By Donna Westfall – For 40 years, Bob Berkowitz has been meeting folks from 6 to 7  in the morning. This mornings group met at Fisherman’s Restaurant and consisted of 5 men and 1 woman. The topics discussed ranged from term limits to public education to the weather, to cleaning up drift wood and garbage thrown on paths during the storm by the “S” curve to assignments on the different committees by the Board of Supervisors to how to get a taxpayers association board member on the oversight committee for school bonds, to more positive stories in our news media instead of all the crime being point out, and more.

On Saturday, January 21st, two women joined Berkowitz to discuss the sewer plant and he pointed out that even though the majority of sewer ratepayers live in the county, it is a CITY issue and not in his purview.

While you can attend a Board of Supervisors meeting twice a month and speak for three minutes on a topic, the forum Berkowitz has created gives you the opportunity to jaw about anything under the sun.  It doesn’t stop at three minutes.  It can go on each morning, six days a week for an hour because Berkowitz is there from Monday through Saturday.

When people give their elected officials input, we have a better chance at an educated populace.  As former President Ronald Reagan said, “If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.”

Berkowitz’s philosophy equals, YOU TALK, I’LL LISTEN.

Sure there are additional ways to communicate with your elected officials like phoning them, emailing or texting. But if you want effective, you can sit across the table, face-to-face, and present whatever is on your mind.  In addition, you can order breakfast or just a cup of coffee or tea.  There’s no requirement that you order anything, but they do have great food and some of the nicest servers in the area.