re: efficiency

["joe pezzillo" <jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx>]

[Sorry, forgot the rest of the list on my reply, and another though on 
the topic occurred to me:]

Original:
I think that's a great idea. Evan, can you please make up the handout 
from what's on the site? Thanks! -Joe

Amended:
On additional thought, however, we have agreed to do a public forum in 
conjunction with other groups' efforts, and, as usual, we expect a lot 
of first time attendees. Despite the repeated multiple oppositions I 
keep hearing, we're (or at least I am) committed to making this a 
public, open, educational and consensus-driven group process. That 
means meetings where anyone who wants to gets a chance to talk about 
the relevant issues, the group mutually works to define its mission 
(ie, "the statement"), and everyone is treated as "equals in concern" 
despite the varying level of knowledge that any given individual may 
have on the topic.

So, another idea is to suggest that people who already consider 
themselves experts on the topic not show up until after the public 
meeting portion is done, say the first half hour to hour. If you 
already know that you're not going to learn anything during the public 
education portion, come later. This will also make ample room for what 
will hopefully be a much larger audience than last time (almost 50) of 
total newcomers who have bits and pieces of the story and want to learn 
as much as possible about the issue.

Sorry if this democratic process is a drag to anyone! To me, this group 
-- lengthy meetings, ranting emails, the increasing time commitment and 
all -- is democracy in action. From my perspective, I can be less 
worried about who is in office if we have an truly active and engaged 
citizenry, and I think we're all lookin' at it blooming!