It was a privilege to be able to hear a discussion forum with Council member Brown. Her discussion about political action on a small community scale was very interesting. When she mentioned that any community can guarantee have a meeting with a council member remind me of an assignment I had to do for U.S History back in high school. All students in U.S History class had to go to a town hall meeting to see how the democratic process work on a smaller scale. During town hall meeting, the towns by law mandated that a time need to be designated as “citizens speak” time for concerned citizens to speak in front of committee member an issue related to the committee. I am glad that the similar idea to be found beyond Massachusetts.
My biggest takeaway from Council member was the importance of public transportation to the development of a community. I already knew that Columbus is one of the U.S major cities to not have a public rapid transit, however, I did not fully realize how big of an economic opportunity could the public transits bring to the communities it passes through. Now to come to think of it, Taipei Metro is one of the perfect example of positive impact a public rapid transit could bring to the communities. One of the many benefits is increase economic growth in Taipei’s outskirt town due to rise of tourist. The Metro also mitigated Taipei congestion issue and offers a more environmentally friendly transportation option. In the future year, I will be supportive of Columbus building its own rapid transits. Furthermore, I am also happy to see more high speed railway build in the U.S. just like how the Chinese accomplished last decade.