Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Patrick Team Announces Two Community Meetings

The following announcement crossed my inbox today, and somehow I managed to see it amongst the massive spam deluge I've been getting recently. Governor-elect Deval Patrick's transition team is announcing two community meetings this Friday, December 1st:

Higher Education Community Meeting
When: Friday, December 1, 2006, 10:30 am
Where: UMass-Amherst Campus Center
What: Governor-elect Deval Patrick addresses members of the Higher Education Working Group and the public before community meeting

Workforce Development Community Meeting
When: Friday, December 1, 2006, 9:30 am
Where: Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, 41 Berkeley St., Boston
What: Members of the Workforce Development Working Group hear from the public on the issue of workforce development
I'm glad to see that Gov-elect Patrick is continuing to reach out to citizens, as he did during his campaign, but I do have one suggestion/complaint. If the Patrick team really wants to bring people back into civic life, wouldn't it be nice if these events were held at a time when working people could go to them? Not everyone can take a morning off to get to Amherst or Boston. That said, they suggest that people who can't attend should submit their suggestions via the transition team website. That's fine, I suppose, but what about those of us who are interested in what goes on at those meetings? What I'd like to see is a record of these meetings -- agenda, minutes, etc -- posted on the website. Let's all see what kind of suggestions come out of this, so that those who have to work can feel like they're a part of the discussion.