Dialogue is a better solution

We generally don’t like the idea of assembly members setting aside months of hard work done by community members.

We don’t usually like to see long-debated and hard-fought management plans die at the assembly table after those plans have spent months or years making their way through community councils and the borough’s advisory board process.

But that’s what happened last week when Mat-Su Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss shot down changes to the Crystal Lake Management Plan. The proposed changes were in response to a lake that had been quiet all of a sudden becoming a destination for personal use watercraft and weekend visitors.

But while we still have misgivings about DeVilbiss’ latest veto because it seemed to undo a lot of work, we think that on balance he did the right thing and for the right reasons. The mayor said he didn’t think that government needed to step in. Just the threat that it might seemingly has had an effect. People are being more considerate now and they are talking to each other.

“The process opened up dialogue and got neighbors being neighbors and I think that’s a much better solution than just beating up on neighbors with the law,” DeVilbiss said during the Aug. 26 assembly meeting.

He went on to add that, in his view, a lot of calls to the borough’s Animal Care and Regulation division related to the same sort of conflict.

“In my opinion, a lot of animal control calls are not animal problems, they are neighbor problems when you get down to it,” he said.

Before she retired, Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler once remarked to us that the court system tries to be conscious of this reality. She said while the system tries to make the lawsuit process user-friendly, it remains conscious of the need to not encourage people to seek judicial remedies to problems that are better solved by communicating person to person.

Maybe some folks would argue that in the age of the Internet, we are more disconnected now than we have ever been. They would opine about homes turning into cocoons in which we all plug into the web and shut out each other and the real world.

We don’t believe that is the case. We think the Internet has done more to break down old barriers between people and open new lines of communication that it has to erect new barriers to communication and understanding.

To us, the problem here isn’t technology, it’s with our personal communication skills.

So please, neighbors, before you dial the number to animal control, or your borough assembly representative, try knocking on your neighbor’s door. Before complaining about him on Facebook or starting a drive to change the rules in your community, try some old-fashioned, face-to-face communication. It might go a long way toward finding a solution.

We are certain this approach will result in fewer hurt feelings and reduce animosity. And, who knows? You might just make a new friend.