The evening of 2024-12-16 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.
The first half of the meeting had a crowd of local residents offering their opinions on the recent Christmas Parade. Long story short, they didn’t like one of the floats (but everything else was great).
While no one explicitly said it, I am operating under the assumption the float in question was the vehicle decorated in a pro-Trump manner. I would really like to have pictures of it, because I don’t recall it being that bad. Admittedly, I didn’t have the best view of it during the parade. But what I recall was it being more silly nonsense then anything else. Rick (Mayor) said something vaguely similar.
Rick read off a statement at the start of the meeting, which I would summarize as: It’s a shame people took offense, and steps are being taken to prevent a repeat. He, of course, used many more words and said it more eloquently then I.
While the Agenda did formally say ‘Comments’, it evolved into a discussion between the public and Board. Which I think was great. The Board is there to serve the public, and the public had a topic they wanted to talk about. Yes, the public in the room wanted particular action taken. And the Board wasn’t willing to commit to that action at this moment. Which, to be fair, makes sense as there are potential legal issues. And the Board did commit to looking into this further. Realistically, that is probably the best outcome for tonight. In a situation like this, jumping into any action without taking time to consider is almost certain to not go as desired.
Some of the commenters said things I found very interesting.
A number of the proposed solutions would lead to increased bureaucracy to manage future parades. Which had me wondering, are we running the risk of regulating the parade out of existence? On the other hand, the comment was made the parade has grown too big. So perhaps restricting it would make it more manageable, and thus more enjoyable, in the long term?
One spoke about being fearful, and that others in the community were as well. That they don’t speak out for fear of violence against them. Concerning, because we should not fear that sharing our opinions will lead to our neighbors inflicting violence upon us.
Overall, from the comments made, my sense was that they want to prevent offensive speech. Which I found ironic, as I found a number of the comments themselves offensive. By the logic used, I should have spoken up against the comments. But I did not, because the various viewpoints were informative, generally offering points of view I had not considered. And when they didn’t? Listening to the occasional bit of nonsense is part of the price we pay for living in a (mostly) free society.
Or put differently, I want you to offend me in a way that is thought provoking and informative. I do not want you to offend me in a way that is crude and pointless. But putting up with the one is the only way to get the other.
As for the more normal meeting items… In comparison, nothing stood out to me. Not all of them were standard Agenda items, but also nothing that would generate a crowd. Probably why all but one of the crowd left as soon as the public comment Agenda item ended. I’ll give credit to the one who stayed. These meetings are usually a bit on the dull and boring side, thankfully. But they are one of the ways we can be informed about what is going on locally. While also keeping an eye on our public servants.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the December 16, 2024 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.