It’s almost a given these days that when you schedule a controversial issue to be discussed in the public sphere, such as a City Council meeting or a County Board Meeting or a School Board meeting or something similar, those of us on the government side of the meeting usually expect the meeting to ultimately degenerate into an angry verbal brawl. It almost always does.
But not last night.
Hats off to the residents of the Hidden Ponds neighborhood here in Eden Prairie. At our City Council meeting last night the Council held a public hearing to discuss the reconstruction of a backyard trail system in this neighborhood. The project also includes the dredging of the neighborhood’s stormwater retention ponds. The trail part of the project will be financed by special assessments paid by the residents of the neighborhood.
So, the City was proposing a project that will disrupt the peace of the neighborhood for a year or so; make a mess in their backyards; and we proposed to make them pay for it. Any one of these factors can be enough to tip a neighborhood from moderate to hostile. We were proposing all three.
Now I will not go into the rationale the City advanced for the trails, pond dredging and the special assessments. That’s really secondary from the points that I’d like to make today. Let’s just say the it’s fair. It’s sound. It’s prudent. And, I believe, two years from now the neighborhood will really appreciate the amenities that we are going to add to their neighborhood.
The points that I want to make today are two. First, the Hidden Ponds neighborhood residents that spoke to the Council last night were passionate and respectful. They were advocates for their own personal preferences and they listened to opposing points of view. They asked some pointed questions and they accepted the responses. These behaviors aren’t always present at our public hearings. The civility of the residents who attended our meeting last night is very much appreciated.
Second, and this is a bit of self critique, perhaps it is wrong of us in the government world to assume the worst will always happen when a controversial issue hits the public hearing. Perhaps the things we do to brace ourselves for an uncivil discussion with our citizens hastens the incivility we are expecting from them.
Naivete? I don’t think so. I think some rethinking of our fundamental assumptions of human behavior might be in order. I’m going to work on that.
