'Town Hall' meeting set for tomorrow night

By Ian Koski
Managing Editor

Highbridge residents will gather tomorrow night to discuss their problems at a “town hall” meeting sponsored by Highbridge Community Life Center. Residents will be given the opportunity to speak to their neighbors and to the politicians who represent them with hopes of rallying support around hot-button issues like education reform and mail service.

More than 500 residents are expected to attend the meeting, which will be held on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of C.E.S. 73 on Anderson Avenue. The public is encouraged to attend.

Organizers say the town hall meeting was designed as a way for the Neighbors in Highbridge (N.I.H.) program of Highbridge Community Life Center to re-examine what was on the minds of the people it tries to serve.

“We wanted to check in with the community,” said Cathy Trapp, the head of the N.I.H. program. “But the more we developed the meeting, the more we were convinced that our elected officials could benefit from hearing what their constituents feel. By listening to their problems directly from their mouths.”

Every politician who represents southern Highbridge – in bodies from the City Council to the United States Senate – was invited. Only State Assemblywoman Aurelia Greene and City Councilmember Helen Foster said they would definitely be there. Most promised to send an aide, but a few were unwilling to go that far.

“It’s unfortunate that some of the politicians didn’t want to come themselves, but that’s okay,” Marcus Walton said. Mr. Walton is the lead organizer for N.I.H. “They only represent one aspect of the town hall meeting. Essentially, this meeting is about Highbridge residents unifying and realizing they are not the only ones with these types of problems.”

“Too often, Highbridge residents feel like they have no voice,” Mr. Walton said. “We want to give them a voice, a microphone and a captive audience.” The agenda will focus on five topics and then open up to give residents the opportunity to speak about any other issue.

Education, housing, health, youth and mail service will be discussed for 20 minutes each, after which the floor will open to discussion of any issue.

“There are so many issues Highbridge residents are passionate about, but we felt those five issues would get the most speakers,” Mr. Walton said. “But during the open mic segment, people can speak about other issues, like the police, welfare, drugs, or jobs. Or any issue we haven’t already thought of. That’s the point of this meeting.”

Several community groups already working to improve the neighborhood were invited to make brief presentations to begin the discussion of each topic.

Each speaker will be limited to 90 seconds in order to allow the maximum number of people to speak. Organizers at N.I.H. papered the neighborhood with flyers announcing the meeting and solicited the signatures of people who said they would attend the meeting. As a result, more than 500 are expected to attend. Registration, however, is not required.

The Horizon is published as part of the N.I.H. program of Highbridge Community Life Center. Its staff members have played an active role in the planning of the town hall meeting.