tl;dr I attened last night's Apex Town Hall meeting and the topic of the parking shortage at Apex Friendship High School was brought up. I wanted to share my thoughts with you on the situation and the way the Town Council has handled things so far.
Hi Apex. Just wanted to bring up another issue that came up last night at the Town Council meeting. This is Friendship High. We're probably mostly familiar with it. Well, the council was asked last night, "How many of your children go to Friendship High?" It looked like none did. Well, my daughter went there, and she and her friends utilized this space. They had before-and-after-school activities. I understand what it's like to have to get your kids to and from someplace and have them be safe. I don't know if I necessarily want my kid getting a ticket or parking down the street this way and walking against traffic. There's a lot of obstacles.
Here's the thing I really want to express, and I want to be careful, because I'm not trying to make a accusation, I'm making more of an observation. I got the sense there's either a breakdown in communication and/or a lack of trust in how we resolve issues. My approach has always been to exhaust all options before I say, "This is it." Look for the most creative solutions, because sometimes my needs may not be as strong as the other person's needs, so I can probably find a way to meet them where they're at.
I didn't get that sense last night, and that concerns me. And if I'm being honest, it should concern other people in the town. If we're willing to not work on an issue that's been ongoing for eight years, what other issues are we not willing to work on? I don't believe in that strategy, because I don't think it's a strategy. A strategy involves looking at solutions for the problems. Putting aside our bias to work with each other to get the right solution or a solution that people can agree on. I must be honest again, I didn't see that last night.
The other thing I kind of want to touch on, and this is a personal thing, I don't feel that the resident was treated fairly or talked to respectfully. That's a concern, and maybe I'm missing something in the whole backdrop of the conversations. But if I'm just catching up to speed, that would be the impression that was left. I hope that Apex is better than that. I know we are, and I know we're stronger than that. I want to help keep that same spirit of teamwork. And that Apex is strong.