Andrea+Reply

From: **andrea.ken[|...]@gmail.com** Date: **Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:20:21 -0000** Subject: **Re: $40M Sprawl Magnet?**
 * ^  || //andrea.ken...@gmail.com//  ||   || [|View profile] ||   ||   More options  Oct 9 2007, 3:20 pm  ||
 * ^  || //andrea.ken...@gmail.com//  ||   || [|View profile] ||   ||   More options  Oct 9 2007, 3:20 pm  ||

These posts remind me of a quote one of my mentors used to describe why she decided to work for the government. "Public business must always be done by somebody. It will be done by somebody or other. If wise men decline, others will not; if honest men refuse it, others will not." - John Adams I think there is value to your concerns, especially in the correct forum. To my understanding, the whole idea of studying complex systems is to look at how small things can and do make big changes. So instead of lamenting the state of the system, I think it would be more interesting to look at what things have been done and COULD be done that would involve the public in a decision process like this one. I think to a certain extent a LARGE portion of the public often doesn't want to be involved, they want government to do it- make the decision, so they don't have to worry about it. It's one thing to write a letter to the editor or post on a blog, and quite another to give up watching your favorite Tuesday night TV show to go to a community meeting. That is what I see as the overall systemic problem. I would counter that some of the issues and decisions mentioned in these posts are symptoms of the disease of civic apathy. preparedness, health care and mass transit.
 * And for the record, I too would rather see $ go toward hurricane

Eric Reply2