It always feels like my opinions don’t matter at all. Decisions are already made, and any input from me is unwanted. This summer, when I tried to chat with a few people at the public events, it reminded me of trying to talk to AES when they’re cutting down trees in my yard. They see me coming and literally run away because they know I’m going to ask why they’re butchering that particular tree. We all know that the plan for that tree was made before they arrived, even though it is on my property.
When I was downtown this summer, the only thing they wanted to talk about was if I wanted to put a dot down for a splash pad. Seriously? They ignored the tough questions and just wanted to make it a game. They mentioned they just ran to Staples for a bunch of dots (aren't they clever?) and seemed more interested in having fun than actually listening to us. The colors of the dots didn't even matter, because what they were doing didn't matter - it was just meant to look like it did.
It happens a lot. It's a hard balance to have a hard conversation and try to get some public engagement. The bare fact is that most people just don't care and to try to get these folks who don't care to get them to care a bit, you have to make it "fun". It's frustrating. There are a lot of conversations not happening.....because we want things to be "fun" and not willing to have hard conversations.
I don't think Mr. McGarry acted alone. My honest belief is that King Titterington was pulling the strings. I noticed when Ben was speaking, King T started to say something to Mr. McGarry, and then he shut Ben down.
It always feels like my opinions don’t matter at all. Decisions are already made, and any input from me is unwanted. This summer, when I tried to chat with a few people at the public events, it reminded me of trying to talk to AES when they’re cutting down trees in my yard. They see me coming and literally run away because they know I’m going to ask why they’re butchering that particular tree. We all know that the plan for that tree was made before they arrived, even though it is on my property.
When I was downtown this summer, the only thing they wanted to talk about was if I wanted to put a dot down for a splash pad. Seriously? They ignored the tough questions and just wanted to make it a game. They mentioned they just ran to Staples for a bunch of dots (aren't they clever?) and seemed more interested in having fun than actually listening to us. The colors of the dots didn't even matter, because what they were doing didn't matter - it was just meant to look like it did.
It happens a lot. It's a hard balance to have a hard conversation and try to get some public engagement. The bare fact is that most people just don't care and to try to get these folks who don't care to get them to care a bit, you have to make it "fun". It's frustrating. There are a lot of conversations not happening.....because we want things to be "fun" and not willing to have hard conversations.
I don't think Mr. McGarry acted alone. My honest belief is that King Titterington was pulling the strings. I noticed when Ben was speaking, King T started to say something to Mr. McGarry, and then he shut Ben down.
This is a VERY insightful comment. The video didn't show that.
Maybe not, but King T at least started to make a move to shut Ben down.