It’s been awhile since I slipped on the shoes of a citizen journalist. So on Tuesday, January 15, armed with a new Canon PowerShot, I headed to the monthly meeting of a civic group in my own terrain: the Audubon Circle Neighborhood Association.

My observations were as follows. (Forgive me for over-blogging.)

• The turnout was impressive – at least to me. That being said, I don’t believe this particular meeting was the best indicator of ACNA activity, since the matter being discussed was a major development proposal that would essentially turn the “wasteland” of parking lots between Kenmore Square and Fenway Park into a play-land full of green space, retail and other public spaces. So, needless to say, people were interested, and more people had a stake in this issue than they would in most others. Thus...
• ...this meeting could have gone on all night. The attendees were understandably opinionated and brought up legitimate concerns about parking, noise pollution, property usage, neighborhood demographics, etc. So, it didn’t help that...
• ...a lot of people arrived late, and missed part of the developer’s presentation. Why? Because the meeting was at 6pm. I personally am rarely home at that time, which is why I’d never been able to make a meeting in the past. On top of that...
• ...some people left early. The middle-aged residents and couples who were there probably had families to get back to or household responsibilities to tend to. So there was not adequate time for questions and discussion that included all interested parties. But “all interested parties” is a relative term, because...
• ...the group was not exactly full of diversity. All present parties were either members of the development team or concerned neighbors – be they business-owners or residents – who had similar mindsets and voiced similar objections. They all opposed the new office space including academic usage, and they all opposed the new residential building becoming a student dormitory, or even an apartment complex that would be affordable to students. Essentially, these people were intent on excluding their most influential neighbor – Boston University – in order to prevent their sacred area from becoming even more of an extension of BU’s campus than it undeniably already is. And no one was there to represent BU.

How to remedy all of these shortcomings? In my view, the community conversations that took place could effectively have been transferred to an online forum, and expanded to include a much larger number of people and a more diverse mix. NeighborMedia should become such a forum. A place where people can go to if they leave early, arrive late, or never hear about a given meeting in the first place. With enough outreach, I think NeighborMedia can become that go-to place. And more. Such meetings, of course, provide only a small window into the issues that affect a dynamic city and its diverse neighborhoods.