URBAN Governance Series – Democracy in Action

Urban Governance Series Part 4: Observing a Civic Meeting

All URBAN Trainees should observe – live or archived, in-person or remotely – one civic meeting (e.g., city council hearing, state-level legislative hearing, community meeting, etc.) during the spring semester.

Observing a civic meeting will help you learn more about your area of interest and become familiar with the mechanics of urban governance by observing politics in real life. You may wish to attend a meeting that elevates an issue you care about – although you may also use this to learn about a subject about which you know very little. Both can be useful!

When planning which civic meeting would be helpful, consider the following questions:

• What type of urban environmental challenge do you hope to learn more about and in what context?
• What type of governance structure might be most relevant to the challenge you’re interested in?
• Who is advancing the conversation or the policies related to your work?

We recommend attending a meeting for our local region (i.e., Greater Boston if municipal, Massachusetts if state-level), though you are welcome to attend any civic meeting with relevance to your study system.

Detailed Instructions about Observing a Civic Meeting

1. Determine which upcoming civic meeting or hearing you will attend.
   • Boston Schedule – Boston City Council meetings are Wednesdays at noon. Hearings will be posted as they are scheduled.
   • Cambridge Schedule – Cambridge City Council meetings are Monday evenings at 5:30 PM. Committee hearing day/times vary and will be posted at the same link.
   • You can also check out the Somerville City Council Schedule or the Brookline Select Board Schedule.
   • In general, hearings will be more in-depth and potentially rowdier than full council meetings, but we’re too early in the year for all the schedules to be posted. Also consider whether you’d like events with public comment or not.
   • If you’re interested in state-level hearings for Massachusetts, click here.
   • Again, you are welcome to attend any type of civic meeting that interests you.
2. Before you go, read up!
   • For any meeting, learn about the individuals involved in the governing body in advance. For city council meetings, learn here: Boston or Cambridge. If of interest, you can also:
     • Learn more about how the Boston City Council enacts laws
   • Read the agenda!
     • For Boston, Click on the City Council meeting link for that day. Agenda will be posted a couple days in advance. For Cambridge, agendas are posted on their open meeting portal.
3. Attend: Observe how the meeting was conducted – you may wish to jot down some observations or questions. Here are some things to consider:

Issues: What are the issues before the City Council?

• For those of you from outside Boston, would these same issues come up at a City/Town Council/Selectboard meeting in your community?

Stakeholders: Who are the identifiable actors and what interests are they representing?

• Who does the governing body seem to represent?
• Who do the attendees/speakers seem to represent?
• What interests are not being represented?
• Who seems to be influential? Why do you think that?

Goals: What are the various parties trying to accomplish?

• What sorts of points are being raised? Who is making them and why?
• What actions are needed? Are the decision-makers: putting forward on a resolution, requesting a hearing, voting on an ordinance, putting forward a home rule petition, etc?

Post-Civic Meeting Reflection Assignment:

After you attend your civic meeting, complete the reflection prompts below to help you prepare for your stakeholder meeting.