Tallahassee Town Hall

This is what Democracy in America looks like

Our Town

Tallahassee Town Hall 2018

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose. Let’s do democracy in America. Booyah.
Date and TimeThursday, March 15, 2018 @ 12:00 am

There’s nothing more quintessentially American than a town hall meeting. Within its ethos is the important founding principle that political foes must grudgingly become partners as they engage conflicting ideas in order to govern. It’s the old-fashioned spirit of rolling up our sleeves and just getting it done. And this year features new commissioners you’ll want to get to know. The program will also be streamed live via Facebook Live and will be broadcast later in the week on WFSU-TV and WFSU-FM 88.9 radio.

Our annual town hall pairs commissioners from the City of Tallahassee and Leon County to have a constructive (and neighborly) cross-governmental discussion about where we are, where we’re going and what the challenges out there on the horizon might be. You know, democracy. Booyah. (Look – Washington – at how it’s done.) Our town hall is facilitated by Tallahassee Democrat Publisher Skip Foster – and powered by Leadership Tallahassee. (Read us blathering on about Tocqueville and America and just what an important thing you’re doing by moseying on down to the town hall when really it just seemed like something small.)

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In a time when too many town hall meetings make the news with fistfights (egged on by professional polarizers who make big money – or win elections – if we can’t stand each other) we think it’s past time to breathe a little new life in the old-fashioned town hall. Lost in all the time we focus on the highly divisive national slugfest are the issues that affect us locally, personally, everyday. Besides, if we’re not showing up to help make the decisions important in our hometown, who will?

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Panelist

John Dailey

City of Tallahassee Mayor
Panelist

Bryan Desloge, County Commissioner

Leon County, Florida Commissioner
Panelist

Commissioner Elaine Bryant

City of Tallahassee Commissioner

Kristin Dozier

Leon County, Florida Commissioner
Panelist

Curtis Richardson

City of Tallahassee Commissioner
Panelist

Jimbo Jackson

Leon County, Florida Commissioner

Mary Ann Lindley

Leon County, Florida
Panelist

Jeremy Matlow

City of Tallahassee Commissioner
Panelist

Rick Minor

Leon County Commissioner
Panelist

Dianne Williams-Cox

City of Tallahassee Commissioner
Facilitator

Skip Foster

Hammerhead Communications Founder

It was probably our founders’ biggest idea – and assuredly their boldest – that a diverse people could self-govern.

Even before electricity, muddling through local governance issues wasn’t likely our first choice on how to spend an evening. Our first and strongest associations in America were with the people who shared a common geography and, amid many threats, likely a common fate: our neighbors. The town hall meeting was born early in our republic, and in one form or the other they’ve been happening ever since.