posted by Mike Madison at 7:12 PM /
I am pulling the following note out of the comment thread at this earlier post and am putting it here, so that it gets more publicity. Once in a great while, online and blogosphere conversations actually lead to concrete, offline action that has real world consequences. Will this be one of those cases? Blog-Lebo reader and commenter Tom Moertel writes:
Here's an update for everyone following this story. Today, as planned, a number of residents met at Aldo Coffee to talk about our community and, in particular, what we can do to make it easier for residents to get involved in local government. We actually had more people show up than I had expected. (We eventually claimed 3 tables.) It was a fun bunch, and for about 3 hours we enjoyed great coffee, talked about our ideas, and started to form a plan to do something to improve our community.
During the meeting I explained my proposal to form a non-political citizens' organization that could serve as a community resource. The organization would do the work of clarifying, summarizing, and organizing the information produced by our local government so that residents (and policymakers) would have a one-stop, easy-to-use, reliable resource for understanding important community issues.
Toward that goal, I am setting up a web site to serve as the home for this new resource: the Mt. Lebanon Accountability Organization. (Until the site is ready, I have prepared a short introduction that tries to explain what the MLAO is all about.)
In the end, most attendees thought it was an idea worth pursuing and volunteered their support and assistance, but opinions varied on whether this organization -- or anything, for that matter -- could be an effective vehicle for government reform. In any case, everybody thought it was worth a shot.
If you're reading this and interested in joining us -- all are welcome -- please read the document I linked to above and send me an email (my address is in the document).
Finally, I'd like to thank all the people who took time out of their Saturday afternoon to attend the meeting or drop by: Thanks!
(Note: I am speaking here only for myself, and these comments reflect my impressions of the meeting. If other attendees want to add anything to my summary, please do.)
Cheers,
Tom
My comments: Thanks to Tom and everyone else who turned out on Saturday, and thanks to Aldo Coffee for enduring another impromptu Blog-Lebo related gathering!
Here's an update for everyone following this story. Today, as planned, a number of residents met at Aldo Coffee to talk about our community and, in particular, what we can do to make it easier for residents to get involved in local government. We actually had more people show up than I had expected. (We eventually claimed 3 tables.) It was a fun bunch, and for about 3 hours we enjoyed great coffee, talked about our ideas, and started to form a plan to do something to improve our community.
During the meeting I explained my proposal to form a non-political citizens' organization that could serve as a community resource. The organization would do the work of clarifying, summarizing, and organizing the information produced by our local government so that residents (and policymakers) would have a one-stop, easy-to-use, reliable resource for understanding important community issues.
Toward that goal, I am setting up a web site to serve as the home for this new resource: the Mt. Lebanon Accountability Organization. (Until the site is ready, I have prepared a short introduction that tries to explain what the MLAO is all about.)
In the end, most attendees thought it was an idea worth pursuing and volunteered their support and assistance, but opinions varied on whether this organization -- or anything, for that matter -- could be an effective vehicle for government reform. In any case, everybody thought it was worth a shot.
If you're reading this and interested in joining us -- all are welcome -- please read the document I linked to above and send me an email (my address is in the document).
Finally, I'd like to thank all the people who took time out of their Saturday afternoon to attend the meeting or drop by: Thanks!
(Note: I am speaking here only for myself, and these comments reflect my impressions of the meeting. If other attendees want to add anything to my summary, please do.)
Cheers,
Tom
My comments: Thanks to Tom and everyone else who turned out on Saturday, and thanks to Aldo Coffee for enduring another impromptu Blog-Lebo related gathering!
1 Comments:
For any Blog-Lebo readers wondering about what's going on with the MLAO, here's a quick update.
First, the web site is now live, and we're adding content daily, mostly background information about the organization, preparing the way for our research:
http://www.mlao.org/
Second, if you want to stay informed about upcoming meetings and other announcements, we are now on Twitter.com. Just follow MLAO Tweets. If you would prefer to receive announcements by email instead of Twitter, just subscribe to the MLAO Announce mailing list.
Third, on Friday evening (two days ago) I announced that I would be at Aldo Coffee on Saturday (yesterday) from 1 to 3 PM working on MLAO stuff, mostly researching the High School renovation project, and I invited people to drop by and ask questions or pitch in. Despite the short notice, 3 people came to the meeting (plus me), and we met for about 2 and a half hours. We discussed the High School renovation project and, in particular, how we could go about kicking off the group research effort. Here's what we came up with:
1. Over the next week, we would each dig into the available information about the HSR project, trying to understand the breadth and context of the project. (The links on the MLAO project page are a good starting point.) Our goal is to be prepared for next week's MLAO work meeting (next item).
2. We will meet on Saturday, 10 October, 2009, at 1 PM at Aldo Coffee for an official MLAO work meeting. At the meeting, we will compare notes from our individual diggings, divide up the next stage of research, and take home research assignments.
3. We will set up regular meetings to coordinate our efforts and compile our research findings. Saturdays at 1 PM at Aldo Coffee are the tentative time and place. ===> Let me know if this time isn't good for you. <===
All and all, it was a fun and productive meeting, and we made some new friends. Thanks to all who dropped by.
BTW, all Mt. Lebanon residents are welcome to join us and to attend our meetings.
Cheers,
Tom Moertel
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