During the first week of May, our state of Missouri celebrates Local Government Week. This is important to our citizens for two reasons: first, municipal governments impact our constituents far more frequently and more positively than either state or federal governments, and, secondly, our citizens can have far more influence at the local level than they ever will at the state or federal level.
Did you drive to work today? Chances are good that you drove on a city street. Did you flush the toilet this morning? It is likely your municipal government that “makes that stuff go away.”
Buy a cup of coffee on your way? You paid a few cents in sales tax, but that tax is what helps provide public safety services such as fire and police protection, street repairs, crosswalk markers, lights, and signs as well as many other services that we take for granted.
Citizens also have more influence over local government. Our municipal governments are closest to our constituents.
They see us eating in local restaurants; they see us shopping in local department stores; they see us at high school football and basketball games; in short, they see us out in the community, their community, our community, and they talk to us. They tell us their dreams, they tell us their problems and frustrations. Sometimes we – along with our city councils or boards of aldermen – can do something to fix that problem or alleviate that frustration. Even more exciting, we may be able to help achieve that dream.
In the book “If Mayors Ruled The World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities,” author Benjamin Barber notes that with all the issues confronting our world – such as climate change, terrorism, poverty, and trafficking of drugs and guns – most nations seem incapable of solving the problems. He shows that there are certain qualities that cities around the world – and I might add, around our state – share with each other: “civic trust, participation, pragmatism, indifference to borders and sovereignty, and a democratic penchant for networking, creativity, innovation, and cooperation.”
In this time of transitioning for both our federal and state governments and, in a time of political gridlock, it may be left to us to take on these larger issues and to solve them one city, one town, at a time.
It is up to us to step forward and take on these challenges.
Bob Stephens is the former mayor of Springfield and a member of the Missouri Municipal League Board of Directors.
