Reflection On The City Council Meetings

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I attended the city council meeting for the city I reside in, Riverside. Taking the opportunity over spring break, I was able to attend the meeting on March 27, 2018 and presiding over this meeting was the Mayor, Rusty Bailey. Currently there are no women represented on the council with the caucasian male being the most prevalent demographic making up the local authority. Initially, I conducted a bit of research in the local paper the “Press Enterprise” and found the top issues for the mayoral election. In the article “Riverside: 4 city issues that matter in the mayor’s race,” author Alicia Robinson discusses the stance the incumbent and his five opponents have on them. Due to the fact that, the drive to be either elected or reelected, candidates will focus on the issues that are most pressing to the public voting constituency. Of the four issues addressed in Alicia Robinson’s new piece, the two that are of particular interest to me is what the city will do concerning marijuana dispensaries and the proposed pay raise for the council …show more content…

Unfortunately, the topic I was most interested in was going to be the last one on the docket. The meeting itself started early in the afternoon at 15:00. There was one woman who was upset that the clocks in the council room were not set properly to the internet time on her Apple phone. She even interrupted the Mayor when he was opening the meeting and had to be reminded to stay quite until her turn to speak. The familiar way that Mayor Bailey had addressed her led me to assume that she is a regular attendee of the meetings and has had similar outbursts in the past. Afterwards, there was an opportunity for public comment in which a couple people made their opinions known about the council in

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