Troy's Civic Calendar Is Full Next Week

Vol. IV, No. 28 - Two Public Meetings Will Be Held Next Week

Next week, Troy residents get back-to-back chances to listen, learn and speak out on issues that are important to them. Our residents have an oppprotunity to show up, ask hard questions, and put their own lived experience on the record before decisions are made.

Within 24 hours, two very different meetings will take place: one in a neighborhood park, one in a city arena meeting room. Both are open to the public. Both will shape what daily life looks like in Troy. The only real question is whether residents decide to be in the room.

June 23: Third Ward meets on its own turf

On Tuesday, June 23, Third Ward Council Representative Madison Hickman will hold her second quarterly constituent meeting at McKaig-Race Park at 7:00 p.m. Her first gathering in March at the 1833 event venue drew a few dozen residents who came ready to talk through a range of issues facing the ward and the city as a whole.

The Third Ward has been described in this publication as one of the most diverse wards in Troy, which means it tends to feel the effects of city decisions early and often—on streets, housing, parks, traffic, and services. Meeting in the parks ends a clear message: the conversation belongs where people actually live, not just where the microphones are.

This is a low-barrier opportunity for residents who might never stand at a podium on a Monday night. You can show up in regular clothes, sit at a picnic table, and tell your council representative what is happening on your block, what is not working, and what you expect from city government. That kind of feedback does not show up in consultant reports, but it does shape how a council member votes—if they hear it directly and consistently.

If you live in the Third Ward, this meeting is not a courtesy; it is a tool. Use it.

June 24: Decisions taking shape on West Main

The next evening, Wednesday, June 24, City Council will meet as a Committee of the Whole at 6:00 p.m. in the Bravo Room at Hobart Arena to hear from American Structurepoint, the city’s consultant for the West Main Street and Experiment Farm Road intersection project. The city spent $120,000 last year on an additional study required by the Ohio Department of Development and secured U. S. Department of Transportation grant funding to help implement the agreed upon solution.

There has been a strong push toward a roundabout at this intersection, with some supporters pointing to safety and traffic flow and critics raising concerns about cost, access, and impacts on nearby residents and businesses.

Residents still have leverage at this stage, but only if they are present, paying attention, and willing to follow up. Sitting in that room—listening to how options are described, what tradeoffs are acknowledged, and which questions are never asked—gives residents the information needed to press council members before any final votes are cast.

This is Civic Capacity

These two nights illustrate what “civic capacity” looks like in practice. It is not an abstract belief in transparency or “good government.” It is residents taking the time to:

• Attend a ward meeting and speak plainly about what they are seeing and experiencing.

• Sit through a presentation and then ask their elected officials, one-on-one, why certain options are being favored and others ignored.

• Connect the dots between neighborhood concerns and major capital projects, instead of treating them as separate conversations.

Better information and better leadership do not appear on their own. They show up when residents decide that their voice belongs in the process before the deal is done, not just after the ribbon is cut.

Next week, the city has set the tables. The question now is whether residents will take their seats—and use them.

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This Month, we are doing something different! We are partnering with the Troy-Miami County Public Library by using this platform to raise funds for the Dolly Partin Imagination Library locally here in Miami County! Through the Dolly Partin Imagination Library, children from birth to Kindergarten, can get a book delivered every month to their home at no cost.

And while Dolly is a huge help, she picks out the stories and she works with the publishers, there is still a local cost to the program. Your donations through our “Buy Me A Coffee Page” will help get these youngsters on the right track to a life-long love of reading!

Thanks to John And Kim, Rachelle. Loraine S., Loraine W., and a special anonymous donor, for your recent donations to this effort. So far this month — 71 books have been purchased! Thank you!