Tuesday, September 1, 2009

THE MISSION AND HOW IT WORKS

We established a news letter which you can sign up for by visiting www.mypointbeac.com or www.njbeach.com and choosing list Point Beach News, the format seemed to be the most reasonable approach to beginning a dialogue for the community and also provided an automated approach to those who did not want to be contacted by simply removing their e-mails by opting out.


News does often come with an angle; in this case the angle is to motivate government to make the best decision. Every author has a point of view and regardless of how much we attempt to portray neutrality some sense of our own opinions shines through. I do honestly believe that as a community, we have to have an open forum where the majority of the citizens who do not attend meetings can stay informed and discuss the issues prior to council taking action.

I have witnessed first hand government operating in a vacuum and decisions or lack thereof being made with little of no input from the majority of the community. Our governing body in many instances does not possess the experience, time or knowledge and do not always receive the proper advice from their professionals to make the right decisions for the majority of us.

Unfortunately the council for the most part hears from an audience of individuals whose agendas may not reflect the sentiments or serve the best interests of the entire community.

I support video streaming of meetings to the web for all to take part in and additionally a public blog for anyone’s opinion to be heard regardless of how I feel about it. The blogs or another hybrid approach providing the public to ask questions from the web of the council at the time of meetings is the future of public meetings and true oversight in my opinion.

I also think that utilization of the news letter approach as a group of intelligent open minded individuals from our own community who would contribute their own articles and ideas periodically could be a good first step in reforming and improving government function here in the beach.

I apologize for the lengthy explanation however I feel the need to clarify my motivations.

I am looking forward to hearing comments on these ideas and learning from those of you interested in contributing articles, ideas or advice.