending and conducting
all of the seemingly endless council,  committee, and town meetings that it
takes to make the system work.  I'd like to have a dollar for every time
one of their spouses, partners or friends has questioned their sanity and
asked them when they were going to spend some time with them!

If they aren't "walking the streets" in their ward it's probably because
they are either attending an official meeting or preparing for the next
one. I can only speak for myself, but every time I have emailed or called
on of our representatives (or admin staff, for that matter) I have always
received a reply, usually quite promptly.  Have you thought about how many
hours CMs Ebbeler and Thompson have taken to respond just to your emails on
this list, on this topic? I would offer that as evidence that they are, in
fact, very interested and very responsive to the interests and ideas of
their constituents.  What more would you expect of them?  Personally, I
would be abashed to ask more of any of them were I not myself ready to hold
myself to that same high standard and run for the same office.

In the six years that I have lived in town, I have been represented in Ward
1 by Rob Oppenheim, Alice Ewen, and Jonathan Ebbeler.  I have attended
meetings, observed them in action, and discussed issues which each of them.
I would rate each one of them as "awesome."  (BTW,  I attended the meeting
on the Cafritz proposal - I believe it was last December - when Mr Ebbeler
basically told Jane Cafritz to STFU and made it absolutely clear that the
process was being led by the town, not by her.  I can't imagine anyone
would have come away from that meeting believing that the council was in
the pocket of Cafritz or anyone else). I just wish that all 3 of my former
and current reps would all run for higher office - district council, state
legislature, or Congress. I believe we'd all be better off if they did.  I
can only hope that you and others who share the opinion that our
representatives are only in it for themselves and are disdainful of their
constituents and their views do not succeed in getting them all to quit.
 Where would we be then? Are you prepared to run?

Dwight Holmes

On Wed, Jul 11, 2012 at 2:49 PM, Melissa Avery <m.avery at rocketmail.com>wrote:

> In my experiences the town government is a closed society, not
> particularly interested in the opinion of the citizens. the
>  entirety elected by less than 200 citizens out of a citizenry of close to
> 3000.
> The council people do not meet with the people in there wards, walk the
> streets of there wards or particularly want to hear from the people who
> live in there wards.
> The town charter has been altered to state they can conduct town meetings
> in any way they see fit, rather than following Roberts Rules of Order which
> is the accepted norm.
>
>
>   ------------------------------
> *From:* "barrett740 at yahoo.com" <barrett740 at yahoo.com>
> *To:* Melissa Avery <m.avery at rocketmail.com>; "
> jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com" <jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com>; "
> towntalk at riverdale-park.org" <towntalk at riverdale-park.org>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 11, 2012 2:11 PM
>
> *Subject:* Re: [RP TownTalk] Cafritz Vote
>
> That is not very responsive.  I too am interested in differing
> perspectives and was looking forward to a more thoughtful response.  Kirsten
>
> *Connected by DROID on Verizon Wireless*
>
>
> -----Original message-----
>
> *From: *Melissa Avery <m.avery at rocketmail.com>*
> To: *"jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com" <jebbeler at efusionconsulting.com>, "
> towntalk at riverdale-park.org" <towntalk at riverdale-park.org>*
> Sent: *Wed, Jul 11, 2012 17:31:06 GMT+00:00*
> Subject: *Re: [RP TownTalk] Cafritz Vote
>
>
>
>
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