New Blog in Town
Cincinnati Councilwoman and ex-Mayor, Roxanne Qualls, has taken to blogging - maybe. The people who make one blog post and call it a day are legion and, to date, she still has only one post.
It's very important for politicians to explain their views, philosophies and plans with the public while in office and not just go around making campaign promises. County Commisioner David Pepper's blog is a great example of a governer getting the word out and soliciting input from the citizenry in a conversational manner. Unfortunately Councilwoman Qualls, in her one post, has disabled comments ala Hamilton County GOP chair Alex M. Triantafilou's blog. This kinda kills the dialogue aspect and throws a lot of the great communication aspects of social software out the window. While a lot of the responses a blogger gets are "You go, man!" or "You're a fucking idiot !", community issues can be complex and plans to deal with them frequently raise questions. While I praise Commissioner Pepper for giving dialogue a chance, the guy has answered almost none of my questions. I guess that's the price I pay for being an idiot.
Quall's issues on zoning, homelessness and transportation are complex and nerdy. Explaining the transportation issues in particular begs for graphics.
Mr Crowley's Water District plans, Urban Farming Initiative and Environmental Justice plans are all worthy of detailed explanation and analysis.
Mr Bortz's take on the ins and outs of real estate development and the role that government should play would be a wonderful topic for him to take to the people through a blog.
I urge all city and county leaders to follow Mr Pepper's example and get the word out !