Two Greensboro city councilmembers have announced up coming meetings with constituents this month.
District 3 City Councilmember Justin Outling will be holding his monthly “Java with Justin” community meeting at Dolce Aroma at 233 N. Elm St. on Friday, Oct. 11 at 8:30 a.m. These are informal sessions where people from across the city ask questions and express their views.
At many city events refreshments are provided. At Java with Justin you are responsible for providing your own java. But as city councilmember-held constituent meetings go, Outling’s are the most informal and probably among the most productive. It’s a guarantee that there will be no PowerPoint presentations. The meetings are just what they sound like – an opportunity for a few folks to sit down and discuss issues with a city councilmember. Outling has even been known to let journalists in the room pipe up every now and then.
District 5 Councilmember Tammi Thurm will be holding a town hall meeting on Monday, Oct. 21 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Griffin Recreation Center, 5301 Hilltop Road. Mayor Nancy Vaughan and At-large Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter are expected to attend.
Thurm held her last community conversation at Elizabeth’s Pizza on Bridford Parkway, which is a great place to eat, but not such a good place to hold a public meeting. The restaurant was too loud, and for anyone with even a hint of attention deficit disorder, there was way too much going on.
Not to mention the fact that notes with pizza sauce on them are hard to read.
People will be given the opportunity to vote for participatory budgeting projects at the meeting. But since this year you can vote online, which means you can vote virtually anywhere in the world with an internet connection, that’s not as much of a perk as it was in past years.
