James takes to participatory democracy

There's been a neighborhood controversy about a bike path that the county is planning to build through a nearby park. It's turned nasty enough that there was a hearing about it earlier this week at a county office. We support the path -- and, more than that, it's been bugging me that a few people in the neighborhood seem to have turned into middle-school style bullies about it -- so James and Thomas and I turned up at the hearing. I thought that, if nothing else, we could make it a practical lesson in civic involvement and participatory democracy.

It was quite a scene. The path opponents appear to have christened themselves the "Take Back Our Lake" Redshirts, and dozens of them were marching into the county office in matching gear, carrying paraphernalia. They sat on one side of the hall, and the path supporters -- some cyclists, some parents who use strollers, a bunch of random other people -- sat mostly on the other. It was a bit like the bride's versus groom's sides of the sanctuary at the wedding, but with much scowling. There was even police presence! I wished we'd brought popcorn.

A county park planner (I think) started giving a presentation that, while informative, was boring in the grand manner of municipal government presentations. We could hear her fine from our seats in the back row, but one of the redshirts jumped up and said rather smugly that nobody could hear a word she was saying because she'd forgotten to turn on her microphone. Flustered, she did so. "I think that man could hear that lady just fine," James announced. "I think he was trying to make her feel bad so she'd forget what she was going to say. I don't think he's a very nice person." He adored the back-and-forth of the discussion. When Thomas started acting up and we had to leave early, he scolded, "Mas! I was trying to pay attention to the talk and you made us have to go. I'm mad at you!"