HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-19-23 Public Comment - M. Egge - Name and AddressFrom:Mark Egge
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public Comment - Name and Address
Date:Monday, September 18, 2023 10:58:47 PM
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Madam Mayor, Mr. Deputy Mayor and City Commissioners,
I attended the Community Development Board meeting this evening atwhich many community members gave public comment. I noticed that
most of the men stated their full addresses, and that most of the women
(especially younger women) stated their address only approximately. I'm
sure you've seen this tendency at other meetings.
Currently, the City's public comment instructions are always to state your
name and address for the public record. While there are good reasons for
soliciting the address of someone participating in the public process(accountability, and also to understand the geographic representation of
those commenting), I'd hate for anyone to be discouraged from
participating because they feel unsafe or uncomfortable disclosing their
home address in a public forum (and feel obligated to do so in order toparticipate).
I'd like to share a suggestion to normalize sharing approximate home
location information during public comment—or omit it entirely. The factthat our public meetings are now video recorded probably provides a
greater degree of accountability than stating an address for the public
record ever did.
Based on what I observed tonight (and on other occasions), our public
participation process would be more inclusive if the City modified its public
comment standards to something along the lines of "please state your
name and where you reside, to whatever degree of precision you feelcomfortable with." Or, better yet, "Please state your full name for the
public record," so that there's no perceptual difference between those who
are comfortable announcing where they live versus those who don't.
Thanks, as always, for your consideration and service.
Mark Egge
1548 S Grand AveBozeman, MT 59715