City Hall Meeting Case Study

On Monday, April 13th, 2009, I visited the Culver City city council meeting, and found that they operate using a council-manager form of government. For a city with a population of about 38,000, this type of governmental structure is fairly common, and I was not surprised to see it in action in a community where the median household income is around $56,000 a year. Culver City is also a culturally rich community with a 60 percent Caucasian population, and a quarter of the residents are either of African American or Asian decent. The mayor, D. Scott Malsin, is one of five members on the council, and his term as mayor is on a rotating basis. Having been to a Hermosa Beach city council meeting with a similar council-manager structure, I knew

This meeting took place on February 14, 2018 at 7:00 pm at the Martin County Governmental Center, Commissioners' Boardroom at 305 East Main Street, Williamston, North Carolina. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Butch Lilley, the pledge of allegiance was led by commissioner Joe Ayers and the invocation was provided by commissioner Ronnie Smith. There were (2) other board members, the county manager and attorney, clerk to the board and the finance director/deputy clerk, other elected officials and residents of the county were also present.

Social Service Meeting: On 10/25/2016 Ms. Williams met with assigned Case Manager for the family weekly ILP Document Review. Ms. Williams’ next ILP Document Review appointment is on 11/01/2016. Ms. Williams is in-compliance with the terms of her ILP. Case Manager asked Ms. Williams if she has any issues or concerns that she would like to discuss during meeting. Ms. Williams stated no. Children were present at the time of the meeting.

The village of Pleasantville conducts public board meetings every second and fourth Monday of each month. On rare occasions, for further discussion on serious issues or concerns of Pleasantville, the village board will conduct meetings—like a public hearing—on other weekdays. These meetings are located in the conference room on the second floor of the Village hall, which is also next to the Pleasantville Police Station. The village board consists of four trustees—Steven Lord, Mindy Berard, Colleen Griffin Wagner and Joseph Stargiotti—a mayor—Peter Scherer—a village clerk—Judith Weintraub—and the village administrator—Patricia Dwyer. The village board members were dressed in semi-casual business attire, which appropriately fit their position. The members sat in a congressional layout, which looked like the formation of a half circle or crescent. This allowed the audience to see each individual’s face and it is easier to identify who is speaking. They also used parliamentary motions when they spoke. The purpose of the village of Pleasantville board meetings is to discuss and resolve present issues and future events that are happening or are expected to happen in the Pleasantville area. Residents have the opportunity to either post questions for the village board to answer on their website or they can call the board live on the telephone. The trustees and the mayor usually dominated the entire conversation and were the only people who were permitted to speak during the

The City of Whittier has two city meetings a month were the people of the community are welcome to attend. One of their city council meetings was held on April 26 at 6:30pm. The council members are Owner Newcomer, Cathy Warner and Bob Henderson. The Mayor Pro tem is Joe Vinatieri and the Mayor of Whittier is Fernando Dutra. There was a good amount of public attendance, but the attendance died out after recess. Public participation was not effective or really used throughout the meeting. The public comments part of the meeting was where the public’s voice was most heard.

Robert Dahl's Traditional Democratic Theory really does explain what is needed to make a healthy democracy. In this meeting, his theory was expressed by the lack of public participation which leads to the public not being in control. Attendance from the public is very important or else it is just a meeting between the council. I love my city, but I would not attend another meeting because the voice of the public is hardly heard so it wouldn't make that much of a difference. It was also very long, off schedule, and a little hard to understand everything the council was saying. That council meeting was my first and last meeting I attend. I did learn though how important it is for the public to speak up and be present if they want to have

On November 9th 2015, a town hall meeting took place in my political science class. This meeting was a chance for students of the school to bring up concerns, or issues regarding there education. For their voice to be heard directly to the faculty that runs the school, the students could finally have a chance to get a valid answer. There was questions about safety, mathematics, community college education, and typical student issues.

At the Dallas Center city council meeting topics discussed were the TreesPlease fiscal year, the city library financial summary, equipment upgrades from Minburn Communications on the water tower, southwest stormwater drainage improvements,trailhead restrooms project, water plant update, wastewater treatment plant project, ordinance actions, DNR mandates, firework restrictions, city reports, and public forums. I felt that the most important issue discussed was the fireworks restriction. Most topics discussed were just a summary of what stage of a process a project was on, however; the fireworks discussion was debated for awhile. They debated about what terminology to use for supervision of fireworks, they

The process of the City Council meeting was very interesting and long. There were many things that I learned in this meeting because it was the first meeting that I have been to for the city. Everything was planned and very organized in the meeting and they go down a schedule or list of what they will do first. The Mayor of the city of Bakersfield is the one to begin the meeting, but he was absent the day that I went so Vice Mayor Harold Hanson took his spot. He mentioned how the Mayor had not missed a meeting in such a long time that he can not even remember the last time he got to take his place. Hearing what the Vice Mayor said about the Mayor showed the residents of Bakersfield and I how important and how serious the Mayor takes his job. It showed that the Mayor really cares for the people of Bakersfield even though many disagree with me.

