View source for Envision Arlington Precinct Meeting Brainstorming - Oct 2nd, 2019

(Juli Brazile) Based on town surveys, a lot of residents are
interested in town meeting, and how our system of government works.
They're also interested in meeting their town meeting members.

(Len Diggins) Len moved here from New Orleans.  He noticed that people
referred to Arlington as a "town", and thought that was kind of
cute.  But he didn't have a good idea of how a town system of
government worked.  Eventually, Len ran for town meeting, and thinks
it's a great form of governance.  Sometimes we have low participation,
but that might be because the town runs pretty well in general.  He'd
like to see precinct meetings a couple of times per year.  These might
not be well-attended at first, but over time, they can become an
institution.  Len sees Envision Arlington as a way to help organize
these meetings.

Roderick Holland talked about precinct 7 meetings.  Town meeting
organized some, but so did the ARB.

(Bill Berkowitz) Precincts 8 and 10 have held regular meetings for the
last six or seven years.  They typically put up posters and drop off
literature at doors.  Mr. Berkowitz believes every precinct should
have meetings.  The question is who drives that.

(Carol?)  Precinct 18 has been meeting at the Dalin school for about
six years.  When mixed-use zoning articles were brought up, a
prominent real estate agent came in and spoke too much.  There should
be an identified moderator, and time limits on speaking.  During
another meeting, a former resident of the precinct -- who had since
moved out of town -- came back and spoke at length.  He wouldn't stop
talking.

(Greg Christiana) Last spring, many town meeting members felt the
organizing help was nice.  However, some residents thought the town
was trying to take over precinct meetings.

(Juli Brazile) Would it make sense to have combined meetings, where
precincts go to vote?

(Rod Holland) The skill of running a meeting can be learned.  Lots of
people are able to do it.  Precinct meetings don't vote, and they
don't have to follow a warrant.

(?) I also felt like people from outside our precinct came to lobby on
zoning articles, rather than provide information.

(Juli Brazile) During the fall, it might be useful to focus on town
meeting and how it works.  It can also be a place to generate warrant
articles for the next annual town meeting.  It's a good time to start
the process, and to figure out who to work with.  April precinct
meetings are logistically tricky.  There's not a lot of time between
elections and when town meeting starts.

(Pat Hanlon) In the fall, we don't have a warrant.  It's hard to
express views when you don't know what's being proposed.  People might
not turn out for a civics lesson.

(?) I think people would like to meet their town meeting members, and
build relationships.

Juli asks for suggestions on how to publicize precinct meetings.
Suggestions include: Facebook groups, neighborhood email lists, the
Advocate, flyers, and door knocking.  It might be useful to have an
orientation session for meeting chairs, so they're equipped to deal
with that one person who won't stop talking.

(Danuta) Perhaps we can have a broader meeting on how government in
Arlington is done.

Juli suggests building in time to debrief after precinct meetings.

(?) I feel like we're missing the opportunity to shape issues as
they're being developed.

Juli suggests getting email addresses of attendees.  That allows you
to follow up with them, on how issues are going.

(Sue Doctorow) In the fall, we should teach people that the warrant is
just an agenda.

(Rod Holland) Town meeting is really a process that unfolds over
several months.  A month-by-month timeline might be helpful.

(Christa Kelleher) With respect to civics lessons, a couple of spots
on ACMi might be helpful.  Some people learn well by watching short
videos.

(Len Diggins) The fall can also be a time to figure out who isn't
running for election.  That gives you more time to recruit candidates.

(Pat Hanlon) It might be worth putting up lawn posters: precinct
meeting on such and such a day.  If people see the signs a couple of
times, it might sink in, and they might turn up.

(?) Recruiting people to run for town meeting is critical.  The
process should be clearer and more accessible.

Someone suggests having all of the precinct meetings during the same
weekend.  Juli thinks it could be hard to get ten meeting venues
during the same weekend.

(Greg Christiana) Last spring, most of the organizing took place over
email.  There were some issues regarding cost.  Envision wasn't sure
what it would be able to cover.  Some TMM's were okay with covering
the cost of a meeting place, but some were adamantly opposed.

(Adam Badik) Some banks have community rooms.  We might be able to
book them.

(Pat Hanlon) In the past, we've tried to hold meetings at the
schools.  But there's a lot of bureaucracy involved in that.

(Peter Fuller) Some precincts have organized meetings at schools,
coinciding with PTO meetings.

(Steve Revilak) It can be hard to predict meeting turnout.  Some
precinct 1 meetings have been well-attended.  Others have had as few
as four participants.

(?) Could we hold precinct meetings at the high school, on nights
they're doing community education programs?

(Brucie Moulton) Perhaps we could hold meetings at locations that have
been designated MVP resource centers.  That could make the public more
aware of our municipal vulnerability planning efforts.

(Wendy) What about having all of the precinct meetings at once, with
breakout spaces?

(Juli Brazile) We've tried that in the past.  Only town meeting
members showed up.

(Danuta) Could we ask realtors if they have function rooms?

(?) What about meeting outside in parks?

Outside meetings are an option.  But the acoustics are challenging,
and the weather doesn't always cooperate.

(Peter Fuller) The public safety building has a meeting room.

(?) What about churches?

(Peter Fuller) In the past, we've organized town civics fairs.

(Betty Stone) We could use town day to publicize these meetings.

(Wendy) There's also patch, Next Door, and different apps.  A lot of
people get all of their information from their phones.

(Brucie Moulton) Perhaps we could have a table at Feast of the East,
to announce precinct meetings.

(Rod Holland) There's also the Arlington List.

(Bill Berkowitz) It's important to have a structure for ongoing
communications.  These can take a variety of forms.

(Juli Brazile) It might be possible for the town to set up email
aliases.  That would allow a resident to send an email address to the
precinct TMM alias, and reach all of the TMMs for that precinct.

(Kelly Lynema) Some towns set up town email addresses for all town
meeting members.  That makes every town meeting member accessible via
email, even if they don't want to give out their personal email
address.

(Steve Revilak) Could our town elections be held at the same time as
state and federal elections?  That might increase participation.

(Juli) No, that's not an option for a town.

(?) Perhaps we could allow residents (who aren't TMMs) to subscribe to
TMM notices.

(?) Perhaps we could require proponents to provide pro/con summaries
for each article, similar to what's done for state ballot questions.

(Beth Malofchik) This year, I was confused about recommended votes and
the consent agenda.  Town meeting members should be educated about
these mechanisms.

(Betty Stone) Fall precinct meetings are not necessarily a training
session for town meeting members.

(Pat Hanlon) What about special precinct meetings for special town
meetings?

(Betty Stone) I think we should have a simple effort this fall, due to
time constraints.  Next year, we can do something more thought out and
more fully-formed.  Also, facilitator training is very important.

(Kelly Lynema) Google "New Hampshire Listens".  You should find
several guides to facilitator training.

(Brucie Moulton) Talking about the importance of precinct
representation would be a good topic.

(Pat Hanlon) The League of Women Voters has a clear guide on running
for town meeting.

(?) We also need to consider language.  English isn't everyone's first
language.

(Betty Stone) Food helps get people to meetings.

(?) Perhaps we could have bake sales in conjunction with precinct
meetings.

(Catherine Farrell) What's the best way to get in touch with schools?

(Juli Brazile) It's best to have one person as a contact person for the
schools.  Juli is willing to be that contact point.

(Elizabeth Carr-Jones) What's the rough time frame for having these
meetings?

(Juli) Late October, or early November.


[[Category:Public Meetings]]