Making time available for free-wheeling debate
Times-Dispatch editorial (01.06.06)
Anyone who has ever witnessed a public-comment session at a government forum knows such unscripted, unedited exchanges can be informative, amusing, and aggravating — all at once. Speakers range from high-dollar PR men to individuals who look as though they normally spend their time on streetcorners yelling at random passersby. (You may be more likely to get an honest view from the latter, by the way.) Public comment is a messy affair.
But then democracy is a messy affair. In an era when public officials often have several layers of officialdom insulating them from the public, average citizens rarely have the opportunity to address them directly. More such opportunities are needed, and the Chesterfield Planning Commission has made the right move by making time available for freewheeling public comment at its meetings.
A few months ago the Commissioners had arrested a speaker who did not address a subject on the evening’s agenda. The over-the-top reaction struck many as more befitting commissars than commissioners. As Commission member Dan Gecker said recently, “There could be issues out there we’re not aware of that people can bring to our attention.”
Some of those issues might not seem important to the commissioners — but they are important to the speakers, whom the Commissioners ultimately serve. That should be reason enough to hear the speakers out.