… divided we fall.

Anyone paying attention to city council meetings for the last month and a half has witnessed first hand the power of that phrase.  

A group of neighbors upset over the use of ATVs by a property owner and his 12- year-old grandson on a vacant tract of land culminated with a city ordinance being crafted, after two-plus hours worth of discussion taking place across three separate city council meetings.  

This truly is the power of the people.

These citizens banded together reached out to the council then showed up to the council meeting and one by one took their turn at the podium to complain about the neighbor and his ATV.

Now, I’m not going to go into details about what happened or how, you can go back and listen to the discussions on Youtube if you wish.

The point is this, after these six to eight people organized and came before council the right of every man, woman and child in East Ridge was forever changed, and use of ATV’s restricted because of one bad neighbor.  Yeah, one guy really did ruin it for everybody.

What was essentially a civil matter, has impeded on the freedoms of everyone in East Ridge.

I relay this story to make a point.  I frequently see people posting and complaining on Facebook about legitimate issues or problems, yet the same people are frequently absent from the next city council meeting.

Problems facing the City of East Ridge can be fixed.  The issues that matter most to you can be addressed.  

It takes more than “slacktivism” to move our city council to make changes that matter.  It takes actions and butts in seats at council meetings.  While online petitions may make dents in Washington, it’s “Head Counts” that matter most in East Ridge.

United We Stand…

Absent, nothing changes