Communication Without Representation - Editorial
A meeting was held this week regarding the Cape Cod Canal bridges project. It was hosted by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation at Massachusetts Maritime Academy on Tuesday afternoon and attended by stakeholders from local, state and federal representatives and agency officials.
If you did not know about the meeting, you are not alone—according to MassDOT, that was intentional.
The department said the meeting was intended for “official stakeholders,” so it was not publicly advertised ahead of time. The program manager made note of the fact that the advisory group is not a decision-making body and is not subject to Open Meeting Law. Any information discussed, he said, would be presented to the public at a later date.
Despite not being advertised, members of both the public and media were permitted to attend the meeting in person. This was rightfully questioned by two attendees, both of whom were members of the public. They, like us, were wondering how an advisory board could advise on a project with such massive impact without representation from those being most soundly impacted?
It was also pointed out that the advisory group does not include representation of disabled people. Lack of general public engagement aside, this is cause for concern. Multimodal accommodations for cyclists and pedestrians have and will continue to factor heavily into the project, and accessibility for disabled persons is a crucial part of that. Consideration and representation on that front are sorely needed.
The project is still in its infancy stages, but that might turn out to be the most important stage of all. Communication and representation are key, and we hope to see more of both moving forward.