There's still is a status-quo group at City Hall who likes things done the old way, behind closed doors.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Others like City Hall the old way, when they could make deals behind closed doors with your tax money.
What has been happening the last four years in City Hall is that they have been closing recreation centers, closing libraries. We have not looked after our children in City Hall.
Groupthink can become a serious issue - old ideas stay around after they're useful, and new ideas too often don't get a fair hearing.
In many ways, our campaign this year will be the same as last time: We're still going to focus on fixing up basics and cleaning up ethics at City Hall.
So, for me the town hall meetings are really an opportunity to engage in two-way dialogue with people, and they've been very helpful.
Special interests and opponents have figured out how easy it is to disrupt town halls and get their own message out. The days of the truly free-form town halls may be over.
And we did it because it's time for City Hall to stop looking out for City Hall and start looking out for the people like you and me who are footing the bill.
When I grew up, and I think about City Council, I look at the men and women then - these were people who just wanted to be a part of the community and give something back. They weren't necessarily trying to use it as a steppingstone to something else. I looked up to those people.
People today are still living off the table scraps of the sixties. They are still being passed around - the music and the ideas.
Anytime you get to join a group of people you admire and respect, you want to keep those doors open.