To the editor:
The Kuchinski-Blake administration has found a new scheme to stifle public participation. It is called “a public information meeting” or “informal open house format meeting,” and it took place on Thursday, February 15 at the Central High School cafeteria between 7 and 10 p.m.
Despite the Kuchinski-Blake administration promising to Diverty Road area residents a “robust out-reach program” one month ago, which seemed to have all the earmarks of the first of many formal, public, on-the-record Hopewell Township Committee work sessions, the residents got what could fairly be called a bait-and-switch:
- No Hopewell Township Committee Meeting with a public Work Session to allow the public to address all five township committee members simultaneously in a formal setting and to enable the public to hear everyone’s questions and comments;
- No on the record recording by microphone, videotape or audiotape to allow the public to be able to hear the words spoken by every speaker as well as to be able to refer to previously given questions and answers at a later time;
- No single audience or single presenter to conduct an orderly process to enable the public to have a positive experience and to encourage the public to participate.
Instead, the public was confronted with a five minute powerpoint presentation by the township engineer, followed by a break out session to three stations, which were strategically placed in corners of the cafeteria. The same posters were discussed by three different presenters. Some members of the public, who went to all three stations, were heard to mention that their same question was answered with three different answers.
Meanwhile, some members of the public called the meeting “a waste of time,” “a dog and pony show” and “a public relations event.”
In the process, the Kuchinski-Blake administration, which could be said to be the least transparent Hopewell Township Committee in many years, became even less transparent.
Harvey Lester
Titusville