Today was an exciting first day working at local government! My schedule was very busy today. I first walked into the incredibly sophisticated town of Cary building excited to learn. Before I began my planned meetings, Ms. Hygh gave me the tour of the town of Cary building. Apparently, the building used to be three separate buildings that are now connected to each other by glass, brick and big pillars.
My first activity started off with an general introduction to local government. I learned the different standards and rules that must be followed by our local government. Additionally, I also learned the many different functions of local government and its differences with state and federal government. I also got a brief explanation of the Cary 2040 future projection plan.
Then, I sat in on a infrastructure issues presentation and Q & A. It was also incredibly informative. I learned about how effective Cary is at beautifying its own city. It was particularly illuminating because there was a interesting discussion regarding weighing risk and consequence. Because of my experience in speech and debate, this was especially interesting as we often use corresponding risk and weighing calculus when debating a policy resolution.
After that I spent some time at the town of Cary traffic management office. To be frank, I was expecting a basic overview that wouldn’t really resonate with me. But, I got a extremely passionate presentation that actually really made me interested in traffic management. I learned about procedure during crashes, construction or general traffic and I learned that there are different traffic patterns to different times of the day. For an example, I was shown the different Cary Academy traffic patterns, including the infamous 7:50 intersection deadlock.
Next, I sat in a ordinance meeting where I did not understand much of what was happening. Despite this, the meeting ended up being still fun to attend as the meeting had some jokes and funny banter.
Lastly, I went to the utilities north plant to attend a presentation on how Cary’s water cycle worked and how sewage gets turned into safe water. The presentation was extremely detailed and thorough with a great water cycle packet and some simplified explanation of difficult concepts. Additionally, I was thankful that I actually got to walk through and see myself how the process worked. Despite the smell, it was a informative and interesting aspect of local government that has incredibly relevant ramifications to the lives of all citizens in Cary.
