Suppose they held a democracy and nobody came?
Exactly 11 people appeared Wednesday night for a public hearing on the new budget and property tax rate for Floyd County and one of those 11 was actually from Christiansburg, not Floyd County.
Of those 11, five spoke (including the Christiansburg resident): Two to ask the board to restore cuts in funding for the Southwestern Virginia Brain Injury Center, two asking for restoration of cuts to the Montgomery-Floyd regional library and one to thank the board for holding the line on taxes.
That was it. A chance for public input on how Floyd County government will spend 34 plus million over the next fiscal year lasted just under 25 minutes.
On an average morning, at breakfast at Blue Ridge Restaurant or the Floyd County Store, I hear more complaints about taxes, county services or our local government.
But when the chance came to have real input into the system, most people stayed home and probably watched “Entertainment Tonight” on the tube.
Thomas Jefferson, among others, wrote that in a democracy “people get the government they deserve.”
So what kind of government does the listless, apathetic, disinterested citizens of Floyd County deserve?
3 thoughts on “They did not come, they did not see, they did not conquer”
I didn’t realize how apathetic people where until I started attending board meetings occasionally as part of my old job @ VDOT. Carroll is bad but Floyd attendance is basically zippo. And I agree everywhere I go people are complaining but no one speaks up.
So why do you suppose Floyd County residents prefer to complain instead of getting involved and doing something to address their complaints? What is the cause of the lack of civic involvement?
Simply never heard nothing about a meeting, I don’t read or buy the press if it’s in there so no way to really know there was a meeting, I’m sure most are in this same boat, didn’t know anything about it.
A town I used to live in posted it on a big sign out in front of city hall for weeks in advance, and lots showed up.
Comments are closed.