Program allows Byron Brown to perform Trump impersonation
DAN MEYER Political Columnist
It's something that hasn't gotten very much attention despite the fact that it's a program that allows residents to actually feel more connected to their local government.

Just think of Donald Trump and the reality television show "The Apprentice." Now replace the man who proudly sports a goofy hairstyle and the highly rated TV program with City of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and his Citizens' Participation Academy, and you've got an eight-session class that provides a crash course on the inner workings of how the city operates.

By offering the program, Brown is once again providing an opportunity for residents to play an integral role in making things happen in the city. It's something that should be the template for other local governments to learn from and develop their own way to reach out to taxpayers and inform and enlighten them about the community in which they live. Every city, town and village from Grand Island to Gowanda and all points in between should develop a similar way to at least make it look like they want to interact, educate and properly inform their constituents.

The mayor's Citizens' Participation Academy calls for interested individuals to apply for a program that will run during a three-month period of time and offer regular working stiffs from across the city direct insight into the workings of government. The information is supposed to allow residents to become more involved with the inner workings of the city and provide participants with a forum to later serve as a network in their community.

Those familiar feelings of hopelessness, powerlessness, and complete and utter restlessness that many city residents feel when it comes to how local government officials handle their day-to-day business may be able to be properly addressed by participants of the program.

Instead of going on rumors and hearsay about how things get done inside City Hall, the residents who attend the eight sessions will be taught using hands-on learning lessons about the structure and operations of city government.

Direct interaction with department heads, including city commissioners and program directors, allows for a true education on how the city's fire and police departments approach public safety and a better understanding of how the city's school district aims to provide the best possible education for our children.

The continuation of this initiative, which began with an inaugural session last fall, is being done with the hope of strengthening the city. Think of it as sort of a way to "rally the troops" by educating and motivating a small group of residents

to become more actively involved in their local government, who then, hopefully, provide information they obtained through the interactive forum and teach their family, friends and neighbors what they learned firsthand about the structure and management policies and procedures of the city.

Think of the program as a real "insider's" view where participants meet with both elected and appointed city officials in very informal settings and get fed all sorts of interesting and informative facts and figures through group discussions, one-on-one conversations and "mini field trips" to the public works department's garage, the mayor's strategic planning office, firehouses and even rides in police patrol vehicles.

All in all, the academy may be viewed by some as just something Brown and his supporters crafted up as a way to appear to care about what their constituents think, not actually paying attention to the feedback but instead inserting the data under the "we pretended to actually care what the people had to say" file.

But the feedback previous class participants recently shared to one local Web site about their experiences as "apprentices" in the academy speaks volumes about the program. Phrases like "thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile" and "great opportunity" and "City Hall is reaching out with both hands to help" speak volumes about a program that truly lets residents connect with government.

(Daniel Meyer is a columnist for the Weekly Independent Newspapers of Western New York. To provide feedback on this column, visit www.wnynewspapers.com. Comments can also be sent directly to Meyer by sending an e-mail to: meyersmusings@gmail.com. Opinions expressed here are those of the author.)