Dear Editor:
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In the spirit of including more of her people in city business, the two petitions to establish a City Youth Council and to change the day of the Regular Meeting were submitted at April’s Call to the Public. Per our City Charter, accessible at http://tiny.cc/douglasazcharter, they must be acted upon by Mayor and Council at tonight’s regular meeting. In my previous Letter to the Editor, I listed several ideas that could be realized if these initiatives were passed. Please allow me to add one more. Encouraging the participation of more people in city business is an excellent way to enhance readiness, communication, and collaboration. Please consider letting our Mayor and Council know.
In this day and age, we should expect to see resources readily available at douglasaz.org. We should see contingency plans, weather alerts, public safety notices, and neighborhood watch information. We should see campaigns and how-to’s for urban gardens, homemade solar ovens, and rain catchments. These are especially fitting given our ample sunny days and “monsoon” showers. We should see not only evidence of collaboration with non-profits, service organizations, and community coalitions, but planned town hall meetings where this collaboration will take place physically. To enhance readiness, communication, and collaboration is not just a matter of attendance. Plans of action should be adopted at these town halls and executed by committee. Furthermore, these town halls should be hosted at locations where Wi-Fi is publicly available to allow for streaming and posting recordings at douglasaz.org. Please consider letting our Mayor and Council know.
Enhancing these things is within our grasp and, in the case of the two petitions, on the agenda. They just need a little action and a little room to grow. The People of Douglas will rally, overcome, and take it from there. What better time to see the cisterns, floodgates, and channels open than now?
Very Respectfully,
Danny dj Morales
Comments
Danny dj and Martha Morales wrote on May 12, 2012 11:10 AM:
Don't misunderstand, we're not the only well intentioned people who believe in these 2 initiatives. It's not just our idea. Several people have had the idea. We just facilitated the process by collecting signatures from several community leaders who in turn represent many more students, youth, parents, and constituencies in Douglas. The beauty of our system is that it only takes a motivated few to put good ideas on the agenda and advance positive transformation in a city. We are more than happy to facilitate processes like this and will continue to do so as we promised we would.
As far as what is already taking place in our schools, we can learn some from the DUSD Governing Board. The STUCO President of DHS sits as an Ex-Oficio member of the Governing Board at their regular meetings. However, what we are talking about is city-wide and involving city business affecting and of interest to our youth. It would involve bringing the youth together from public and charter schools. Imagine them hosting debates by U.S. Congressional candidates. We are talking about a high visibility platform for our youth.
As far as changing the days and times, it happens all the time in cities all across the country. How did our own Call to the Public get to be at the end of the Regular Meeting? How did the time of our Regular Meeting change from working hours to 6:00 PM? Interruptions are always to be expected with change - that's what change is all about. This is a change that makes sense and will accommodate more of our people (many of whom community leaders) as we face even more socio-economic uncertainty ahead. We will need each other more and more. We will need to be ready, have better communication, and collaborate more as a community.
V/R,
Danny dj and Martha Morales on behalf of the Circulators and Petitioners "
here it is again wrote on May 9, 2012 5:31 PM: