Whitney Downard

Recently, I flew back from a family visit up north, taking the Chicago flight to Meridian.

My seat mate, a woman living out of state with property in Meridian, discussed the news with a naval student. She said she followed The Meridian Star, and other local news outlets, online while the student (proudly) said he never picked up a paper.

I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “How do you get your news?

“It doesn’t affect me,” he answered. “I only follow national news, the important stuff.”

As someone temporarily living in Meridian, he arguably had a point — he has no obvious investment in Meridian and viewed it only as a brief stopping point in his naval career.

In my interactions with the residents of Meridian, however, I’ve noticed this same attitude among high school students, city leaders and community advocates. I am shocked when I hear that someone with a stake in this city’s future doesn’t follow their local news or can’t name their local representation.

I’d guess that nearly every person in this county could name the president of the United States and his vice president — from the oldest resident down to an elementary-aged child.

However powerful the president may be, Donald Trump ultimately doesn’t have a say in what roads get paved in Meridian and Lauderdale County or how legislators spend property tax money.

That’s up to a select group of people elected to leadership positions on the town, city and county level.

These leaders dictate many aspects of our lives.

Decades of city leaders neglected the network of sewer pipes below the city, making a tax increase likely in the near future to pay for the enormous price tag of fixing our obsolete system.

On the county side, numerous grand juries have called upon the Board of Supervisors to fix the aging Lauderdale County Courthouse, something past supervisors neglected. Again, this inaction will likely lead to a tax increase of some sort.

In both cases, citizen comments have spurred their elected leaders to take action.

A business approached the City Council of Meridian earlier this year about rezoning an area off of North Hills Street from residential to commercial. This would bring businesses in close proximity to an already established neighborhood.

Those residents fought back against the proposal, gathering nearly 100 signatures on a petition and organizing a group to attend a City Council meeting to air their displeasure directly to the council.

It worked. The business withdrew its proposal and the area remained zoned for residential use only.

In order for a democracy to properly function, each and every citizen must participate. Less than half of registered voters cast their ballot in the last city election, meaning that less than one-third of the city’s residents voted for Mayor Percy Bland. The outcomes for other local elections are even more dismal.

For Meridian to grow, city leaders cannot be the only ones invested; citizens must be invested, too, from temporary naval students to long-term residents.

Whitney Downard is the public service reporter for The Meridian Star.  Email wdownard@themeridianstar.com.