Public Comment – Pete Bachelor wants to shorten the time allotted

Public comment is a specific opportunity for you to hear from the people you are representing.  Public comment is used by most all government agencies in the United States, a constitutional democratic republic. The basis for public comment is found in general political theory of democracy that originated during the French Enlightenment of the 18th century. This basis was elaborated in the American Revolution, and various thinkers such as Thomas Paine, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin are associated with the rejection of tyrannical, closed government decision-making in favor of open government. Theirs are not ideas we should reverse centuries later in Islamorada.

Think of the positive that has been accomplished just recently largely because the council has learned how constituents feel via public comment – the Pedestrian Bridge, Lower Matecumbe Swim Zone, the Fills, Waste Management.

If meetings last too long – make the agenda shorter and have meetings more often, perhaps every two weeks instead of every three weeks.  If that is too much – you should not run for public office.