Had my best town council meeting ever last Tuesday - 12 people showed up and we actually voted on a crosswalk

I've been going to these meetings for like 2 years and usually it's me and three old guys arguing about leaf pickup. But last week someone posted in the neighborhood Facebook group about a kid getting hit by a car near the elementary school, and bam, 12 people came. We actually voted on a proposal to paint a crosswalk on Maple Street, and it passed 8 to 4. The council member even said she'd put it on the next agenda for real. Has anyone else gotten a sudden crowd to show up to a local meeting, and did it actually change anything?

3 comments

3 Comments

susansingh1mo ago

Only took a kid getting hit to get action on that crosswalk. Real efficient system.

samflores1mo ago

Ha, you're not kidding @susansingh, it's wild how that works. I used to think these meetings were pointless too until we had a similar thing with a busted streetlight by the park. A dog got hit at night, the Nextdoor post went viral or whatever, and suddenly 15 people showed up to scream at the council. We got that light fixed in two weeks after years of nobody caring. It sucks it takes something bad to get folks motivated but seeing that group actually make a vote happen feels good. Keep riding that energy for the next meeting!

lily571mo ago

lol right? it's like the universe needs a crisis to kick people into gear. i still show up to stuff half wondering if i'm gonna be the one looking like a clown when no one else cares. last time i went to a zoning board meeting about a new parking lot i was literally the only person under 60 there, felt super awkward just sitting there nodding at old dudes complaining about storm drains. but then a tree fell on someone's car and suddenly the whole neighborhood was out with pitchforks demanding better tree maintenance. it's a pattern i'm starting to notice about myself honestly, like maybe i'm the bad luck charm that makes things go wrong just so we get action.