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Monday, March 24, 2008
Political Activism for Pre-Schoolers
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
The other day, when out exploring the neighborhood with my pre-school aged son (who was riding his bike), we discovered a kind of busy road with no sidewalks. Naturally, this is the road down which he wanted to travel, and he was frustrated that the lack of a sidewalk prevented his endeavor. “Daddy,” he said, “can you put sidewalks here?” I thought for a moment, and responded, “No, I’m not in charge of sidewalks. But you can go to City Hall and ask them!”
So that’s how my son got in his mind to prepare himself for his first trip to City Hall, which we planned for Monday afternoon.
Sunday night, he was busy with the crayons, drawing two versions of the road in question—a “scary” version (the road with no sidewalk), and a “nice” version (the road with a sidewalk). The pictures are a bit abstract, to say the least, but he was able to use them to explain his point about why it would be good for this road to have sidewalks.
As we entered City Hall, we ran into Councilmember Bortz waiting for the elevator. He listened patiently to my son explain the dilemma, and then suggested we head to the 4th floor to talk to the Transportation Department.
My son walked up to the front desk at the first office we found on the 4th floor, and rang the bell. When someone came to help us, he showed his pictures and shared his thoughts about the importance of a sidewalk. We were then redirected to room 425, where we were told they had an office specifically about sidewalks.
So we headed into the hallway, my son intrepidly looking for the numbers 4-2-5 on an office door.
The gentlemen in 425 were incredibly helpful and kind. They pulled up the street on their satellite images, and my son pointed out exactly where the sidewalk is missing.
They told him that decisions about things like sidewalks are made by community councils, and that he would need to go speak to our community council as a first step.
As we left City Hall, armed with our new information, my son told me that if they had a microphone at the community council meeting, he wanted to go up by himself to talk about sidewalks.
It will be interesting to see what happens next month when he makes his presentation!
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25 Mar 2008 at 08:09 am | #
Delightful item! I recommend uploading on DKos and elsewhere.
25 Mar 2008 at 05:01 pm | #
Cool. He sounds like a great little guy. I hope he understands that the wheels turn slowly and sometimes not at all. Prepare him carefully for that possibility so he’s not disillusioned after all his effort.
27 Mar 2008 at 05:52 pm | #
Good for him! That is great. I hope you also explained that the gentlemen in room 425 weren’t giving him the run-around, too, and that it’s good that sidewalks are decided by community councils.