Bright-eyed, sans coffee (thus no bushy tail), I sat in on the 9 a.m. budget meeting this morning at Evanston’s Lorraine Morton Civic Center. I’d told my husband Jed to expect me back by 11-ish.
Boy, was I wrong.
If you’ve never attended a city event like this, I recommend it. It’s like nothing else. Yeah, it was a budget meeting, but it was sort of like the high-end Volvo of budget meetings (a Cadillac just isn’t in the cards this year).
All nine Aldermen, the City Manager, and the City Clerk sat behind a long, high panel. Each official had a stationary microphone equipped with a light to signal when they wanted to speak. An ill-conceived game show? In your dreams. Throw in a revenues spreadsheet and multi-camera closed-circuit TV, and you’ve got yourself an eye-opening Saturday morning.
The politeness was rampant. It reminded me of the apology gun in James Kennedy‘s The Order of Odd-Fish, which I’m reading now (the gun is one of Sir Festus’s pieces of ludicrous weaponry, deriving from a people whose armies devastate with their mega-civility).
I sat behind the glass, in the closed-circuit seats, listening and empathizing with nearly every speaker. An overabundance of empathy probably excludes me from professional politics, and that’s fine with me. But I can’t help but admire these folks. If I were behind that high panel, I’m sure I would turn in to the equivalent of a banshee (which is to say I’d interrupt someone, raise my voice above a mild intonation, or forget to tap my nifty speech-light).
In this room, no one spoke out of turn. With so much ground to cover, it took foreverrrrrrr.
After almost two and a half hours, the council hadn’t officially broached the subject of the branch libraries. (Though, my ears perked up at pointed comments from aldermen who’d clearly like to close the branches – like, yesterday.) But because I had to be home by 12:30, I stole away before the subject du jour even came up. When I left, they were on the 33rd minute of an intense discussion on yard waste. The center’s lobby was piping Miles Davis’s “So What,” so at least I left laughing.
In the end, I got my update from today’s branchlove.org blog. It turns out that the same five aldermen are still in favor of keeping Evanston’s branch libraries open for six months, and this count will likely stand at the official vote on Tuesday night. Fingers crossed, anyway.
Update: Branchlove has become Evanston Public Library Friends. Check the blog for the latest news.
Here’s something to think on: Besides family, friends, and career… what would you sit through a budget meeting for?
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Margoblog 
Margo, great post. The mtg was actually more like the Ann Rainey Show in my view. And, while on the surface polite, not particularly civil. After being told by the Council and the Mayor that we should stop talking about the libraries, then the council itself then spent 90 minutes talking about them. Or, more correctly, listening to why Ann Rainey wished that her colleagues would just change their minds and vote to close! It is astonishing to me that rather than spend her time and energy trying to work w/ the branch supporters to find out how to get a branch/library svcs for her ward/constituents [maybe at the hugely underused and inconveniently situated Levy Center!] she continues a negative attack campaign, under the guise of not taxing the citizens. It’s $22 of every $5k tax bill that goes to the libraries — which have been underfunded for years. They voted to charge us more than that for our trash cans. Evanston politics needs to be more enlightened than that. And certain aldermen need to get their priorities straight in order to participate in next and new economies.
Thanks for your update, Lori, it is much appreciated. And by the way, I’m honored you’ve been weighing in. :)
Yes indeed, “civil” is too kind a word, especially in light of what I missed.
$22 per $5K, eh? Let me see if I got the math right: .0044%? You’ve got to be kidding me. They’ve probably used enough electricity talking about libraries through their microphones, amplification, and closed-circuit TV to power those same libraries for a month.
I had hoped to be there on Wednesday, but I’ll need to be home with my little guy. Can I call in? (Count me in for the next one.)
In my career I have had to attend too many budget meetings, so it would take a million dollars for me to go voluntarily!
I should have figured you’d weigh in, Dad. Come to think of it, it sure would have been funny to see how much you’d withstand before running far, far away.
(Would it be voluntary if you got the mil? ;)
Hi Margo:
Thank you. I would sit through just about anything If I think it is important for my family, community or me. Thank you for working to raise awarness and money for the libraries. The residents of Evanston have shown an impressive willingness to come up with ideas to support and expand library services in other neighborhoods of Evanston. It is fabulous to so many people connecting from accross the wards and uniting for a common good for all of Evanstonians.
I remember in 2004, when I sat through several Metro Council meetings to support Louisville’s extension of the Fairness Ordinance–making it a crime to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation for jobs, housing, etc. I, too, was shocked at how slow everything was and how long we had to wait for “our” item to make it to the floor. It was a joyous day for me when it was finally passed, and I was touched at how some previously opposed council members recounted stories of their change of heart. I think it was one of the more exciting issues to watch, truth be told, and your tale reminded me of it. Thanks! And oh yeah — I love libraries!
Wow, Jessica, that’s fantastic! I’m sure it was a rewarding experience to see that come to fruition.
Here’s hoping for a similarly happy outcome for Evanston libraries!