City of Escanaba: City Council Regular Meeting (May 04, 2023): Civic Engagement Up, Trust is U.P., Democracy Strengthens!

The School of Athens

1509-1511 by Raphael. 

Philosophy and Governance

The meeting was an interesting one and while it seemed on the surface sort of run of the mill you have to sort of understand the context and why that is a good thing. Most importantly you will notice that they have a relatively pleasant meeting and a lot of things get done right away. People are prepared for the meetings with information and for the most part everyone has been professional. Its sort of the way you want things to be as a shared perception of community health. 

You will also notice the improved civic engagement and that is a wonderful sign of the health of democracy. Ok....this is good kharma at play I think. 

Notes: I don't need to write these out because someone actually does it. Very nice system. May 4th, 2023 Escanaba City Council Meeting

 -Library appreciation.

-Budget approved.

-Thank you for OPRA designation. Will participate in community.

-Property condemnation.

-Garden and land. I like this idea of a history garden. We are a special people and should have something that tells our history. Just don't forget the little people. An artifact to small business owners and local workers would be nice. Likewise, include the Native Americans. I think the speaker does a great job with flowers and history in the area. Enhance Escanaba Agreement. 

Trust and Civic Engagement

-Apparently people want to be so involved that they need a new process to vet the resumes. We are a resilient people and when we know we can change something for the better, we get involved. This is fabulous or the community and can really get people excited about working with government (Contrast that with entities where people are less engaged and/or engaged for the wrong reasons. Trust is important. We kind of see that play out at our county meetings. I'm not saying they are right or not right I'm just saying it looks like a trust issue. That may also impact another area.) 

Governments work best when people are engaged and trying to accomplish great things for the community (Likely the same for the nation as well.). We should have people involved because that is what makes it all possible. That is also a truer form of democratic involvement where citizens vote with their engagement. You may want to read Rethinking Civic Engagement as well as an interesting publication by the World Bank on trust and civic engagement measurements 'Building Trust in Government through Citizen Engagement'

This concept of trust and engagement is important. If we look at available information about Escanaba during a higher time of engagement we might find that the city is also growing with investments. It isn't a 1-to-1 economic relationship but I believe them to be associated. They likely influence each other.  Healthy democracies draw in interest around shared goals and in turn they create greater engagement. (In my theory engagement and transactions are associated. One being the financial quantitative measurement of some form of the other. Positive engagement and increased transactions lead to economic prosperity through increased activity. The same can be said for declining entities and the loss in civic engagement. In this case, they have a community and they are engaging for a reasons. Let us just sit back and watch.)