GUELPH POLITICAST #188 - The Correspondences

Five hours after the council meeting began, the main library project was back on track. After a couple of months of mixed messages and confusion, the library advocates were pleased with the definitive 9-4 decision to proceed with a new main library and the hard cap price tag of $67.1 million. But not all voices were heard.

In the ever expansive quest to maximize our local democracy, many us wonder if all those correspondences at the back of the agenda are given due consideration. A lot of the people who appear at council can be classified as "frequent flyers," people who know how to delegate, and do it often. But they're not the only ones that speak on an issue.

For people unable to come to council because of work or family reasons, or for people who might have a bit of stage freight or another sort of social anxiety, being able to write your thoughts down and send them to the clerk is a good second (or even first) option. Still, it feels like we weigh these two types of engagement differently. The live delegates get reported on, but do the equally engaged and enlightened writers?

That changes this week. On this edition of the podcast, you will hear a reading of some of the numerous, and occasionally lengthy, written submissions for Monday's council meetings. Some of them are a short couple of sentences, others are highly detailed, but you'll notice that they're all in favour. We're always making a case the there needs to be more listening in modern political discourse, so let's do just that.

So let's here from you, the people, on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!

Do you want to know how it all turned out? Recap the city council meeting here, or subscribe to the Guelph Politico Tip Sheet every Tuesday and Friday here.

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Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.