Skipping The Middle Man

The Orlando Sentinel reported that the Osceola Charter Review advisory Commission was disappointed at the lack of public participation and attendance at its final public meeting this past week. The eleven member commission has been discussing issues ranging from ethics reforms, expanding the seats on the County Commission in an attempt to subvert the ruling set down by the United States Justice Department, and whether or not the county should be able to create ordinances that supersede city ordinances so the county can continue to carve up our community to meet the needs of their development friends.

Sounds more like a bad Soap Opera instead of serious government issues that should be focused on making our community better for the residents who live here, but hey, local governments act like they are in a big Soap Opera anyway, so many citizens just decide not to watch. Sub-boards, like the Charter Review Committee, are usually worse to watch than the grown-up commission because they are filled with special interests, political hopefuls, and political has-beens hoping to make a political comeback by making the grown-up commissioners happy. What is sad about these boards are that the voices of the few honest citizens who give of their time to serve their community is lost to the ramblings of the board-mongers.

So this past week on "As The Board Turns" (we also liked the title 'Misguided Government') the public was once again blamed for not taking time off from their second job, risking not being able to make their mortgage payment, so they could attend a sub-board meeting that is about what suggestions should be given to the County Commission. The people know that they are going to have to show up at the grown-up commission to argue their case anyway, so why would they take another day off work to listen to developers cry about how the cities are forcing them to follow development codes that are too strict? Of course the people are not going to take a sub-board seriously. They have learned that it is easier to cut out the middle-man board and fight the battle for good government with those who are actually elected.