Ah, town meeting. Something I have quite mixed feelings about. Does your town have an open town meeting, i.e. anyone can turn up and vote? That was, I think, the original model, and it's what my parents, in a town of ~8000, have.
Arlington is one of the biggest towns in Massachusetts, and, like most of the towns around here, we have a representative town meeting. So I can't just roll up to town meeting and have my say; instead, I vote for precinct representatives who in theory represent me. The problem is, not very many people run for town meeting, and not very many people vote in TM elections. Some precincts (not mine) even have vacant seats. I have written to my town meeting reps over issues from time to time. Some of them reply, some don't bother. Some will listen to arguments and discuss, but most just state their opinion and are done. At town meeting they represent their own personal views. Without competition for seats, there's no real way to pressure a rep to give you a hearing, nor vote out someone you disagree with.
In practice, in order to have a say in town government you have to *be* a town meeting member. (People actually say this: "if you don't like it, run for town meeting".) Which is all well and good as long as you're free 2 evenings a week for a period lasting anywhere from 3 weeks to 2 months in May and June (not to mention possible special town meetings which can happen, I believe, at any time). In other words, as long as you 1) work traditional hours or don't work and 2) have no evening caring responsibilities. I don't think there are records kept of the demographics of our town meeting, but I strongly suspect they trend older, whiter, more conservative, and more male than the town as a whole.
So while I like the idea of town meeting, ours is a source of frustration to me.
Re: Growing the communities we yearn for
Arlington is one of the biggest towns in Massachusetts, and, like most of the towns around here, we have a representative town meeting. So I can't just roll up to town meeting and have my say; instead, I vote for precinct representatives who in theory represent me. The problem is, not very many people run for town meeting, and not very many people vote in TM elections. Some precincts (not mine) even have vacant seats. I have written to my town meeting reps over issues from time to time. Some of them reply, some don't bother. Some will listen to arguments and discuss, but most just state their opinion and are done. At town meeting they represent their own personal views. Without competition for seats, there's no real way to pressure a rep to give you a hearing, nor vote out someone you disagree with.
In practice, in order to have a say in town government you have to *be* a town meeting member. (People actually say this: "if you don't like it, run for town meeting".) Which is all well and good as long as you're free 2 evenings a week for a period lasting anywhere from 3 weeks to 2 months in May and June (not to mention possible special town meetings which can happen, I believe, at any time). In other words, as long as you 1) work traditional hours or don't work and 2) have no evening caring responsibilities. I don't think there are records kept of the demographics of our town meeting, but I strongly suspect they trend older, whiter, more conservative, and more male than the town as a whole.
So while I like the idea of town meeting, ours is a source of frustration to me.