"Let's Make a Deal"

There aren't many of us living in Biscayne Park.  Our population is about 3000 now.  Some of us, because we are children or non-citizens, cannot vote.  The sad fact is that not many of us vote anyway.  The very high vote-getters of the winners of BP Commission elections get about 350 votes.  The least supported winners get about 250 votes. 

But it matters who wins.  Commissioners have to pass judgment on many kinds of things.  They have to make decisions about finances, municipal structure, land usage, design and architectural matters, and other matters.  One thing we saw in last night's meeting is that Commissioners have to know about and be respectful of community Boards, populated by our neighbors who volunteer their time and interest to provide vital functions.

If a Commissioner doesn't know the first thing about finances, or has not been in any way active with this municipality, or has never served on or even attended a meeting of any Village Board, it makes a difference.

Now it's fair to say that no Commissioner or Commission candidate knows a lot about all of these areas.  We can't expect that they would.  All we can expect is that they know what they don't know, and make it their business to learn about it, at least enough to make decisions regarding one area or another.  And since we have a Manager form of municipal management, we should also expect Commissioners to be highly deferential to the expertise of the professionals we hire to do for us what we are incapable of doing for ourselves.  That's why we hire them.

So how do we know what our elected officials know, and what they are willing and able to learn?  We watch them.  This opportunity is available every month.  We place ourselves at a huge disadvantage if we elect them, but then we don't watch them.  And let me tell you, very few of us watch them.

Of the 250-350 people who elected Anderson, Cooper, Jacobs, Ross, and Watts, perhaps 15 came to watch them last night.  And that number was padded by people who were there for special reasons during the beginning of the meeting, and who left some time sooner or later.  At the end of the meeting, there were perhaps five of us still there.  That's about typical.  And it would have been fewer than that if Rosemary Weiss had not provided baked goods.  (They were spectacular.)

So here's the deal.  If you don't come to Commission meetings, don't vote.  If you vote, and you don't monitor what you did, you simply dump a problem in someone else's lap, and you go on your merry way.  Those of us who do come to meetings have to deal with the mess you made.  So do many other residents of our Village.  And the  Boards.  And the employees.  If Commissioners get stupid, or lazy, or devote themselves to sabotage and undermining, they do this on all of us.  And if they are stupid or lazy or sabotaging, it's only those of us who attend Commission meetings who know about it.

So make a resolution.  Come to Commission meetings.  Come to all of them.  Come to every other one.  Attend twice a year.  Just keep an eye on how your guess turned out.  Or don't vote.  Deal?


(PS: I hope you come to meetings, and I hope you vote.  Responsibly, and with real knowledge.)