Civic participation in policy making

By Evelyn Tolbert

Civic participation in policy making by citizens is a basic requirement for the protection of freedom and the maintenance of democracy.

I was pleased to discover that, in Tracy, you can become an influential policy maker simply through your willingness to serve. This is not true in all communities, but it is true in Tracy.

If you want to have a direct say about the future development of Tracy, you can join with others to write the town's General Plan, update the Urban Management Plan, or work with Tracy Tommorow to help provide continuous community input to our future.

You can become a member of the Airport Advisory Committee and help write and implement a strategic action plan for the future of Tracy's airport. You can contribute your experience and knowledge to the Parks and Community Services Commission to plan for the future of facilities for our children. If you are creative, you can work with the Cultural Arts Commission as we build a Cultural Arts Center to retain the heart of our community in the downtown area.

Citizens are activitely recruited to serve on a multitude of boards, commissions, committees, subcommittees and ad-hoc groups. Having been a resident for less than two years, I applied and was appointed to the Planning Commission! This appointment would have been unheard of in most cities where the policy makers are all required to have political contacts and influence.

Continuous participation in policy making is critical in our form of democracy to insure that the governed remains the government. I always emphasize "by the people" when I restate that famous constitutional edict. It is only when government is "by the people" that we can rest assured that government will be "of the people" and "for the people". When we take an arms-length approach, is when we become divided into "us" and "they", i.e. "They" passed this law"; "they" did this to "us".

Democracy is a consenting "us" that join together to govern ourselves. If we cannot keep that concept pure at the local level in a town like Tracy, we have little hope of keeping the concept workable at the State and Federal level.

Government is Us; but only if we make it so through our participation.

Thank you for the soap box, smile