I’ve missed a couple of meetings of late. I went to Hong Kong to be accepted into the Kumite – a highly secret and extremely violent martial-arts competition.  While trying to gain access into the underground world of clandestine fighters, I also had to avoid military officers who considered me to be AWOL…

Wait, isn’t that just the plot to Bloodsport? Yes, I must be confusing my life with the 1988 film Bloodsport. Again.

Far more likely: I’ve been going to 7 and under baseball games that conflicted with Council Meetings.

Tomato/Tomato.

As there is no meeting this week, and as we are now half way through the year, it’s a swell time to see where we stand on the motion front. (I’d also recommend checking out Dick Howe, Jr’s take from this past Sunday on his Substack newsletter – always a worthy read)

Vs.

Time for the usual disclaimer – quantity doesn’t equal quality – exercise your own judgment. There’s also a more fundamental question – does counting motions matter? I don’t know – probably not. To me it’s just data that I find interesting. Perhaps posting it increases engagement? Who doesn’t like a graph?

If you’re reading this blog and skimming graphs, it’s a start. If you’ve come this far, maybe you’re willing to come a little further?

Read the Council Agenda Packets on Friday afternoons and tune in on Tuesday nights. Ask your councilor why they filed X motion or why they are not filing anything on the topic of Y. Review the responses to see how the city is reacting. Find patterns, connect dots, see who’s for real and who is a lightweight.

This is fun, I swear.