Civic Engagement
Are We Citizens Or Are We Residents?
Why it matters how we think of ourselves
Five years ago I ran for a seat on my local city’s common council. I got beat like a drum.
It was okay that I lost. It would have been a huge time suck for me at a time when I needed all my time — I was helping my family care for our elderly mother while she was still in her home, and I had two kids in grade school.
I originally ran for office because once, my neighbors and I had shown up at City Hall to state our opposition to the rezoning of three lots in our neighborhood. Where before those lots had contained single-family homes, the new developer wanted to erect a 39-unit apartment building.
You can call me NIMBY if you want. My opposition to what City Hall was trying to do is not the point of this story.
How I was treated in City Hall IS.
Recently I was reading in my local newspaper (which is tiny and exists mainly to print sports pictures for the local high school, but which does still exist, so kudos to them!) that the common council in my city was working on some new language in our city ordinances (municipal laws, basically).
