Housing Meeting with Megan

This week was the start of my last week at the office and to be honest I am really sad that I am going to be leaving. I've have had my "ups" and "downs" with my feelings about democracy and government but the people inside this office and the work that they do and how connected they are to the district is really amazing. So, as I walked in for the second to last time I was taken aback and happy to go to a housing meeting with Megan. I was the only intern in that day and so we left the office to one other staff member and we left to Pleasant Hill.

When we got to city hall, we walked into the building, found the room, signed in, and sat down. As a district representative when we go to community meetings our job is not to contribute to the conversation in a monetary form, or in a presentation form, but to listen to the community and its concerns. It's like being the eyes and ears of the Congressman so we can hone in on what constituents need and translate that to the government. In this housing meeting, we were shown the trends in increasing bay area housing, heard stats from city officials and non-profits, talked about rent and affordable housing, and possible legislation on the matter. They talked about Prop 10--a prop on the Californian Ballot--and how important it was for it to pass. Finally, they opened up the floor for questions and then we left to go back to the office. After that, it did my daily tasks, put in some cases, and then left for the day.