THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409140116
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: JOHN PRUITT
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Nobody in Suffolk, my recent visitor declared, gives a damn about anything. The city manager says he's leaving, and nobody even talks about it. The City Council considers topics whose impact will reach far into the future, and nobody shows up to offer a single comment.
A gas station will become the city's greeting at its busiest intersection, and nobody makes a peep.
Nobody, of course, is an exaggeration. The regular government watchdogs have their say, but so many of them have said so much - about everything - that their influence is diminished. Besides, the council itself now includes three of those former public watchdogs, so their numbers are down.
Still, I understand what the man was saying. It's a concern that also has been on my mind lately. With 52,000 or so citizens with concerns as diverse as sewage bubbling up in the yards in which their children play and rapid growth nipping at Suffolk, you'd think there'd be enough interested people to attend meetings in which proposed policies affecting them are aired.
Yes, some of the meetings are broadcast live, then shown on tape, on cable television. But watching a City Council session while reclining in an arm chair is a far cry from involvement.
Don't you wonder, too, just how many people skip far more entertaining shows on network and cable TV to watch talking heads discuss, for seemingly endless minutes, whether to next dicuss the concept of service districts or service districts for specific sewerage projects?
That kind of silliness explains, at least in part, why attendance at City Council meetings is down. When it gets that dull, home viewers can just zap it. Expecting an audience to endure it in the hard benches of City Council chambers is just too much.
Nonetheless, that doesn't address the larger issue, the apparent lack of interest in municipal affairs by most Suffolk folks. Unfortunately, public bodies like the Planning Commission, City Council and School Board have, increasingly, audiences of only their own members or a few people affected by specific actions of specific meetings.
It's no way to run a government in a democratic society. The potential for abuse is significantly greater without the watchful eyes of the public - even by public bodies elected to do the will of their constituents. And even ignoring that, public bodies need the input of citizens. Citizen ideas help appointed and elected officials reach to make things not only workable but better.
It lets them know, too, when ideas that they view as important are of essentially no interest to citizens. It's a signal to drop pet projects and get on with things that matter.
My visitor is a government junkie. He attends or watches a City Council meeting as analytically as an accountant would view a new tax structure. We need people like him. But he, like all of us, has his limitations. He has special interest and skills.
With more people involved, issues are approached from diverse perspectives, and the result may be much better than the starting point.
Which brings me to ask: Where is the starting point for leadership, and what is Suffolk doing to identify and prepare the next generation of leaders?
With the aging of the few people who dare to be government critics or to offer alternative ideas, who will replace them?
Surely, with the changing population of a growing city, Suffolk has attracted and is attracting people who will help shape the way the city looks down the road. If they're out there, though, they're eerily quiet. It's time for them to step out, to prove my friend wrong. by CNB