Help, dying while CH council and mayor ramble on

Fellow Citizens:

Have you ever attempted to watch a Cleveland Heights City Council meeting and found yourself hunting for your therapist's number? I have, and the rancor, disjunction, and verbosity has got to stop now.

When citizens sign up to speak before council, they are given a time limit: three minutes. That might not seem like a lot, but if one is prepared, that three minutes is ample time to make one’s positions known.

When some elected officials speak, it appears that the goal is to win by attrition: If they go on long enough, citizens will either give up or die.

I propose the same three-minute time period be instituted for council members and the mayor for their remarks. With preparation, these individuals, too, can explain their thoughts under the same time constraints as citizens. It is more than frustrating to have to sit through the ramblings—and I do mean ramblings—of unprepared elected officials.

Some city council members and the mayor appear to be unable to control their verbosity. I believe time constraints will help them clarify their thoughts and allow the rest of us to endure being involved citizens.