It was disappointing to see so few folks (30-40) at Tuesday evening public hearing on the fate of the Academy Street School building . The study committee should be complimented for the significant amount of work they have done to gather information to inform the folks who will have to vote on the final outcome. Unfortunately the old cliche applies, "you can lead a horse to water but you can not force them to drink".
When it will be time to vote, I'm sure the uninformed will come out of the woodwork asking all sorts of questions that have already been asked and answered. Maybe the general public have such busy lives, these days, that the time for direct/individual democracy in Madison is past. After all there are 13,500 members of the town meeting. We do have a quorum requirement of 75 (far cry from the usual 50% plus 1). Are largest seating venue is 1,500,
Maybe it is time to modernize the Town Charter and move on from a town meeting form of government to some form of representative government where the decision makers show interest and are informed???
