The speaker drones on for a few minutes, telling us in governmentalese with lots of acronyms and bureaucratic double speak, straining the minds of his audience as well as their tolerance for a packed, hot, stuffy room and the desire to drift off into a refreshing nap.

Then she says she does not want to hear what we have to say. Oh, no, you listen to us, but we don't want to listen to you, the city (state, county, whatever) person seems to say.

"Please go to the white boards where you will find maps and Post-It notes, where you can write your questions or concerns and stick them to the part of the presentation that you want to know more about or do not like."

Ahhh, eh?

The other version of that is similar to what the Seattle School Board is famous for. They listen to everbody prattle on, smile and thank the speaker. No one ever says anything, no one answers the questions, either at the meeting or a week later by mail or e-mail. No wonder the audience gets a bit testy and one man actually said to a reporter once that he would ask the same question until either the board answered him or he died of old age.

What is it about government, especially in liberal Seattle that feels it must have meeting until the proverbal hell freezes but makes it clear to all but the brain dead that they really don't care what the public says, just that we have the meeting and pretend we care.

Being told we cannot use our own words to tell the mayor or city council staffer what we think is sort of a put-down. If they don't want to listen to us, why don't they just put together a news release telling people to respond via e-mail and forget hiring the hall.

At a recent community meeting, the older lady muttered she forgot her reading glasses and could not see to write, then said the thing that struck home: "They really don't care what we think."

In this information age, where information gushes forth on line, on paper, verbally on everthing from radios (remember that media?) to iPods and MP-3 players, you would think just plain people could respond.

When is the last time you got a response from a government official to an e-mail comment? When did you make a call to a public official and actually talk to a human being (to leave a message, push 6, to leave a call-back number, push 8)?

But the the worst of all is telling people to not talk, but to get that tiny Post-It note and write your complex concerns on it and paste it to the right spot on that huge display board. We have this dream where Big Ed, the important guy says to his gofer, "Just rip off all those stupid notes and clear the board for tomorrow night's meeting."

Modern progress, ain't it grand?

-Jack Mayne