Building A Better Homewood

Every second and fourth Tuesday of each month, I sit down with a small group of Homewood residents and together we create our community’s future. 

OK, maybe I’m being a little dramatic.  In truth, what we do at these meetings looks pretty boring on the face of it – approving payments, discussing zoning considerations, developing strategic initiatives.  Parsing out a 200-page budget.  Studying projected impacts.  And talking.  A lot of talking.  Not exactly prime time material.

But the decisions we make are helping to forge a path to our village’s future.  We listen, we discuss and sometimes we fight.  But at the heart of it all, we know that what we do can have an enormous impact on Homewood down the line.  Which is why we shouldn’t be doing it alone.

Democracy only works when we do it together.  As a Village Trustee, I not only value residents’ input, I need it.  I can’t do my job unless I hear what people think.  I have a lot of impromptu “town hall meetings” at Walt’s, at soccer games, at the library and, on one unfortunate occasion, stepping out of the shower at the health club.  I love these opportunities to take the pulse of our community – it makes me feel connected and it reminds me why I took this job.

If the Trustees don’t hear from you, we can only guess what the community wants.  We may not be able to grant everyone’s wishes every time – there are limits to our power and there are mitigating circumstances that may prevent us from doing certain things.  But we can try.  And that’s exactly what elected officials are supposed to do.  We’re supposed to listen, we’re supposed to respond and we’re supposed to try.  And if we can’t do what you ask, we are also supposed to explain the reasons why.

So please, come on by Village Hall some Tuesday night.  You can join us, and have a voice in how our community meets the future.