When I spoke with Ed about a topic of public interest in NEO, Ed would right away ask me:
“Well, where were you at the last Port Authority (or City Council or Planning or whatever) meeting?”
He didn’t think much of my excuses…I’d say, “ I wrote about it…”
Ed would say…”Yeah, but you have to attend the public meetings, speak up at the meeting, AND write about them … by the way - there’s an important meeting coming up Monday before the County Commissioners – you gonna be there Buster?”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If Realneo had links to the agenda web sites of the Port, City Planning, County Commissioners, etc, and if there were a “public meetings” calendar page on Realneo where one or more of us could sign up, committing to attend those meetings, then prior to the meeting obtain via Realneo comments from those interested, then attend the meeting and make those comments, and then report back on Realneo about the meeting….
It would also help to have access to a community shared video cam and tripod.
First steps? Does Drupal have a meetings calendar module – can we link out to a Google “groups” page….what’s the best tech to try to fill Ed’s shoes? How can we keep upcoming public meetings easily in view on Realneo? Let's develop a "Civic Swat Team"!