Editor:
Re: Embrace it, don't hate it — debate is good for New West
I feel like Ms. North and I were watching two different meetings. If it was a marathon, it was one of grandstanding and time-wasting by a single member of council who seemed to have no respect for any of the other people in the room, except his cheering and jeering acolytes in the audience. He centred himself in the middle of every discussion, never listened to the points made by others, and wasted everyone’s time with clearly rhetorical questions meant to score political points, not inform better decision-making.
I also saw the other councillors (except for the one who was silent all night) patiently wading through the rhetoric to find common values and supportable ideas in a barrage of clearly uninformed motions. They sought collaboration and compromise, and amended some motions to make them not just more palatable, but operational. Far from flatly opposing the opposition ideas, they worked with them to find common ground. In return, they were mansplained, had their impartiality challenged, and were heckled by a partisan gallery for having opinions at all.
It was a long night, but they rose above. Like patient parents of a child with low blood sugar, they saw the tantrum for what it was, tried their darnedest to reason with it, and only let the occasional rolled eye betray their grace.
Jen Huntley
