Opinion: Five attend Flint budget hearings

"Showing up is 80 percent of success." —Woody Allen.

Woody Allen isn't quoted much these days, but I was reminded of this line when I read the Flint Journal headline last Sunday about the Flint city budget. In a public hearing to get feedback on the difficult financial choices facing the city, only five people showed up last Friday. They each said their piece and the public hearing was done in 10 minutes.

I'm not going to pretend that if 500 people showed up that it would change any of the hard facts about the Flint budget. It wouldn't. But it's a dismal commentary on Flint that only five people took the time to make any comments on the budget and our financial situation.

Admittedly, budgets, with all their charts and numbers, are not exciting, emotional topics, but they are the blood and guts behind the emotional issues.

Are you angry about the police and firefighter layoffs? It's a budgetary problem!

Are you concerned about the biweekly garbage pickup's impact on your neighborhood?  It's a budgetary problem!

Are you sorry to see the loss of the downtown fireworks show this July 4th? It's a budgetary problem!

Not every problem we face in Flint is tied to the budget, but it's fair to say that most of them are in some way or another.

So this is a pitch for more of us to show up and get involved. But just showing up isn't enough. We also need to know something about what's going on.

One of the best sources is the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, (crcmich.org) a solid, fact-based, unbiased source of information on Michigan state and local government.

The CRC also has one of the best quotes on public participation that I've heard.

It reads, "The right to criticize government is also an obligation to know what you are talking about."

Not a bad idea. Just showing up and running off at the mouth won't do any of us any good.

So yes, we need to attend more of these meetings and let our voices be heard, but we also need to learn more about what is going on. These days that's not as hard as it might seem.

For example, at the city of Flint web site, (www.cityofflint.com/) under "city departments," check out the Budget Management Department. There you will find a version of the city budget along with several suggestions on how to interpret the document.

It's a good place to start. Looking at the numbers won't make the choices any easier, but at least the choices we make will be better informed and should involve more of us. Showing up, with some idea of what we want to do and what we can do, is a step in the right direction.

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Paul Rozycki is a professor of political science at Mott Community College. He has lived in Flint since 1969 and has been involved with and observed Flint politics for many years. He is author of Politics and Government in Michigan (with Jim Hanley) and A Clearer Image: The History of Mott Community College.