I don't know about y'all but this article is describing my attitude towards my city council.

Dixie

http://www.dailyherald.com/search/searc ... ?id=256223

Finally listening, but not out of woods yet
Posted Sunday, December 03, 2006

There’s nothing quite like an angry electorate to cause public servants to suddenly “get religion” if an election is upcoming.

Such appears to be the case in Elgin, where a city council mostly interested in giving money to developers and conjuring up special projects downtown suddenly developed a healthy interest in upgrading public works services and at least nominally addressing illegal immigration.

It probably didn’t hurt that the national election on Nov. 7 sent tsunami-like shock waves across the country, swallowing up any and all who had disregarded or disdained voters. There’s no denying the local election next year also is helping to concentrate the minds of council members on residents for whom they'd had so little time until now.

The conversion was neither quick nor easy, and may not be real, either. The council dealt initially with demands for local action where possible on illegal immigration with dead silence, hoping residents would go away. Then came a minimal report from the police chief. And finally, the council banished audience speakers to the wee hours in hope of dissuading them further.

Residents refused to go away and eventually the council reversed itself, voting to put audience speakers back at the beginning of meetings. And it just last week passed a resolution urging the federal government to address the issue of illegal immigration, pointing to the local costs.

Complaints about the speed and efficiency of public works services like snow, storm and leaf pickup have been festering without being addressed for some time now. But the city’s inability to pick up downed trees and branches after a particularly nasty set of thunderstorms this summer appeared to be the last straw. Especially when residents heard some on the council applauding a response about which they were seething.

More and more residents who’ve felt left out of the city’s casino-era benefits joined the chorus for better services and far better streets, and they made it pretty clear they wouldn’t back down. Clearly, they found it unacceptable that public works employees had actually decreased in number since 2001 and no new ones were projected for the next five years in a city with public works responsibilities growing every day.

That persistent chant from residents finally got through last week, when the council pledged to find a way to get public works more help. We’d suggest one way to fund needed new employees is to eliminate a second pension plan given to certain employees at a yearly cost of $500,000.

But council members may be mistaken if they think that talking seriously about something, as is the case with public services, and passing all responsibility to somebody else, as was the case with illegal immigration, will assuage residents. If that’s the case, they may regret it come April.

Yes, responsibility for immigration does lie mostly with Washington, and recent election results may break the deadlock over immigration reform. Even so, local officials would do well to know that residents find the status quo unacceptable on a range of issues and are expecting — no, demanding — not just talk, but action from those elected to represent them here at home.