Thread by @shayshinecastle

Good morning, #Boulder. I'm here (just barely) for Day 2 of the council retreat. I'll tweet what's relevant.

Like this: Council members were told to make a Zoom backgound that shows a place/thing that's special to them.

Nagle's is prairie dogs.

Swetlik's appears to be Great Sand Dunes National Park. But I could be wrong.

Kinda surprised it's not his backlit couch, tbh.

Wallach's is a place he likes to climb in Moab.

I'm actually enjoying watching everyone guess where people's Zoom backgrounds are from. It's like Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego but with more old white ppl.

Weaver's is a diving spot in Fiji.
Swetlik's is NOT Great Sand Dunes; it's White Sands National Park in NM.

LOL Nagle bringing down the room explaining why she went with prairie dogs. "The family behind me is going to be exterminated by our city and our tax dollars."

Awwww Nagle's kitty is on screen. Cute.

I *think* Young said hers is from canoeing/kayaking on Traverse Lake. Her husband (I assume) and dog are in it.

"I tried to put Bernie there but I just didn't have time." LOL

Friend is the Golden Dome at Notre Dame. (She's from South Bend)
Brockett's is with his family.

Joseph's is (again) the library; she uses that on the reg.
I lived in Orlando when I moved from Haiti, she says. My first job was at the secondhand book store. I learned a lot and it helped me adjust.

Yates' is also a library; at the Brooklyn Historical Society. He's writing a book on early Brooklyn history and does research there. And his son got married there.

Carr is at Boulder Rez. He rows there. (Swetlik, who also rows, ID'ed that immediately.)

Meschuk's is a lake in Wyoming he backpacks at every summer. "I won't see a soul," he says.

Bergman, our faclitator, is at her Taos house.

That's it for that icebreaker. Moving on to (maybe) another: How they feel about 2020. Brockett briefly changes his background to a dumpster fire.

Brockett: "It's been v difficult working together remotely. ... I will say I felt like the leadership we got from our county and state helped us through. ... We've got light at the end of the tunnel."

forgot to say they're focusing on local gov't RE: 2020 and its impacts

Swetlik: "For me, it was really disappointing what we didn't get to accomplish bc of the pandemic." Specifically, a $15/minimum wage. "That would have helped the community weather the pandemic."

Yates was impressed by "the resilience of our staff. ... They just didn't seem to give up. ... The test of character is often during times of crisis."

Joseph: "Last year was really hard. What came to mind is ... resilience. We've become more resilient and innovative. ... We seem to be somehow over the mountain."

"It can only make us better as a community, as a council."

That's an optimistic outlook. (I'm not one for optimism, but I suppose it's to be expected from a politician.)

Young: 2020 brought up a lot of inequities. "My hope is that We can begin to address those. It's not something that the city of Boulder can do alone."

I capitalized We because she told me to.

Nagle: "I thoroughly enjoyed 2020. ... For me, it was an outstanding year. It allowed me to completely focus on work rather than social outings and stuff like that."

It was sad seeing all the biz that have closed, Nagle said. She's hopeful that small biz will return in 2021 and thrive.

Wallach: "I would characterize 2020 as stressful. ... It would be my desire that 2021 is ultimately characterized as hopeful."

Friend: "2020 was just a horrendous year for our community in a lot of ways. .... It was a suck year for having to do everything online." References the petitioning fiasco. "The participation online has not been easy .... so I feel not great about that."

Weaver: "If I had to pick a key word for 2020, it would be partnerships."

"I don't think any of us knew about Boulder County Public Health the way we came to know them," Weaver says.

"We did not have a good partner in the federal government," Weaver says. "It was hard to get things done."

He references the murder of George Floyd, inequities exposed by the pandemic. "It wasn't just COVID" that tested us, Weaver says.