Axar.az presents an article “Stripes And Politics” by John Samuel Tieman.

In April, I was elected to my City Council. Friends ask what it's like. It's a combination of big-city business and small-town issues. But it's mostly about stripes and stuff.

I live in University City, Missouri, an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis. To the casual observer, we are indistinguishable from “the city”, as we call St. Louis. My ward borders “the city”. I represent about 11,500 citizens. By any standard, I am a very minor figure in local politics. But sometimes I do big city stuff. I helped break ground for what will be the largest Target store in the county. The Council approved almost thirty million dollars for improvements to our civic plaza. A new hotel is going in next to City Hall. It will be near a development with 329 apartments and 8000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. I voted in favor of all this new construction. So some big city stuff, that's some of what I think about.

I also think about time. The job takes some of my time every day, and all of my day a lot of the time. A typical day may include a dozen emails, a meeting, and helping a constituent. To prepare for a recent Council meeting, I read 900+ pages on a weekend. A hundred pages is common.

There are perks. I meet interesting people. I like and respect the other members of the Council. I like and respect the civil servants. I enjoy the status. Cops at City Hall open doors for me. I like being called “Councilman Tieman”. Since it's an election year, I get invited to interesting fundraisers and such. There's respect, even deference, that comes with the office. I don't enjoy being called “corrupt and incompetent” by a MAGA type. But the churlish is the exception.

I mostly think of the small and the intimate. Local government is the most intimate level of the republic. I went to a meeting of the Missouri Municipal League. I was surprised at how much I have in common with aldermen in villages. Sure, University City approved the building of a Costco. But a pothole is a pothole is a pothole.

What's Council like? I helped a fellow determine whether a tree belonged to him or the city. A neighbor needed a sidewalk repaired. I reported on a boulevard where the oncoming traffic was hard to see. Someone needed help with an application for a commission. I encouraged the city to repair two fountains. I have a monthly lunch with women who are small business owners. A small business opened recently. Another council member and I held the big ribbon while the proud owner cut it with those oversized scissors. It was charming. I love all the ceremonial stuff, the groundbreaking, the speech. So, yeah, that's mostly what I think about. Small stuff. Intimate stuff. Stuff like stripes.

Back in January, I chatted with Mike Turek, the pastor of Christ The King Parish. Monsignor Turek mentioned that the parking stripes on Balson Avenue, right outside his church, were barely visible. Balson is peculiar because parking is in the middle of the road. I took all this to our City Manager. The city was renegotiating the price of paint. So my request took time. City Hall wasn't resistant. Folks were helpful. There were just other things that needed to happen first. I thought it incumbent upon me to be politely persistent. I brought it up repeatedly. September and the stripes were painted. The pastor emailed, “Alleluia!”

In a democratic republic, process matters as much as outcome. Government is always a narcissistic challenge. You want something. But your request is not the only thing on your city's agenda. That's the narcissistic challenge. Government by definition is communal. The individual can feel lost in all that. So the neighbor needs to feel included. And I don't mean that the citizen is included – I mean that person also needs to feel included. When I chair a contentious meeting, I sometimes conclude the debate by asking, “Does everyone feel that they've been fairly represented?” The process matters.

I remember this meeting. I was a candidate then. The conversation went like, “You need to contact Smith. I know his neighbor’s something-in-law, and you can contact Smith that way.” I remember thinking, “I’m not running for city council. I’m running for village elder.” Kidding aside, I take that village elder thing seriously. I take seriously that web of connections.

What's it like to be on City Council? It's about laws and resolutions and outcomes, sure. But the process is mostly about the intimate, the neighbor. That's mostly what the City Council is like. Stuff like stripes and such. For a four-year term.