BHC Kern's partner
Adeyinka Glover from
the
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability had an opinion editorial published in the Bakersfield Californian on March 24, 2020. Read this important article and consider not only how you can civically enagage during this time, but also why it is so important that you do.
Elected officials and staff should be forever amenable to adapting processes as necessary to face whatever challenge that comes our way so that we, together with our elected officials, can make crucial decisions.
In January, my organization, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, submitted a Brown Act violation letter to the city of Bakersfield detailing how the city needed to improve public participation. In February, the city responded to our letter by committing to update the public statement portion of the municipal code to reflect that the public can make comments following presentations by staff during workshops and public hearings. In addition, when the city updates its website, it will include a direct, prominent link to the agendas in compliance with the Brown Act.
This is great news. Our democracy works best and is most effective when more people participate. Be it through voting, volunteering for a school board or attending and commenting at a city council hearing, participation is invaluable, whatever form it takes.