The Dahlonega City Hall was crowded on the evening of March 1st 2010. The seats were full, except for at the very front, and the standing room was filled almost out the door. The crowd, mostly made up of students, leaned in to hear as the voices of the City Council members faded in and out of the faltering sound system. The six City Council members and the mayor sat along a bench as if they were the judges at a hearing. Because of the ongoing discussions and the crowd, I thought I had arrived a few minutes late; but I was able to find a seat in the front two rows. Despite how packed the small room was there were plenty of empty seats in the front. I had thought the meeting was well on its way by the way conversation was going and

Prior to this assignment student veterans were a portion of the student population that I had no prior experience or knowledge of interacting with outside the scope of my history of higher education course reviewing the components of the GI Bill. The assignment allowed me to get an in depth historical analysis of the GI Bill and how it effected student equity in higher education from its establishment. I have come to understand the services students veterans possess but as well as some of the limitations they face being advocates for themselves in order to receive their benefits. In revolving around the topic of student equity, my team’s research found a wealth of knowledge from higher education scholars who see the need of the GI Bill in further providing student equity to student veterans. Scholars saw the important qualities that the GI Bill possess and advocated for further services in assisting student veterans and their families in not only understanding their medical benefits but also create a supportive community on campus. The overall goal of researching the GI Bill and by doing so includes student veterans is that the bill provides equitable support to returning students that have served, support for dependents of those who serve(d), and the growing student population student veterans are becoming through the new GI Bill.

I attended the regular monthly meeting and public hearing for the City of New York Community Board No. 1, Queens that was held at the Astoria World Manor, located at 25-22 Astoria Blvd., Astoria on Tuesday, February 16, 2016, at 7pm. According to NYC (2014), the purpose of each New York City Community Board is to encourage the citizens to participate and get involved within their communities, and resourceful organizations of agencies that deliver public services in local communities and boroughs. Furthermore, the specific purposes of the board meeting were to obtain the license to operate an Unenclosed Sidewalk Café, approval for

Edgar Allan Poe is an American poet from the early 1800s who has been regarded in many literary handbooks as “the architect of the modern short story” (Poetry Foundation). Since his death in 1849, Poe has become world renowned for his critical theories as well as his many haunting poems and short stories. But Poe 's work hasn’t always been as popular as it is today. In 1827, Poe published his first collection of poetry, Tamerlane, and Other Poems. Unfortunately, Poe’s first collection was unsuccessful and went virtually unnoticed by the public. Two years later, Poe published a second collection of poetry, which he titled Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. Although this collection received slightly more attention than his first publication, it was still unsuccessful and seen as a failure. Poe’s third publication was released in 1831 and was yet another collection of poetry, ironically entitled Poems. This publication was significantly more successful than its predecessors, and in 1835 its success even landed Poe an editorship at The Southern Literary Messenger, a literary magazine based in Richmond, Virginia. Only a few years later, in 1839, Poe got a job as an editor for Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine. He stayed with the magazine for about a year before accepting another position in 1841 as the editor of Graham’s Magazine. This was the peak of Poe’s

I was very surprised at how many people actually attended the city hall meeting. Normally when you think of government, you assume that the people are less interested in attending meetings. This was especially what I thought would happen given the average amount of people who vote for local laws and political offices. Instead, I was surprised to see many people attending. While most of those who attended were older, there were some younger people as well. In general, the attendees where men between the ages of 40 and 70. Some were dressed professionally for the meeting, while others were obviously arriving straight from work and were dressed in work clothes. There were even a few construction workers present who were still in their day clothes. Most of the women who were present were older. My best guess is that the younger women stay at home with their children while their husbands attend the meeting. There were no children present, which was expected given that city council meetings are meant for adults.

Through my lifetime, I have not had extensive exposure to the idea of a being with disabilities, which may or may not have changed my stance on this subject. This being true, I am approaching this assignment with a very scientific view, occasionally dealing with ethics, and with what the whole of society. In recent years, the use of biotechnology to alter human DNA has gathered heat and controversy due to the creation of procedures and systems such as TALENS, CRISPR, and In-Vitro Fertilization, which I will reference within this essay. Biotechnology should not be used to alter human DNA because gene therapy is unsafe, unethical, changes genetic diversity, and there is no way of stopping the churning of gears in the scientific mind once it craves