Community Conversations

In the upcoming weeks I will host several Community Conversations.  These are intended to be opportunities for community members to come together to voice their thoughts on a variety of subjects.  The goal of the meetings will be simple, to listen and learn.  That is it; listen to what our neighbors have to say and try to understand their perspective.  We may agree, we may not, but if we do this right, we will leave with a better understanding of a variety of views on a variety of topics.  And maybe we will find some common ground.  At some point, in the hopefully not to distant future, maybe we will come to a point where enough of us agree on a strategy to help move us forward, but for now, let's work on understanding the issues.

At this time I have four sessions scheduled.  Two will be at the Lincoln Public Library and two at the Waltham Public Library.  If there is interest I will schedule more conversations in the future.

Wednesday August 20, 2014, 7 – 8:30 PM at the Lincoln Public Library

            What can we as individuals do about the environment that will really make a difference?

Tuesday August 26, 2014, 7 – 8:30 PM at the Waltham Public Library

            How can we both remove the stigma and address the unmet mental health needs of so many among us?

Wednesday September 10, 2014, 7 – 8:30 PM at the Waltham Public Library

            How can we improve services for our aging population?

Saturday September 13, 2014, 100 – 11;30 AM at the Lincoln Public Library

            How can we revitalize the economy and put more people with a variety of abilities to work?

In order to figure out what topics to begin with, I conducted a small survey of my acquaintances to see what would be of the most interest to people.  Overall, the top vote getters were:

1) Addressing mental health issues (23/34)

2) The environment (22/34) 

3) The economy (20/34). 

When I broke the numbers down by Lincoln and Waltham the results change a little.  
 Lincoln’s preferences are:

1) The environment (11/15)

2) Mental health (10/15)

3) The economy (9/15)

Waltham folks preferred:

1) Tie between mental health and issues related to aging (9/11)

2) Tie between MCAS and immigration (8/11).

Armed with the results of my survey, I  scheduled the Community Conversations listed above.

  

Personally, I would like to talk about all of the topics and, happily, there are at least some people that find each one interesting as well.  Immigration and MCAS would both be great topics to discuss next, as would Veterans benefits and Massport and Hanscom.  And, one person would like to discuss “Basic survival....for me....How can we make Lincoln affordable so we don't have to move out at some point.”  My guess is this applies to people in Waltham and many other communities as well.  I would love to fold that into a conversation, what can we as citizens/individuals do to make aging in our own homes tenable?  It is abhorrent that we should live our lives, raise our families in a community and be forced to move out due to financial constraints. 

I hope people will be willing to come to one or more of these conversations.  No need to be an expert or have a ‘solution’; either an interest in the subject or an interest in getting to know others in our community will be plenty.