The follow-up email I sent to my friends today.
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Just wanted to update everyone on what happened today.
As expected, the budget passed. Completely unexpected, someone named Mell voted against someone named "The Mayor" for the first time in....
Ok, I didn't have the time to do the research on Dick's record, but I know this is the first time Deb has voted against the mayor since her appointment in 2013.
So although our property taxes are going up, being the democracy geek that I am, today feels like a good day for democracy because many of you demanded that your voice be heard and it was. Here is a quick timeline:
Tuesday, 12:30 am - Annisa writes the alderman, decides to forward it to about 30 like-minded people
Tuesday, 8:30 am - At least 5 letters have already been sent and my message forwarded to other neighbors. This includes people caring enough to look up the correct email (since again, advocacy at midnight caused a couple issues, sorry again about).
By Tuesday evening - At least 15 had let me know they had written, called or tweeted the Alderman. I know it doesn't seem like much, but 15 people is HUGE in aldermanic world.
Wednesday morning - Someone on this list sends a text message to all his people saying "I just called the alderman's office and she still hasn't decided how to vote, her staff is on the floor now still taking calls - here is the number" - and subsequent reports of the number being to busy to get through
Wednesday noon - Someone named Mell voted against "The Mayor"
And yes, alot of jaws dropped. And I know there are lot of people talking about how she must have gotten permission from the Mayor to do so, but that is not what we need to focus on.
What we need to focus on is that between her newsletters, her performance at the "townhall", and her previous voting record - there was every reason to believe she would vote "yes" and she voted "no" because people like you stood up and demanded to be heard.
So, I hope you are patting yourselves on the back because it was a good day for democracy (even if its was a bad day for our pocketbooks).
If you wrote Mell - please write again and thank her for listening to her constituents. If you didn't, please consider sending a tweet, FB message, etc doing the same. The way this representative democracy thing works is that we "ask", they "do", we say "thank you", and hopefully, next time we ask, they do again.
And thanks again for making your voice heard!
Sincerely,
Annisa
-----
Just wanted to update everyone on what happened today.
As expected, the budget passed. Completely unexpected, someone named Mell voted against someone named "The Mayor" for the first time in....
Ok, I didn't have the time to do the research on Dick's record, but I know this is the first time Deb has voted against the mayor since her appointment in 2013.
So although our property taxes are going up, being the democracy geek that I am, today feels like a good day for democracy because many of you demanded that your voice be heard and it was. Here is a quick timeline:
Tuesday, 12:30 am - Annisa writes the alderman, decides to forward it to about 30 like-minded people
Tuesday, 8:30 am - At least 5 letters have already been sent and my message forwarded to other neighbors. This includes people caring enough to look up the correct email (since again, advocacy at midnight caused a couple issues, sorry again about).
By Tuesday evening - At least 15 had let me know they had written, called or tweeted the Alderman. I know it doesn't seem like much, but 15 people is HUGE in aldermanic world.
Wednesday morning - Someone on this list sends a text message to all his people saying "I just called the alderman's office and she still hasn't decided how to vote, her staff is on the floor now still taking calls - here is the number" - and subsequent reports of the number being to busy to get through
Wednesday noon - Someone named Mell voted against "The Mayor"
And yes, alot of jaws dropped. And I know there are lot of people talking about how she must have gotten permission from the Mayor to do so, but that is not what we need to focus on.
What we need to focus on is that between her newsletters, her performance at the "townhall", and her previous voting record - there was every reason to believe she would vote "yes" and she voted "no" because people like you stood up and demanded to be heard.
So, I hope you are patting yourselves on the back because it was a good day for democracy (even if its was a bad day for our pocketbooks).
If you wrote Mell - please write again and thank her for listening to her constituents. If you didn't, please consider sending a tweet, FB message, etc doing the same. The way this representative democracy thing works is that we "ask", they "do", we say "thank you", and hopefully, next time we ask, they do again.
And thanks again for making your voice heard!
Sincerely,
Annisa