The meetings of the alliance of local neighborhoods had become stale and lifeless in my humble opinion - the membership lulled into passivity by the routine of the monthly meetings and the similarity of their agendas. So last month, I shook things up a bit with a Power Point presentation intended to give the group a renewed sense of purpose and to inject a little excitement back into the membership. I may have over-amped the presentation a little though, as although several members did respond as I had hoped, some others took my swipes at the status quo as personal attacks and were quite offended. Not my intention. Not at all.
Tonight was the first meeting of the alliance since my pyrotechnics of last month, and . . . I didn't go! Not that I was afraid or ashamed to show my face, but I had conflicts due not to one, but two other community meetings - the Executive Committee meeting of the Beltline advisory board, followed by something called a "Citywide Conversation About Community Benefits Principles."
As the Executive Committee meeting, we talked about important issues, but issues far too complicated and arcane to discuss any further here. The city-wide conversation was the latest attempt of the City planners to attempt to engage in some level of public participation, a task they have not exactly excelled at in the past. Although I may have accomplished more had I gone to the local alliance meeting than I did at the city-wide conversation, I felt I needed to be at the latter just in case anything important was announced. It was also good to revisit with some of my former colleagues from past community participation projects, and to reach across the city to re-acquaint myself with the diverse community of, dare I use the phrase?, community organizers in Atlanta.
Zen Master Dogen once said that if there's something you can do for the benefit of others, even if it's a little unorthodox for a Buddhist, you should simply do it, and set aside any thoughts of ego attachment. I take that to mean that if you can help your community, and give some of your neighbors peace of mind knowing that you're watching over the City planners hatching schemes for your neighborhood, then you should do it, even if your ego prefers to attend another meeting to follow up on the impact of your prior presentation.
Tonight was the first meeting of the alliance since my pyrotechnics of last month, and . . . I didn't go! Not that I was afraid or ashamed to show my face, but I had conflicts due not to one, but two other community meetings - the Executive Committee meeting of the Beltline advisory board, followed by something called a "Citywide Conversation About Community Benefits Principles."
As the Executive Committee meeting, we talked about important issues, but issues far too complicated and arcane to discuss any further here. The city-wide conversation was the latest attempt of the City planners to attempt to engage in some level of public participation, a task they have not exactly excelled at in the past. Although I may have accomplished more had I gone to the local alliance meeting than I did at the city-wide conversation, I felt I needed to be at the latter just in case anything important was announced. It was also good to revisit with some of my former colleagues from past community participation projects, and to reach across the city to re-acquaint myself with the diverse community of, dare I use the phrase?, community organizers in Atlanta.
Zen Master Dogen once said that if there's something you can do for the benefit of others, even if it's a little unorthodox for a Buddhist, you should simply do it, and set aside any thoughts of ego attachment. I take that to mean that if you can help your community, and give some of your neighbors peace of mind knowing that you're watching over the City planners hatching schemes for your neighborhood, then you should do it, even if your ego prefers to attend another meeting to follow up on the impact of your prior presentation.
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