Monday, May 11, 2015

These are the Dunwoody voices missing from most City Town Hall meetings.


I had a quick meeting with Dunwoody High Principal Tom McFerrin today to discuss holding a Dunwoody Town Hall meeting specifically targeted at Dunwoody High School Students.

Long story short, I would like to find a way to open the lines of communication to a demographic of our community that I believe is under represented in most City of Dunwoody meetings.

So far nothing but positive feedback and we are already looking at calendars for August (the first month of school).    Stay tuned for more information.

3 comments:

Pattie Baker said...

John: I remember when you first proposed a Youth Commission years ago. I also remember when Dunwoody High School junior Nicole Anderson organized a protest group of students when students were illegally banned from public street parking while the school was under construction. This group felt like it was being treated unfairly and had no voice. She became the first youth in the newest city in the United States named to a citizen advisory committee when you gave her an official seat at the table on the City of Dunwoody Transportation Commission. Thank you for staying with this and for always working to engage ALL citizens in our process. It would have been nice to have youth voices heard regarding the Tree Canopy private contract, as the version that was installed does not include the level of teen-appropriateness that the Gwinnett version has (ours has 4 levels; theirs has a more challenging 5th level. When I asked the company about this, I was told that there are more options for 4-6 year olds at our version, yet our city has justified this use of our limited public greenspace by saying it serves teens as part of a need identified on our parks master plan. Hmmmm. Youth voices would have helped here.)

Pattie Baker said...

FYI--I just went to the Treetop Quest Facebook page and here is the most recent public question and company answer:

We've been to Buford location a few times (and loooove it), and thinking about Dunwoody location for Mother's day (I love it too). Have older kids, so wondering which location is best for them. :) Dunwoody is closer, but the kids like the challenges--could you share the differences?

Treetop Quest Hi Daryl,
We have longer zip-lines in Dunwoody, but only 4 courses. Level 4 is longer and pretty challenging in Dunwoody, but it is nothing compared to Level 5 in Buford!

SDOC Publishing Internet Solutions said...

I'm glad you're taking my advice from that email a few years back. I always thought you'd get the input you said you wanted by taking city council meetings of some type to additional venues around the city.