• The Ken Mayes Effect

Quick review of the Ken Mayes citizen’s meeting about the parks.

First,  nine people showed up. 

There are reasons that city officials couldn’t be there, so I get that… and I also know that this wasn’t planned for weeks or months. 

Still, 

N I N E 

people?  

Before anyone chirps that was because it was suggested by the oft vaunted “Wildomar Three” let me remind everyone of  last week’s Great Day of Service, where a city of nearly 33,000 people, couldn’t muster 500 volunteers on a beautiful Autumn morning. [That is NOT to denigrate the effort and the work done by those that put in the hours (so don't think I'm suggesting otherwise)... just an indictment of those that were too disconnected {read: lazy} to even know it was happening.]

Let's face it, Wildomar is no different than the rest of SoCal… where people have no clue what’s going on in their community… and they seem as happy as a pig in foshizzle in their ignorant bliss, yet are front and center to complain.  

C’est la vie.

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The Nuts and Bolts of It

 

Like any meeting of it’s kind, it took a awhile for it to find its bearings. First it was a history lesson of sorts, which was fine for me since the info was new to me; I was the greenhorn of the bunch. There was a relative amount of order, but there were also times where two people were speaking at once… which is always delightful. 

I only have two ears and they usually work as a team

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Early on, I heard Ken jokingly refer to it as a Bitch Session... which is eerily similar to how one FaceBook user predicted it might end up being.

There were no “sides” here. It was nice to see how well people interact when they are in person and not behind a screen on the net. 

There were agreements among some, and disagreements 

among others as each idea was mentioned. 

Communication and Respect go a long way to push a community forward. We need more of it… and less of places like the local privy The Patch and it’s wretched comment section. Something about a keyboard and a display that can sour the nicest of people, not to mention those of us prone to be edgy in the first place.

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What I came away with is that there is a desire for Wildomar to have a 
• Parks Commission,  
• Parks Committee [of non elected people]
• Parks Workshops
• Regularly scheduled public meetings on the parks, where actual public input is welcomed, invited and wanted.

Seems fair enough. We all share in Wildomar, and it makes sense to push for making things in a way that reflects the majority of the residents here. In all things really, but especially the parks.

My only question was,

 “Sounds nice, but how realistic is it that there will ever be a Parks Commission, Committee, or Workshop?”

Seriously... what's the over/under on any of it coming to fruition?

 

I just hate “Happy Talk” where a lot of ideas get bandied about, then promptly swept under the rug. The only way such things will come about is if people care enough to push for it.

If there's a downside to such things, please elaborate.

I like learning.

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Oh, and do I have to say that The Ken Mayes Effect is a play on the video editing term called The Ken Burns Effect? Tell me you picked up on that one right away... M'kay? 

Ken's a good guy, and it's fun to play with words.