Circular-file that Newsletter
As do many government bodies in the USA, they are great at promoting local events. All other information, though. Not so much. Again, just like most government bodies, one big problem that the City of Davenport, Florida, has is its inability to communicate with voters, to “engage them,” to give them the information about our locality that locals crave, such as important issues being taken on or discussed by our commissioners. Davenport leaves you no choice but to attend commissioners meetings in person to find out what the heck they’re up to. But who really has the time for that these days? Apparently only a tiny few.
Sometime back, when I was working as chair of Davenport’s Parks & Recreation Committee, a resident suggested a printed newsletter to go out quarterly with our utility bills. Although reticent and even put-off by the concept, our city manager nevertheless offered to give it a try.
So far, our voters don’t seem to know anything more now than before the newsletter started. There’s a good reason for that too. If memory serves me, the city newsletter has never reported anything on what the heck our commissioners have ever talked about during any of their public meetings. So why would any of our residents know anything more now than before the newsletter? That needs to improve.
Right now, the newsletter primarily reports on events that take place in the city, areas already covered by its website, http://www.MyDavenport.org, and its various social media presences. Here’s a suggestion for any commish or city staff reading this article: Use the tools already at your disposal to report on these meetings. Here’s an example.
When I saw the city’s Facebook post (shown at left), I was impressed, and that’s what I wrote to the city too. I told them, “The City of Davenport should tell us more, and all the time, about what our commissioners are doing, maybe replace the newsletter (I can’t even remember when that last came out.) and increase your reporting [on social media] on their whereabouts and, especially, the twice-monthly board meetings they have. I bet the voters in Davenport and your social media subscribers would love that.”
Crickets.
They were completely unresponsive, which is what government bodies tend to do when they’re not even going to consider a constituent’s idea: good, bad, or indifferent. Wouldn’t you, a Davenport resident, want to know what our commissioners are saying to each other two times each month? Wouldn’t that be better than a quarterly newsletter anyway, especially since neither local paper, the Four Corners Sun and The Ledger, report on what’s going on in Davenport politics, infrastructure, population, economic development, and such, and rarely, if ever, on what happens during our commissioners’ meetings.
I wrote about this problem in 2023 and even personally went to our commissioners during one of their meetings and told them that they “had to do better, not just during election time but all the time,” as we didn’t vote for them to stay quiet from the public until their next election. Their response?
Crickets.
Voter Apathy: Come on, Commish!
In this city, you really only see and hear about our commissioners’ actions when they advertise to get elected onto our Board of Commissioners. The way I look at it, now is the time for our Board of Commissioners, who also happen to be our politicians and our representatives, to start blaming themselves for the voter apathy in our city. Now is the time for local voters to blame them too.
Don’t believe there’s extreme voter apathy in Davenport? Then, take a look at what happened earlier this year.
We Had an Election
Did you know that in this year’s election, less than 8% of 8,962 registered voters in our city actually came out and voted? It was worse, a full percentage point worse, than the 9% who came out last year. Over this same period, we had 1,224 new registered voters in our city but only two more new votes in this election cycle. Two! That is pretty fucked up.
Whose responsibility is it to change this apathy, this lack of engagement of the people who should be caring most for what our locally elected politicians are saying and doing? It is our Board of Commissioners. Those five — over decades — are the ones responsible for the apathy. It’s time they fix it.
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About the election.
You’re absolutely right to be concerned about low turnout — less than 8% is a crisis for democracy at the local level. But pinning the blame solely on the five elected commissioners misses the bigger picture.
Elected officials do have a responsibility to build trust, communicate clearly, and make residents feel that their voices matter. When leaders are distant, dismissive, or opaque, people disengage. But that’s only one piece.
Political parties, civic groups, and grassroots organizers also carry major responsibility. It’s their job to educate, energize, and mobilize voters — not just during campaigns, but year-round. Parties recruit candidates, register voters, and run get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts.
The public itself isn’t off the hook either. Democracy isn’t a spectator sport. If we don’t participate, we get the government we let happen.
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