By: Travis McGee
What so super about your neighborhood is something we all must ask ourselves? It would be and could be super if it was much more than just a title / another branch of the local government. The Super neighborhood used to have a Super Neighborhood Action Plan (SNAP) which was Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) turned in by Civic Club Presidents to address all issues through CIP budgets in which the City hasn’t had a SNAP matrix in over 13 years and counting.
If our communities /neighborhoods actually knew its power I mean residents, taxpayers, businesses, civic clubs, homeowners, and etc. actually being involved, informed, and educated enough about the issues to demand more vs always begging and settling for far less our communities would be farther along than what they are. Representation definitely matters and holding your representation accountable matters even more. We shouldn’t be focused on accolades and crumbs falling off the decision table, however we should be at the table before decisions are made vs being asked for solutions after decisions are made, we had zero say so in.
Does issues like high crime and even higher taxes make our neighborhoods super or does it make them super dangerous and expensive to live in? Too many problems not enough proactive solutions. Too many excuses and even more in taxes, but not enough in city services or much needed improvements. At times I think our communities are Super naïve when it comes to accountability. We either waiting in line for FREE stuff or learning the latest line dance to celebrate the FREE stuff. In order for our Neighborhoods to be Super it requires a lot of commonsense vs non- sense. We know we have problems with crime, drainage, flooding, gentrifification, environmental hazards, school closures, undriveable thoroughfares, unaffffordable housing, high taxes, etc. however we still just meet to meet.
When the “Elected Employees” do come out we allow them to control the meetings with their agendas vs ours. When we sign up to speak, we are asked what’s the topic and do we want 1,2, or 3 minutes to talk about every- thing going on in our community, but when they come out to the community, they spend hours talking about nothing and give you even less time to speak if you get to speak at all. Why not treat them like they treat us. They should be listening and We the People should be doing the talking vs writing questions down on prescreened index cards and etc. Until our communities/neighborhoods are genuinely respected, they will, they will continue to be Super Neglected.
