Can you repeat that into the microphone?

When I first looked up the Project Area Committee meetings in Bayview, I thought, this shouldn't be too bad. I'll just read up on some of the project documents (even thought there are like 50 of them and all 30 pages+ give or take), take some notes and suck up to the committee/public for some juicy quotes. WRONG!

I showed up expecting to find a full house and was surprised to see maybe 15 people there. I sat down, took out my notebook and tried to follow what was going on. Not only were the council members mumbling into their microphones, they were also eating and ALL of them (I kid you not) had an identical look of not wanting to be there. Looking through their phones was more important than what was being said - especially by the public - and I even caught some of them picking their teeth! I was so mesmerized by the expressions on everyone's faces and their character/demeanor, that I seriously missed the issues being mumbled about.

I guess I just had this expectation of professionalism and I know the meetings can drag on but there was absolutely no enthusiasm for what was being said. There were three speakers from the public and all three were angry with the council for their decisions and from what I gathered the entire redevelopment process in general. The chairperson in particular, Angelo King, looked like he was bored out of his mind and made it a point to enforce the two minute speaking rule for public comment. I was even surprised to find him making fun of one of the public speakers after the meeting was over. It seemed pointless to me to even have public speaking when their opinions didn't seem to matter in the eyes of the council.

Don't get me wrong, this is strictly my opinion on how they looked, but I really just expected so much more from that meeting, and I was really annoyed afterward when my notes were shallow and pretty uninformative. I wanted to go up to the council members and ask for their contact info, but I realized I really didn't know what to ask them if I did call. I felt really really unprepared!

It's was lame.

From what I did pick up, the committee wanted to vote on a measure to move forward with the next step in the redevelopment plan. The contractors were supposed to have a list of local/small contractors that were/are employed for the redevelopment in the area. This was supposed to promote more employment in the area. Apparently the contractors did not bring that list, and by not doing so broke an agreement and held up the vote that would have allowed them to continue forward in the plan.

Moral of the story, I have more coverage on each individuals personal demeanor than I do on the issues of the neighborhood. . . so shameful.