By Lawrence Lehr and Hank Topper for Santa Rosa Together
After our recent election we find ourselves as divided as ever. In the face of so many challenges, can partisan efforts solve our problems? Doesn’t our experience indicate that we need an alternative to the rancor in our national political life?
Santa Rosa Together, a nonpartisan volunteer group, has been looking at local alternatives. We understand that we can only move forward by working together. If we want to overcome our divisions and unite our city, we will need to create a better politics.
Our experience is that despite our differences, we have more in common than not.
We are volunteers from all political persuasions and have been working together for eight years to improve our city. Whether right or left, we have gotten to know and respect each other, and we have learned how to work together.
Democratic citizens aren’t born, they’re developed through practicing democracy. Our politics should give us that practice by making participation accessible to everyone, including meeting with neighbors so we can get to know each other and take responsibility for our neighborhoods.
Let’s create strong neighborhood organizations in every part of our city, partnerships where we move beyond partisan allegiances, meet face to face and find common ground. Then, when our city needs to address a challenge, like creating the affordable housing we desperately need, let’s start the planning process in our neighborhoods.
Let’s give neighborhoods, the information and expertise to discuss issues and make informed decisions. Then let’s create the opportunity for neighborhoods to come together in citywide meetings to create the plan we need to address the challenge and take this plan to the City Council for approval and implementation.
Let’s make sure that every neighborhood has a role in implementation so that we can all contribute to the work. Neither government nor nongovernmental organizations can solve our problems by themselves. Our local governments would function much more effectively if they organized neighborhoods to guide and assist them.
Let’s transform city government from a cadre of experts doing things for us into an organization helping us get organized, and partnering with us to do the work of the city.
This isn’t rocket science, but it won’t be easy. Yet it could contribute greatly to overcoming our divisions.
We must get more engaged with each other and develop confidence in our ideas and ourselves. Wouldn’t this defuse the power of partisanship and help us find common values that would allow us to build a great city? Neighbors formulating common goals while learning from others is the way to build trust and accomplish great things.
Santa Rosa Together is working on opportunities to rebuild our politics.
The pending general plan update can begin the process of bringing residents together and strengthening our neighborhoods. We will start a citywide conversation to develop city charter amendments to define a new partnership between neighborhoods and government. And we will start a neighborhood building and youth engagement program to give residents opportunities to learn from each other and strengthen neighborhood organizations and civic institutions.
We believe that this is some of the most important work any of us can do right now. Let’s create a new model that revitalizes democracy for ourselves and our children and create a city that better reflects our deepest values. Contact us at santarosatogether.org and learn how you can help.
Hank Topper and Lawrence Lehr are members of Santa Rosa Together.
tadalafil order tadalafil
ivermectin 3mg tablet
writes your essay for you writing paper
write an essay for me essay writing software
Hi! I realize this is sort of off-topic however I had to ask.
Does managing a well-established blog like yours
require a large amount of work? I am completely
new to blogging but I do write in my diary on a daily basis.
I’d like to start a blog so I can share my experience and feelings online.
Please let me know if you have any kind of suggestions or tips
for brand new aspiring blog owners. Thankyou!
write essay college essay writing services
Sorry for the huge review, but I’m really loving the new Zune, and hope this, as well as the excellent reviews some other people have written, will help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.
tadalis sx tadalafil 40
where to buy ivermectin
write my essay generator how to do your homework
writing an essay write my essay for me
ivermectin usa
college essay prompts write my paper for me
essay writing software essaytyper
stromectol for sale
ivermectin uk coronavirus
lasix 0.5 mg – buy lasix water pill lasix 20 mg cost
buy essay paper essay writing
stromectol usa
best essay writer essay writer cheap
write essay for you write an essay
write my essay generator essay maker
tadalafil 40 mg daily tadalafil online
essay writing software online homework
essay assistance paper help
do your homework essay paper writing
essay writer free college essay prompts
college essay essay writers
stromectol generic
best essay writing service how to write essay
tadalafil 40 mg from india buy tadalafil
buy tadalafil us tadalafil 40
easy essay writer my college
homework help help me write my essay
essay writer cheap buying essays online
buying essays online how to write essay
ivermectin 0.08
Truly when someone doesn’t be aware of after that its
up to other users that they will assist, so here it takes place.
tadalafil 60 mg for sale tadalafil pills 20mg
ivermectin uk buy
help me with my essay argument essay
buy dissertation online write my essay generator
order stromectol online
ivermectin 4000 mcg
cheap stromectol
how to write an essay type my essay
tadalafil 30 mg order tadalafil
edit my essay cheap essay writer
us essay writers help with writing an essay
writing essay dissertation help