Meeting Times

One wouldn't necessarily think that committee meeting times could be political, but perhaps they can. Yesterday afternoon I attended a Housing Committee meeting (notes to follow.) The meeting was scheduled to start at 5:00 pm. This is, of course, the traditional time the work day ends for most white-collar workers in this country. That makes a 5:00 start time somewhat problematic for most of us who have jobs. (I work 7:30-4:30 so it's not as much of an issue for me.)

So, of the people who would attend these meetings, who could actually get to one by 5:00 pm? I can come up with a couple of answers:

• People who don't have jobs
• People whose job it is to attend the meetings
• The self-employed
  

The first group would include both retired people and the unemployed. The second group essentially consists of people who don't live in Weinland Park, but work for government or non-profit agencies with an interest in the neighborhood. The term used for this group is 'stakeholders', as in, they have a stake in the community, yet aren't a part of it.

So, in essence, a 5:00 pm meeting time is almost designed to prevent the people who should be attending the meetings to be able to do so. Interesting.